Page 130 of Only Flames Remain

My magic had reached its limit. As it failed to sustain my dragon form, I dropped to my knees. I was Vireth once more, only enough magic left in my well of power to keep my wings at my back.

My fire was expended, but it didn’t matter.

As I gazed upon the castle, a smile drew across my lips. The castle of Myros was in ruins. Wreckage and debris were strewn about as the cries of the citizens filled my ears.

I scanned the coastline, realizing that half of Majur had crumbled beneath my wrath, too. A necessary sacrifice—or collateral damage.

However you wanted to look at it.

I could feel the hum in my core, drawing me toward her. The need to find her was primal.

She was somewhere among the rubble of the castle. Still alive.

In my human form, wings at my back and sword in my hand, I set off toward the wreckage.

I was going to find her, and ensure every last royal was dead.

CHAPTER 40

Aveline

When the guards came to give me my next dose of medicine, they found me lying on the cot. I was utterly still, an arm thrown over my face. I wiped sleep from my eyes at the sound of their approach, feigning fatigue with a heavily lidded gaze. I unfocused my eyes, staring absently at a spot on the floor.

“When was the last dose?” One of the guards asked. “She still looks pretty out of it to me.”

The guard’s feet shuffled. “Eight this morning. I gave it to her myself.”

I had no idea what time it was now. If I had to venture a guess, it was somewhere around noon. The timing couldn’t have been more perfect.

By the time I woke, the sun would be setting on Myros. It would make it all that much easier for me to escape onto the streets unnoticed.

I could see the guard shrug out of the corner of my eye. “Order are orders, I suppose.”

The guards rifled for the keys to the cell. When they finally opened the iron door with their gloved hands, I didn’t move.

The first guard grasped my shoulders, forcibly holding me back against the cot. I allowed him to. He propped a finger against my jaw and opened it. The other guard stood over me, an amber bottle with a dropper in his hand.

I gripped the guard who held me against his forearm, bracing myself. He allowed four drops to fall onto the top of my tongue, and it took every ounce of my self-control to remain motionless.

Bouvardia, ghostbloom, and a hint of lyndworm.

Just as I suspected. Perfect.

The guards had ensured the last dose had gone down by checking my mouth, and I was sure they would do the same now. I quickly moved the liquid under my tongue. I let my head fall to the side as it sat there, absorbing into my blood stream directly. Tincture taken under the tongue bypassed the liver entirely, allowing it to be directly absorbed into my blood stream. Not only did it work faster, but it wore off faster, too.

I could feel the effects of the poison immediately. What little magic I had sensed rising to the surface of my skin was now pressed back down into the darkness. My eyes were heavy.

I swallowed back the remainder of the liquid.

When the guard propped my mouth open, the elixir was gone. Satisfied, they left me there.

But my hand wasn’t empty.

When the guard leaned over to administer the tincture, I had slipped the hand that hadn’t been bracing against his forearm up, up, up, grasping the key he still had dangling against his breast pocket. I slid the key beneath me as I turned onto my side, suppressing the smile that itched to rise to my lips and feigning a cough at the acrid taste.

It wasn’t until their footsteps retreated, the door closing at the end of the corridor and slamming shut that I allowed myself to smile.

Men were easy to play…they never paid close enough attention.