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“She’s mine. And so is this kingdom.”
Rathmort grinned. “Ah, you must be the lost prince. I had wondered if you’d ever show your face again. I expected you a lot sooner than this. Began to believe you were dead.”
“I’ve been otherwise engaged.”
“By the looks of it, you’ve been flopping about in a rancid swamp all this time. When I’m through with you, that will seem like a spa.” Then Rathmort’s gaze shifted beyond Khalstorm. Anger twisted his features. “No, don’t!”
Khalstorm glanced back in time to see Celeste racing for the cliff. In the next instant, she threw herself over the edge.
His chest tightened with alarm, shuttering his breath. She had to know she would not survive a drop from this height. Was she so desperate to escape them both? He sprinted after her and leapt over the edge, transforming to his dragon form as he fell. Plunging in a nosedive, he spotted Celeste and pulled his wings close to his body to quicken his descent. She wasn’t making a sound, wasn’t screaming at all as she silently raced to her doom.
At the last second, he managed to loop one long talon around the chain that connected her shackled wrists and spread his wings wide to pull out of the dive. Waves crashed loudly below, just as lightning thrashed the sky. He thought he heard Rathmort roaring with rage and wanted to laugh, but never got the chance. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a bright, burning ball of magic seconds before it slammed into him like a ten-ton boulder.
The breath whooshed from his great billowing lungs and his body shuddered from the sensation of a thousand bolts of crippling energy clawing through his veins and making his every muscle convulse involuntarily. His talons constricted from the pain and inadvertently sliced through the metal of Celeste’s chains. He glanced down to meet her terrified gaze as she plunged into the ocean. Then, he too, was plummeting. Having somehow lost the use of his wings, he crashed into the ocean and was quickly sucked below the waves by a fierce undertow. His limbs thrashed for the surface. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized he’d shifted back into his two-legged form, though not of his own will, but that was not his immediate concern. He was out of air, sinking farther from the surface, his lungs already burning . . . and he didn’t know how to swim.
6
Celeste broke the surface and managed to gulp back a desperate life-giving breath before a monstrous wave sent her tumbling under the surface once more. When she made it to the surface a second time, she was able to stay afloat long enough to determine that Khalstorm was nowhere in sight. That flash had been a spell from Rathmort’s direction, and it had clearly hit its mark. Now Khalstorm was somewhere in the vast, black ocean, possibly drowning . . . hadn’t he once told her he couldn’t swim?
“Oh, goddess!” Filling her lungs with air, she dove under the water, but all she could see was murky blackness. Returning to the surface, she called out for Khalstorm, but there was no reply. Desperate, she dove again and again, frantically feeling around for scales, or fur, or something that resembled a dragon—though what she would do if she found him, she had no idea. There was no way she could drag a full-grown dragon out of a churning ocean.
High above, lightning boomed in quick succession, so strong and fierce that it lit up the water below and she saw a darkened figure below her! “Khalstorm!”
He was in his two-legged form. That meant she had a chance. Diving once more, she kicked her legs hard, fighting the current, swimming deeper and deeper. The lightning faded and darkness swallowed her, but she kept swimming toward where she thought he was. When her lungs began to burn, she fought the urge to turn back. She was so close, she was sure she’d been about to reach him.
Her hand brushed what felt like his fingers and she grabbed hold. In return, Khalstorm gripped her hand painfully tight, and she sensed his growing panic. Adrenaline spiked in her own blood. If she was unable to get him to the surface, he could unintentionally pull her down with him and they would both drown.
Pushing past her anxiety, she wrapped her free arm around his thick wrist to get a better grip and then kicked up with all her might, towing him along with her. With every second, her body’s need for oxygen turned unbearable and she barely resisted gasping in lungfuls of water. When her vision began to prickle with sparks she knew she would soon pass out, and then they’d both be done for.
Mustering her strength, she kicked harder, and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they both broke the surface, coughing and sputtering and gasping great gulps of air. Still a bit panicked, Khalstorm clung to her as he struggled to keep his head above water.
“Stay calm,” she hollered above the roaring waves. Grappling with him for a chaotic moment, she managed to hook his arm around her neck and kicked her legs to keep them both afloat. “If you give in to panic, you’ll pull us both under again.”
He managed to calm himself somewhat. “What now?”
“Just kick your feet and let me do the rest.” With that, she began the arduous task of guiding them toward the distant shore while contending with a steady assault of choppy waves that seemed bent on dragging them further out to sea.
It felt as though several hours had passed before she and Khalstorm dragged their sopping bodies onto the beach and collapsed with exhaustion. As punishment, the sky opened up and began pelting them with icy daggers of rain. She glanced back at the towering castle, now a mere silhouette on the horizon, and was surprised by how far down the coast they had drifted.
Her gaze slid to Khalstorm. He was sprawled on his back, his massive chest heaving for breath. She eased closer, unsure if he was unconscious or just regaining his strength. This was her chance to escape. If Rathmort found her, he’d lock her back up—and who knew what Khalstorm had planned for her. But she couldn’t leave him out here in the open. Not with Rathmort on the hunt for them both.
“Khalstorm?” she muttered softly, hoping he was completely buggered with exhaustion. When he made no reply, she lumbered to her feet, grabbed both his wrists, and began tugging him along the white, sandy beach toward the edge of the forest where he might better be concealed from sight. He was one heavy bastard and it took all of her remaining strength, but she managed to position him under a canopy of young elderberry trees.
Before leaving him, likely forever, she dropped to her knees beside him and stole one last longing look. It was clear he’d had a hard life since last she’d seen him. He’d never looked so disheveled in his life, with a grizzled appearance and a furrowed crease to his brows that had never been there before. Yet, sopping wet and haggard as he was, she still found him to be the most handsome male she had ever encountered, and her heart broke anew for her naïve younger self who had once fancied herself in love with him.
He despised her now. Wanted nothing more than to take revenge on her in ways only the gods could surmise.
Despite that, she leaned down to whisper, “I wish I could change the past for you.” Then, hesitating only the briefest of moments, she dared to press her lips to his in a secret, parting kiss that would have to last her the rest of her life. However long or—more likely—short that might be.
A strong hand gripped her by the nape and tugged her back. She squeaked in alarm. Khalstorm’s furious gaze met hers. “Donna think this is goodbye, witch.” His tone was rough and heatless. “You and I have unfinished business.”
Transferring his grip to her arm, he slogged to his feet, a little unsteady, and then pulled her along with him into the forest. “Your master will be coming after you, I presume.”
Rain pelted her face as she stumbled and tripped, trying to keep up with his hasty pace. “He’ll be looking for me, yes.”
“And you were going to leave me there in the open as a diversion? Easy prey?”
“No. I dragged you out of sight.” As they barreled through the forest, making their own path, she marveled at the sight of him, still amazed that he was alive. She never thought she’d see him again. Yet here he was. A ghost from her past, here to haunt her, yet part of her could not help but rejoice.
