A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 3)

Anger poured into me. I gave her a direct stare as power rose in and around me. “Men often think they know what’s best for women, when in reality they rarely even know what’s best for themselves. No, I will not consider it. Not for a moment. I didn’t do all of this to save myself. I did it to help my family, my mate, and my kingdom. I will see this job through if it kills me.”

“I will not let it kill you,” Hannon said softly, seated in the corner of the yard, out of the way.

“Well then.” Ami deposited the tray she’d taken from me to the side and started untying her apron. “Since you have battle in your future, we’d best make sure you have the most efficient way to fight. Take off the decorative sword. That won’t help you now. It’s time to meet your dragon.”

My stomach rolled and filled with butterflies, and my dragon’s anticipation and excitement rose as the women led me past the everlass field and into the trees. Hannon followed us but kept back, letting me have this moment.

Take it easy on the first flight, okay? I thought as we found a clearing and stopped to step out of our clothes.

Sure, sure. And if not, at least you have your invisible people to keep you company.

“Damn it. Why did I get stuck with such an asshole animal?” I muttered as I walked behind them into the clearing.

“The most powerful dragons tend to be quite temperamental in their youth,” Ami said. “Possessive, dominant, fearless.”

“Foolish,” Claudile murmured, and I had a feeling she’d be right about my dragon.

I’d heard an alpha needed to help with the first shift. Micah had been pretty adamant that I should shift with him first, and the other Wyverners hadn’t argued with him. I worried these women wouldn’t be enough. That my dragon would get confused, I’d try to help, and we’d get stuck mid-shift and die.

We wouldn’t be the first to go that way.

“Calm yourself, little dragon,” Ami said in a low tone, clearly reading my body language. Power infused her words, but they didn’t come through as a command. Instead, they wove through me like a gentle breeze caressing my face, completely in harmony with our surroundings. Her will, like mine, carried magic.

That wasn’t what immediately calmed me, though. The thing that washed through my middle and wiped away all of my apprehension was her choice of words. The same ones Nyfain had used in his letters.

I wanted him to be here with us. I wanted him to guide us, not them.

I wanted him to quit fucking pushing us away.

Ami and Claudile’s questions had shaken something loose in me. I didn’t give a shit what kind of life Nyfain wanted for me. I’d always pursued the things I wanted, the opinions of others be damned. I would not sacrifice that now. Not even for him.

One day, somehow, I would fly with him. The curse might have stripped him of his wings, but there had to be a way to undo what had been done. There had to be a way to heal him.

That was all in the future, though. For now, I would need to settle for him being with me in spirit.

My dragon reached out through the bond even as I did, both of us leaning deeply across the distance he was trying to put between us to yank him back. I clutched him to me in an iron grip, feeding him the rage he’d so often shoved at me. Pissed that he was stupid enough to assume that I’d gone through everything—finding a cure for the illness, allowing the demon king to imprison me, enduring torture—just to leave him behind. To leave my family behind.

Did he even know me?

I pumped rage into the bond even as I pulled power from him.

His answering swirl of mirth made my stomach flutter. My rage made him smile, just as his rage always turned me on.

My dragon was feeding them her own collection of emotions: excitement, anticipation, impatience.

They likely knew what was about to happen. Nyfain’s dragon did, at any rate, because in a moment I felt a different sort of power flow through the bond. A controlled gush, tingling and alive.

My stomach dropped out, as though I had just jumped off a mountain and was free-falling.

“Fuck, here we go,” I murmured, eyes squeezed shut. “What do I do?”

“If you’d just wait a moment, we’ll explain—”

Ami cut Claudile off. “No. She isn’t talking to us.”

Damn right she isn’t, my dragon thought, giddy now. Get ready to move out of my way. I’m going to follow the dragon’s prompting and surge to the surface. His power will guide us…I think. I’ll figure it out. But when I make a move, you make a move, get it? If you fuck up and don’t relinquish control in time, we’ll die horribly.