Page 74 of Vengeance of the Gods

Vega had ended them with hers.

The Aeris home under her feet trembled with an aftershock of a power Marlena would know anywhere… because it was hers.

After the portal she’d made for Bridger imploded, Marlena had been on edge—waiting for something to happen.

She needed to get to the portal, but Marlena was stuck staring at the remnants of a room she thought she’d be the one to destroy one day.

Vega takes everything from me.

The rasp of a maid’s panic made Marlena spin, more glass crunching under her heels.

“Miss Marlena!” The round woman rested her hands on her knees, drawing in deep breaths from what Marlena assumed was a short run. Her eyes were wide, sweat glistening across her brow. “Atrox,” she gasped. “A dragon is attacking the prison.”

Marlena had just left. Had just made it to Aeris to find the mirrors shattered.

Without responding, Marlena stepped through the in-between and back to Atrox.

She wasn’t prepared for the sight unfolding.

Marlena stood at the top of the stairs to the prison, and coming up from below were the faces of horrified guards and filthy-looking prisoners. Behind them was a wave of flames with the unmistakable roar of a dragon.

The shake of its vocal cords and the rumble deep in Marlena’s chest had her dumbstruck.

How the fuck did Khort find his way in?

A guard with life-threatening burns crawled up the stairs, his screams shaking Marlena’s eardrums. “Help! Help me!”

Marlena reached down, gripping the boy by his shoulder. His skin melted off at her touch. She felt the warmth of her healing powers from the dead god Juno slither up her arm, pushing only enough to numb his pain. She didn’t care if he lived or died. “Tell me what’s happening.”

The young boy, who probably wasn’t much older than twenty, relaxed under her touch, but the fear in his eyes didn’t disappear. “Your prisoner, Arlet, she—she…” he stuttered, unable to get his mind to work clearly. “That’s not the normal black dragon. That’s not him.”

“What did Arlet do?” Marlena shook him, trying to get him to make sense.

“One second she was quiet, and the next she was screaming, convulsing.” The boy sobbed in pain.

Marlena almost lost her cool waiting for him to spit it out, but everyone else was either dead or had already fled, so her options were limited.

“The dragon… it—oh gods. It came out of her. Shooting out of her, but her body stayed behind, unlike a regular shifter.” The boy began to shiver, his body unable to keep up with his injuries. “The brown dragon from the battlefield returned, but it’s bigger, angrier.”

A rush of flames shot up the stairwell. Marlena shielded herself, dropping the boy. The sound of his scream was washed away by the crackling of the fire roaring around her bubble of safety.

Most would flee, run away from the dragon, but Marlena didn’t run from fights. She walked into the flames, parting them as she descended into whatever might be left of the fort’s dungeon.

The mouth of a dragon Marlena had only seen once before, on the battlefield in Schoenus, cut through the flames shooting from its unhinged jaw.

Ducking, she rolled out of the way in time to hear the dragon’s jaws snap shut, drool splattering from the force.

Marlena jumped, moving through the dragon and its tail whacking against the cells, old stone crumbling around them. With nothing to support from underneath, this wing of the home would fall, crushing anyone left behind.

The dragon couldn’t turn around quickly enough, slamming into the sides of the walls as Marlena approached the cell where Arlet had been kept. Had.

Arlet was gone.

“She’s back.” Arlet’s voice startled Marlena, a small gasp leaving her lips. She hadn’t heard her—it was like she appeared out of thin air.

Arlet must have seen that realization on her face, and a sickly sweet smile spread across her lips. Marlena’s eyes traced the outline of them before looking back to her eyes. “You’re not the only one who can hide, Mar.” She held her arm up, displaying the soft and unmarked skin where a power block once was.

Confusion watered Marlena’s senses.