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Flames lick at my feet, and I scream beneath my gag as the heat sears my tender flesh. Desperation floods my veins as smoke billows up from beneath me, stinging my eyes and my nostrils with each inhalation. The world tilts and spins around me as the fumes clog my throat, shrouding my mind in a fog-like haze.
With the last of my strength, I lift my gaze to the sky and send a silent prayer to the gods, praying that this is not the end. I am not ready to die and meet them today.
A dark shadow moves overhead, blocking the light of the sun. The massive form vaguely familiar and yet foreign to my eyes as my mind struggles to make sense of what I’m seeing.
A deafening roar fills the air, and ice-cold fear fills my veins.
“Dragon!” someone yells. “Take cover!”
Panicked cries ring out as a great silver-white Dragon circles the crowd. My heart stops as he flies straight toward the platform. Black smoke whirls around him with the heavy beat of his massive wings. His scales shimmer iridescent, reflecting the glow of the fire, unscathed by the flames that wrap around his terrifying form.
Piercing emerald eyes meet mine, their reptilian pupils contract and then expand wide.
“Mine,”a deep voice whispers in my mind, fierce and possessive.
Lightning fast, the Dragon extends his sharp claws, slicing away my bindings and pulling me free from the wooden stake. Wrapping his massive front paw around my form, he shields me from the fire as he pulls me to his chest.
My throat is raw and swollen, and I struggle to draw in a deep breath. Darkness closes in around the edges of my vision as my eyelids blink open and closed.
Lethal black claws as big as spears wrap around my tender flesh but do not break it as his green eyes travel over me. Rage fills my chest, and somehow, I know it is not mine. It’s his.
He turns to the crowd and releases a thunderous roar. His dark voice echoes in my mind, full of unbridled anger.“I will raze their kingdom to the ground. All of them will burn for daring to harm what is mine.”
The silver scales across his chest begin to glow as fire builds deep within. He opens his mouth, and a devastating stream of flame erupts from his throat and into the crowd.
The world tilts and spins, fading away, and my vision narrows as I slowly lose the fight to remain conscious. My head falls back, and I tumble away into the dark and beckoning void.
CHAPTER2
AURDYN
My T’kara—my Treasured One. My Fated One. My mate. Mine.
The sacred words echo in my mind as the mate bond snaps firmly into place.
My T’kara is human: with hair the color of flame and pale blue eyes that seem to stare straight through me. Her small form shudders in my grip and rage blisters through my veins as I turn to the ones who wished to end her.
All of them will burn for daring to harm what is mine. I swear it toDraegar—the ancient god of fire and destruction.
Fire builds deep in my chest and I open my mouth, releasing the flames of my anger. I will burn them all to ash and raze their entire kingdom to the ground for what they have done.
The crowd scatters, desperate to escape my wrath. But there will be no escape. Only vengeance this day.
It has been many years since my people have had dealings with the humans, and our tentative treaty is at an end. I prayed to the gods and received a vision, instructing me to come here. Alone. I knew not what I’d find, only that it would be important. I never expected my Fated One would be here, nor that she’d be human.
Holding my T’kara securely to me, fire builds in my chest, and black smoke escapes from my nostrils as I level a dark glare at King Harald. “What is the meaning of this?”
“She was caught practicing witchcraft,” the King replies firmly. “The penalty for this crime is death.”
Fire licks the back of my throat with want to burn him to ash where he stands. “How dare you harm what is mine,” I growl. “I will end you for hurting my T’kara!”
“Your T’kara?” The woman beside him gasps. A flicker of magic moves across her face, revealing her true form beneath. Her pale skin fades to light gray, her long blond hair turning silver as her eyes shift from green into twin pools of pitch-black darkness. She is a Mage—an old one judging from the state of her haggard appearance.
Her gaze locks onto my mate. “Asanishon,” she grinds out through sharp, white fangs.
Sanishon. Wisps of a long-buried memory begin to unfurl in my mind. This word meansOutsiderin the archaic tongue, originating in a prophecy foretold in the ancient tomes of the Lythyrian.
“Guards!” The Mage raises her hands, red bolts of energy crackling across her fingers like lightning. “Kill her! Kill them both!”
