Page 35 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)

T he rush of wind and Astred’s pounding heart filled her ears as they flew toward the battle raging over Aeleftheria.

What was left of her. Everything they’d built was gone. The Citadel and her towers were nothing but crumbled stone.

On the distant horizon, several ships approached, smaller winged figures launching to join the enemy ranks. Not dragons. Other.

She banked to intercept a few who were already engaged, threatening to overwhelm an Aeleftherian guardian and an unknown female defender, whose scent reminded her of one of the refugee camp dragonesses.

With no mercy left in her, she came in hard, prepared to shred and break, and rend limbs. Regardless of the GPSA’s policy to subdue and contain, this was clearly a fight to the death.

Her throat thickened.

Odson had brought everyone with him that he could.

She wouldn’t send their corpses back.

Unseen by their attacker, she angled the strike to the back of the enemy’s neck. The snap of bone, the spray of blood. The enemy tumbled into the ocean. Eyes wide, the guardian and the refugee looked to Astred, chests heaving. They were exhausted, struggling to remain airborne.

Below them, those that didn’t make it dotted the ocean, Aeleftherian guardians, allies, and enemy corpses dragged together by ocean currents.

Too late.

Too. Fucking. Late!

She roared her fury.

A dragoness with metallic scales soared past Astred’s line of sight.

Not Kolina or Zayli.

Older. Scarred. Bleeding.

Zadora.

Astred dimly noted that she’d never seen any dragon so battle scarred as this one.

Dragon Star. Aeleftheria’s greatest warrior.

And her greatest traitor.

The fury returned. Astred went after her, knocking her from her balance, sending her crashing to the island she seemed intent on.

Astred skidded to a halt beside her, allowing her momentum to lend force as she curled her claws into a fist, connecting with Zadora’s snout with a scream fueled by betrayal and hatred.

The old dragon hesitated, seeing that it was Astred who attacked her.

She didn’t evade or block the second strike, but collapsed and shrank into her human form at Astred’s feet.

It was everything Astred could do to resist the urge to crush the old woman, prone in her submission.

Kai landed next to her, followed by several others.

Releasing her dragon, Astred screamed into Zadora’s face, fist pulled back, ready for a third strike, “You did this! You destroyed us!”

Zadora glanced at the tree line behind her, inching away from Astred toward a figure curled in the shadows.

Zayli. Unconscious, bruised, bones at unnatural angles.

“Where is Kolina?”

Odson answered, nodding toward Zayli’s inert form, “She’s out of the battle too, alive but in bad condition. A few survivors are looking after her on one of the smaller islands further out.”

Astred sobbed. “We need her. She’s the only one that can do this. The only one I can trust.” She turned on Zadora again. “You ordered Zayli to poison my mother.”

“I did, your highness. Zayli is innocent of my plan. She believed she acted on Council orders, but they were mine alone.”

“That is still treason,” Astred snarled.

Odson stepped up to the two Aeleftherians. “Astred, she’s been fighting as hard as the rest of us. Leave this till later. We need to get back into the battle.”

Astred advanced on Zadora, who remained uncharacteristically on her knees.

She’d never bowed her head to anyone, let alone this level of submission.

“I need to know how to activate the stone.”

Zadora searched Astred’s face. “The Star Stone?” Her face lit up at Astred’s nod, her voice breathless. “Give it to me. I can end this.”

Astred stepped back. “It was taken from you for a reason, Zadora. No. Kolina is the only guardian fit to touch it. She didn’t succumb to its power when she transported it to safekeeping.” She drew a deep breath. “I’ll use it myself. Tell me what I need to know.”

“You can’t. You need the star blood in your veins.”

Astred glanced at Kai. “Which I now have, though somewhat diluted. I… hear it.”

Kai’s features registered shock at this admission as he searched her face.

Astred held her focus on the matron.

Zadora glanced between Astred and Kai, her expression crumpling. “Oh, no. No, Astred, no. You’ll lose the link to the Dragon Mother. You cannot bond with this abomination.” She hissed at Kai. “Kolina told me when you were born that are not purely dragon or purely tiger, but that you are both. Like those creatures out there laying waste to our home. She should have heeded my command to destroy you.”

Hatred burned through Astred’s body, so that her hand snapped out, slapping Zadora hard across the mouth.

“Kai is my bond mate. My chosen life partner. You disgust me by speaking to anyone with such vile words, let alone a child of your own bloodline.” Astred drew a breath, suppressing the urge to strike Zadora again. Finding some measure of calm, she dropped her voice, “Release my mother from the spell you poisoned her with and all will be well, should we survive this mess you created.”

Zadora straightened from the shock of being struck. “But you’re the last of the Arakkil. The Oracle needs pure royal blood to maintain the connection. If you taint yourself, the Mother will reject you and we’ll all be lost.”

“Perhaps. But that will be up to the Mother, won’t it? Besides, if the current queen recovers, she might still produce another pure heir. Now tell me what I need to know.”

“No.”

“Astred, we don’t have time for this. They’re coming with the seal,” Odson growled, eyes to the sky. “We’ll find another way.”

“No, we don’t have time for this,” Astred advanced on Zadora again. “The vision was clear. The streaking star stone obliterated everything.”

“Vision?” Zadora gaped at Astred.

Seeing another of their own in trouble, Odson took off at a run, shifted and dove into the fight. The others followed to join the fight, leaving only Kai behind with Astred.

“Tell me how to activate it, Zadora.”

The older woman paled. “You would have asked Kolina to sacrifice herself?”

“No. I would have asked Kolina to lend her strength to help us defeat the enemy. But now that I’m here, I see that the situation is too dire, and far too late for that.”

“You’re too important to take that on, Astred. The survivors will need you,” Kai murmured to Astred. “Let me do it. I can use the shadow magic to protect myself from the stone’s influence.”

“As long as my mother still breathes, the people will look to her. This is my task. I was never cut out to be an oracle. But I will defend her with my life.”

“The stone will not do what you ask without absolute submission to it. No protection,” Zadora said to Kai. She turned her stare to Astred. “You have to give yourself to it, wholly and completely. Heart and soul.” Her gaze slid back to Kai. “Seems you’ve already given both to another, if, as you say, you’re bonded. The only way to break that kind of bond is through death.”

Kai would have to die for Astred to commit to the mission.

Or, Astred would have to die for Kai to commit to the mission.

Either way, Kai’s life was the price.

Astred’s heart pounded. Princess and council matron—no, Aeleftherian legend—stared at one another.

A flicker of understanding reached Astred.

She knows the pain of that kind of death.

Is that what made her this way? The loss of her bonded mate?

It was hard to imagine, and Astred refused to allow the thought to soften her as she held this traitor’s gaze.

“Why?”

Zadora’s brow rose, though she understood the question. “Because I should have been the one to guide Aeleftheria and protect the Dragon Mother all this time. It was my destiny.”

“You played straight into the Consortium’s hands with your underhanded guidance.”

Zadora stiffened but accepted this. “I did.”

Screams continued around them.

“You hear the stone’s call, therefore you understand what it demands. As I do. Give it to me, your Highness.”

“You cannot be trusted.”

“I was the legendary Dragon Star. Let me be her, one last time. For the sake of Aeleftheria and the Dragon Mother.” She searched Astred’s face. “Before the seal arrives and destroys us all, on their terms. Because have no doubt, after seeing their tactics here, they will weaponize it and collect what, and who, remains after the fallout.”

Astred had already come to that conclusion.

“Let me ignite the sky, on our terms.”