A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

Now what? I asked, out of breath. If we rise now, he’ll have us in a moment.

Now we see what he does.

I jogged through the wood just to keep moving, feeling the power pumping through me, searing through my blood. Flames danced along my skin.

Several wolves ran from the trees and flanked me, keeping pace easily.

“Hey, guys,” I said as I saw the big dragon pass over the wood again. “Let’s get to thicker trees and force him to make a decision.”

The wolves ran with me, joined by Weston, who stayed just behind me, protecting me while I played my games with Nyfain.

Breathing heavily, smiling too big, I ducked deeper into tree cover, which was slowly starting to come back thanks to Nyfain’s Syflora gift. When he passed overhead this time, his shadow blended in with the ones cast by the trees. The sun dimmed, and I lurked, the wolves all around me, none of us sure of my plan.

“Don’t let him see you,” I told the wolves, hearing the disturbance of wings above us. My stomach fluttered with this game of cat and mouse, especially since I had no illusions about which of us was the cat. Nyfain was biding his time, deciding how much rope he wanted to allow me before he reeled me back in.

Nyfain

Flush her out, I told my dragon as I watched this all play out, so fucking excited and aroused that I could barely contain myself. We’d have that little dragon in the sky today. I didn’t care who saw, and I’d make sure she didn’t either. I knew her dragon wouldn’t bat an eye. After she was forced to submit, obviously.

I can’t shift that fast, said my dragon, who had a deep and profound respect for the aerodynamics of Finley’s dragon.

She was sensational. The things she did were incredibly dangerous, and it had always been frowned upon in the court to take such risks, but the more advanced dragons, the ones with more courage than sense, practiced their trick maneuvers away from the castle. They would twist and turn just like that, so hard to catch. So effective in battle. My dragon couldn’t bank that fast. He was too large for quick moves and fast spirals. He had to outwit her.

Land farther away and stalk her, I told him.

Excitement pumped through him. The glory of the hunt sang in his blood.

He chose a clearing far removed from her hiding spot, watching the air in case she again took to the sky. With the stealth born of sixteen years of hunting and fighting in this wood, he closed the distance separating us from her in no time. He slithered through trees and took the softer, spongier ground so she didn’t hear us coming.

We caught sight of the wolves before we saw her. They caught our movement a moment later, freezing and then quickly racing out of sight. She was going to be pissed they’d given her away.

I heard Finley’s whisper within a group of trees just up ahead.

“Does anyone see or smell or hear him?” After a beat she said, “I know that body position, Weston. What are you hiding?”

Go now—

My dragon didn’t wait for me to finish the thought. He charged forward, bursting through the trees and tearing off any branches that stood in his way. Finley screamed as she turned, her eyes fully rounded and terror lining her face.

A pang hit my heart. This might be a game, but I still didn’t like seeing her that way. My dragon clearly had the same thought, because he slowed a little, giving her a moment to get her bearings.

We were fools, the both of us.

In a shift faster than I had ever seen in my life, she was a dragon again, forcing her body into the press of trees and breaking branches to fit. She charged us with such ferocity that we could do nothing but stand there and blink for one full second.

It was a second too long.

She reached us with teeth and claws and somehow also her tail, spinning and running while still managing to hit us. As her rump disappeared, the wolves scattered, and we were left standing there, dumbstruck, our side throbbing from where her tail had pierced our thick hide.

What in the fuck was that? my dragon said, launching forward to run after her.

But she’d already taken to the sky with a burst of speed. We’d have to push ourselves to catch her.

Finley has always thought very quickly on her feet. Clearly her dragon has the same merits.

I was not prepared.

I felt like laughing as he found a break in the canopy and pumped his mighty wings.

I can’t believe she cured us, I thought as he rose and caught sight of her gorgeous burgundy scales dusted in gold. She was heading toward the sea. I cannot believe she figured out how to cure us.