I turn with a look of shock as Devon leaps off the bed, dragging his pants on in the process.
“You,” I spit out at Jess. “You shouldn’t have come back here.”
“I knew I would find you with him,” she screams at me. “You just can’t keep away from him! I hate you! I hate you!”
She lunges at me and I see the flash of steel from the sword she is wielding. I fire off an orb of Dragon fire at her, but it gets sucked into the sword.
“Oh
, fuck!” I cry out in alarm. This isn’t going to be as easy as all that. It is protecting her. How did she even get a hold of that? How does she have the power to wield it? I will have to get the answers to these questions, once I have dispatched of this little bitch for the very last time.
“No!” Devon roars at her, pushing me out of the way before I can bring my hands up to rip her to shreds with my loathed Fae magick. We both know exactly what that sword is and what it will do to me if I don’t incapacitate her and it.
“Devon!” I shout as Jess gets within inches of stabbing him, but she executes a turn at the last minute and sends the sword flying directly at me in a move so sudden it could only be magick.
“NO!” Devon bellows again, shoving Jess out of the way so that she stumbles back into CK, who has come to investigate what all the yelling is about.
“Aefre!” he cries, grabbing hold of Jess as he stares at me in shock.
I don’t know what the problem is. Why isn’t he killing her right now? Or more importantly, why aren’t I?
“Ceek,” I gurgle.
I drop to my knees and a pool of blood escapes from my mouth, cascading down my chin. I burble in surprise and look down. Somehow the sword has hit home. Straight into my heart.
I am dying.
“NO! Elizabeth!” Devon cries again, and again, catching me as I fall back.
He pushes my blonde hair out of my face, and it is only then that I realize that I couldn’t hold onto the Shift. It flashed away before I even knew it.
“AAAAHHHHHH!” CK roars and I know even in my haze that he has Vamped out into the über-Vamp that he has become. I hear sinew and muscles tearing and bones breaking. I don’t need to look up to know he has torn her head off, probably along with other parts of her as well. I wish I had seen it.
Her.
Jess.
My…my…murderer.
“Aefre!” CK cries as he falls to his knees at my side.
“Take care of our daughter, my love,” I burble at him. “I will always love you both, know that you have always been the one…” It’s too much effort to continue, but it does what I needed it to do. What does it matter now? I have left him with the words he needed to hear from me for so long. I take Devon’s hand and squeeze it weakly. He chokes back his sob.
I give him a loving smile, which I turn on my husband, knowing this is it for me.
She got me. Somehow. I never thought I would go out this way. Death by sword. It seems too archaic. It seems so….
“Aefre, no!” CK weeps, clutching at my face as my eyes close and the World disappears.
Chapter 21
The Dragon Realms, Time Unknown - Dracul
He sits and watches his niece, the noble one, flying around and around his throne room. She is a delight to watch, her golden scales shimmering as she catches the light by the high windows. She screeches and swoops down, scaring the shit out of Synthyia, his…assistant, he supposes she is.
He chuckles at Synthyia’s pale face, her hand pressed over her heart. “Your Highness,” she huffs out, dropping into a deep curtsey, showing him a damn expanse of skin and cleavage in the process. He averts his eyes. He isn’t interested. He has long since lost interest in trying to find a mate to have Dragon hatchlings with. There is no one with a good enough bloodline and no one he finds particularly attractive anyway. He has lived too long and seen the same faces day in and day out, grow older and new faces spurned, just to be seen every day and to grow older. He is over it. He has a new mission now that he has finally taken control of the Realm and that mission is currently shrieking in delight that she managed to scare Synthyia so badly.
He smiles up at Delinda benevolently. He dotes on her. She is the most precious little thing, even more so as she is so special. The first and only Golden Dragon ever to have been born.