Page 38
Story: Bound to the Orc King (Brides of the Moon Blade Clan #6)
Aldronn
Riding a dragon is an exhilarating experience and made more so by May’s joy. I take great delight in her happiness. Part of it’s that she’s younger and less jaded by life, but most of it is her sunny disposition.
“You know,” she yells back at me, “it’s not really fair that you guys call this the Northern Wastes. It might not have forests, but it’s got its own kind of beauty.”
“I agree.” The moss-dotted landscape is stark, yes, but seen from above, the ice weaves lovely patterns between the greenery, forming patterns like massive snowflakes spread across the ground. “It’s the dragons who named it such. No orc has been this far north.”
“We named it thus for good reason.” Lukendevener bends his snake-like neck around enough to pin us with a disapproving eye, the vertical pupil a black slash against the amber. “You will see.”
The tundra slides by beneath us, turning whiter the farther we fly as the hardy bits of greenery that dotted last night’s campsite yield more of the land to ice.
After another hour, we fly over pure white, the snow-covered surface achingly bright with reflected sun.
“Fuck me,” May says, shielding her eyes with a hand. “Who knew you needed sunglasses at the freaking north pole?”
“Thankfully, we are there.” Lukendevener dives for the ground, his descent so steep I assume he’s doing it to prove a point.
May yelps as she’s thrown back against me, and my grip on her tightens. My thighs lock onto the dragon’s back to keep us in place, and I squint into the brightness and the wind but can make out nothing but white.
The gusting air stills from one second to the next, the noise falling away.
“What just happened?” May gasps.
“I don’t know.”
Lukendevener lands on the ground with a bone-jarring thump. “What happened is we’re here.”
It’s still too bright, and human eyes are slower to adapt than mine, so I pick up May and slide down the dragon’s side.
We land in his shadow, which blocks the sun’s reflection off the snow enough that I can finally see.
We stand inside a massive bowl carved out of the ground. “What is this?”
“It’s a crater!” May says. “I’ve been to one like this on Earth. It’s where a meteor fell out of the sky.”
“A meteor?” Sheevora walks up, her wings spread wide to cast shade for Naomi and Wranth, who step carefully to stay in her shadow. “Or a moon?”
Shock zips through me at the thought.
“Oh. My. God.” May’s eyes go wide. “This is where the moon goddess fell from the sky!”
Naomi looks just as surprised as my bride, but Wranth scowls at the ground. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
“You’re correct.” I crouch, set my hand on the ground, and feel an eerie nothingness. “There’s no magic. I’ve never been anywhere in Alarria that didn’t have magic.”
“That’s weird, right?” Naomi says. “The goddess has a ton of magic, so if she’s here, why is there none?”
“This is why we call it the wastes,” Lukendevener says. “It’s more than the cold and ice. It’s the fact that the very ground has been stripped of magic.”
“You know where else is stripped of magic?” Wranth growls.
“Avalon.” I meet his eyes. “The Dark God.”
“If you wanted to trap a magical being, what better way to do it than cut her off from all magic?” May says.
“So you think the Dark God is the one who trapped the Moon Goddess?” Naomi asks.
“Who else would be powerful enough?” May spreads her hands wide. “This is right. I can feel it.”
“Can you also feel where the goddess is and how to free her?” Sheevora booms.
May grips her crystal and closes her eyes, a frown line pinching her brow. After a while, she stops trying and shakes her head. “There’s still a barrier of some kind.”
“Let’s get everyone here so we can scout around and see what we can find,” I say. “Maybe there are visual clues for how to reach the goddess, such as a cave or something.”
“I’m off.” Naomi blinks out of sight.
She returns with Rune and Shadow first, and both weres are able to see better in the snow glare than any of the rest of us. Next come Starfall and Zephyr.
When May explains this is the Moon Goddess’s prison and we need to find her, Starfall digs at the ground with a hoof. “If the goddess fell to earth here, won’t she be right in the center?”
“It only works like that if she fell straight down.” May bites her lower lip and eyes the crater walls. “If she came in at an angle, she could be anywhere.”
“But the crater is round.”
“Yeah, but if the meteor is big enough, the crater will look fairly circular, even if the impact happened at an angle.” Her hand slices through the air, describing different types of descent. When we all look at her in surprise, she gives a little shrug. “I read up on craters after I visited one. I’m not usually sciencey, but it was so rad I wanted to know more.”
“Your curious mind does you credit.” I press a kiss to the top of her head.
“Let me try something.” Shadow shifts into his cat form, grinning wide. The edges of his shape flicker as he takes a step forward, then solidify. He yowls, the sound full of rage. “I wanted to walk around and see if I could find where she is, but I’m cut off from the shadow roads.”
Naomi brings the rest of my guard and their mounts.
Seeing so many of us standing in this desolate place triggers my magic. Premonition flows over me, flashing a series of images in my mind. They’re vague and gone in a split second, but it’s enough. I know what is to come.
“This is it. This is where we battle the dark fae,” I call out loudly enough that it carries to everyone. Then I turn to Naomi and grip her shoulders. “You must bring all the witches and their mates. They’re all supposed to be here.”
Naomi’s dark eyes fill with worry. “Even Olivia?”
“Even Olivia.” I nod.
Naomi blinks away. When she returns several minutes later, she surprisingly brings the tall blonde first.
Before I can ask why, Grace drops the net guns she’s carrying and spreads her gloved hands wide. Brightly colored spectacles with strange, smoky lenses pop into existence on her palms.
“Sunglasses!” May springs forward, grabs a pair, and positions them over her eyes before letting out a sigh of relief. “You’re the best!”
I put on a pair, and they immediately cut the sun glare, allowing me to see. “These are excellent, thank you.”
Grace’s cheeks turn bright pink, and she gives an embarrassed shrug. “They’re cheap carnival sunglasses. Guaranteed to break within a week.”
“A week is plenty of time,” I growl. “We have at most hours before the dark fae attack.”
Shadow shifts to his werepanther form and snaps up a green-framed pair. “What do you think? Do I look fabulous or what?”
May laughs and nudges Grace. “Did you ever expect to see a werepanther in sunglasses?”
The tall blonde shakes her head, grinning, and makes more of the shaded spectacles as everyone crowds around to get a pair.
Naomi brings the rest of the orcs and humans, everyone wearing cold-weather gear. Olivia arrives with a surprise. A flock of pixies cling to her, the pixies May befriended at our waterfall hideaway. Their pixie magic got them to the village in record time.
“Almost Pizza!” the tiny leader cries out, flying up to May. “We have come to save Alarria!”
“They’re not the only ones,” Naomi says and disappears again.
The meaning of her words becomes clear as she brings the cat sith Mist, the cu sith Riselda, and the unicorns Hurtle, Midnight, Storm, Aurora, and Dash.
Finally, she arrives with two naked younglings, who immediately shift into the dragons Drakonisrevener and Bellavesaria.
“What are you doing here?” Sheevora booms at her children. “The dark fae are going to invade.”
“That’s exactly what we’re doing here,” Drakonisrevener says, flaring his wings. He’s the same green as his mother and has grown rapidly in the last few months until he’s now about half her size.
Bellavesaria pushes her way forward, the feathery crest rising on her head. The purple dragon is still smaller than her brother, but she’s not to be dismissed. Smoke curls from her mouth in a reminder that her fire magic is as strong as that of the adults. “We want to fight, too.”
“Okay, that’s everyone,” Naomi says. “Now what?”
May steps forward, lifting her chin, every inch a queen. “Now we free the Moon Goddess.”
Pride and love fill me, and I realize she’s been right about me all along. I love my people. I love my world.
And I love May, my queen, my mate.
Mine.
Table of Contents
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- Page 38 (Reading here)
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