Page 3 of WitchBorn

Another thick break freed his fingertips. They moved. I gasped, blinked, thinking I’d been mistaken. But he moved again, hand clenching, fist forcing the arm to flex and more of the stone crumbled. Audible now with a cracking that couldn’t be mistaken for ice.

He ripped his arm free, shards of rock ricocheting in a dozen directions, hitting the walls like tiny missiles, which exploded the thin layers of ice.

Someone screamed, followed by a dozen more, that shifted into a deafening roar that shook the realm with earthquake ferocity. His face morphed from semi-human, to the elongated snout and sharp fangs of a dragon. Many of theWitchBorncould take this form, though few had ever attempted to learn to control it.

Enormous, like the storybooks, with a crown of horns ringing his brow, he erupted from the stone, body completing its change, part serpentine, a chaos of legends. His tail smashed free of the remaining stone, releasing the monster from the crackling remnant of broken ice magic. The beast snapped at the movement around him, latching onto a few remaining fae, piercing them with fang and claw.

He devoured fae whole, biting some into pieces, the others swallowed in a single gulp as everyone ran and the beast jolted toward the screaming chaos, claws as large as my head paused inches from my face. Once changed like this, the beast rarely stopped, the hunger driving them to madness. The prince had consumed legions of fae before he’d been entombed in ice and saved by the mortals fated to ground him and give Spring life.

The end it was to be then, wasn’t it? That was okay. It explained a lot. A payback by the Fates of sorts for meddling with their design.

Did he kill the Winter Queen?

I hoped so. That bitch needed to end; it was time for a fresh Winter to rise.

Closing my eyes, I breathed, ignoring the shaking and painful shrieks of the dying. I sank into the comfort that the end was coming. Freedom could come in a lot of ways. Enslaved to the courts, the expectation of death had been my only hope to find it.

The shrieking terror trickled away, leaving only the sound of my breathing in the barren space. Had I been the only one to survive? Cursed to remain bound here motionless in endless torture? That sounded a thousand times worse.

I opened my eyes to find the dragon gazing at me with glazed eyes, its hot breath close enough to warm my face. I couldn’t help the tears. The human form, forced into by the magic binding chains, added weaknesses and lack of control when emotions overwhelmed me. My father’s genes cursed my existence with tainted blood much as the Summer and Spring kings.

A sharp talon traced the chains binding me to the floor. I couldn’t tear my gaze away from his, and wondered if he saw me at all. His clouded eyes feverish, perhaps maddened by the magic that had kept him bound or the thorns of corruption they’d dug into his soul?

I swallowed; the dagger-like claws close to my skin. A sharp tip slid beneath the tight link around my neck. The metal parted as though the talon sliced through butter rather than thick magic coated silver. The chain slipped off my throat.

I gasped, chilled air half-choking me as I breathed deeply for the first time in ages.

The beast snuffled, pressing its face to my chest, his head easily as large as half my body. It tilted its head. Did it expectme to run? A coughing fit seized control of me for several long minutes, but a dozen other chains locked me to the floor.

It snarled, mouth opening in a gaping maw of rage and heated breath, screaming again. I flinched, ears aching as the sound shattered the remaining stone. The bonds slipped away, Winter’s power broken, though I didn’t move.

Lying beneath the beast, I thought he’d take a bite, or devour me as he had the other fae, but a careful talon-tipped hand wrapped around my core and lifted me.

I couldn’t stifle my scream as skin ripped away in a dozen places where the ice had fused me to the floor, pain sharp and white hot. My vision blacked out as I envisioned myself eaten by the beast and prayed for a quieter ever after.

Two

WESLEY

Sweat dripped from my brow, heat warming my bones as I waded out of the dark thinking I’d find myself back in the realm of the Summer King again. The heat of his temper a melting blaze, though rare. He preferred the gentle warmth of sunny days in the shade, or a cup of hot tea in the winter.

Wesley?

I blinked open my eyes at the call of my name, expecting the dream to fade, but finding myself in a patch of sun-filled grass. Was Sebastian here?

Trees towered around me, but I basked in a thick ray of sunlight, burning away the lingering chill. Everything hurt. The mortal body far too fragile, I’d learned to manage the weaknesses, drawing close to power, and hiding among both mortals and fae.

My skin ached, healing, a tingling mesh of magic like bee stings wriggling over my flesh. But my lungs filled easily, air warm and soothing. If it were a dream, it was a good one.

I rolled over, forcing my body to shift from human to beast, and rose to unsteady legs. My stag form wobbly after months of inactivity. The rack of horns on my head weighed more than Iremembered, and I sank back to the thick layer of grass, thirsty, hungry, but too joyous over the warmth to leave yet.

Had Summer finally solidified his realm? Had he rescued me from the dragon?

I sucked in a thick breath of air searching for the scents of him and his mate: honey and clover, icing and fresh baked bread, but all I smelled was lush grass, and the hint of changing leaves. I nibbled at the grass, desperate to ease the gnawing hunger gaping inside, and even that small amount of energy was more than I had. The warm waves of the sun on my skin lulled me back to sleep, dreamless for a time, a true rest I expected to be interrupted by the daggered reach of cold which always ripped me back into reality.

But the trickling sound of water dragged me from sleep rather than pain. First with a few broken dreams of drinking my fill, and then with a need to empty my bladder. Human shortcomings, my ownwitchblood ever a curse.

I struggled to my feet, the sun absent as night had fallen, but the moon stretched overhead large and full, beautiful as I couldn’t recall it ever being. The glowing orb hung huge and close, like I could leap toward it and land on the surface with one mighty jump. Perhaps when my strength returned.