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Then it hit her, he was invisible, not gone and it was pouring rain. It was nearly impossible to hear over the drumming of the rain and thunder but there was still a chance. Scanning the woods, she searched for drops splattering where they shouldn’t and found it. A hint of an outline of a head and shoulders as he sprinted away. She ran for her sword, gripped the handle, and jerked it free.

But Presco’s groan halted her. Rivers of red ran over his light scales, the great slashes and punctures opened to his pink muscle underneath.Presco. The mud squashed around her boots, and she slid to a stop next to his head. “Where are you hurt the most?”All Mother,his wing was bent in ways it shouldn’t, the leather torn and shredded in places. The teeth marks looked deepest at his neck, where he took the initial hit.

His deep heaving breaths that moved his belly up and down began to slow. “Presco!” She darted to the wound on his neckand gently placed a hand on him. “Don’t you dare die on me! That is a command from your queen! I need you to shift into your human form.”

“Can’t,” he groaned.

HEL!she screamed through their bond and drove her sword point into her palm to draw her own blood.HEL!

She couldn’t find words. She just needed him.

She dipped her fingertip into the crimson in her hand and drew the healing rune on Presco’s scales near the wounds. The healing spell quickly left her lips. She kept repeating it over and over, as she pressed the blade point into her own flesh. The spell required her own pain and the more she felt the faster it would work. “Come on!” she snarled. The wound barely moved. She pressed harder until the pain was so much, she started to feel nauseous, and blackness began to encroach at the edges of her vision. She’d shove this blade straight through her hand if it healed him fast enough to save him.

It was his dragon scales. They repelled magic, even healing magic.

Footsteps fast approaching forced her to pull the blade point from her flesh and face the intruder breaking through the dark tree line. Lightning flashed, illuminating Hel’s face, all shadows and fury, as he took her and Presco in. He vanished in a puff of gray smoke then reappeared at her side and ran his hand over Presco’s neck wound. “Was this another dragon?”

Valeen nodded, letting her sword fall to her side. The wound on her hand was already crusting over, but Presco’s wasn’t. “Help him,” she pleaded.

“You need to shift, Presco. I can’t heal you otherwise.” His voice was husky.

“He’s too weak.” His breathing was shallow and slow now. Hot tears burned her eyes.

“Shift now!” Hel pressed both palms flat on his neck, and a warm amber light illuminated beneath them.

Presco let out a throaty cough and Valeen ran to his face and gently rubbed the smooth scales between his huge nostrils. “Presco, you can do this. I am here for you. I will protect you.” Dragons didn’t shift during an injury because they didn’t feel safe to do so. It was a natural reaction. He let out a puff through his nostrils and slowly nodded.

A shimmer worked across him and then he was a man again, lying on his side. Hel dropped to his knees and touched each of his wounds, while she took one of his huge hands in both of hers. After a few moments there was no trace of the attack on his body, but he was paler than usual. “How do you feel?” she asked.

He slowly blinked at her but couldn’t seem to lift his head off the mossy ground. “I’ll survive.” His voice was hoarse but strong. “Forgive me for failing you, my queen. I should never have let you fall.”

The tears she’d held back slipped out and she threw herself across him and cried in relief. “You’re alive, that’s all that matters. I should have protected you.”

“A dragon protects his rider, my queen.” He managed to lift an arm and sling it across her back.

“Who did this?” Hel’s voice was eerily low, it made goosebumps rise across her skin. He was standing now. Darkness shadowed his face, hardened anything that was soft.

“I don’t know who he is but he’s a half-god, half-dragon. Likely the heir of Pricilla. We killed the others but…” her heart sank when she remembered what he witnessed. “He knows about Varlett and me.”

“How the fuck does he know that?” Hel growled.

She grimaced and rose up. “He saw her get injured and watched the same happen to me.”

Hel turned on his heel and marched in the direction the enemy dragon had gone. Toward the stone portal. She stepped to follow him but then glanced down at Presco. She couldn’t leave him like this. What if someone else came? There was no way Presco could defend himself. “Hel, wait!”

His march turned into a run until he disappeared.

Chapter 21

VALEEN

“Go, Valeen,” Presco said, rolling onto his knees.

“There could be more of them nearby. I can’t leave you.”

“You must make sure Hel stops that man from telling anyone about you and Varlett. That’s more important than me.”

She grabbed under his arm and heaved to help him to his feet. Worry gnawed at her gut, twisting her insides. “No, it’s not. You’re not some disposable piece of trash.”