Page 80 of The Last One Standing (Rogue X Ara #4)

Ewan slowly wrapped a hand around her arm and tried to tug her away from my impending explosion, but she jerked free without so much as a glare in his direction.

“The world is cruel.” I rolled my shoulders and stood at my full height, towering over everyone in the room, even Drakyth. “If I must be cruel to prevent the world from reaching Ara again , then so be it. No more.”

Calypso’s body went up in flames. Iaso screamed, and Ewan ripped her away from the fire.

“She didn’t have a choice! None of us ever have choices anymore,” she shouted. “All she told him was that you were her mate. Nothing else. Nothing more.”

The smell of burning flesh assaulted my nostrils.

“Nothing less ,” I hissed.

“K-knowledge,” Delphia said, her entire body trembling when I turned to look at her. “Connections. Debts.”

“People owe her things,” Iaso added. “People with power, money, men.”

“I have power, money, and men.” My breaths sawed in and out, eyes burning bright.

Wyverns skimmed along my mind with unease.

Why is everyone suddenly so protective of this traitor?

“She deserves to burn,” I said, “to suffer the consequences of her own actions.”

The flame in my chest—the Fae flame dimmed.

“I’m not saving her. ” Iaso bit her lip, bracing herself before she placed a cautious hand on my arm. “I’m saving you.”

My brows pulled together, head cocked.

Bleed. Burn.

Destroy.

Calypso touched my claimed. She didn’t deserve hands. Life. Air. My fire greedily devoured the air and replaced it with dense smoke. Coughs erupted around the room.

A stiff wind would extinguish my Fae flame.

Hell, a gentle breeze.

Someone pushed open Iaso’s windows, and icy air swept in.

A smile curved my lips. Breeze, it is.

My heart grew colder in the absence of warmth.

Burn them all for interfering.

For protecting this treacherous bitch.

For protecting anyone who dared to harm Ara.

Moments before the Fae flame suffocated entirely, the door burst open and slammed against the wall. Ara staggered into the room, swaying and clutching her head.

She braced herself on the door frame and met my gaze with furious eyes. A thrill shot down my spine at her fire—different from mine, but just as vicious.

Stunning little creature.

A storm brewed within Iaso’s chambers, and rain doused Calypso.

I clicked my tongue, my eyes flaring bright enough to cast Ara’s form in firelight as I closed the distance between us in two large strides. At the last second, she rolled out of the door frame into the hallway, and I followed her out. Iaso’s door clicked shut behind me.

Ara’s back met the cold stone wall as my hand closed around her throat?—

The touch of her skin doused the smoldering embers in my chest in wildfyre oil, and the Fae flame roared to life.

She released a breath of relief, her body sagging against the wall, eyes fluttering shut.

I eased my grip, fingers trembling as I slid my hand lower and flattened it over her heart.

“The flame,” she said, breathless. “I felt it in the cave. I didn’t know… I didn’t know it was real, or that it was…”

“My Fae flame.”

Understanding cascaded down the many connections to the wyverns. The ancient one spoke again. In my many millennia, I have never witnessed the flame burn in the heart of another.

“You went too far,” she said. “Too far for too long, I think.”

Up until this point, the wyverns had been extremely careful not to overload my mind. Only one spoke at a time, because their voices were louder than my own, inescapable and potentially maddening without caution—reasoning they explained all those months ago.

They’d seemingly forgotten.

I slammed my palm into the wall above Ara’s head when a cacophony erupted in my skull, squeezing my eyes shut, talons digging into the stone. Above the roar, I only managed to catch bits and pieces.

Cannot leave.

Dangerous.

Jeopardize the realm…your claimed.

Never happened before.

Curious.

Why must be ? —

Foolish girl.

My eyes snapped open to meet Ara’s. They flitted between mine, and I slid the backs of my fingers over her cheek.

My touch was gentle, but my threat was not. Call her foolish again at the risk of your own neck.

Each one of them quieted and dipped their metaphorical heads.

My apologies, King, the wyvern replied, a voice I didn’t recognize. We hadn’t spoken directly before. I only meant that the act itself was foolish, leaving you in a vulnerable position.

I ground my teeth.

“Are you…all right?” Ara whispered and tapped my temple. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were having a full conversation up there.”

She released a halfhearted laugh, but when I didn’t react or reply, she narrowed her eyes. “Are you having a conversation?” Her eyes fell to the black wyvern curled around my neck, and a faint smile tugged at her lips. “You are.”

I nodded, still overwhelmed by too many foreign thoughts to find my voice.

You are the first Draki to relight the flame, Guardian said. We cannot be sure that it will happen again.

Another uproar of voices, followed by waves of their emotions, feeding on each other: fear, worry, dread, anger, shock.

Unheard of.

Strange.

Concerning.

Dangerous.

Dangerous.

Dangerous.

Ara’s voice pierced the noise. Stop!

Silence followed, and her mind slipped out as quickly as she entered.

We stared at each other wide-eyed.

Control yourselves before you split both of our skulls open.

“W-what was that?” she asked. “It sounded like creatures—wyverns, growling down a long hallway, moving closer, growing louder.”

I skimmed my fingers down the column of her throat, stopping at the base to feel her rapid pulse.

“The obsidian crown gave me the ability to understand their language. Without it, that’s how it sounds to us: deep growls, rumbling.

” My hand lowered over her chest, two fingers tapping over her heart.

“Almost more of a feeling than a sound, a deep vibration in your chest.”

If I’m the first, then so be it. If we separate and the flame goes out, I’ll figure out a way to reignite it. Ara will find a way. If there’s one thing you can trust her with, it’s bringing me back.

That is true, Guardian added. She is special.

Ara’s chest rose and fell with a faint wheeze.

“Breathe,” I murmured. “In. Out.”

She matched her breaths to mine, brows knitting together before she closed her eyes and reclined her head on the wall. “What about Calypso?”

“She deserves to burn.”

Ara opened her eyes. “We could make her strike a deal.”

“No.”

“We could.”

“No. Her deals are never worth the price.”

Hypocrite .

I swallowed hard.

I struck one deal, one I could still uphold by whispering to her scorched bones.

Ara rolled her eyes and planted her hands on my chest in an attempt to shove me off, but I didn’t budge. Instead, I pressed closer, invading her space until she had to crane her neck to look at me.

“We can’t risk it. A deal is not worth your life.”

“It is if?—”

“What are you not understanding, Ara? Nothing is worth your life. I would watch both kingdoms burn to the ground with a fucking smile on my face if it meant you lived.”

Lightning flashed in her eyes. “What, then? You’re going to leave her…her corpse to burn forever?”

“I haven’t heard any viable alternatives.” I took a step back, tossing my hands to the side. “None that guarantee your safety, or that she won’t be feeding Adonis information as soon as we learn it ourselves.”

Ara ran her hand over her mouth, exhaling a deep sigh.

“I need to know everything she knows.” Her hard eyes cut to mine. “And the only way to guarantee she tells the entire truth is to strike one of her deals. Iaso can write it up, so it’s ironclad and airtight.”

I held her gaze, but her deep desperation for answers bled down our blood oath, and my resolve crumbled. I pinched the bridge of my nose, muttering, “Fuck.”

She patted my arm and laced her fingers through mine to drag me back into Iaso’s chambers.