Muffled roars hit my ears before the surrounding water turned red.Oh gods, please don’t let it be Dante.I flailed, trying to right myself to see which dragon the blood came from. But a cold thin hand grabbed at my ankle, yanking me to the side. Enraged, I grabbed at the water dog’s hand, trying to pry it off me. The hideous black dog whipped around with a snarl, its needle-like hairs stood on end.
Hatred boiled in my blood, and I snarled back. Air escaped my lungs, but I didn’t give a shit. I’m not going back to that tower. Never. My hands wrapped around the dog’s throat. Squeezing tight as I forced lightning through my palms. Its body seized, face contorting in a violent scream before its tail-hand finally released me.
Lungs burning, I kicked to the surface again, panting hard. “Dante!” A wave sucked me up again, and I was dragged back under water. Something solid scraped against my side, and I clung to it. It closed around my waist, lifting me completely out of the ocean. Coughing up water and salt, I sagged against a giant talon before whipping the water out of my eyes. My heart sank when my vision was clear. “You?”
Gideon’s sea-foam green eyes stared back at me. He ducked down, narrowly avoiding a ball of lightning. Dante charged toward us, but swayed in the air and fell back into the water. Blood seeped from a gash in his side.
A terrible sound of anguish ripped from my chest as I watched Dante sink beneath the waves. Gideon moved to hover in the air above him, looking down. And then he dove.
“No!” Bolts shot from my hands and struck the side of his face. Gideon dropped me, crying out as he clutched his face. My feet started kicking as soon as I hit the water. I reached out, grabbing hold of a long whisker and pulled myself toward the sinking dragon. Unsure how to rouse him, I tugged harder at his whisker and kicked at his jaw. Yet he kept sinking.
Shitballs. Shit, shit, shit!
Desperate, I gathered sparks into my fist and socked him as hard as I could on the snout. Violet eyes shot open, and I nearly sobbed in relief.
“Cherry.”His hand closed around me, and Dante flung us back into the air. Storm clouds churned angrily in the sky. With a roar, they billowed around us, blinding Gideon. The air churned with immense force, swirling in a spiral until a tornado formed.
With a pained groan, Dante turned and shot off toward the horizon, using the storm as cover. Within seconds, we hit the shoreline and dove into the trees.
Dante set me down, then collapsed into a heap. His voice came through labored breathing.“Take the Hearthstones and return to the castle.”
“Right,” I said. Quickly digging the small stone out of my pocket. “Hurry and shift back so we can go!”
He shook his head.“I’m not going.”
“What?” I snarled. “Don’t be stupid, of course you are.”
“Cherry, if I don’t cut him down now, he’s only going to try again. Next time he might succeed in ripping out my throat before you spot him.” He rolled, dragging himself to his feet. “Listen to me for once and go.”
“You know damn well I’m not doing that!”
The ground shook with a thud. I turned to see Gideon land a few paces away from us. Dante snarled, blocking me from his view. The air crackled, blue sparks dancing across silver scales as a ball of light filled his mouth.
“I yield,”Gideon said, lowering his head.
“What?” Dante and I asked in unison.
I poked my head around my dragon to see smoke swirl around his blue counterpart. The smoke faded into mist, revealing a tall haggard man with sea-foam green locks reaching down to his waist. Forlorn blue eyes slowly looked between us. Without a word, Gideon retrieved a dagger from his pocket, bundled up his long locks and sliced through them. He tossed the severed hair at Dante’s feet.
“I yield,” he said again, then turned and walked away.
With a heavy breath, Dante collapsed onto his side. Hissing noises issued from the gash in his side and the broken skin slowly began stitching itself back together.
“Wait a damn minute,” I snarled, chasing after Gideon. “What do you mean you yield? What did you even attack us for?”
Sighing, the dragon-shifter paused and turned back to me. “I came to retrieve you and return you to the village you were taken from. Yet I see you’ve taken the Lord of Storm’s magic. So there is no need.”
“You can’t be serious.” My fists balled at my sides. “You say you came to take me home, but why now? Why did you take me in the first place? What the fuck did you want from me?” The words spat out like a curse. Years of hatred and rage caused my vision to blur with tears.
“I’m sorry,” he said, solemnly.
“If you’re sorry then tell me why!” I snapped. “You took five fucking years of my life. I deserve that much at least!”
“You were loud.” Gideon turned away from me, his eyes flinching in pain. It was then I noticed the dark circles under his eyes, almost hidden by the deep umber of his skin. “My wife was an exceptionally loud woman. Her fury could shake the ground beneath you, and she possessed laughter so booming it could make the gods themselves take notice.” He added with a faint smile pulling at his lips, “It was mesmerizing.
“People were drawn to her like moths to a flame wherever we went. She was always off somewhere in a crowd, telling noisy jokes until everyone was hysterical with laughter. I could always locate her by sound alone.” He slowed down. A feeling of awful melancholy washed over him. So potent in the air that it made my heart constrict.
“And after her death… every day was silent. I cannot imagine a worse form of torture. When my servants delivered you to her keep, you made such a racket that I could hear you from the opposite end of my domain. I was aware that you were not my Lotti. Nevertheless, I thanked every god for the noise.”
