The king coughed as he stood back up, shook off his robes, and as glared at the Fae king. The room was in complete shock and silence
“So you finally showed yourself,” King Laskis said. “Done hiding behind your minions?”
“I don’t want to hear that coming from a king who never bothers to leave his castle to fight his own battles.”
“Rayna,” Philit said softly.
He was at my side, helping me to my feet. I leaned into him, trying to catch my breath. I glanced around until I found Zilon over by Landers.
‘Is he…’I asked.
‘Still breathing,’Zilon replied.
But for how long? My lip quivered, and I bit it to stop the motion.
“Have to say, I did not think this chance would come like this,” Neyil said. “Meeting Rayna has definitely been the answer to all my problems. Not only do I get the prophesied one, but I also get to finally kill you, old man.”
“She is not yours to have,” the dragon king growled out.
“I disagree. She is exactly who I need.” Nothing about the Fae king was recognizable anymore.
His eyes had bled to red again, and he felt taller, all the softness and kindness he’d shown me was now a hard sharpness promising misery and death.
Anger from my two conscious mates thrummed through my bond as I gaped at the Fae. Of course. We were finally having our suspicions confirmed. It would have been too easy if Neyil truly had helped me out of the kindness of his icy, black heart.
“This has gone on long enough.” Neyil made the air around him waver.
The air around us grew heavy, the pressure weighing me down. I could already barely stand, and now my knees were ready to buckle.
“We’ll see,” King Laskis snarled and charged forward.
Once he was in range, he did what I thought was impossible. He released his dragon’s breath.
Philit wrapped his steely arms around me and moved us just in time to dodge the blast of heat.
“H-how?” I stammered, completely surprised. Everyone knew that the king didn’t have a mate. Frankly, I wasn’t so sure if he’d ever had one.
“This is the result of completely devouring your mate,” Neyil snarled, having easily dodged the attack, while looking completely disgusted. Gasps broke out in the room, and I noticed that some of the dragons and Divines had stopped fighting the Fae as they realized what their king had just done.Something impossible. “You have perverted the bond between mates and have no right to power.”
“I have done what needed to be done to ensure that my people were strong!” King Laskis’s face went red as he rushed in for another attack. The two of them fought at a speed that was hard to follow. King Laskis would move like lightning to deal a blow, but by then, Neyil would already have moved. The Fae king would throw his magic at the dragon king with a flash of light, but the dragon was experienced and had no trouble taking on his attacks.
They went back and forth, and it was hard to tell who had the better foothold.
‘Behind us!’Zilon said.
I popped up a barrier in time to block a dragon. Zilon quickly retaliated, using his tail to set the dragon off balance and following it up with a kick in the face.
There was a loud bang, and the whole room shook.
His lips curled back in a sneer, The dragon king had Neyil by the throat on the ground. He raised his hand up, ready to claw into the Fae king, but within the next blink, there was an explosion that left the air burning hot. A loud roar shook the entire palace, debris dropping from the ceiling as the glass windows shattered. I swore the whole building was going to collapse on us.
A foreign feeling washed over me. One of losing something important. I gasped, grabbing onto Zilon. Others cried out too.
‘I feel sick,’ Philit said.
Zilon’s agreement came through too.
The chaos settled slowly, like a cool blanket all around, and as it cleared up, it was hard to understand at first. Neyil stood there with King Laskis in front of him. For a moment, it looked like they were hugging. Neyil was even saying something to the dragon king.