Page 43 of Cruelly Fated (Princes of Avari #1)

Thirty-Nine

ALLIE

I screamed, limbs flailing, before my body hit something hard. My eyes snapped open with a gasp. Strong arms, like logs, caught and supported my back and legs.

Kyon’s emerald and human eyes stared at me. I threw my arms around him, my body quivering.

“You’re back,” I whispered into the curve of his neck.

His chest rose and fell in rapid bursts, his bare skin slick with sweat. He set me gently on my feet, his thumbs caressing my cheeks as his hands framed my face.

“How did you do it?” he asked, his voice raspy and uncertain like he doubted my existence.

I swallowed. “I had to try…”

“But it shouldn’t have worked… It’s the bond.

Fae gods, our mating bond saved us. It allowed you through to my dragon.

” He kissed my forehead, and I closed my eyes, lips parted.

He soon found them and reclaimed what was his.

I rose onto my toes, begging for more and surrendering to his touch at the same time.

Regardless of the arranged marriage and his royal duties, what we felt was real. A wave of certainty washed over me as I realized, with a joyful ache in my chest, that my heart belonged to this man. And I let myself get lost in the moment.

The speakers crackled above us, the bulbs flickering. A guttural rupture tore through the cave system like a snarl trapped in a glass, warped and defying. The sound ricocheted off the cold stone walls, a deeper, more feral roar than anything Kyon’s dragon had ever produced.

The air thickened with sulfur, stinging the back of my throat.

Torian no longer lurked in the shadows of Kyon’s fire. His dragon sought the older brother.

I gripped Kyon’s arm and searched his eyes. His lips pressed into a grim line.

“Whatever happens, stay behind me,” he said .

A second roar rippled through the cave, fiercer than the last one. It slammed into my chest and knocked the breath from my lungs. A blood-soaked promise hurtling through the tunnels.

Scorched air and heat wrapped tighter around us.

A lump lodged in my throat as I looked at the man in front of me. His jaw flexed, nostrils flaring, hands curling at his sides. Rage poured off him in waves, but beneath it, I caught a glint of sorrow. And resolve.

He would protect me, even if it shattered his family.

I reached for his hand and squeezed. He stared ahead, his fingers curling around mine. Another snarl echoed, closer still. And he let go.

Fire kindled beneath his skin. His bones cracked and shifted, flames spilling through the seams of his ribs like light through fractured stone. His roar broke through the chamber, loud enough to shake the dust off the ground.

I darted for a crevice in the far wall, heart thrashing as I prayed to fae gods that this wouldn’t be the last time his soul-piercing emerald eyes looked back at me.

KYON

Steam curled off my scales. My muscles screamed in protest from another grueling shift, but I welcomed the familiar ache. It centered me.

Torian stalked out of the tunnel and into the cave.

The bastard didn’t even bother with the courtesy of meeting me in human form.

He crouched low, wings half-spread, his frame bloated with power.

His scales gleamed darker than I remembered, charred and warped at the edges, like something rotting from the inside out. It had to be his soul.

I tasted his rage in the air—sour and metallic.

I didn’t need to see Allie to know where she hid. The mate bond zeroed in on her location, behind one of the stone outcroppings, trembling. Her fear brushed against my skin like static. I wanted to tell her to get out of the caves. Too late for that now.

I squared my shoulders and met the thing my brother had become.

“ End this, brother, ” I beamed telepathically, voice low, “ before I have to. ”

Torian answered with fire and zero hesitation. A column of flame exploded from his mouth, blasting the ground at my feet. Stone cracked and sizzled, and blistering heat washed over me.

I stepped forward through the smoke, baring my teeth. So be it. I launched into the air, the force scattering debris across the cavern floor .

Torian rose to meet me, his wingspan immense, his movements predatory and smooth as if he’d been preparing for this fight for years. We circled each other like storm gods, our wings cutting through smoky air with a whoosh that rebounded from the walls and formed howling winds in the enclosed space.

He dove first. I rolled, his claws grazing the scales of my chest. The sting flared hot.

“ Torian! ” I roared, banking hard, air rushing in my ears. “ Shift now! ”

He responded with another blast of fire. It scorched the edge of my wing, pain tearing through the thin membrane. I snarled.

He was past reason.

I twisted upward and slammed into him mid-flight. Bone cracked. We spun, locked together, teeth snapping and claws raking across armored hide. His tail whipped around and slammed into my side. I crashed into the cavern wall, sending stone splinters below.

I dropped for a beat, wings faltering, then caught the air and chased after him. I aimed to subdue. He charged, faster this time, jaws wide. I twisted away, barely avoiding his teeth, but his shoulder rammed into mine, rattling my ribs.

We crashed to the stone floor in a tangle of fury and claws. Talons clashed, sparks flaring with each parry. I sank my teeth into the side of his neck, shy of the artery, and bit down hard enough to make him roar.

He raked his hind claws up my belly, slicing into the softer ridges below my ribs. I snarled and whipped my tail like a lash, cracking it into his side. The snap of bone splintering made my blood burn hotter. He staggered, panting through his snout. Madness entered his eyes.

“ You don’t have to do this, ” I growled.

His pupils flared to slits of endless black rage, and he launched again, wings dragging up dust as he used the walls for leverage.

He tackled me mid-lift, and we spiraled through the chamber, smashing into a stalactite that exploded into shards.

The far wall crumbled under the impact, allowing moonlight to flood in.

I roared, shook him off, and slammed him to the ground, pinning him with one clawed foot.

“ I don’t want your crown, ” I snarled. “ I’ve stepped aside. ”

He snapped at my face, teeth scraping my snout, and spat a cloud of smoke. With a violent thrust of his hips, he kicked free and lunged upright.

We circled again, wings slashing like blades through the haze. Our breathing turned ragged, blood smearing the stone beneath us in streaks and splatters.

This wasn’t about dominance anymore.

This was a death match.

The cavern narrowed as we fought, drawing us toward the new opening where the stone floor gave way to a black maw of nothingness. The abyss yawned beneath us, so deep that not even dragon fire could touch the bottom. I knew the drop was there. So did he .

But Torian was no longer thinking. His kill-or-be-killed instinct took over, and rage clouded his mind.

He sprang. I caught him mid-strike, our bodies smashing together, talons locking and wings flaring wide to counterbalance the force. We grappled like titans, claws tearing scale after scale, our roars drowning each other out.

He shifted his weight faster than expected.

We slid. More stone crumbled beneath our claws as we skidded toward the edge.

I lodged my left wing in the ground groove for leverage.

His hind legs slipped on loose gravel, and I slammed my tail forward, the edge of it catching his wing with brutal force. Snap .

His wing folded at a sickening angle, and his body pitched sideways. I reached for him— gods, I did . He snarled and bit down on my forearm, yanking me with him. At the last second, I twisted free, my claws digging into the ground. My momentum dragged me to the brink, but I held. Barely.

Torian didn’t.

His broken wing flapped uselessly as he plunged. Pain laced with fury imbued his last roar, which was soon lost to the turbulent winds that wailed below in the ravine.

Pressure pounded behind my eyes as I stood there in disbelief, chest heaving.

Brother.

Gone.

The dragon retreated, devastated and reeling from our loss. My knees hit the stone, shoulders hunched and ribs aching with each ragged breath .

Allie’s footsteps drew closer, her presence comforting me. And yet I couldn’t bring myself to face her.

I’d won.

But nothing about this felt like victory.