She fell into nothingness, thinking one thing only:
I should have thrown myself against the rocks when I had the chance.
59
FLY ON
VALE
They weren’t going to make it in time.
A piece of the onyx dragon’s monstrous heart shattered.
No.
He roared a cry of booming anguish into the night, the air rippling with sound.
His tail snapped out, the barbed end lashing a winged Umbra. The dragon bared his teeth as the Umbra spun, knocked off course. Fire surged up the dragon’s throat and spewed from his lips, reducing the male to cinders.
Nothing could stop him.
He must fly on.
Rain began to fall in thick sheets as his wings carried him toward his obsession.
In the distance, anchored against a rocky cliff: a ship.
Unfurled, unmarked flags whipped in the storm. Bodies moved on the deck.
One was smaller than the rest.
Mate.
60
KINGDOMS BETWEEN
BASTIAN
Awave of terror rippled through Bastian, sending him staggering.
Luella—she’s in trouble.Bastian sent the thought out to the others.
They’d all felt her fear, a terror that ripped through the haze of frenzy, stealing Bastian’s lust for blood and twisting it into a righteous thirst for vengeance.
The throne room was soaked in gore. Bastian still wore the cowl Graves had given him. It suffocated him, making it hard to breathe.
He curled his hand into a fist, and a charging Umbra fell, seizing as blood streamed from his shadowed eyes.
Bastian ran into Az, who wore such a fearsome snarl on his face that he was momentarily taken aback.
The demon growled. "You felt it?"
Bastian nodded. "Yes."
There was no time to mince words—their Vincire was at stake.
"How could this happen?" Az snarled, bowling over the lingering Umbra—pitiful, as they staggered in the room.
