Page 45

LUKAS

W hen the cuff clicked unlocked, Arenn was fast, but I was faster. The thorny stems that burst up from the ground were immediately smothered by my roaring dragon. She charged across the ground, taking out each plant before it grew and leaving a trail of shredded green leaves behind her.

Arenn shoved away from me. “You really think that beast will be enough to save you?” he sneered.

“No.” I pushed up from the stone floor, my fingers crackling with power. “But I have more than just a water dragon.” Grey mist exploded from my hands as I thrusted them towards the ceiling.

It was just like my aunt had taught me. High above, the mist gathered and swirled, growing darker with each ominous rumble of thunder.

“Stop that,” Arenn snarled as faeries panicked around us.

I glanced over to check on Naria. She was still standing by the river, her beautiful eyes fixed on the rolling storm above. A safe distance away. That was all that mattered.

Arenn summoned up another dozen plants, but they were washed away within seconds by my dragon.

“I’d run if I were you,” was all the warning I gave him, before a bolt of lightning struck inches from his boots.

Yelping, he scrambled up from the floor. My dragon charged after him, nipping at his heels. Another bolt of lightning cut off his path, but before my dragon could drown him, Arenn dropped to the ground and slammed his palms against the stone.

The entire cave shook. I summoned a lightning bolt, aimed right at his panting form. Just before it struck, a huge tree sprung up beside him, swallowing up the lightning bolt in its branches and forcing it towards a nearby wedding guest.

I stumbled back. Several more trees broke through the stone floor – all too thick for my dragon to destroy.

A familiar scream whipped my head to the side. Naria had been swept up by one of the trees. I raced towards her as she tumbled through the branches, her white puffy gown ripping as she fell.

“I’ve got you!” My body slammed into hers, catching her before she hit the ground. Scratches covered her now-bare shoulders and thighs, but otherwise she was unharmed, alive. “I’ve got you,” I said again. My chest heaved as I inhaled her familiar scent.

How could I have let him take her from me? I did nothing to stop him. Nothing . When all along, I had this power – power that had always been drawing me to her, begging me to protect her.

“I’ve been such a coward.” I brushed my fingers along her arm.

She tilted her head, studying me while one thought raged in my mind: I wasn’t that coward any more.

Behind us, my dragon roared in warning. I barely had a chance to push Naria to safety before thorny vines sliced along my back. Hissing in pain, I narrowly avoided a second whip of vines. But any pain I felt turned to molten rage when a few stray thorns struck Naria across her face.

“You hurt her!” I spun around to charge towards Arenn. He now stood between the trees, a menacing grin on his jaw.

“You’ll hurt her even more if you use that lightning again,” Arenn warned, summoning more vines from the ground. “I’ll make the trees send it right to her heart.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I growled.

“Wouldn’t I?” He chuckled darkly. “Her wounds can be healed. I’ll have my sister fix most of the damage, then I’ll keep her in my bed and tend to her each day.” He stepped closer as my lip curled in disgust. “After a while, she might even start to enjoy being there. I wouldn’t let her leave my bedchamber unsatisfied.”

“You bastard!” Fists swinging, I leapt towards him. Arenn’s vines charged forwards to meet me.

Bare fists clashed against razor sharp leaves. My dragon soon joined the fight, swallowing as many plants as she could, but it was difficult for her to weave around the thick tree trunks.

A stray vine wrapped around my foot, throwing me to the ground. I groaned in pain. Intense power thrummed in my fingers – power I could no longer use because of those damned trees.

Snarling, I pushed myself up. But then the buzzing in my hands became a thrum. It didn’t feel like lightning anymore. It felt stronger. Much more powerful than the simple storms I’d managed to summon with my aunt.

Heart racing, I yelled to my dragon, “Protect Naria!”

She obeyed immediately, diving off behind me.

“There’s nothing you can do to save her,” Arenn laughed. “Rain clouds alone can’t hurt me.”

“We’ll see.” Jumping back from a snapping plant, I threw my hands up and unleashed the storm my rage had given me. Thick, greenish vapour poured out from my fingers.

A sudden gust of wind swept Arenn off his feet. “What are you doing?” he panicked. When he tried to stand, another strong gust forced him down. His plants soon joined him, drooping against the intense weather.

As the wind grew stronger, it swirled with the clouds above to form a fierce grey funnel. Air roared around us. Soon, Arenn was picked up by the funnel, his trees creaking around us as their thick trunks snapped. Branches whipped around in the storm, crashing into the faery prince from every angle while I remained safe in the calm centre.

“Stop this!” he yelled over the roaring winds. “Enough!”

I almost ignored him. There was something oddly peaceful about standing in the midst of a conjured wind storm while the prince’s screams circled me.

“Please!” Arenn begged. “No more!” He yelped after colliding with another sharp tree branch.

With a tired exhale, I raised my palm to slow the storm. When the grey vapour cleared, his trees were long gone, and the remaining faery guests had huddled against the side of the cave, still being watched by my aunt’s soldiers. Naria was protected by my dragon’s watery body – unharmed. Perfect.

“It’s time to end this.” I marched towards Arenn. Summoning the final lightning bolt, I aimed it right at the prince’s chest.

“Wait,” he panicked, crawling back on his elbows. For once, genuine fear clouded his eyes. “Wait, please!”

“No more tricks.” Thunder rumbled above.

“No! Don’t kill me.” I forced down the bolt just as he screamed, “If I die, she dies too!”

The lightning bolt shot off to the side and struck a crystal in the wall of the cave. Screams filled the chamber as it shattered.

“What did you just say?” I growled.

“It’s true! She’ll die if you strike me down.” Panting, he dragged up his sleeve to reveal the ghastly scar where his crystals used to be. “We’re still bonded,” he explained, “despite whatever merfolk tricks you used to weaken our connection. Our bond runs deeper than just the crystals.” He placed a fist on his chest. “I feel her in here. In my heart. And I know she does too. If you kill me, the pain will be too much for her. She’ll die.”

“You’re lying.” I shook my head.

“I’m not.” He held up his palms. “But you can test it if you don’t believe me.” A dangerous smirk crossed his features. “Strike me in the chest and listen for how she screams.”

I was seconds away from actually doing so when another voice echoed through the cave. “My brother speaks the truth!” Lyssandra shoved past a merfolk soldier to race towards me. The armoured soldier attempted to hold her back, but I raised my palm to stop him.

“Let her pass,” I sighed. I wasn’t sure if I trusted Lyssandra any more than I trusted her brother, but if it weren’t for her letter, we’d still be battling our way through the faery palace with no idea of where Naria might be.

“It was you,” Arenn murmured, as if just piecing it altogether. He glanced between us before his glare settled on Lyssandra. “This venue was your idea! You brought the merfolk here!”

Her scowl rivalled his. “Maybe you should’ve been honest about Naria’s feelings for you… Or lack of,” she scoffed.

“What you did was treason!” he snarled. “How did you do it? How long have you been conspiring with our enemies?”

“ Your enemies.” She folded her arms.

“Lyssi? Is this true?” Queen Amabel called from where she cowered against the cave wall. “Did you tell the merfolk where your brother’s wedding would be?”

I rolled my eyes. She did much more than that. Her letter gave us exact details of how best to sneak into the faery kingdom, a map from Ryntook’s underwater entrance all the way to the wedding’s location, the amount of guards expected to be in attendance, and where to send smaller groups of soldiers to stop any messages being passed back to the faery palace for reinforcements.

“She clearly doesn’t love him, Amabel,” Lyssandra sighed. “Even a fool could see that.”

Her mother looked hurt, but I didn’t have time for their family disagreement. “Tell me how to break their bond,” I barked at Lyssandra.

Arenn’s eyes glinted while his sister chewed her lower lip.

“Tell me!” I demanded.

“It’s not that simple,” she blurted. “A sacrifice must be made and there are risks involved – potentially fatal risks! It’d be best for you just to take Naria away from here. You’ve already dampened the bond with your Gift. She can live happily without Arenn.”

“But I’ll always have a piece of her.” Arenn’s sing-songy voice made bile rise in my throat. “And I’ll always be able to sense her, enter her dreams – even if she won’t notice me watching anymore.”

Chest tight, I turned to face him. “Tell me how to break it.”

Arenn chuckled.

“You’re going to tell me, or I will have my dragon drown you over and over again until you beg me to finally rip all the air from your lungs.” My tone was deathly low.

His smile dropped. “Calm yourself.” He cleared his throat before turning to address his family. “Father? May we borrow your dagger?”

The merfolk soldier guarding King Bevan shot me a look. With a scowl, I allowed him to remove his dagger and slide it across the floor towards Arenn.

“Don’t do this,” Lyssandra hissed to me.

Ignoring her, I stopped the dagger with my boot moments before it reached the prince. “You have no need for this.” I plucked the red-hilted dagger from the floor.

“No, I don’t,” he mused, “but you do.”

I scoffed. “You’re going to tell me to stab myself, I presume? Cut out my own heart to prove that I love her?”

“That would be too easy,” Arenn laughed. Leaning closer, his voice lowered. “If you want to break our bond, you have to cut out hers.”

What? My blood ran cold. “No.”

“He’s telling the truth.” Lyssandra winced. “To break a bond like this, you have to take the heart of the person that you love most. That’s the cost.”

“Then she can take mine,” I breathed.

Sadness tugged at her brow as she spoke breathily. “She doesn’t remember you, Lukas. How can you love someone you do not know?”

Pain throbbed in my chest. I glanced back at my dragon, still wrapped around her shivering form. Was there really no love for me inside her? Did she truly remember nothing?

Arenn fell back on his elbows, sighing. “You want her heart so badly, then take it. Otherwise it’ll be mine forever. The choice is yours.”

“I will not hurt her,” I growled.

“Then her heart belongs to me.” He grinned deviously. “And if you’re not willing to take it from her chest yourself, then I suggest you leave so we can continue on with our wedding ceremony.” Rage curled in my throat. “I have a bride I’d quite like to claim and I bet claiming her will be sweeter than honey.”

“Do not speak of my wife in that way!” I charged towards him, aiming the dagger at his throat.

Arenn tsked. “Naria’s that way.” He motioned past me with his eyes. “Just make sure you cut out her heart. It’s in her chest, in case you weren’t aware.”

“She’ll die,” I snarled.

“But at least she’ll be yours,” he taunted, winking.

The back of my hand struck his face before I could stop myself. He groaned, spitting blood on the stone floor.

“Enough fighting. Please!” Lyssandra begged. “Just take Naria and return to your kingdom. Together, with our Gifts, we can make sure Arenn doesn’t bother her again.”

I could barely hear her through my rage. I wanted to beat him again. I wanted to drive my fist into his grinning face over and over and over until he begged me to stop, begged me to drag the dagger across his neck and end his pathetic life.

But if what he said was true… If his death would hurt Naria, I couldn’t risk touching him again. Taking her heart could be the only way to save her from a lifetime of him , but I couldn’t do it, could I? The thought of driving a dagger into her chest hurt worse than if she were to ever drive a sword into mine.

I could never hurt her. Never . But Arenn’s cruel laughter echoed like a disease in my mind.

Swallowing down my emotions, I charged over to my dragon.

The beast slowly unfurled itself from around Naria, its yellow eyes boring into me as if pleading for me to change my mind. But I’d already decided. The choice had been made. All I had to do was use the dagger.

“Naria.” My voice was soft, broken. In the distance, I could hear Lyssandra crying out for me to stop, but her protests were smothered by my guards.

Naria rose up from the floor, her wedding gown in tatters and blood dripping from her wounds. I didn’t think she’d be able to stand without pain, so I wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her close.

“Darling,” I said, lifting the dagger until it sat between our chests.

“What’s that for?” she asked hesitantly.

“Something that must be done for you to be freed.”

“What?” She tried to push herself away, but she was too weak. I held her against me even as she swayed. “Are you going to kill me?” she panicked.

“I would never hurt you.”

“Then why do you have a…” Her voice trailed off when she glanced down. I’d spun the dagger towards my own chest, my hand holding hers over the hilt.

“You need a heart to break your bond, and I will not take yours from you,” I explained, voice shaking. “I just hope that your love for me is somewhere still in there. Buried.” Unable to help myself, I brushed my lips against hers.

She shuddered. “What are you talking about—”

I forced her hand forwards, plunging the dagger into my chest.