Page 27 of The Dragon Queen (Ember: Queen Of Dragons #6)

EMBER

All at once, everything within me goes silent and still.

I am not afraid of the dark. I know it well enough.

I got to know it on a whole new level when I was imprisoned in the Shadow King's Citadel. The black rock and deep shadow magic contained within those walls reached into the farthest reaches of my heart, chilling my bones.

But even there, I found light. Mariutza in that prison cell, pulling the darkness aside so she could see me better.

The brilliance of trapped souls, released from their confinement.

I swallow hard, standing up straighter.

I remember the dark storm of smoke and shadow my father once conjured, when I was small and scared and defenseless. His brand of Shadow Dragon magic--though I didn't know that that was what it was, at the time--felt like comfort. Like being held in a warm embrace, protected from any threat.

And I've known another kind of darkness, too. The deep purple abyss that opened up before me the first time I touched the Shadow Queen's Bracer. It was a rush of power unlike anything else I've ever known.

But even amid that rush of inky blackness, pinpoint stars shone through the vortex, as bright as any sun.

The darkness that envelops us now?

It's not like any of that.

There's no terror, no looming power. No reassurance or support.

There's just...nothingness.

"Ember," Rafe grinds out. His fire magic is a searing line of heat in our bond, but the world stays stiflingly dark.

I suck in a breath, my lungs tight. The shadows press in on me from all directions. I can feel Rafe and Jianyu and Malik and Storm; I can hear their breathing, sense their warmth. They're right behind me, beside me, all around me, but I can't feel them. The darkness creeps along our bonds, cloaking them in deep black murk, and my lungs are contracting faster and faster, but I force myself to inhale.

Deep. Slow.

The darkness is not absolute.

Even in the deepest black of night, there's light. There's brilliance here, scintillating in the space between molecules, in the air, in my blood, in the dead, cold rock beneath my feet and in the fire of my heart.

It's in the child--barely more than a speck right now, but growing from the love between me and my mates.

I close my eyes.

The brilliance is inside me.

I open my eyes again, only to be met with the same, crushing darkness, but I will it to bend. My shadow dragon breathes black smoke into the nothingness. We are one. Her power is mine. We bear the blood of dragons of stone, fire, water, air, and--yes--shadow.

A tiny flicker of magic crackles between my fingertips.

And it's not the Crown, imbuing me with mythical power. The warm metal is silent in my hand, but I don't need it.

Maybe I never did.

Between one breath and the next, a single, faintly glowing purple wisp drifts through the air.

And then another and another.

I look down, and the ring Lord Rook gave me--the one that belonged to my grandfather... The one that reminded him of the most classic, cruel forms of Shadow Dragon magic...

It's barely visible at first. But as I stare, a soft sheen slips across the sleek metal surface. It grows and grows, until it's glowing a purple so bright it's practically white, and the magic between me and my mates shivers back into existence.

And then it explodes.

All the brilliant lines of connection burst into glorious color and light, chasing the darkness away. No--merging with it, until the magic is something entirely new. Tears spring into being at the corners of my eyes as the glittering, black and gold and purple and white energy cascades up my arms and through to the very center of my being.

When Rafe gasps my name again this time, it's not in fear.

The whole cavern is lit with floating embers of color. The lights cast the most gorgeous, sparkling shadows on the rock; they highlight the beloved dips and curves of my mates' faces.

"You did it," Jianyu murmurs, awe coloring the deep timbre of his voice.

Storm swallows, and when I look back at him, his gray eyes glow. "You brought light to shadow."

Malik shakes his head, and I feel so deeply seen. So utterly, completely known.

"It was there." I laugh, overflowing. "All along."

The magic, the light, the darkness that tie the whole world together.

I pull the power rushing through me back to my fingertips, and the Shadow Bracer--dull and dormant on my arm for so long, ignites with brilliance, and it's nothing like it was before.

It's better.

It's mine.

"Was that it?" Rafe asks. "The last test?"

A test of my ability to channel Shadow Dragon magic and harness the power of all five dragon kingdoms--and I passed.

Jianyu feels out the rock surrounding us, but there's no subsequent passageway, booby-trapped with trials.

Malik exhales slowly. "It would seem so."

"Then..." Storm touches my arm, and a spark shivers from my elbow to my fingertips. His silent question echoes through the space.

My throat bobbing, I take the Crown in both my hands. The weight of expectation wants to push me into the floor, but I keep my spine straight.

Slowly, I run my fingertip over the swirling lines of black metal. The Crown Of Cinders is stunning--beautifully crafted in delicate filigrees that feel as strong as iron in my hands.

"It's...a bit much, don't you think?" And why am I saying that? Evading, when the moment we've been working toward for so long is finally here.

Drily, Rafe quips, "Guess the Mother Of All Dragons had extravagant tastes."

"Yes," Jianyu replies, just as deadpan. "Because our kind are usually so restrained."

My belly shakes with a muffled chuckle.

Dragons do love their treasure, their extravagant mansions and castles and citadels.

They love their power.

There's a quiet rustling of wings, deep within my lungs, but I exhale deeply, pushing the strange, sharp edge of hunger away.

I turn the crown around in my hands again. Storm shifts his weight, and Malik clears his throat. They're not impatient--not exactly. Restless anxiety vibrates through all four of my bond-mate connections, coming from them and from me, and I should put this thing on. Find out what it can do.

But before I can, there's that voice--the deep, resonant one that spoke to me through the cryptic writing on the outside of the tomb.

Your friends, it whispers.

Instinctively, I reach out with my senses.

Vivid visions assault me. I cry out as the soft-lit dimness is replaced by roaring fire and shattered dragonscales, raining from the sky.

I see Amy, bleeding--Freya's wing torn and dripping acid from its tattered webbing.

Mariutza plummeting into a frozen sea.

As abruptly as they appeared the visions are gone, but I'm blind to my surroundings.

"Ember." Storm's shaking me, shouting.

I swing my gaze around wildly, connecting with each of my mates in turn, but all I can see is the carnage I just witnessed, and was it even real?

Yes.

A single tear slips from my eye.

"We have to go," I breathe.

ALL THE ANGST that went into me creating a portal--all the energy we expended, transferring power from the bracer to Rhiannon's necklace. All the training sessions I spent, practicing in vain.

And now, it's barely a thought.

I reach for my mates, getting my hands on them all. In my mind, I think, the fight, and then there's that lilting, falling, impossible feeling of being flung through space.

"What--" Rafe shouts.

Incredulity floods our connections, but I don't have time to explain.

I still have yet to put on the Crown, but it doesn't matter. Shadow Dragon magic surges through my veins, woven through with the glittering gifts of all the other Elemental Dragon Magics, fueling me as I project us through.

We land on a black stone outcrop overlooking roiling waters, under a vivid, violet sky, tinged red around the edges as a full moon rises.

Shivers races across my skin, and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up on end. The ground itself crackles with energy. Stones rise into the air and hover, and the air is rent with lightning. The sea beyond the rocky crag we're standing on is a violent torrent.

And everywhere, there is fire.

"What the--" Storm's voice cuts off as a Shadow Dragon whips past us, its talons scraping the rock and sending up sparks as it spits black flames into the sky.

The vision I had of the battle raging outside--it wasn't real.

Because reality is much, much worse.

I duck as deep black smoke plumes toward us. Cries and screeches go up. Rhiannon's dragon is directly overhead, tangling with two other Shadow Dragons. Amy's pink and black and white dragon roars through the air, sending out shimmering, violet-streaked shadow bolts, but the wound on her side gushes blood. Further off in the distance, Freya's white dragon snarls out orders. She's wobbling in the air, though, one wing tucked in tightly against her side, raw, ripped flesh streaming from it in a nauseating web of tattered scales. My stomach dips. I can't find Mariutza, but the sea is bubbling with inky blackness.

We're too late.

I dart my gaze around wildly, spotting our other allies--Jett and Rook and High Priestess Fang, all waging battle against a never-ending horde of Shadow Dragon forces.

Only the Shadow Dragons aren't alone.

My eyes widen, my stomach lurching. Stone, Fire, Water and Air Dragons fight alongside the Shadow King's forces; it's almost impossible to tell our side from theirs, and how did this happen? How is it even possible that the world has been so corrupted?

So broken?

A dark prickle of awareness races up my spine. A scent of sulfur and decay, and the overwhelming sense of wrongness.

"Not quite what you expected?"

The growling, gravelly voice sends a jolt of terror straight to the center of my being, bright sparks of fear and rage shooting through my connections to my mates.

But I refuse to let panic overwhelm me. I hold the Crown of Cinders in my hand, and I hold the love of four dragon princes in my heart. The will to fight boils inside my chest.

I slowly turn.

And there, standing before the altar of the Shadow Queen's Tomb, is King Erembour, his Sorceress by his side, at least a dozen guards surrounding them.

But they aren't what capture my attention.

Slightly behind him is Princess Aria, looking even thinner and more fragile than she did the last time I saw her. Pure grief swamps Storm's side of our mate-connection, and I reach for him, taking his hand in mine. In the instant of contact, his guilt wants to sweep me away. I force myself to keep my footing, though, squeezing his palm.

But there's no tethering us to the earth.

Not when four more dragons swoop down out of the sky. They're huge--so big I almost stagger backward, my own dragon ready to lunge toward the surface of my consciousness.

Before she can get there, the beasts in the air drop down to land, sending shockwaves crashing outward through the rock.

"No," Jianyu breathes, but there's no denying it.

No fighting it.

Glittering scales twist and morph, leaving flesh and bone in their wakes. Between one blink and the next, the enormous creatures are gone.

And in their place are the Queen of Water and the Kings of Stone, Fire, and Air.

The four remaining monarchs of the great dragon nations--all standing side by side with the Shadow King.