Page 40 of Bound in Flames (The Savage Hearts #1)
Chapter 40
Cleo
T he firestorm raged around me, a maelstrom of heat and fury. I stood at its center, my body trembling with exhaustion. I could feel the fire licking hungrily at the edges of my control, searing the earth beneath my feet, devouring the darkness that slithered toward me, their whispered promises of despair and ruin coiling around my mind with icy, insidious fingers.
Through the roaring flames, past the shrieks of dying creatures, a whisper of sound caught on the wind, growing louder, clearer, wrapping around me like the comforting embrace of something familiar and steady.
The warriors were chanting, voices rough rising above the fire, a steady cadence that throbbed with ancient power like a war drum. The prophecy—my prophecy—resounded in my ears, echoing in my chest and forcing back the gnawing dread. They believed in me, and despite everything, despite the betrayal, I felt their faith pulse through me.
Closing my eyes, I let their voices seep into my bones, letting their strength bleed into mine. My hands trembled, the fire dancing at my fingertips, but beneath it all, something ancient stirred—the earth itself, alive and pulsing beneath my bare feet, whispering to me, calling me home. The stones on my bracelet cooled against my skin with a borrowed strength.
I wasn’t alone.
The earth wrapped around me and I felt the weight of my clan’s sorrow, their fear and their regret. It pulled me back, reminding me that I was more than fire and destruction—I was their hope.
The flames around me responded, no longer wild and hungry, but obedient, bending to my will, moving with purpose. I opened my eyes, and the silver light that pulsed within them seemed to reflect a newfound clarity. The dragon before me was still struggling against the thick, ancient roots that held it in place. Its scales pulsed with malevolent shadows, writhing against the earthen grip, but cracks had begun to form, tiny fractures spiderwebbing across its monstrous form.
The dragon let out a deafening roar, causing the very stones beneath me to shuddered, but I didn’t flinch. My heart pounded with a fierce, primal determination. The fire coiled tighter around my arms licking toward the sky like serpents. Silver light gleamed against the dark as power surged through me, swelling in my chest until I thought I might shatter beneath it.
With a voice that rang out clear and resolute, I spoke the final words of the prophecy with them.
“She will bring us home again.”
The words vibrated through the air. They were true. They were always true. I could end this.
The fire answered my call, a tidal wave of molten fury crashing into the dragon’s body. It thrashed, agonized howls splitting the night as the inferno consumed it, eating through the layers of darkness and searing through its essence until all that remained was ash.
Beyond the shadows of the battlefield, a figure emerged cloaked in darkness, moving with an unsettling grace. His skeletal face stretched taut over sharp bones, was a grotesque mask of malice, dark veins pulsing like living serpents beneath his pale skin. His blackened eyes locked onto mine. They were filled with a hunger that made my stomach churn.
There was no doubt this was the dark mage that the clans feared.
His withered hand rose, fingers curling like talons as dark tendrils slithering around his wrist like serpents eager to strike. Shadows churned and swirled at his command. Without warning, a bolt of darkness shrieked through the air, the force of it splitting the battlefield with a thunderous crack. Instinct roared through me, and the earth answered my silent plea, a jagged pillar of stone erupting from the ground just in time to absorb the blow. The impact sent a jarring tremor through my bones, shaking the ground beneath my feet, his dark magic was like a suffocating net of death.
Agony lanced through my bond with the earth, my muscles screamed in protest, and sweat slicked my skin as I shoved the pain aside. The ground beneath me groaned, alive with raw fury, mirroring the seething anger that coursed through my veins. My hands burned, energy swirling beneath my skin, hungry and insatiable.
The shaman's lips curled into a ghastly smile as the veins beneath his pallid skin pulsed with dark energy. Shadows coiled around him, undulating, whispering promises of ruin as his magic crept toward me, hungry, curling like skeletal fingers eager to strip me bare. In desperation, I lashed out. Fire surged from my right hand in a flaming arc, but with a casual flick of his wrist, the dark magic rose and extinguished the flames before they could reach him.
Cold tendrils clawed at the edges of my fire, seeking to choke the life from it, forcing me to whip it hotter, brighter—pushing it to its limits. Fear clawed at my chest. My fire, the same fire that had slain a dragon, wasn’t enough to reach him. I reached for my mate bond, grasping for Dex like a drowning soul reaching for a lifeline, his presence pulsing through me fiercely, curling protectively around my heart. The strength in our connection tethered me and I plunged into the well of pure magic buried deep within the earth. The raw power coiled like a beast, resisting, testing me, daring me to wield it. My fingers trembled as I wrapped around those volatile threads, a guttural cry tore from my throat and echoed across the battlefield. My mind howled in protest as the power surged through every fiber of my being. With one final desperate push, I thrust my hands forward, hurling everything I had left into a last, defiant strike. A bolt of lightning arced through the air, a blazing spear of raw power that cleaved through the darkness like the wrath of the Gods themselves. It struck him square in the chest, and for a split second, his expression twisted in disbelief, his skeletal form convulsing as the magic ripped through him.
He staggered, mouth open in a silent scream, before his body began to disintegrate. Blackened ash peeled away, layer by layer, and was carried off by the wind. His final whisper—a faint, gurgling gasp—was swallowed by the roaring fire around us.
The oppressive weight of his magic dissipated, fading into the night like a bad dream. Silence stretched across the battlefield, the flames around me dimmed, their hunger sated, and the earth settled beneath my feet as if sighing in relief.
The voices of my clan reached me. Their roar of victory shaking the stone beneath my feet. I swayed on my feet, exhaustion sinking into my bones. I felt the steady thrum of our bond and let out a broken sob of relief, I had worried I may have killed my mate by pulling on him. Dex was okay.
The world tilted dangerously, my vision swam and I fell, unconsciousness taking me before I hit the scorched earth