A Queen of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 4)

She fell back and then snapped out her wings, quickly taking to the sky.

I hate that motherfucking demon, she thought as power pumped through her, her sights locked on Dolion.

Nyfain roared his frustration behind us. He couldn’t keep my dragon from taking this risk. I wasn’t about to help him.

If you can’t get him in this form, shift, I thought, searching those around him for a weapon I’d be comfortable using. I can handle him on two feet.

She thought-grunted her acknowledgement as she dove, going for the old smoosh approach. I braced for the impact, right near the surface, wanting to see him smeared across the ground. But right before she reached him, he looked up in surprise and popped out of sight.

Fuck, she thought as she twisted her head back and snapped at the place he’d just been. Her teeth raked across something before she slammed into the ground and rolled over a few bodies that couldn’t get out of the way in time.

He teleported. Get him! I hollered.

I got a piece of him, she said, quickly righting herself. It’s not teleporting—it’s some sort of invisible transferring of his body.

Yes. Teleporting.

Ignoring me, she climbed to her feet and did a quick spin, wiping her tail in a circle to give us a little room. The more powerful demons we hadn’t killed teleported immediately, avoiding her strike, but the expendable grunts swarmed in with no wolves to help us and no other dragons to give us aid.

She stomped and bit, trying to clear enough space so she could snap out her wings and take to the sky. There were too many, though, some with swords at the ready. If she exposed the fragile membranes of her wings, they could easily slash through them.

Run out of here, I thought, feeling our heart quicken. Hurry! Crush them beneath your feet.

A sword slashed her hind leg. Then another, as Dolion appeared about twenty feet away. His right thigh glistened with blood, his pants ripped away to reveal a bloody tear. My dragon had just barely gotten him.

Found you. With grit and determination, she ignored the sword strikes coming at us faster now, and pushed through them. Swinging her tail and stomping, she tried to get out, to get enough room to stretch her wings.

Micah and Vemar soared above us. Micah dove to Dolion, spitting fire, but Vemar circled back toward me, stopping just above us.

Why doesn’t he land and help? my dragon thought, taking more blows, one cutting deep. Fuck, this is dire. Suggestions?

I was a master at getting myself out of terrible situations, since I found myself in them so often, but it was hard to get my brain working in another body.

Spin in a tight, fast circle three times. Keep your tail low. Get everyone. As you finish the last spin, snap out your wings and jump. You might be dizzy, but pump your wings anyway. If we can just get above them, we can fly in circles for all I care.

You’re a fucking genius.

I lost sight of Micah dipping toward Dolion, moving much too slowly—he’d never get the demon king like that—as my dragon started to spin. Her tail whipped out, crushing through demons. On the end of the third spin, she snapped out her wings and pumped them quickly. Our gaze didn’t settle. The world spun around us. But up we went, our feet leaving the ground.

Before we could get far, though, white-hot agony seared across our lower side as something stabbed into her belly.

She roared and thrashed, veering to the side because of the dizziness and now the muscles in the right side of her belly screaming in pain and going lax. She crashed down.

A bloody long sword lay not far away—the object that had been stuck in our side. It must’ve been thrown. That was the only explanation for why it hadn’t gone in deeper.

Unfortunately, it had gone in deeply enough.

The pain throbbed deeply. Blood gushed out of the wound, and her mind went woozy.

He got me in a soft spot, she thought, pushing back at the pain. It wasn’t easy, though, and given how experienced we were with being tortured, that meant very bad things.

Vemar roared, a call for aid, and Micah rose higher into the sky to look back.

No! I wanted to yell out. Don’t let him get away! Ignore us.

Except I knew he wouldn’t be able to get Dolion, not with slow swoops and bites. Not when Dolion could blink in and out like that.

Vemar landed next to us, and Tamara was there a moment later, taking my other side.

About fucking time, my dragon thought sourly.

Most valuable player, huh? I replied, knowing we couldn’t shift back to human form, that she had to get us out of this mess or we’d be killed for sure.