Page 2 of The Forbidden Dragon King (Shadow Kings #1)

I fly over the sea of rats to barrel into Lanlin and drive him off my brother. But it’s like trying to hold onto smoke.

The bat breaks my hold as easily as shrugging.

When Lanlin’s wine-red eyes meet mine, he looks amused.

I risk glancing at Tarquin.

Bile rushes up my throat. I retch.

Tarquin’s golden curls are soaked in blood. Crimson pools around him. His face is waxy.

He’s unmoving.

Is he…?

I can’t even think it.

Except, in my heart, I already know the truth.

“I’m going to kill you, Lan,” I growl. “I’ll rip off your fucking wings and feed them to your filthy rats.”

I find in shock that I mean it.

Lanlin’s amusement fades to something hard and flat.

Deadlier .

I grab for him again but like a plume of incense smelling smoke, he once more fades from my grip. The rage that I normally keep suppressed is burning higher in me. I can’t control it.

Lanlin dared to touch my brother. I’ll burn him to fucking ash.

Suddenly, however, glittering golden threads spark from my mouth instead of flames. The golden threads of fate are my talent, but I’ve never experienced them before.

It’s like my soul is being unspooled from me.

Why in the name of the Shadow Gods is this happening now?

I’m forbidden to bond with an Omega.

Fated mates are nothing to do with me, my uncle insists. If I give in to passion, then I also take one step closer to turning into my world ending ancestor.

The threads take both Lanlin and me by surprise.

When the thin, shimmering golden thread winds around the bat, Lanlin struggles like he can reject the connection between us.

He shouldn’t be able to sense the threads, but maybe our friendship runs deeper than I knew.

Now, it runs to hatred, deep and burning. It feels like my soul is being branded.

I can’t deny what the golden thread means: Lanlin and I share a fated mate, an Omega.

I share one with my brother’s murderer.

“You’d better hope that you find our Omega first,” I growl, “because if I do, then you’ll never see her.

You can pine and yearn in agony over the long, lonely centuries.

I fucking hope that it breaks your shadowed heart, knowing that keeping you apart is my revenge.

After all, I’ll be protecting her from a monster like you.

I’ll spend my life making sure that all she knows about you is what an abomination you are. ”

Lanlin rears back in shock.

I know how to hurt Lanlin. I’m his only friend. And he’s just lost me.

I’ll take him apart bit by agonizing bit. Vampires are protective of their Omegas. Lanlin has been lonely his entire life. He must be desperate now that he knows even a monster like him has a fated mate.

Except, he doesn’t. He’s betrayed me, and now, I’m going to fucking destroy him.

Lanlin hesitates. For a long moment, we stare at each other.

“Kill me then,” I say, coldly, despite how fast my heart is beating in my chest. “Try to tear out my throat like you did my brother’s. I swear by the Shadow Gods that it’s the only way you’ll bond with your fated Omega.”

Silence.

Lanlin’s wine-red eyes darken.

I brace myself.

To my surprise, Lanlin turns away, however, and with a flap of his strong wings, flies out of the window. The moths follow after him like white mist.

The shadows draw back into the night. The rats scamper out of the door and down the winding staircase.

I stand breathing hard where Lanlin abandoned me and I don’t know if I wish that he had ripped out my throat because now, I have to face what he’s left lying behind on the cold stone floor.

The adrenaline leeches away, but I’m shaking harder.

I force myself to look down at my brother’s corpse.

This is my fault.

If I hadn’t fucked up and been whipped today, then I would have been here sooner. I could have stopped this, fought at Tarquin’s side, or died with him.

I stare into Tarquin’s unseeing eyes, which are the same shade as my own. Then I sink to my knees in my brother’s blood, overcome by its coppery stench.

I cradle Tarquin’s head on my lap, trying to tidy his blood-caked curls. He wouldn’t like being seen like this, anything but immaculate.

“There,” I push a scarlet curl behind his ear, as he would adjust my hair as a child before inspection by my uncle, “that’s better.”

When I wipe my cheeks, I’m confused to stare at my fingers and discover that they’re wet.

When was the last time that I cried? When Maximinus sent me away to the Shadow Military Academy aged six, informing me that I would not be allowed to live at home anymore because I was a beast ?

Caligo told me that Golden Dragons can’t cry.

I can.

I am.

“Brother,” I whisper, hugging Tarquin to my chest. “Wake up. I’m here now. I’m sorry that I was late. Relius is here. Wake up, please. ”

I sob, rubbing Tarquin’s hand between mine. It still feels warm. How can he be dead?

He still feels warm.

The grief hits me, cold and hard and blasting down my carefully constructed walls of restraint.

I howl, as my wings stiffen behind me.

This emotion is overwhelming.

Devastating.

Too much. Too much. Too much.

I’ll never be able to become unfeeling again now that this is unleashed. I’ll need to wear a mask and become like my brother to survive the intrigue of the Shadow Court.

“I won’t fail you again.” I rock Tarquin, wrapping my wings around him.

“I swear this Blood Oath tonight that I’ll lead the army as the best fucking warrior king.

I’ll take revenge on the vampires. I’ll finish what you started and conquer the fae, as you always dreamed.

But could you just open your eyes? Be with me instead?

Please. I’m not ready to be you . I know the strategies of war but not those of the court.

Why did you want to meet, Tarq? What secret was worth dying for?

” I kiss his forehead gently. “May your spirit fly eternally with the Shadow Gods. But please, for me, open your eyes, brother.”

I stare at Tarquin like this is all a trick, and he will.

He’ll open his eyes and he’ll laugh, easy and charming. A laugh that I have never been allowed to emulate and have no clue how to.

Tarquin continues to lie dead in my arms.

My reign as the unwilling Shadow Dragon King begins in blood. It’s a bad omen, and my dragon roars inside, thirsting for more blood and vengeance.