Page 3 of Mantle
It morphed to a soothing sensation that spread through my hand and along the length of my arm, before covering my body entirely.
It seemed to be… pushing back against the torture being inflicted upon me.
Not able to stop it, per se, but somehow easing the pain.
Enough for me to breathe.
Enough for me to stop shuddering uncontrollably.
Enough for me to hold on.
I strained and just managed to make out the sight of a rose-gold glow emanating from me.
From a band around my wrist that I’d never seen before.
Rose-gold.
Motherfucker… it wasn’t possible.
How the—
In the next second, the entire room shook violently.
A harsh, unforgiving wind whipped all around, making it difficult for the ten bastards tormenting me to remain standing upright.
In moments, it actually had three of them stumbling back, their magic petering out.
And then the hefty, ancient doors to the room were decimated by a bolt of immense rose-gold power, which gave way to fucking lightning in seconds, radiating out everywhere and descending upon those harming me.
I strained again and choked in utter shock as I saw none other than Kai striding into the room, his hands weaving in wild movements as that lightning burst from him.
“Release him!” he thundered, his magical lightning tearing into all ten of the dragons surrounding me, making them convulse wildly against the onslaught where they stood, unableto move away from its electrifying hold. I felt the Ashbinding pause in some sort of stasis because they couldn’t continue on.
Zepharion boomed back, “You cannot interfere in Dracoryn matters, especially not those of House Titanus!” He spat, derisively, “Mere sorcerer. You do not know what you do. Your very presence is threatening diplomatic relations between this realm and your own. You will face charges for this heresy and disrespect of our kind. The Guardian Movement will sentence you to years inThe Voidfor such an offense.”
“Theoffenseis all yours,” Kai rumbled in that dangerous tone, his eyes clouded with darkness, his ferocity barely checked, and I could see his struggle not to look at the state of me, as he fought to focus on the precarious situation at hand. “Murdering the Heir to House Titanus is a grave crime.”
“He is no longer heir,” Serapha told him.
“You haven’t made that official, so he still is in the eyes of the supernatural world. Murdering any being is a horrific offense in itself, but a dragon heir? That’s another level altogether. So I would think twice about condemning me to anyone outside of this room. Believe me, it won’t play well in your favor.”
Despite it all, I couldn’t help a partial smile forming at that. Kai Hunter at his finest.
“Fool,” Zepharion sneered. “You are in the heart ofourpower.”
In the next moment, the bastard signaled his dragons, a signal only known to dragon-kind, calling on them to invoke their draconic forms fully—it was a way to force back the magic Kai was currently keeping them trapped with, the power of the transformation could accomplish that.
But then I was shocked to my core when Kai suddenly bellowed, “Velrak sarnath!”Shield of flame, guard me!
The lightning that he’d invoked transformed into magical dragon flame, raging and swirling around every single one ofthem surrounding me. They roared and hissed as it prevented their transformations.
Kai was an outsider to the Dracoryn Realm. He shouldn’t be able to command our magic. Yet, here he was doing just that. He’d found a way to adapt it to meld with his own power and the way in which a sorcerer wielded magic.
“Sivrak dorath ven!” he called out next.Break the false binding!
I sucked in a harsh breath as I felt the spell finally actually break, those awful magical hooks leave me, detaching me from the floor.
Kai followed it up with, “Vrelkan karru thrak!”Flame, awaken and rise!
