I moved like a magnet to Drystan’s intentions. My brother caught the key, throwing it to me as father crashed to his knees.
The full glory of the Maiden’s key burst through me. Answering me as her mate. It sought vengeance and blood as much as I did, combining our anguish to fuel a wrath of gods.
As soon as Drystan had severed Father’s hand, I had launched up into a sprint toward them. Before Father’s scream died out, I reached him.
I braced, I cried out, and I plunged the key through his chest.
It lodged deep into him, and he threw his head back with a silent agony. The key flared brighter inside him until light rays shot out from his eyes and wide mouth. It burned him from the inside out.
“The punishment for your greed doesn’t end here,” I snarled. “Say hello to mother for me.”
I twisted the key, causing the crystal in the staff’s end to emit the final killing dose of magick that turned flesh to stardust, blood to ash, bone to smoke.
I yanked the key out of him and watched him dissolve into nothing.
When it was finished, I stood there panting and disbelieving.
Part of me waited to wake up from a nightmare. To discover father was still alive and I would never escape him.
A hand on my shoulder snapped me from my terrorized thoughts.
“It’s over, brother,” Drystan said.
I turned to him fully, and we shared a look of fear, realization, then… liberation.
Drystan hugged me, and I held him back, never having truly believed this day would come.
“He’s gone,” I muttered. “He’s really gone.”
We broke apart and Drystan smiled. Then he grinned. When a breathy laugh escaped him, it broke my shock into smile too. The terror of our father that had been embedded deep in us from our cruel upbringing dispersed through our delirious echoes of laughter.
“That was impressive,” I said to him.
“Did father hit your head? That was too generous of a compliment from you.”
I chuckled. “Don’t get used to it.”
The monster of our childhood and the villain of our adulthood was slain, but I couldn’t rest easy yet. Our world was still under the threat of the God of Dusk and Goddess of Dawn, and our star-maiden needed our help to claim her world back once and for all.
46Nyte
I found Astraea and Nadia together, kneeling somberly by Edasich.
The dragon was gone, lying there so still and tragically as snow gathered over its ethereal blue body.
Astraea was crying. I scented her tears and that pummeled me.
Athebyne’s cry of mourning struck deep in the hearts of all. She approached, wounded greatly from the battle, and dropped close to Edasich, nudging her giant head into the blue dragon’s body.
“They were friends,” Astraea croaked, having heard me closing in behind. “Not in the sense we know, but it’s the best way I can describe their bond. In the past, before their entombment, they had a respect for and understanding of each other.”
I couldn’t comprehend Astraea’s connection to all the dragons. She could feel them and command them as their bonded riders could.
“That’s why she helped us,” I said, reflecting on the dragons’ battle in the sky.
“I just can’t understand it,” Drystan said in defeat, leaning on Athebyne. “Rastaban and our father made sense as a pair, but a dragon as gentle as Edasich choosing Auster Nova…”
Astraea sniffed, and I crouched by her with a hand on her waist for any small comfort.
