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Heart of the Dragon

NYX

I didn’t understand.

“You wanted her,” he went on as if it made perfect sense. “I kept her alive for you.”

“Solaris.” I spoke slowly, heart thudding. “Why is she here?”

He seemed annoyed. “For you.”

“You’re…you’re giving me a mortal ? As a gift? Like she’s some fucking pet?!”

“I was thinking more like a handmaiden. Or…” His expression darkened, his eyes impish. “A minion.”

I nearly fell over.

The girl from the rooftop kept staring at me. I couldn’t read the emotions in her eyes. I stalked over to her, checking her up and down. “Did he hurt you?”

“He kidnapped me!” she professed, expelling like the air out of a balloon. “The flight up here made me sick!”

Her words knocked me back a step.

He…flew with her .

All I saw was red. Was I having a stroke?

He. Flew. With. Her.

I could hardly form a coherent thought. The rage burning through me was blinding.

I forced myself to channel that rage at him. “You’re insane! You can’t give me a mortal! We need to let her go. Right now!”

“The child was being trafficked,” he shot back, offended that I was objecting. “If you saw what I saw, you would have turned the place to cinders. I have done her a kindness by bringing her here. She can make use of her short, inconsequential life by serving you. Either she stays, or I go with my original plan and throw her off the roof. You choose, Firefly.”

My chest rose and fell. I turned to the girl. “Go back into the bedroom. I’ll deal with this, okay?”

Solaris made a sound of disgust.

She didn’t listen right away. She hesitated, looking at me as if she had something to say. I kept my face passive, allowing her to do so. But when her lips opened, no words followed. After a moment of thought, she retreated into the bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

“Always ungrateful.” He walked away from me, his wings whispering along the black floor. He gazed out at the city, keeping his back to me. “Be on your way, then. She was as good as dead, anyway. Perhaps I will put her back.”

“Oh, what a shock. You’re being a manipulative psycho. What exactly do you expect me to do with a mortal girl, Solaris?”

“Whatever you bloody well want. It’s their purpose. To serve us.”

I glared at the back of his head, wishing it would catch fire. “No. The original order was that we protect and guide them. Not make them slaves.”

He turned to me then, his expression swamped with disdain. “You think that’s all she would be? A slave? That she would not benefit—on a soul level—from being around you?”

“Why would she? I’m no good. Mortals don’t benefit when they’re around me. I just stole a girl’s face. I broke into a home and killed a woman. And all of it I did, for you.” The last words came out like a vehicle backfiring. Jarring, unintentional, gratuitous.

He glared at me. I felt as naked as after I’d been shot.

“Then why strive for righteousness now?”

My eyes burned and I hated it. I’d cried more in the last week than ever before in my entire life.

I swallowed the urge, forcing my face to stay hard. “I want you dead.”

“Go change. Once you’re properly dressed, we have an agenda to discuss.”

I didn’t bother hesitating. I couldn’t stand being around him for another second. I snatched the box off the bar top and stomped away, my heels cracking against the floor. I went into the bedroom where the girl was and found her sitting on the edge of the bed.

She shot to her feet before the door shut behind me.

I released a long breath, relieved to have that winged creature out of my sight. “Are you okay?” I asked her, my voice hushed.

She nodded. “What is he? A true angel?”

I gave a helpless shrug. “I don’t know what he is. I’m going to get you out of here, okay? Just hang tight for a while and let me deal with it.”

She nodded again. “Okay.”

I tossed the box onto the bed. My heart was a whirlwind. A plethora of contradicting emotions spun inside of me, tearing me apart.

“Holy shit! These are badass!” the girl gushed about the leathers.

I scoffed. Just like on the rooftop, she was absurdly unfazed by everything.

“They’re whatever,” I muttered. “What’s your name, anyway?”

“I’m Christina. Christina Ortega.”

“Christina,” I repeated, approving of the way it felt on my tongue. “I like that. I’m Nyx.”

“Oh! Like the Goddess of Night.”

I barked a laugh. “Yeah.”

I kicked off the stilettos, chopping my height by six inches so I was shorter than her. I slid out of the red pants, and tossed them. She gasped at the sight of the blade strapped to my thigh. “Whoa! That’s—”

My finger shot up to my lips and I mouthed, “Shh!”

She shrunk down a size, her eyes wide like an owl. She caught on right away. Solaris was not to know about this. “Sorry,” she mouthed back.

“Could you unzip me?” I murmured, turning my back to her.

Our gazes met in the reflection of the floor-length mirror in front of us. She seemed nervous to touch me, but she obliged. The bodysuit dropped to the floor, pooling around my feet. I stood in front of her, naked as the day I was born, unashamed. Nudity didn’t seem to bother her, either.

The leathers went on like fucking butter. Christina helped me with the top, securing it around my breasts and tying it together in the front. She fixed my hair too, fluffing it down my back and over my shoulders. And I let her. There was this strange, unspoken flow happening between us. I tried not to acknowledge that, though my mind wanted to wander. I didn’t need Solaris to be right about this. She wasn’t meant to serve me.

“Holy shit. You look incredible,” she breathed as I slid my feet back into the red bottoms.

Incredible was putting it lightly.

My reflection didn’t seem real. Just days ago, I’d been dirty, wandering, barefoot, and lost. Then I’d been on the brink of death itself, covered in blood and bullet wounds.

Now… Now I looked more powerful than ever. I caught glimpses of the old me in there. The wild silver hair, the smoky eyes, blood-red lips. However, with the dragon-scaled leather and the golden pendant resting over my breasts, I was different.

New. Better.

Emerging into my true serpentine nature. A girl with her sun in the belly of the snake, and her stars in the heart of the dragon.

The reflection of my eyes in the mirror flashed ethereal blue. Gone in a blink, but I swore it’d been real. My stomach dipped and then rose again as I thought of Jed’s words. You transformed into something .

I didn’t know what was happening to me. But it was going to change everything.

Satisfied, I strapped the blade to my thigh, then waved my hand over it to cast a glamour. Its transparency faded until it was completely invisible. I prayed to the Goddess that it would work. Glamour magic could be detected if someone had a mind to it. I’d have to just keep him distracted with my upper body.

Begrudgingly, with a fervent eye roll, I adjusted my breasts so they were pushed right up, the gold dragon pendant nearly swallowed up by my cleavage. Goddess damn me . The lows I had to stoop to.

I turned to the girl. To Christina. “I’ll figure this out. Just relax for a bit.”

“Okay.” She crawled onto the bed, flopping down to hug one of the huge pillows. Quietly, as if to herself, she whispered, “I guess there are worse places to be stuck.”

I regarded her. “What did he mean, you were being trafficked?”

“He’s way off base,” she insisted, though the distress hiding in her tone screamed otherwise. “I was fine. I can handle myself.”

“Right. Like when I found you on your knees in front of the old guy with a gun to your head.”

She tipped her chin up. “Right. Like that.”

I scoffed, admiring her dedication to the stoic act. I could relate.

In fact, I did the same thing now. I kept my head high and schooled my expression as I left the bedroom. Solaris loomed like a phantom in front of the fireplace, his hands folded behind his back. I refused to pay any mind to the liquid heat in his stare as he took in the sight of me. Pretended I didn’t feel his gaze on every inch of my skin. He admired each curve, looking so fucking smug because of how perfectly the leathers fit. His eyes were mocking. I know you, Firefly. I know you.

He said nothing about it, though. No compliments, no raves of approval. He merely gestured for me to come join him.

We stood in the middle of the sitting area. With the sofa behind me and the black obsidian coffee table between us, he glared at me as if I were supposed to notice something.

An awkward beat of silence went by.

“What are we doing?” I wondered ominously.

“You don’t sense that?”

“What?”

He sighed, aggravated. “Focus on the table.”

“Solaris, can’t you just bloody well tell me what you want me to do?”

“Focus.”

I growled under my breath. My eyes dropped to the long, oval coffee table. Made of pure obsidian, carved smooth and sharp. Two feet tall, about five feet long. Great. Cool. Immaculate decor. What in the seven hells was the point of—

A subtle shine in the air had the light bulb going off.

“There’s a glamour placed here,” I realized aloud.

He grinned. “Yes. Good. Now, lift it.”

I’d never dismantled a glamour that wasn’t mine before. I had no idea where to even start.

As always, he sensed that.

“Close your eyes,” he murmured. “Focus. Imagine yourself peeling back a curtain. Or dusting off an old book. Whatever comes naturally. Just envision yourself unveiling something.”

I sucked in a breath. “Okay.”

When I shut my eyes, all I saw was black smoke. Thick and billowing. I imagined my hands reaching out, igniting with white-gold fire to chase the darkness away. I waved my etheric flaming hands until the black smoke scattered, a giant oval emerging from the depths.

Cold hands on my shoulders pulling me backward made my eyes shoot open, the vision gone.

Solaris yanked me out of the way just in time. The coffee table was growing . Expanding and rising right before my eyes. Morphing from its sleek, modern form into something from the Old World. A war table from an era of swords and knights and kingdoms.

A carved map of the city emerged over the surface. I stepped forward in wonder, watching through wide eyes as more, magical details materialized. Certain sites and streets glowed with a muted orange light. Sunset/Moonrise Blvd, Luna Academy, Veneficus, Lucifer’s Playground—these were the lit-up places I recognized first.

“Shit,” I breathed.

“This is only a mimic of the real table,” Solaris said. “The real one is somewhere else, but this will do for now.”

My face crumpled. “What? Where’s the real one?”

Solaris ignored me as he moved around the table, standing opposite of me. In front of him, a destination lit up. Something outside of the city.

I narrowed my brows, arching over to read the old-fashioned script.

Angel’s Eye

“Jedidiah told you about this place,” Solaris said.

How easily he brought him into the conversation. How natural it was, for both him and me. For Jed to be involved.

“The island he grew up on,” I realized aloud.

“Precisely.”

I glared at Solaris, my heart starting to race. How many times had they nearly fought to the death? How many times had Solaris brought him into the conversation, or seemed glad to have him around? And Jed’s rage . Fully charged and passionate. Aimed at Solaris Adder, rather than his father, who literally attempted to kill him.

“What do you have on him?” I whispered.

Solaris’s piercing silver gaze rose to clash with mine. “What do I have on him?”

“Don’t answer my question with a question.”

“You’re asking the wrong question.”

My pulse slammed harder. I could feel it, the truth writhing in the air between us. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but I knew it changed everything.

“What is it between you two?” I dared to ask.

“You truly want to know?”

Before I could reply, the raven came tearing in, cawing dramatically the second he transcended the glass wall. He soared across the suite to land on Solaris’s shoulder. They fell into a telepathic conversation that I was excluded from.

I rolled my eyes.

After a tense moment, Solaris snarled, “Go watch him, Morpheus.”

The raven responded cheekily but obeyed. He flew away, gone as quick as he came.

“What was that about?” I demanded.

“Speak of the devil and all that,” Solaris replied dryly. He glared down at the table, eyes darting, looking for something.

“Jedidiah? Is he okay?”

“He’s on one of his little killing sprees.”

My heart dropped out of my ass. “Excuse me?”

Silver eyes flicked to me, followed by a dark scoff. “He didn’t tell you about his favorite pastime?”

I waited, pulse raging.

“He hunts vampires. I’m surprised you didn’t smell the stench of them in the basement of that house.”

My mind staggered. I shook my head as if that would make sense of this. “I don’t understand.”

“The Groundshaker puts on the face of Death and hunts. It’s quite poetic. He is looking for Ra’ah. I’m still waiting for him to find her.”

Jedidiah is out hunting vampires .

Of course he was. How could I have missed that?

The skull glamour. The clothes. The weapons .

“What the hell!” I erupted, fucking miffed. “We have to go find him! Goddess damn him—why would he do something like that alone ?”

The look on Jed’s face when we parted tonight had been nothing short of murderous. “I have my own shit to take care of.”

I ran out onto the terrace, blood roaring in my ears. The night had a bite to it, the air dense and stormy. Thunder crashed through the clouds before they lit up with blue lightning. I breathed hard, the city lights doing a tidal wave.

I felt Solaris behind me. “He is a sucker for punishment, not unlike you and I.”

I turned. “I need to go to him. Where is he?”

“I will take you.”

A beat of silence slithered by before I realized what he meant. My jaw fell open. “I am not flying with you.”

He cocked a brow. “Scared?”

I gave an indignant yet unconvincing scoff. Crossed my arms. “No. I just won’t give you the satisfaction.”

He grinned. “The only way out is through flight, my dear Firefly. Either I bring you to him, or you do not go at all.”

I glared at him with the hate of a thousand burning suns. “You are a wretched creature.”

He held his arms out as if he expected I would just hop into them.

I made a face of pure disgust. “Can’t I climb on your back? Or maybe you could toss me in a sack and carry me that way. Would be more pleasant than— that. ” I gestured to his extended arms, cringing at the idea of being cradled in them.

Solaris laughed. A real laugh, with a smile that touched his eyes. “You are cute when you’re afraid.”

“Ugh! I am not afraid! Fine, let’s go. But if you fucking drop me, I swear to the Goddess, I will rise from the dead just to stab you in the eye.”

He stepped closer, all humor vanishing from his expression. “Your all-powerful Goddess herself could not pry you from my arms.”

Then the ground was ripped from under my feet.

Strong arms locked around my body as those enormous, heavy wings beat the air, competing with the thunder cracking above. I didn’t even have time to scream before the flight stole my breath and whipped my hair back, the wind snapping its vicious jaw at my cheeks. My stomach flipped and plummeted, the world rushing by at a jarring speed.

Solaris laughed maniacally in my ear because I had no choice but to cling to him. Panic raced through my veins, electrifying my blood. He’d flown with me plenty of times, but I’d been unconscious for each of them.

A delayed shriek finally tore through my lips as he dove down, nearly smashing into a building. He angled us away at the last minute. He laughed again as I screamed, gripping his neck for dear life.

“What the fuck!” I yowled.

He veered sharply to the left. Swooped down, then right. My reality became nothing but a blur of roaring wind, streaky lights, and whirring darkness. Metal buildings zoomed by terrifyingly close like life was a movie and the Goddess had pressed fast forward. The constant change of direction and recklessness made me bury my face in his chest. I didn’t want to see. I was going to fucking throw up.

He slowed the beating of his wings until they leveled out completely, the jerky ride turning to a smooth, calculated soar.

I dared to peek out now.

Solaris began circling over a rooftop. Circling like a fucking vulture.

Without warning, he straightened out, turning us vertically and tucking his wings in. We dropped like a stone. My stomach tumbled out of my body along with a terrified yelp. I saw my fucking life flash before my eyes.

He landed in a crouch with the grace of a black cat.

For a beat, the world went still. Then he rose to his tallest stance and set me down on my feet. My legs completely failed, and I went tumbling down, hitting the ground ass-first.

“Ah!” I grunted. It took only a few seconds to gather myself before I shot back to my feet, a furious snarl tearing across my lips. “What in the seven hells was that! That was the most reckless shit! You almost killed us! What is wrong with—”

Solaris grabbed the back of my neck and shoved me toward the ledge of the rooftop. “He’s down in there. Get him out of there and bring him back to the penthouse.”

I swatted his hand away sharply. I had every intention to snarl some colorful profanities at him, but they died on my tongue. A blinking, half-dead neon sign snared my attention from below. Deadly Nightshades .

I could feel the bass bumping from up here. The building we were on was only three stories high, so I got a good look at the scene. A long line of people along the sidewalk waited to get in, everyone dressed in dark, alternative attire. The music spilling out into the street was hardcore heavy metal.

“Goddess,” I muttered darkly.

“Yeah.” Solaris’s voice was equally grim. “You will need your glamour before you go down.”

“Right.” I waved a hand over my face, casting the same one as before. The hair falling over my shoulders turned brunette. That, and Solaris’s disdainful expression, confirmed that it worked.

“What? You don’t like this face?” I teased. “I think it’s gorgeous.”

“It’s not you.” His low, guttural tone had my stomach in knots. The air between us lit with a charge. He stepped closer to me. “Make it quick, will you?”

“How am I supposed to get down—”

Solaris grabbed me by the waist and tossed me over the edge.