Page 40

CHAPTER 40

BOWEN

T he moment Auria shut the door, I was heading in the direction of the saloon. I didn’t want to think of the look of betrayal in her eyes before she disappeared inside. We needed to work on this communication between the two of us?—

I shook my head. She was leaving. There was nothing to work on.

My boots pounded in the mud, globs of it spraying upwards as I walked. If Crass and Nemin thought they could get away with attacking Auria, they had less brain cells than I’d given them credit for. I’d had problems with them playing dirty in the past, but nothing like this.

They hurt her, and that wouldn’t go unpunished.

Finally , my magic whispered in my mind. I’ve been waiting.

“You and me both,” I muttered, mere feet from the saloon.

My smoke was way ahead of me, shoving open the door to the saloon so hard the wood split as it slammed against the wall. Instantly, the tendrils were hunting for them. It was a game we both enjoyed, the predator inside me coming out to play.

The patrons were in pure chaos when I entered, fists aimed at one another, a dagger or two drawn, a gun pointed at some man who probably deserved it, if the blood on his knuckles was any proof of that. A chair was thrown at the wall, breaking into pieces while a table was overturned.

But as my magic’s presence became known by the way it weaved between all of them, searching like a hound its prey, they ceased in their fighting, all heads in the room turning to me.

Raiden would be jealous of how quickly I had been able to stop what had to have begun as a riot and seemingly quickly turned into one side disagreeing with the other. I had no doubt that once Raiden had left here, they had gone back to business. By the looks of the place, I likely wasn’t far off with my assumption.

It was because of Auria.

But so was this.

Ribbons of smoke darted for the back corner, finding my two targets chuckling over a game of poker. The idiots were so wrapped up in their game, they hadn’t even realized my presence like the rest of the place. Those laughs quickly turned to choking as I approached, the smoke taking punishment into its own hands. But I wanted to have my fun, too.

As the other men scattered from the table, chairs knocking over in their haste, I called for the smoke to retreat back to me. It spiraled out of their mouths and nostrils reluctantly, darting around me in clouds of frenzy.

“Bowen,” Nemin stuttered out as Crass’s eyes watered from his coughs. Both their cheeks were beet red. From fear or overindulging in alcohol, I didn’t care. “What are you doing here?”

“My town, isn’t it?” I righted one of the chairs, taking a seat to face them. “Or did you forget that when you went after one of my people?”

Crass, the poor, brainless bastard, snorted. “Your people?”

My smoke didn’t like that. It darted for its target, pooling in Crass’s eyes, swimming around like it enjoyed the pain it inflicted.

I knew I did.

I crossed a leg over my knee, unsheathing a dagger from my boot. “She’s currently under Deadwood’s protection. And, you see, two of Deadwood’s notoriously problematic residents going after her just doesn’t look good.”

“W-we didn’t know,” Nemin, the pathetic man that he was, whimpered, his words pouring over one another. “We only wanted a little payback, to scare her a bit.”

Gray fog surrounded his legs, crawling up his waist to his neck. I was half tempted to let it have the reins.

I picked at my fingernail with the tip of my blade. I knew he was lying. They had attacked with the intent to kill her. Auria didn’t wear bruises as bright as hers without death having been a breath away. “Why is that?”

Crass rubbed relentlessly at his eyes, but no amount of scratching would soothe the burn.

Nemin’s gaze darted between Crass and the smoke curling up his body. “She never paid up.”

I sat forward, elbows on my knees, dagger dangling from my hand. “Rumor has it, you two haven’t been truthful about your debts either.”

Nemin’s eyes widened as the smoke wrapped around his neck, the veins nearly bursting through his skin. “W-we have. We’re always h-honest.”

I hummed, sending the smoke from Crass’s eyes through the sockets and into his lungs. Immediately, he began gagging as I stood from the chair, tossing the dagger into the air to catch it by the handle.

Shoving Nemin’s shoulder back, I forced his hand flat on the table. “Lying to your king isn’t a good look.” Even saying the word burned the back of my throat. Rearing my arm back, I brought the dagger down. The blade cut clean through his wrist, and his hand disconnected completely from his body.

Behind me, the rest of the saloon cleared out, wanting nothing to do with the punishment I dealt. They might be outlaws—fae who committed crimes for the good and bad—but I was the most feared in this town. That fact would always remain.

Nemin’s screams filled the emptying building as Crass’s choking ceased, his body lying lifeless on the ground.

I knelt, getting right in Nemin’s sweat-soaked face. “Don’t ever fucking touch what’s mine again.”

I wiped the blood dripping from my dagger on his shoulder, then left him to his own misery. He’d suffer, but he wouldn’t die. I’d have gladly killed him, but I wanted him to serve as a message to the others.

If anyone wanted to lay a hand on Auria in my town, they’d answer to me.

Smoke trailed me as I walked toward Lux, who still stood behind the bar. He ran a rag over a glass, business as usual, as if I hadn’t just killed a man and tortured another in his establishment.

It wasn’t the first time.

I was too antsy to sit, so I leaned against the edge instead, my elbows propped on the sticky surface. “Sorry about the riots.”

Lux set the glass down next to the other clean ones, giving me a hard look. “Not gonna apologize for chasing my money-makers out?”

“You know I never do.”

He grunted. “I know. So don’t feed me some bullshit apology about a couple pissed off fae.”

I sighed, hanging my head.

“Besides,” Lux went on, tossing the rag in the sink, “the girl is growing on me.”

My gaze moved back to his, a smile pulling at the corners of my mouth. Lux never admitted shit like that. “What was that?”

He shot me a glare, grabbing a handle of whiskey and pouring a shot before sliding the small glass toward me. “You keep standing up for her, and people are going to get suspicious.”

I knocked the amber liquid back in one swig before setting it back on the bar. “I’m lenient, Lux. They know that. But not when it comes to this.”

My eyes focused on the clear glass as my mind went back to Auria’s muddy form. The scars on her back. The bruises on her neck. Her ribs.

Lux must’ve sensed the anger growing because he said, “We’ll handle the riots. You just keep her safe, alright?”

Again, my attention moved to him. I’d never heard the man speak like this.

I dipped my chin in response.

He waved a hand my way, eyes darting to my arms and back. “Now get the fuck out of here before you smoke the place out.”

I hadn’t even realized the familiar gray crawling up the path of my veins.

Tapping the edge of the bar once, I shoved off and left the saloon, the color in my arms refusing to dissipate as it reveled in the chaos I’d just created.

Despite my conversation with Lux and having enacted some sort of revenge, though, I didn’t feel an inkling of reprieve knowing Auria had been hurt tonight, and I feared that feeling would never leave me from this point forward.

* * *

The cool night air did nothing to calm the rage that remained filtering through me like magic trapped in a vial. Tendrils of smoke traced gray veins from my elbows to the tips of my fingers, and even after I’d wilted the leaves of a nearby oak tree, it refused to be contained. My power fed off my fae side, and both were currently pits of uncontrollable feral energy.

Piss and blood is almost a step up from human stench, Vulcan grumbled into my mind as he stuck taloned feet into the mushy soil behind me, folding his wings in on himself as he landed. Still unbecoming, though.

I shoved the sleeves of my jacket up farther, the leather tight on my biceps. “I took care of the problem.” My voice was hoarse. Tired.

Whose problem may that have been? Vulcan asked as I turned to face him.

I shook my head. I wasn’t doing this with him again. He didn’t want me anywhere near Auria unless it was to use her, and yet, that didn’t sway me. Little of what Vulcan had to say did. He was an opinionated dragon whose input I didn’t need.

Scaled eyelids blinked over dark, gold-flamed irises, and the judgment in his gaze was all too apparent. Are you so willing to go against your people for harming a girl who means nothing to you?

I scoffed, ribbons of smoke curling toward him. He didn’t bother glancing at the approaching threat as a low growl reverberated through his chest. “Order is to be kept in this town.”

You have guards for that, he reminded me.

“I like to get my hands dirty sometimes.” I refused to be a leader who made others do all my bidding. I wasn’t afraid of a fight. If anything, I rejoiced in them.

Vulcan did his best attempt at an eye roll. Ever the king.

“I am not a king,” I gritted out. Twice in the span of a few hours, the word tainted my tongue. I wouldn’t replace my father, and I wouldn’t be like the other leaders on this continent.

Flynt and his stone dragon, Silax, along with Siara and her water dragon, Azurina, landed on either side of the clearing.

Lovely.

They both slid off their dragons’ backs. Azurina watched Vulcan with a curious eye. She was a dangerous dragon when provoked, but otherwise shy. Her quietness was polar opposite to Siara’s volume.

“Bridge is looking good so far,” Siara announced, running her fingers through her thick, blonde strands to untangle them from flight.

“Still thinking the same completion date?” I asked.

Flynt nodded. His hair was windblown and his cheeks were splotched in red. “Doubt it will be longer than a week now.”

They were making good progress. It was bittersweet. “Good.”

“Are you thinking of checking out Torbernite again?” Flynt asked, taking his leather gloves off and shoving them in his jacket pocket.

“Maybe next week,” I clipped.

Flynt raised a suspicious brow before eyeing the charred tree nearby, likely getting the gist of just how stir-crazy my magic was making me.

“ He would have been successful the first time had he not been distracted by the girl, ” Vulcan muttered, speaking aloud so the others could hear his judgment.

Silax, the lazy dragon that he was, lay in a ball, releasing a huff in response. The dragons weren’t happy with how long our plan was taking, but a civilization couldn’t bestow major changes overnight.

“What happened with what girl?” Siara asked, always the curious one.

“Nothing happened with any girl,” I bit out, shooting Vulcan a warning glare to keep his putrid mouth shut. “I have this covered. I just need to go back, do some more digging, and we can move on.”

Steam misted the grass below as Vulcan chortled.

“Need I remind you not to insult our own, Vulcan,” my voice boomed, yet the dragon didn’t stand down. He stepped forward, bringing his head to my level. “Or perhaps you’re jealous.”

From my peripheral, Silax moved to a stand, sensing the rising tension.

“ She is distracting you. Or do you not see that? I thought you were smarter, King. ” Vulcan’s voice was dangerously low, the gold flecks in his scales flaring brighter as he spoke.

I refused to let him provoke me with the title, but his indirect insult of Auria was reason enough for my smoke to wrap around his legs like a coil ready to spring. “This is not her fault.”

“ Tell me, then, if she had not shown up, would you be infiltrating their supply right now? ”

Siara, the brave one that she was, stepped between us. “Alright, boys. No need to whip them out and measure. We’ll get this sorted out. In the meantime, let’s all stop blaming Auria for shit that doesn’t involve her.”

Her words were a slight shock as just earlier, she had done the same. I’d been right, then. She was just as attached.

Mentally, I shoved the word away. I couldn’t allow myself to grow attached to Auria. She was to leave, and I’d likely never see her again. It was better this way.

“Siara’s right,” I said as Vulcan dropped the act, giving me space. He’d never dare put a gnarly talon on me, and I’d likely never do the same to him. That never stopped the threats from flying, though. “None of this is her fault. She’ll be gone in a few days, and we can get back to the plan.”

After the incident earlier, I was thankful Glacies wasn’t here for this. She was overly protective of Auria, and I didn’t need that interfering with any of this.

“Flynt, were you and Silax able to find a weak spot over the chasm?” I asked, turning to them. I’d sent them to see if their attempt ended the same way the bones dragon’s had when it had hit the invisible wall in the cave.

He shook his head as Silax stepped up behind him. His light brown scales were muted under the silver rings casting a glow upon the meadow. “We tried to fly over multiple different areas of the chasm, even tried over the ocean, but there’s something blocking dragons from entering at all angles. Clearly, fae can get in, so it’s only for them.”

“We tried, too,” Siara added. “No luck.”

Off to the side, Azurina nodded, green hooded eyes sparkling in the night.

“We need to figure out why, and soon.” There’d be no way to follow through with all of this if the dragons couldn’t fly into Amosite, and after my experience in the caves, we couldn’t get them in through there either.

Something had to be powering an invisible wall of sorts. We just had to figure out what that was and destroy it.

“The plan is still on,” I said, more so to assure Vulcan. “We’ll make this happen, and we’ll get what we’ve been fighting for. My father didn’t die for nothing, and neither will we. Is that clear?”

Dragons and fae alike gave nods of approval.

Now we just had to figure out how to do this without truly making the fae population extinct, and possibly bringing the dragons down with us.