Page 31 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Celestina

You’ve been brainwashed by the vampires to see us as the villains and those bloodsuckers as the heroes, Amaya had warned me.

And I’d refused to listen to her. Her rightness sat like a pile of smoldering ash in my throat, burning away the unshed tears I wouldn’t let fall.

It’s understandable that you’d have strong feelings for the first male to offer you kindness, Trace, who’d been nothing but patient, had tried to explain.

Soren had charmed me into falling for his too-handsome warrior self.

He didn’t want me, the “nobody” of a court lady. No one had ever wanted me. Why should I believe that a good-looking, powerful general of a foreign army would see me differently than anyone else had ever seen me? Why believe I was no longer being overlooked? I’d been foolish to…

I shook my head.

“Celestina,” Soren said quietly. “It’s not—”

“Isn’t it?” I snapped.

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Celestina. You’ve been through a lot.”

“Oh, so this is my fault? I’m the one who doesn’t understand? Or maybe you forgot to tell me? But that promised conversation is no longer necessary, is it? I understand too well, now. I’m important because I’m the dragon you own. And Prince Cullen wasn’t doing a good deed when he used me to free the dragon the Tiburnians were keeping in captivity. He was making sure they didn’t have a weapon equal to yours.”

The court gasped at that news.

“That’s not why I helped Amaya,” Cullen said, but I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to hear anything anybody had to say.

“I’m done letting you tell me what I think I know is wrong!” I’d been starved for such a long time that a little praise and attention had made me punch-drunk, had made me stop questioning intentions. I’d wanted their friendship and love so badly I would have done—and apparently had done—anything to make myself believe I had won it.

“Celestina.” Soren moved toward me. I skittered backward, nearly tripping over a man dressed in a bright pink silk suit. “I had planned to—”

“You’d planned to do what?” I shouted.

“Celestina—” He held out his hands as if trying to warn me to calm myself. But it was too late, wasn’t it? I could never be calm again. And I wasn’t done with my shouting because the anger burning inside me sure as hell demanded release.

“Don’t you say my name! Don’t you say anything other than the truth! That you…” Anger made my voice breathy. The words felt torn from my throat. “That you’ve been tricking me! That you’ve been using me! That you’re only with me because you want me to control the other dragons for you! How—how dare you lie to me and manipulate me like that!”

“It’s not—”

“Did you ever have any feelings for me?” Ugh! I couldn’t keep the sob out of my voice. And I hated that. I blamed him for that, too. It was his fault I was falling apart in front of everyone. That I sounded weak and hysterical. That I sounded like he’d hurt me as sharply as he had.

I hated that I couldn’t even have the dignity of hiding my feelings from his court.

“I love you.” His voice, barely a whisper, was filled with all the vulnerability I felt.

“ How dare you ,” I growled.

General Kitmun puts duty over everything else. He will do anything to protect the Kingdom of Fein and the people living there. That’s his way , Trace had warned. And even when Trace had said it, I’d known it to be true. Soren hadn’t hidden that piece of himself from me. Over and over, he’d told me how he put duty to his country above everything, even his own feelings. And I’d thought that was a strength to be admired. But now I knew the truth of those words. Even if he loved me, that wouldn’t stop him from betraying me, from using me.

Soren reached out to take my hand.

In a burst of rage, I spun away from him. I don’t know where the sword came from. Did I yank it from Raya or Gray’s scabbards? Or did my dragon magic let me conjure the weapon from thin air?

The sword weighed heavy in my hand. My gaze narrowed—all I saw was Soren— damn him —as I charged across the distance between us with the sword raised.

I would make him hurt as keenly as I was hurting.

I wanted him to hurt.

He whirled in a circle to avoid my berserker attack. In the process, he grabbed Raya’s lightweight sword.

The blade in his right hand rang like a chime as it blocked my wild slashing blade that would have sliced into his chest.

“Keep your head,” he whispered.

Like hell I would. I needed him to feel my rage. I went after him, my sword slashing wildly as I desperately tried to slice off the pieces of him that had made me love him and that now made me hurt.

They didn’t need the slave collar, not when they could use their charms and powers of compulsion against you , Trace had tried to warn.

Soren’s efforts to sneak me away from the clan hadn’t been a rescue. It had been a recapture. Only, I was too stupid, too charmed by Soren’s sexy body to realize I’d never broken free from his captivity.

“Keep your tip up,” Soren whispered when I went after him again.

I screamed and swung like a wild woman. Soren had only taught me defensive moves. I wasn’t sure how to initiate a proper attack. But somehow, my sword found its mark. It slammed into his upper arm. The razor-sharp edge sliced through the silk of his court jacket and didn’t stop moving until the blade struck bone.

Blood oozed from the deep wound. I froze. Our eyes met.

“That’s my Sky Girl. Fight me,” he gently urged, while waving off a couple of approaching King’s Guards.

I pulled my blade from his arm. His ripped flesh made a sickening squelching noise. The blade was now smeared with deep, red blood. My stomach churned at the sight of it.

This was what his manipulations and lies had created. The Fein wanted a killer dragon? Well, I’d show them. I’d make them regret turning me into something vicious and dangerous.

With a shout, I swung, aiming for his side.

Soren easily blocked the blow.

I swung again and again. Soren kept blocking the strikes even though he was losing too much blood from his wounded arm.

“You lied to me!” I jabbed straight for his chest.

He easily blocked the attack.

“You made me believe you cared for me, but you only wanted me for the destruction I could bring you. I was nothing but a damned weapon to you.” I slashed wildly down from above my head.

Soren quickly sidestepped. My sword clanked against the sleek black floor.

“You stole me from the dragons!” I spun a circle and used my momentum to hit his sword’s blade hard enough that he backed up a step. “You stole me! And you made me feel like I should be grateful!”

“You think I’m the villain?” His voice turned as hard as the blade in his hands.

I screamed and rushed at him again, our blades crashing. I suspected he could have easily ended this at any time. He had the skills that would allow him to strike me in a way that would wound…but not kill. And yet, he used the defensive moves he’d taught me. I’d practiced them enough that I recognized each one.

And not once did he strike back.

Was it self-preservation? He had, after all, tied his life to mine. If he struck me down, he’d be killing himself. Or was it something else? If he wounded me, if he acted like the villain, he’d never have my cooperation. He might be able to compel me with his vampire magic, but all he’d win would be an empty-headed puppet dragon. One that he’d have to compel over and over and over.

Because there was no way in hell that I would help him enslave and destroy my brethren.

I’d run from the dragons because they saw me as their best weapon in the fight against the humans and vampires. They wanted me to lead the way in remaking the realms and in bringing back the fifth kingdom. They wanted death and fire.

That wasn’t something I was willing to do for the dragons…and I certainly wasn’t going to go to war against the dragons.

“When Queen Beatrice put that slave collar around your neck, she weaponized you. She then sent you with me to my home so you could kill my friends, my family, my people. And you’re angry with me for trying to protect those I care about?” Soren asked. “You’re angry that I put my country’s needs in front of my own? In front of my own feelings? You’re angry that I tricked you into leaving Fein before you and the other dragons succeeded in burning all that I love?”

“You used me!” I swung the sword three times in quick succession. Left. Left. Right. He moved in harmony with my moves, blocking every attack.

“I’m trying to do the honorable thing here, Celestina.”

“Honorable? You fuck me until I can’t think straight while plotting with your father all the ways your pet dragon can be useful. Is that what you call honorable?” I punctuated each sentence with a strike that made my sword clash against his.

“I. Am. Not. The. Villain.” He didn’t strike out at me, but when I sent the blade slashing against his, he held still, causing my blade to hit his so hard the muscles in my arm screamed with pain. I stumbled but caught myself.

“You think I’m the villain?” I quickly recovered from my surprise that not only was he holding back with his attacks, but he was also moving with mine to make things easier for me. How. Dare. He. My anger flared back to life. “You’re the one who’s been lying to me, who’s been playing with my emotions, and who made me fall—” No, I wouldn’t say that last part. I loved him. Still loved him. I wouldn’t let him trick those words from my mouth. It would hurt too much.

“I’m trying to do the impossible,” he roared. “I’m trying to save everyone…including you, dammit!” He protected himself from another flurry of my wild perries.

“Why should I believe you? Every time I’ve asked you to tell me the truth, you have either refused to talk to me or answered with lies.” I thought I’d made a clever move, twirling and swiping low to slice through his ankles.

He jumped over my blade.

“That attack would have worked, Sky Girl, if you hadn’t telegraphed your intention by staring at your target area.” His voice had softened. He danced back a few steps, taking himself out of striking range. “I wanted to tell you everything. It killed me to lie to you.” He lowered his sword as if he no longer saw me as a threat. “How do you think Queen Beatrice learned that the Fein are vampires? How do you think she now knows what our blood can do? Why do you think she moved her forces to the border after we staged what looked like a major rift in the royal family? What? No answer? I’ll tell you why.

“Not only could Queen Beatrice control you through that slave collar, but she could also see, hear, and know everything you could see, hear, and know. We didn’t understand that this was how the collar worked until it was too late. And when we did figure out what was happening, I couldn’t tell you about it without letting Queen Beatrice know that we’d figured it out, could I? And I had to lie to you when we wanted to feed false information to Queen Beatrice. We had to keep information from you when we didn’t want Queen Beatrice to know that information. I had to stage that fake escape when I wanted Queen Beatrice to believe there was a weakness in our command structure that she could exploit. And yes, I lied to you more than once about that, because Queen Beatrice was listening to every damned word I said to you.”

He finally swung his sword. It hit the blade in my hand with such force that both his and my sword shattered. The bones in my hand felt like they had shattered as well. The hilt of my now- broken sword clattered to the ground as I stumbled from the blow. I ended up falling on my ass.

Soren, breathing hard, towered over me. His broken sword rested at his side. Blood sluggishly oozed down his arm from the one injury I’d inflicted. He held a dagger in his opposite hand, raised as if primed to continue this insane, unwinnable fight. If he killed me, he would die. If I killed him…let’s be honest, I couldn’t kill him. I lacked both the skill and the desire to best him. Damn him. Damn everything about him. Despite everything he’d done to betray me and the other dragons, the stupid Beast of Fein still owned my heart.

I threw my head back and, as I screamed my frustration, fire exploded from my mouth.