Page 29 of Once Upon a Demon’s Heart

“Where are we?” I rub my eyes, trying to brush the drowsiness away to no avail.

“We are approaching the gates to the Devicitian Kingdom.” He secures his arm around me like he’s worried we’re about to be attacked.

My brows quirk, there’s nothing out here except black molten rock and a thick fog or mist that’s curling around the cliff’s edges.

We must be close to the eastern coast cliffs.

“Commander! On the west side, three Vorntails banking and circling back to us,” Tessa shouts from somewhere off to our left.

“Four Skelihearts on the bridge!” Gabriel, one of Kalel’s elite knights, calls from ahead.

“Full charge ahead until we reach the gates. Don’t stop for anything, is that clear?” Kalel orders his knights. They let out a battle cry from all around us. It’s then that I realize we’re positioned in the center of the fleet.

We’re thrust forward, hundreds of hooves pound against stone in a split second. The wind bites at my face. Everything is happening so fast, and the visibility is too low to see much.

“Hold on to me,” Kalel growls in a low voice, unsheathing his sword and lifting it into the darkening sky. The blade reacts to him, thrumming with bright light before pulsing a strong magical wave of power that casts away all the fog surrounding us.

Instantly, I can see the hundreds of knights, racing on horseback toward an enormous bridge.

A wall of sharp black rocks juts up around the entire kingdom on the other side of the steep drop-offs.

It’s as if we are racing on ebony ice, shiny and slick like glass.

I’ve never seen such a lifeless land before.

I’ve never even heard of a place like this in our tomes that describe Faultore.

I’m so taken aback by the landscape and the battle cry of knights that I overlook movement to our left. My eyes snap in that direction when a flash of red whirls through the sky.

The blood drains from my face as three giant creatures swoop through the air, diving down toward the knights. What in the name of the gods are those? My eyes are dry from not blinking as I watch the creatures take out ten men at a time with a single swipe of their tails.

Shouting and chaos unfolds, but those who aren’t caught in the beasts’ radius remain charging straight ahead as ordered.

Wait, those are… “D-dragons?” I stammer, my voice nothing short of a rasp, torn from disuse.

“Yes, and they are here for you.” Kalel keeps his eyes ahead, clearly not worried about the big, red-scaled dragons that are tearing up the left side of his fleet.

Tessa. Isn’t she over there? I desperately search for her but can’t find her anywhere. Wait, did he say that the dragons are here for me ?

“Why would they be here for me?” I ask, searching the other side of the group for Tessa or Nikolai.

“I’m assuming because the gods don’t want this union, and they will do whatever it takes to put a stop to it. We will be safe once we reach the city. The veil protects Devicit, even from the dragons.”

Why would the gods send such abhorrent creatures after us? It makes no sense. First, the wisp, now dragons? I reach for the necklace Korin gave me and clutch it tightly.

Screams erupt from ahead, banishing all thoughts from my mind and forcing my attention to the bridge. Four black dragons with skeleton markings on their scales blow turquoise fire over the stone, destroying everything and everyone who’d already made it to the bridge.

“Shit!” Kalel yells and urges his horse to go faster. “Stay clear of the bridge!” He relays to his knights, and they all shout their battle cries, moving away from the dragons’ reach and staying nearby Kalel’s horse, ready to push through the last of the trek to the gates.

My breath curls in my lungs as we ride straight toward the dragons. Their eyes are as red as the blood that spills over the drains from slain men. Fire crackles on both sides of the bridge beneath their feet.

Kalel brings his horse to a slow gallop. He lifts me by my waist and tosses me as gently as he can off to the side. I miraculously land on my feet before crumpling down to my knees from the weakness in my limbs.

“Kalel! What are you doing?” I cry out after him. He ignores me and lifts his sword to the magical beasts.

They regard him but quickly look past his blade and focus on me.

The dragons move as a unit, blowing fire at Kalel from all angles.

My heart leaps into my throat as I think I’m about to watch him be burned alive, but the fire deflects easily in a wide circumference around Kalel with one swing of his sword.

The dragons don’t seem fazed by it or him at all. They fly past Kalel and straight toward me. Kalel whirls, and the look that races across his face is nothing short of doom. He thinks they’re going to kill me.

Oh gods.

I fist my hands against the rubble. This is it for me.

Hands come down on my shoulders and pull me close.

My eyes widen, and I look up at Nikolai.

He’s embracing me and shouting something, but my heart beats so loudly, and the sound of the roaring dragons mixed with my terror is all I can hear.

A noise so piercing that the pebbles along the bridge tremble at the vibrations.

The dragons land on the stones pillaring the bridge, hanging on the sides, and peering up with their long necks. Their eyes alone are as large as a knight.

Nikolai pushes me behind him as he unsheathes his sword. “Get ready to run!” he shouts over his shoulder at me. One lashes out and hooks Nikolai’s ankle with its tail. It drags him viciously across the stones and opens its mouth to either breathe fire or eat him.

No!

“Stop!” I cry out, lifting my hand out to Nikolai desperately.

All four dragons freeze and take me in. Dust twists violently in the air between us.

The one holding Nikolai studies me for a few moments, red eyes moving over my features as if it wants to make sure I won’t change my mind.

It growls and releases him, dropping him on the ground like a sack of rocks.

Nikolai scrambles to his feet and collapses beside me, pulling me in close again. His entire body trembles around mine.

Did they just listen to me?

Kalel runs toward us, sword in hand, and a flash of horror pulling at his eyes. The knights behind us try to move in closer, but the dragons climb fully onto the bridge and land, blocking the fleet from getting too close.

Kalel makes it to us and faces the dragons. He’s breathing heavily and seems as confused as we are.

“Why did they listen to me?” My voice hardly breaks over the sound of the winds blowing through the canyon below. I can’t bear to look over the edge, we’re so high up that it makes me nauseous at the idea of even glancing over.

Nikolai shakes his head, eyes wide and staring at the dragons with shock.

“Perhaps I was wrong, and the gods didn’t send them,” Kalel starts, not letting his eyes off them. “Maybe it was you being in the state of neither living nor dead that summoned them.”

“But that makes no sense. Why would they do that?” I say with disbelief.

I manage to stand with Nikolai allowing me to lean against him. His leg is bleeding and his forehead has a terrible cut, but other than that, he looks unharmed. Thank the gods.

“I’ve never even seen a dragon before.” The beasts stand calmly, watching me like they wish to converse. They aren’t going to hurt me. But I have no clue as to why.

I stagger towards the largest one. Its skull face markings are beautiful, a creature so morbid, yet it has such thoughtful eyes. Nikolai stops and lets me move closer alone.

“ Alira ,” Nikolai warns with a hiss.

I nearly fall as I step up to the beast, but a strong arm hooks around my waist. I glance up at Kalel. He flinches like he doesn’t know why he caught me and forces his attention to the dragon.

“I’ve never seen them this tame.” He reaches his hand up in offering to the dragon.

“Are they common in these parts?” I narrow my eyes at them. They seem uncertain of Kalel, but with him holding me gently, they remain calm.

The large creature blows warm air from its nostrils over us and lowers its head to Kalel’s hand. He tightens his hold on my side as he touches its snout.

“Yes, we’ve lost many of our kind to them.

They’ve never acted systematically like this, though.

We received a message by hawk yesterday that warned us of unnatural activity from them…

I assumed the gods were angry. I could never fathom that they’d be here to ensure you were alright.

” Kalel lets his gaze shift to mine. His hair is disheveled from the chaos, and yet he still looks as ethereal as ever.

If it’s true that they came to protect me, then I could easily have them take me back to Alzhor. I could have them protect the demigods from the demons. Change the tide of war.

I can go home.

It’s a tempting realization.

But is that what I really want? More death when we’ve finally reached peace? And now, I don’t even know where “home” truly is. I don’t belong in Alzhor. I don’t belong in the city of demons either. Where do broken souls have left to go?

Kalel must have the same train of thought because his eyes darken as he waits for me to say something. I fist my hands at my sides.

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

“Please leave, and do not harm any more demons. They are… my friends,” I say carefully as I extend my hand to the dragon. It nudges my palm, then slowly blinks at me as if it’s saying it understands.

Nikolai’s breath of surprise behind us is all I hear before the dragon lifts its head to the sky and calls to the others.

The sound vibrates the ground again and makes my footing unstable.

The four on the bridge tilt to the sides to fall into the canyon below, opening their wings and flying away as if they never had business being here in the first place.

The three red dragons at the rear, west side, follow suit and fly south.

Kalel takes a few seconds to take in what just unfolded before turning and looking at me, then his eyes lift to the rest of the fleet behind me. I glance over my shoulder.

Every head is focused solely on me. Shocked. Hopeful. Some are even envious.

Nikolai grins and motions his hands toward me in a grand gesture.

“Alira, peace bringer and a dragon tamer!”

The explosion of cheers from hundreds of knights sends chills up my spine.

I take them in with awe as they cheer for me.

I never thought I’d see the day when demons would be smiling at me and cheering.

Just a handful of days ago, some of them were trying to kill me.

I look at Kalel to see how he feels about his army’s sudden approval of me.

Kalel’s expression is considerate, still untrusting, but he doesn’t look at me with as much hatred as he did a few days ago.

“Let’s go home,” he says under his breath and sweeps me off my feet, carrying me back to his horse to ride into the lost kingdom of Devicit.