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9
“Do you really have to be an asshole? Or are you just covering for Vyper while he’s gone?” I huffed, as we all flew in formation towards the wetlands.
Tharion’s head turned back, giving me a look that said,‘Last time I checked, I saved you.’
“Well, you wouldn’t have had to save my ass, if you had been there to begin with!”
Asher snorted next to me, hovering close with Athina after the confrontation between Saithar and Tharion. It had taken some time for the rest of the Dragons to be comfortable with Fire Fury among them, especially after what happened. Yet, since he cooled down—literally—they seemed to be getting used to his presence.
“Just ignore me,” I blurted, fully aware that I looked like a lunatic, for talking to a Dragon like he was actually talking back.
“Oh, I am. Trust me. I am ignoring you to the best of my ability.”
I chuckled, seeing Asher’s lips twitch. He and I were flying behind Evie and Kingston, while everyone else and their mothers had placed themselves between Lachlan and me. He was tailing the guard, with two of his men riding along on his Dragon. Apparently, he was training them as sky riders, but they didn’t have their own rides yet.
“Hey,” Asher’s voice called my attention back to him. “What really happened back there?”
My gaze went to the back to where Lachlan flew, catching his intense gaze. There was hostility in his eyes, but there was also intrigue. He definitely did not like me, but the feeling was mutual, so he could suck it for all I cared.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” I replied, regarding him again. Except, that wasn’t exactly true, was it? It was still hard to describe, but one thing was for certain, whatever magic my ring possessed had something to do with it. I shrugged. “I guess the Dragons just sensed our distress and decided to cool it.”
Asher considered my words, but he didn’t seem convinced. Neither was I, only the alternative was too much for my mind to accept. I couldn’t even get Tharion to fly out of his cave because I asked, it was ridiculous to think that I actually had that kind of power over him to command him… or the others.
Throwing a sly glance at my ring, Asher looked forwards, and I felt bad keeping so many secrets from him. “It has magic,” I answered, even though the question remained in his mind.
He turned to face me, and his expression said that he hadn’t expected me to answer. Probably the reason he didn’t bother to ask in the first place. “What kind of magic?”
I frowned, wondering the same thing. So far, I had learned that some of the trades in the realm required a certain amount of magic. Like the one possessed by the man who created the living map, or the one infused into the arm shields by Skylar as she crafted them.
“I’m not sure. But it’s what allows me to feel the Dragon’s like I do, and attracts them to me.”
He considered it for a second, and then his head shook. “That is not how talismans work.”
“Talismans?”
He nodded. “That ring has magic, that much is true, but talismans only enhance the power the wearer has. Take the Warlock King’s staff, for example. His magic has been passed down through generations and generations of male Sorcerers. He can wield it without the crystal on his staff, but that sphere intensifies his already formidable abilities. Because of it, he can project his attacks farther than he could before. With it, his power becomes stronger.”
Ooh. That was the reason Evie had shattered Raithian’s sphere before she ran and jumped off Azazel.
“So he can’t be defeated by merely destroying his staff,” I concluded, understanding the concept.
Once again, Asher shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. That is not the way legacy magic works. We learned that the hard way.” The pain his statement carried, spoke of the loss they had suffered when they attempted that feat.
“How powerful is he really?” Even after I asked the question, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer.
“Legend says he took control of Azazel within a matter of seconds. And he has kept him trapped in his curse for over fifteen years.”
“You mean, the four-headed beast wasn’t always evil?”
“No.” Asher’s expression became grave, disturbed by the shadows of past truths. “He was one of ours. Azazel was in the Skyborne Legion until Raithian’s supremacy captured him and turned him against us. That is what makes him so dangerous.”
Holy hell.
My mind raced with the information, another question swirling in its depths. “Did he ever have a rider?”
“Yes!” Asher was forced to yell over the quickly rising winds when we finally exited the cover of the woodlands, approaching the vast, open skies of the wetlands. “It was the Harbinger of Justice!”
WTF. The one everyone hated?!
