Page 101 of Destined Dawn

“No, I don’t think so. She is my dragon after all. They all are.”

“Nah,” I say, “this one’s Rhi’s.”

“I am the prince descended from dragons!” He peers at the flames burning around him and runs his hand over his skin.

“Then so is Rhi!”

The Black Prince smiles.

“Ah, they say my power comes from dragons – my inability to burn. Such a pretty story. But of course it doesn’t. Just another useful piece of magic I borrowed from another source.”

“You mean stole!” little rabbit cries out.

“Not stolen, given.” His eyes glint. His fangs are sharp in his mouth. “I wonder what powers I’ll gain from you, daughter. From each of your fated ones. Pretty little trick this one pulled off.”

“Keep wondering,” I tell him. “We’re leaving.”

“I’m not going anywhere!” Rhi protests.

Personally, engaging in conversation with a drainer like him seems dumb. And dull. I say we get the hell out of here. People only use words to deceive you, to entangle you in confusion. Nothing good ever came in talking. Better to strike. Better to flee. Talk and you’re dead.

Little rabbit’s still learning though. She doesn’t know all this stuff yet.

The Black Prince’s lips quiver. “Come down from the dragon, daughter. Come down now!”

“Just so you know,” I say, leaning in to speak directly into her ear, “that isn’t happening.”

“It is!” her daddio roars, flicking his wrist violently. This time his magic whips against the dragon’s thick neck andcoils tightly around it. The dragon shakes her head, nearly tossing us to the ground and scrapes her talons desperately against her neck. “I apologize if I gave the impression that was a request. It isn’t. You aren’t going anywhere. You will be my power source, daughter, and finally I will seize my destiny. I will become the magical I should always have been! No more bargaining with men like Kennedy and Lowsky. I will have complete control!”

“Uh, no,” I say, snatching the knife from my pocket and flinging it directly at his head. Unfortunately, it isn’t one of my best throws and he halts the knife with his magic and sends it flying back at me. I dodge it just in time, but not before it scrapes across my face, searing my ear right in half.

“Shit,” I mutter, blinking as the pain hits me square between the eyes. The blood roars into my head and leaves me fucking light-headed as it pours out of my ear. The world spins and I lose my fucking balance, slipping straight from the dragon and landing hard on the floor. For a moment, I’m winded, struggling to tear the air back into my lungs. I stumble up onto my feet and feel the press of cool metal against my throat. It’s the knife.

My knife.

Her knife.

His knife.

Except this isn’t some fun game like with little rabbit. The Black Prince means business. He presses the knife deep into my flesh.

“Don’t you touch him!” little rabbit screams.

“Come down from the dragon and I will let him live.”

She glares at him like he isn’t the legendary Black Prince, a freaking sucker, a vampire, the darkest of all magicals.

Fuck, I love this girl.

I jolt, the blade sliding roughly against my skin.

Love?

Me?Love?

A fucked-up snort comes blurting out my nose.

You have to have a heart to love someone. And I was born with one that does its job. Pumps the blood around my body. Bish bash, bish bash.