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“So you’re alive.” My mind couldn’t place the familiar voice, but my body did. I tensed and spun around, hatred and loathing twisting in me as I prepared to strike. Unfortunately, I was still weak and completely without magic.
“Give me back my dragon,” I growled. “How dare you!”
The man scoffed and began to pace in front of the blocked mouth of the cave. The glow of the magical barrier gave him an otherworldly look, but it didn’t hide the sneer on his face or the way he looked frail. In fact, it accentuated it.
“I intend to take the rest, you vapid dragon,” he bit out. There was enough bitterness in his tone that I knew something had gone wrong for him.
“Oh, did my magic not meld with yours? It’s fighting to get back to me, isn’t it?” I asked gleefully. My laughter echoed through the cave, and he turned, his long black hair blowing in a nonexistent breeze. Now that I was studying him, his face was a sickly gray, like something was eating him alive. And if it was because of my magic, I owed karma a fucking fruit basket or a case of wine.
He was on me a moment later, angry and vile, but he was unable to harm me here. This wasn’t real. It was a dream, that much I was positive of.
“Oh, not so big and bad here, huh?” I teased. Just knowing I had a part in this made me feel powerful and unstoppable, which only made my snark that much more intense. I’d spent too many weeks being vulnerable to care about pushing boundaries now.
HIs hand passed through my throat when he tried to grab it, then he stormed back to his spot at the entrance.
“Funny. Last time we met, you weren’t so cocky,” he said, and a malicious grin spread on his face, making him look even more skeletal. “In fact, this is where I attacked you and left you for dead, stole away every ounce of your magic and left you a shell.”
“Yet here I stand,” I countered.
His anger became volatile now, his body shaking with the force of it, but I knew something he clearly wasn’t thinking about. Anger was a strong emotion, sure, but more often than not, it led to hasty decisions. Maybe it would provoke him into giving something important away.
“You know, I’ve taken countless lives...” He moved closer to me again. “Watched the life drain from their eyes and their magic flow into me. But you’re the first who survived. I want to know how. You aren’t my first dragon.”
“I guess the universe was just tired of you getting away with your crimes. And now that you’ve failed here, I’m going to find you and make you pay for what you’ve done. I may be weak, but my brood is strong. You arenothingnow. Even your title is a thing of the past.”
“Farren!” My name was called in the distance, and I was drawn to the sound of Avi’s voice. It helped me crawl my way out of the dream. The cave faded, replaced by my bedroom and Avi’s pale blue eyes staring down at me. “There you are.”
“Holy shit, Avi. Get the guys!” I said excitedly. I sounded insane, which was only confirmed by how quickly he jumped into action despite the confusion on his face, but I didn’t give a fuck. The Arch Mage had just given me so much more than he realized.Hope.
Instead of him being this powerful boogeyman in my nightmares, he was a frail old man who reeked of desperation.
The others came barreling into the room within five minutes. I didn’t know what Avi had told them, but they looked panicked and flustered when they rushed over to me.
“What happened?!” Niko demanded.
“Listen, remember how Quinn said the High Priestess crashed her dreams?” I started. They all nodded; we’d heard the story only last night, so it was fresh in their minds. “It happened to me.”
“But she’s a death witch. You’re a dragon. How?” Kane asked. He left the ‘and you have barely any power left’ unsaid.
“Well, it happened.” I recounted every detail of the dream for them, down to the slightest detail. “He was so frail.” They blinked at me in shock as they processed my words.
“This is why he needs their magic,” Levi gasped. “The ‘batteries’ Quinn saw. He’s using them to try to stabilize himself.”
“He’s finally dying. Karma is a vicious bitch. Your magic wasn’t taken in full, so it’s tearing him in half,” Niko summarized. “That, or he finally reached his own capacity. Either way, the chaotic magic is draining his life force. And from the sound of it, it’s happening pretty rapidly.”
“I’ve watched someone burn from the inside out with too much power. It’s not pretty,” Avi said darkly. “It literally fractures the skin, cracking it as it stretches the body to its limits.”
“If he knows that’s happening, it could be why he’s lying low like this,” I said. “He’s avoiding me just in case.”
“Professor Drole did say that getting her close to him would be the quickest way to end this,” Niko revealed. We’d heard all the details of the trip to the university, or so we’d thought, but he had kept this to himself. I could see why. Who would willingly shove their mate at the man who’d hurt them?
“How am I not close enough? I go into Emberwood all the time…”
“Yes, but if he’s needing to recharge like he is, then he’s not just walking the streets anymore,” Kane said. “I bet no one in that office is safe. He’s likely barricading himself inside.”
“We can’t warn them. It’s too late,” Levi said, pure heartbreak in his voice.
“It’s not our fault,” I reassured him. “Even if he came after you, it’s not like you fucking wanted it. He’s a maniacal monster hellbent on stealing every bit of magic he sets his eyes on. You denied him his prize, so he’s trying to get it back.”
