Page 45 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Amaya

“Daughter!” My mother’s voice cut through the pain and blackness. I tried to cry out to her. But all that I could manage was a gurgling in my throat. “Get out of my way! I never would have agreed to this!”

“That’s why we didn’t tell you.” My father’s hard voice sounded distant. “The midnight dragon has always been a tool of the moonlight. It’s the moonlight dragon that will bring us our golden future. It’s the moonlight dragon that needs to be freed.”

“That doesn’t mean we should be careless with another life.” I barely felt the press of my mother’s warm touch on my cheek. “I can’t save you, my sweet child.” I wanted to tell her not to fret. But I was no longer able to draw a breath. My throat had almost instantly been flooded with blood. I was no longer able to see. I couldn’t find my magic to shift.

This was death. And I welcomed it.

“But hopefully Celestina can save you,” my mother whispered.

Celestina had screamed fiercely at the others for harming me. But then her voice had abruptly stopped. Had she shifted? Had she found her dragon?

Being so close to her, wouldn’t I have felt the burst of power if she had?

“What can I do to help?” That was Gwen.

“Keep everyone back!” my mother shouted.

The wound in my neck screamed with pain as I was pushed across the grass.

“Sorry. Sorry,” my mother whispered over and over. “It’s almost over.”

An icy cold hand closed over my wrist. I felt the warmer fingers of a third hand pressing that cold hand against my skin. I wanted it to stop. I tried to pull away, but I couldn’t muster the strength as my heart fluttered…and faltered.

“Pull her power to you, Celestina. Pull it and make her shift. Save her. Please.” My mother’s voice sounded garbled, like she could barely speak from sobbing so hard.

Don’t worry about me , I wanted to tell her. I’d spent a lifetime making her worry. She deserved to be released from that burden.

“Hold on, my sweet child. Hold on a little longer,” my mother begged.

Celestina grunted and there was a flash of burning pain as my power jerked and then was pulled, pulled from wherever it had gone in my body to die. It blasted up to the surface and exploded out toward Celestina.

And then I was nothing.

Nothing.

Is this death ?

No.

No…

Not.

Dead.

I.

Am.

Air.

I tumbled in a shuddering breeze across the surface of the plateau. Light. Free. Happy.

I liked being air. I could stay this way forever. My father couldn’t slit my throat when I didn’t have a throat to cut.

But when I saw Celestina lying on the ground, I stopped.

She hadn’t taken her dragon form. Neither the anger she’d felt from my father’s betrayal nor the power she’d pulled from me had broken the binding spell.

She’d curled in on herself. Hugging her middle as if in great pain. That wasn’t right.

I shifted to my midnight dragon and dropped to the ground to stand over Celestina, hissing at the others, warning them to stay away from her.

My mother rolled away from me when I snapped my sharp teeth in her direction. I didn’t want anyone near my moonlight dragon. Not even her. Celestina was mine to protect.

“Mine .”

“Yes, dear,” my mother said as she held up her hands. “She is yours to protect. But something is wrong with her. The binding spell must have hurt her when she tried to shift. You need to let me get close to see if I can help her.”

“Mine ,” the feral part of me roared. I didn’t want to let anyone near Celestina, especially not after they’d harmed us both. The clan didn’t deserve her. I bent to gather her up into my taloned claws and take her away from here. I knew of a cave…

“She’s hurt,” my mother repeated as if she realized my intent.

“Please,” Gwen stood next to my mother. Her hands clasped to her throat. “Please, Amaya, let us see what we can do to help her.”

I glanced over at my father and the other males. They were keeping their distance. Smart move on their part. I’d fight them if they came at me. It didn’t matter that I was a female or that my dragon was smaller than theirs. I was the midnight dragon, a nightmare made into flesh. I could destroy them all without feeling an ounce of remorse. They’d wanted to anger a dragon. Well, they got their wish.

I.

Was.

Seething.

But these two females had helped Celestina and me. They had loved on me when others had kept their distance. Even within the fog of my wildness, I knew I could trust them.

I shifted back to my human form and dropped to my knees next to Celestina. The cool breeze chilled all my parts. I glanced down and realized that in my haste I’d shifted without pulling clothes to me. I quickly turned back to air, and then a heartbeat later shifted back to my human form, pulling a clean black sweater and fresh leather leggings onto my body as it became solid again.

“What’s wrong with you?” I demanded of Celestina. “What happened, Moonglow?”

Celestina rolled and whimpered.

“There’s no visible injury,” my mother said as she placed her hand on Celestina’s forehead. “But something is definitely wrong.” She carefully placed her other hand on Celestina’s abdomen. As soon as my mother’s hand touched the area, Celestina cried out as if she’d been struck.

This felt familiar.

My mother jerked back. “I have no idea what this could mean. Do you remember having ever seen anything like this, Gwen?”

Too familiar.

“No. Maybe the kickback from the binding spell caused some kind of internal damage?” Gwen asked.

“If that were the case, there should be signs of bruising.” My mother lifted Celestina’s sweater, ever so slowly, ever so carefully, to peer at the perfect milky skin below.

But what I was thinking couldn’t be true.

It would be…impossible.

“Cullen?” I tossed open the pathway, hoping he hadn’t blocked me. “ What’s going on where you are? What has happened to Soren? Is he hurt?”

“Yes, dammit! He went in with a group of warriors to save a troop who were surrounded by Queen Beatrice’s undead army. When he and his men reached the troop, another wave of undead closed in around them. Soren was stabbed and bitten. And the undead carried him off. Wait a minute. Why are you asking about him?”

“Celestina collapsed just now.”

“That’s impossible. The bond—”

“Must have completed itself because she looks like she’s dying.”

Cullen swore. “ We’re fighting back. We’re trying to rescue Soren. But their fucking army keeps coming back to life.”

“Don’t you dare let him die.” I pushed that thought as hard as I knew how.

“We’re trying to save him, Amaya .” His thoughts hit me like a blistering windstorm.

I bundled Celestina into my arms. There was no way I was going to let anyone else carry her.

“Soren has been injured and captured by Queen Beatrice’s undead army. Celestina’s life is in danger because of his injuries,” I announced to the clan.

“That’s impossible,” Trace snapped.

I turned Celestina away from him. “They are bonded partners. If one falls, the other falls. It’s a horrid system, but that’s vampires for you.”

“But the bond only goes one way!” Trace shouted. “I was there. I watched the ceremony. She didn’t take the oath.”

Gwen shook her head. “Look at her, son.”

“She’s faking.” Trace gestured with a dismissive wave. “She’s upset that we harmed you, Amaya. And she’s trying to trick us. She’s trying to punish us by pretending her precious vampire prince is injured.”

“He is injured! I just communicated with his brother and confirmed it.”

“You’re communicating with vampires?” my father screeched. After what he’d done to me, I didn’t owe him any explanations.

“If Soren dies, she dies,” I said. I held up my hand when Trace tried to object again. “I don’t care what you saw at the palace. Something has happened between them. Maybe the words don’t have to be spoken. Maybe the oath can be a whisper of a feeling, a promise in a kiss, a vow spoken with the body.” I thought about the well-worn pathway that I’d accidentally created between Cullen and me. “It’s not the words that matter. Only the emotions behind them.” I softened my voice. “I know this is hard for you to hear, Trace. But Celestina loves that vampire warrior of hers. It’s not a mind trick they played on her. She’s not confused. And if the clan doesn’t help the Fein defeat Queen Beatrice, we’re going to lose the last moonlight dragon. Forever.”

“If he’s this injured,” my mother said, “it may already be too late.”

No, it couldn’t be too late. I didn’t want to carry the burden of being the clan’s last hope alone. I needed Celestina to be in the world with me, to be part of this story, to be the strong one where I was the constant failure.

“You’re not a failure .” Cullen pushed that thought so forcefully into my mind, I stumbled. “ You’re clever and brave and you leave my mind in a muddled mess because I’m obsessively thinking of you when I’m sure you’re too busy to spare me a second of your thoughts.”

I didn’t dare admit that I’d been obsessively thinking of him as well. Not even to myself. Not when he might hear me thinking it.

“Do you really believe taking her to this vampire prince would save her?” my mother asked.

“I think if we can get them together, they can save each other.” I hoped that was true.

“We can’t lose the moonlight dragon,” my father said. I think he meant it as in “we can’t let her leave the plateau.” But I was still in no mood to argue with a man who’d coldly slit his own daughter’s throat.

“You should go, Amaya.” Trace blinked up at the sky. “Take her to him.”

“Come with us, Trace. The vampires need help. They need our help.”

He shook his head. “They’re our enemy.”

“I don’t think we need to be enemies,” my mother said quietly as she brushed away a small lizard that had crawled up her leg. “We’ve not interacted with anything outside of the clan for so many generations, we’ve disappeared from the continent’s memories. We’ve become nothing more than myths and fairytales to them. And humans and vampires have become the monsters that lurk in the shadows of our nightmares. But is this the truth?”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Trace said. “The humans…they are our enemies. They mistreated Celestina for twenty-three years. Queen Beatrice chased us away from the valley, away from Celestina. She’s threatened to kill us. And she nearly succeeded in killing Celestina. There is no question in my mind that she’d happily kill us all.”

“Then help them fight her,” I hugged Celestina tightly to my chest, hoping I could provide her with some comfort for the pain she clearly was suffering.

“No,” my father said. “No one from the clan will leave here.”

“You will let Amaya go,” my mother spun on her heels to confront my father. “You will let her take Celestina with her.”

Gwen stood shoulder to shoulder with my mother. “She will go. You will allow it.”

Ivy stepped forward with Gregory holding her arm. “Let them go. Amaya knows what she’s doing. And the moonlight dragon is too important to risk losing this way.”

“Come with us,” I implored. “Help me save her prince. Help me stop Queen Beatrice from overrunning the Kingdom of Fein.”

“We don’t need to save a kingdom, only one man. You’re more than capable of accomplishing that task, Amaya,” Gregory said. “You go. Save him. Then bring them both back here.”

My father nodded. “We’ll keep the vampire safe from the queen.”

Others in the crowd were nodding. And I realized that this was going to be the best I could expect. With a resigned sigh, I kissed my mother’s cheek. “Think of me, and I’ll be able to reach you.”

“Always, my daughter. I’ll always keep you in my mind and my heart. Fly with the gods.” She cupped my cheek in her warm hand. “And come back to us.”

I nodded. “I will try,” was the best I could promise.

Keeping a tight holding on Celestina, I shifted to my dragon form and shot up into the sky. I turned into the headwinds, flying directly toward the Fein border, following the tug in my chest that I’d felt ever since I’d left Prince Cullen. I prayed I’d reach the battle in time to save Celestina.

“Don’t you dare die on me now, Moonglow.”