Page 19 of A Bond of Ice and Glass (Crowned By Wings #2)

NOBLE

P ain spreads through me, stabbing the back of my eyes like hot blades. I groan as I roll onto my side. Smoke fills the air, and something wet trickles down my forehead. Blood. I can taste it on my tongue.

That bastard. That motherfucking bastard knocked me out. How the fuck did Erax get so powerful?

At least he didn’t kill me. I fully expected Erax to kill me for stealing his wife.

Because if it were me, I wouldn’t have let the culprit live.

Goldeye is going soft on me. And the white hair? He made a deal with the dragons. There’s no other way to explain it, that kind of power and transformation. He used to talk about doing it years ago, but I never thought he’d actually do it.

Whatever he sacrificed to get that power… can’t be undone.

Fucking idiot. I hope he regrets every moment of it.

I try to sit up. My vision blackens from the effort, and I cough up blood. Shit. It feels like I’ve been kicked in the chest by a dozen angry horses. Motherfucker.

I fall back down again and close my eyes. Gods above, I’ve been through worse than this. I’ll get through it. I just need to pace myself. I focus on my breathing, trying to steady it. My old man used to say if you focused hard enough, you could drown out your pain. What a bloody liar he was.

I try to straighten again. A shadow moves in the corner of my eye.

“Now isn’t this a flattering pose?” comes the dry, drawling voice.

I grind my teeth harder against the pain. And Nymala’s mocking voice.

“I’m not… in the fucking mood,” I groan out, blinking through the haze.

Nymala crouches beside me. Shit, there’s three of her. Three Nymalas. Gods help me.

“Tell me about it,” she says. “You never warned me that saving your ass would be part of my imprisonment.”

She grabs my arm and helps me sit up. I shrug her off, but not before catching the faint sigils glowing on her wrists where her binding cuffs had been. The cuffs are gone now. Probably melted by whatever magic Erax used to destroy my home. She must be bloody delighted.

The witch taps my face lightly with two fingers. “Still alive in there? I’d hate to haul your corpse through the tunnels. I’ve got better things to do.”

“Get. Off,” I growl at her, shoving her hand away.

“Charming,” she mutters, standing and offering me her hand anyway.

When I don’t take it, she grabs my shoulder and yanks me to my feet with surprising strength. She’s so tiny, I could easily crush her?—

The world tilts around me. Smoke coils outside the shattered window.

Right. The castle is burning. We need to get out of here.

“Where’s Maelena?” I rasp, my stomach twisting in answer.

Erax wouldn’t have left her here. He’d burn the kingdom to the ground before he let that happen. But maybe… maybe she escaped first.

“Gone,” Nymala says. “With the Dragon King. He knocked her out, too. But something tells me she’ll put up one heck of a fight when she comes to.”

A hiss escapes through my teeth. I never wanted this for her.

Nymala watches me with a faint smile on her face.

“I warned you that you and your brother would fuck this up,” she adds breezily, stepping over a broken sconce.

“And look! You’ve managed it quite spectacularly.

The only way this could be any worse is if your dragon bonded to the king instead of you. ”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Oh, I fully intend to. Once I save both our asses from being incinerated. You’re welcome, by the way.”

She grabs my wrist and yanks me down the hall.

I’m too weak to fight her, and the little witch knows it.

My dragon, Sakaris, isn’t happy with me, and she isn’t listening.

I know asking her to come here and fight for me won’t happen.

I hoped, with time, she would forgive me. She believes I betrayed my own kind.

I let Nymala guide me through the corridors, filling up with smoke. It reminds me of the night we invaded Maelena’s palace and destroyed her home. Now it’s my turn to lose everything. The gods are really fucking with me now.

“What happened to Loch?” I ask, following close behind her.

She doesn’t look back. “I don’t know. I was with him at the gates when Erax arrived. When I saw him heading for Maelena’s chamber, I followed him, but by the time I arrived, he was already gone. And you—you were unconscious on the floor, groaning like a baby.”

“Fuck off.”

She laughs at that. In all the years Nymala has been my prisoner, I don’t think I’ve ever heard her laugh.

I hate that I know that. Hate more that I’ve missed her laugh.

Why did she have to go fuck everything up?

We could’ve had something if she didn’t become my father’s mistress that day. She could’ve been mine .

Shit, I must’ve lost a lot of blood to be thinking like this.

“Let’s get one thing clear,” I say, sharpening my voice as best as I can. “You’re still my prisoner for what you did. No matter what happens today, I still own you.”

Until her debt is paid. One hundred years for the life of my father. She still has decades to go.

She stops and looks around the corridor with a smile on her face.

“I think you’ll find, my lord, you don’t own anything anymore. Not even me.”

Before I can say anything, she keeps walking.

I stare at her back for a moment, the ground tilting under me again, before forcing myself to follow.

She really believes she’s free now, doesn’t she?

If the little witch thinks I’m letting her off so soon after killing my father, she’s as daft as my brother.

I don’t forgive easily. And I am rarely merciful.

We move through the smoke-filled hallways as fast as we can, Nymala using her magic to clear the air.

The silence is deafening. Either everyone has died or they’ve been evacuated. We pass no one on the way to the ground floor. Not even when we reach the hidden alcove near the library.

My father built the passages in case we ever needed to escape. They’ve never been used until now. It’s a shame the library has most likely been destroyed. Hopefully, some of the books will survive.

We weave a path through the rubble, careful of the falling stones.

I cough up more blood again, but I don’t stop.

Guided by the amber light cast from Nymala’s hand, we move as quickly as we can.

It’s only once we’re inside the safety of the tunnels do I let myself breathe for a moment.

I lean against the wall. Water drips somewhere overhead.

“This place smells like rot,” I mutter.

“It’s your home,” Nymala says.

I wipe the blood from my mouth with the back of my hand. “You have a real gift for comfort.”

“You have a real gift for nearly dying. Let’s go.”

The tunnel narrows. We move single-file. Somewhere behind us, a distant boom echoes through the stone.

“The library,” I say quietly. Why is Erax still attacking? He got what he wanted.

Nymala’s voice echoes softly. “You really did love this place, didn’t you?”

I don’t answer her. Of course I did. It was my home. Before I was sent away to live with Erax.

We reach a tight bend, where ancient roots curl from the ceiling. No, not roots. Thorns. They pulse and glow with dark magic. Nymala bends to inspect them. They recoil from her hand when she tries to touch one. Her breath catches.

“Dark ether,” she whispers. There’s pain in her voice that surprises me. “It’s poisoning the land. This is all your fault!”

I glare at her—at the way her long black hair sways against her back as she shakes her head.

“How is this my fault?”

Gods above, it sounds ridiculous even to me.

Because all of this is my fault. I should’ve kept a tighter leash on my brother, and I didn’t. I’m the one who fucked up.

“You and your brother. Two power-drunk, emotionally repressed little tyrants,” she spits out. Right on the nail. “You caused this, Noble. As if your people weren’t suffering enough.”

I grit my teeth. She’s right, but it fucking hurts to hear the truth.

“We never meant for this to happen. We were trying to protect them. Protect Maelena.”

“By lying to her?” she scoffs. “By caging her?”

My vision blurs again. I close my eyes and squeeze the bridge of my nose.

“Enough.”

But Nymala’s voice only rises.

“By drugging her memory?” she cries. “Tell me how that was protecting her? Tell me!”

Something inside me snaps.

I grab Nymala by the arms and slam her against the wall, my breath heaving.

“Shut. Up.”

Our faces come inches apart. Her lips open, and my grip tightens. Her eyes flick to my mouth. She doesn’t flinch. She just smiles at me. For just one beat, I forget how much I hate her guts and that we’re about to be crushed to death. I just want to wipe that smug look off her face…

With my fucking mouth !

Ciagid, help me… What spell has this little witch cast on me?

The tunnel shudders and stone rains from the ceiling, jolting me back into reality. I let her go. She doesn’t move. Neither do I. I stare into her eyes, torn between shoving her away and kissing her.

“Still think I should shut up?” she asks breathlessly.

I step back, my jaw clenched. “Keep moving.”

She runs a hand down her front, brushing off the dust. Her eyes never leave mine. I’ve always felt she’s got the kind of eyes that haunt you.

“Enjoy your last power trip,” she says quietly, calmly. “Because once we’re out of here, you’ll never command me again.”

I scoff at her. When she turns and resumes walking again, I follow behind. This witch has been more of a headache than Lochlan, but at least she was the only one speaking sense. I should’ve listened to her.

“You know, some days, I don’t know why I let you live,” I growl under my breath.

“I do,” she says with a smirk over her shoulder. “To save your sorry ass. Obviously.”

“Just shut the fuck up,” I hiss through clenched teeth, “and walk.”

I’m not angry at her. I’m angry at myself. Angry at how beautiful she looks right now. The witch who murdered my father should never be beautiful to me. My cock better start listening.

“Have I ever told you how romantic you are?” She turns to wink at me, walking backwards. “Mind your head.”

“What—”

I turn just as the ceiling above me caves in.

Nymala grabs me out of the way at the last moment, stopping me from being crushed under the rubble.

“Look at that,” she says, still smiling at me. Still fucking beautiful. “I saved your life again.”

I force myself to look away from her lips. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Her smile only widens. “Of course I am. I’m free again.”

If this tunnel doesn’t kill me, I have a feeling this witch will.

We descend the last of the tunnels wordlessly. Soon we emerge outside through a crack in the hillside by the river. My castle blazes behind us, black and gold flames clawing upward, smoke turning the stars to ash.

I don’t speak. I just stand there, watching my home—my entire legacy—fall before my eyes. And there’s not a damn thing I can do to save it.

A winged shadow stretches across the ground around me. I raise my head and smile at the sight of my dragon eclipsing the moon. Sakaris swoops down to meet me, and our bond flares in my chest again, stronger than ever. She is going to fight for me. I breathe a sigh of relief.

My dragon was never his. She was mine all along, and now she’s going to help me win this war.