Page 19 of Galadon (Dragon’s Breath #8)

Galadon

Terror, unlike anything I’d ever felt before, ran through me as Rayna’s hand fell away from the dagger embedded in her chest to lie limply on the ground. This proud, brave woman who’d never stopped fighting couldn’t throw her life away to save me. That’s not how this was supposed to end. How dare she say those words and then stab herself in the heart?

I came to save her .

I flung myself toward her, barely making it a foot, then crawled on my stomach the rest of the way as I ignored the agonizing pain in my useless legs. She was gasping for breath. Each one could be her last, and I had to reach her. At that moment, I realized what I’d thrown away by rejecting her time and again. She’d said she’d never hurt me, but I’d never believed her. My past wouldn’t let me. Had I driven her to this because she saw no way forward for us?

I started to take the dagger out, but I remembered at the last moment that it could make things worse. Already, Astaroth and his followers were heading our way. They’d been waiting for one of us to die before coming closer.

“Why?” I growled at her. “You didn’t have to do this.”

She sucked in a breath. “Only way…you could…ever trust me.”

“You fushka .” Fool. “I am not worth this.”

Her fingers twitched where I lay next to her as if she sought my touch. I took her hand. It was a little thing, but with our palms clasped, I felt the tiny thread of the bond she’d extended by declaring her love for me. That spark connected us on a primal level and would only happen if she’d meant it. I wished I could say the words back, so we’d fully connect, but I had no idea what I felt except fear for her. She couldn’t leave me like this.

“You’re worth…” She coughed and winced in pain. “…more than you realize.”

How could she say these things while I was losing her? All my life, I’d thought of myself as an abandoned and unwanted dragon who held little value, knowing that if something happened to me, no one would feel my loss. The only thing that drove me to stay alive was to annoy my enemies and take down as many as possible before I left this world. Not once did it occur to me that a female—especially a slayer—would fall in love with me and even sacrifice her life for mine. The thought of it shook me to the core.

“Ah, what a touching moment,” Astaroth said, coming to stand a few feet away with a pleased expression. “The pain you two are suffering will feed me for a long time to come, and her death will satiate me even more.”

I tried to lunge for him, but my legs wouldn’t cooperate. Rayna wouldn’t let go of my hand, either. There was a look in her eyes as if she was trying to tell me something, but she couldn’t speak the words. Her breath continued to grow more choked and shallower.

I glared at the Kandoran, wishing the remaining shackles on my ankles didn’t continue to bind my dragon and sorcerer magic. He’d be dead in a second otherwise.

“The others will come for you,” I said, fury in my voice.

He laughed. “They may have outsmarted my predecessors, but they can’t outsmart me. I can anticipate their every move now that they aren’t blocking me anymore. Though, admittedly, I didn’t foresee the slayer doing this. I thought for sure she’d kill you, but she is a contrary one.”

Rayna squeezed my hand and grunted. When she turned her head, I followed her gaze and found a large group of red dragons flying our way. Lorcan led them. They must have circled around because they were coming from the west behind the Kandoran, so they couldn’t see their approach. That was what the slayer had been trying to tell me with her urgent expression.

I kept my expression blank throughout this realization, wanting to give the shifters time to arrive before the sorcerer could mount a defense or escape. Rayna’s gaze met mine, and understanding passed between us despite the light fading in her hazel eyes. Even so close to death, she continued to look out for me. My najeema was more precious than I ever realized.

Astaroth started to turn his head, so I growled to distract him. “You’re not as smart as you think. Your overconfidence will be your downfall.”

“What? As if you could do anything,” he said with a malicious grin. “So broken now you can’t even hope to fight me.”

I pushed down my rage at his words. The red dragons—perhaps two dozen of them—were getting closer. Now, they were less than a mile away. I had to keep the Kandoran talking for only a minute or two.

“It’s ironic you should mention that, considering you wouldn’t survive half of what you’ve inflicted upon us without crying like a child,” I said with a feral grin. “In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you whine if you even stub your toe. Those who inflict pain on others are often the ones who can’t handle it themselves.”

Astaroth’s expression turned furious. “I would never be so stupid as to get captured and tortured, unlike you.”

“That’s because you don’t care about anyone except yourself—not even those minions you keep close all the time because you’re too much of a coward to face two people with broken legs and mutilated bodies alone,” I replied, and then I forced myself to sit up. It hurt and took longer than I liked, considering I had broken ribs on top of broken legs, but I still managed.

The sorcerer took a step back. “You can call me a coward.” He turned his head and looked straight at the incoming red dragon as if he’d known they were there all along. “But at least I’ll escape to live another day.”

Despite the distance separating us, I tried to reach out as the Kandoran pulled his followers close, but they disappeared in the next second. For Zorya’s sake. How had he known they were there?

I looked down at Rayna, whose eyes had drifted shut. Fear tightened my throat. “They’re almost here, slayer. You need to hold on for me, okay?”

She didn’t reply. If not for her ragged breaths, I would have thought her gone.

Lorcan landed first, followed by several Taugud warriors, one carrying Morgan—a sorcerer ally—and then my mother touched ground behind them. They began shifting immediately while twenty other shifters stayed in dragon form to patrol the sky.

I called out to Ujala as soon as she took human form, “Ama!”

She ran toward me, along with Lorcan. Horror filled their gazes as they got a good look at us. Shame filled me that not only had I failed to save Rayna, but I’d allowed myself to be brutalized as well. It was the greatest failure of my life. If not for my need to see the slayer survive, I might have wished they’d never found me.

My mother knelt on the other side of Rayna. “Good thing you didn’t pull the knife, or I might have been too late.”

As she placed her hands around the wound, they began to glow. It was a sign she was scanning internally before deciding the best way to heal the injury. I waited impatiently, having seen her do this quite a few times, but it wasn’t easy, as time seemed to pass too slowly.

When the furrow in her brows eased a bit, I couldn’t hold my tongue any longer. “How bad is it?”

“The blade mostly missed her heart. It has a small cut that is causing some internal bleeding, but it could have been much worse. Her left lung is fully pierced and can’t heal with the blade embedded in it. Still, keeping it there helped prevent more complications.”

I let out a breath. Her tone would be much direr if she thought the slayer wouldn’t survive. “Her body is too damaged to heal much on its own right now.”

Ujala looked me up and down. “I’d say the same about you.”

Lorcan and Morgan were examining the area, stopping at the poles where I’d been held, and the dried blood and muck on the ground there. The sorcerer was studying the poles with fascination. It was a good thing he’d more than proven his loyalty during the war, or I’d have worried about his interest in the Kandoran’s work.

“Sorry it took so long to get here,” Lorcan said, finally coming toward us while my mother worked to heal Rayna’s chest wound. “They had a powerful dome shield over the area, and it took Morgan time to dismantle it.”

At least the Kandoran hadn’t seen that coming until it was too late.

I nodded. “I assumed as much.”

The sorcerer in question came to kneel at Galadon and Rayna’s feet. At first, he couldn’t contain his distress at our mutilated bodies and smashed legs, but after a minute, he turned his gaze to the shackles binding our ankles.

“These are using the same spell as the ones we found on Bailey’s father,” he said.

I couldn’t wait to get them off and feel my dragon again. “That’s because the same man put them on us.”

“He’s still alive?” Morgan asked, eyes rounding.

“Yes. Didn’t you see him and his followers leave?”

The young sorcerer worked his jaw. “Yes, but I didn’t get a good look at him. Too bad he teleported away.”

“We’ll get him soon,” I vowed.

Morgan’s expression became determined. “I’m not a guy who likes to fight, but after seeing what he’s done to you two and the other slayer, I’ll gladly help take him down.”

“Good. Now, can you get these shackles off?” I asked.

“Oh, right.” He glanced down. “The ones on Bailey’s father took me forever to figure out, but now that I know what to do, I can get these off easily enough.”

“Rayna first,” I said.

“Of course.”

A minute later, the slayer was free. Though she remained unconscious, and my mother was healing her, I could have sworn a sigh escaped her. She’d likely felt her magic returning, and that would hopefully help her heal quicker.

Morgan had my shackles off a few moments later. It was a relief as soon as I could sense my beast again and the power thrumming through my veins. The youngest of the shifters who’d joined us on the ground came over and kneeled next to me.

His gaze was wary, likely because I was back to emitting fear pheromones again. “I’m training to be a healer, but I've already become proficient at setting shattered bones during the Kandoran war. Would it be okay if I did that for you before they heal incorrectly?”

“Yes,” I said, appreciating that he understood Rayna needed all my mother’s focus. “You may go ahead.”

Lorcan paced nearby. “We must hurry. I suspect that the sorcerer returned to his nest, and he’ll bring them back with him soon. We don’t have enough warriors to face them all.”

I’d thought as much, too, which was why I needed to get my legs straightened out now. The shifter healer set to work, and I gritted my teeth as he aligned pieces of bone, one after another, because almost everything from my shins to my thigh had been crushed. I couldn’t say how long it took, but it felt like hours. By the time he finished aligning them, I was gasping for breath, but at least I didn’t make a sound to give my weakness away. My body could begin properly healing now.

He handed me a canteen of water. “Drink as much as you can.”

I did as he ordered because I knew I badly needed to hydrate. Food would have been good as well, but we had no time for that. I returned it to him empty, feeling a little more like myself.

“I’ve repaired the worst of her internal damage,” my mother said, sitting back on her heels. “It will take several days of treatments to get her back to better health, but she can handle traveling now.”

I looked down at Rayna. The slayer’s face was ashen, but she breathed easier. “Why hasn’t she woken up?”

“I saw a lot of other internal damage that wasn’t life-threatening but certainly painful, so I thought it best to put her into a coma for now and let her body focus on recovery,” Ujala said, shaking her head. “In all my centuries, I’ve never seen damage to this extent done for pure cruelty.”

“Let’s get ready to go!” Lorcan shouted, voice carrying to those who’d walked farther out to patrol.

“I need to shift,” I said, attempting to get up, but my legs failed.

The young Taugud healer shook his head. “You’re far from ready for that.”

“I’m not letting anyone carry me out of here,” I growled. How could anyone think I’d ever allow such an indignity?

My mother gave me a determined look. “I love you, son, but this is for the best.”

“What do you…?” I began.

She touched my forehead, spreading warmth. By the time I realized what she was doing, it was too late. Blackness engulfed me.