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Then into the midst of the chaos and bloodshed on the field, two figures walked. Everywhere they passed. The fighting stilled. Fighters near them paused and some melted away, which made me strain my eyes to see who it was.
Caldren and Jaik were walking together through the battle.
CHAPTER30
Caldren
Some of myprey shifters sank back, giving me horrified looks as if I had betrayed them. No doubt after everything they had experienced at the hands of other predators, compromise felt like a betrayal. But in the long run, no one would benefit from more bloodshed.
Then a predator lunged toward me, and a prey shifter jerked his sword up to block him. Chaos spread again, predators and prey shifters alike battling.
“How do we stop this?” Jaik’s golden eyes swept the scene.
“We need to get their attention.”
“Well. I think I can manage.”
As Jaik began to transform, the shifters around him scurried out of the way, breaking off their fighting. Jaik grew beside me into the enormous dark dragon, his wings and tails unfurling, his fierce head with its yellow eyes rising. He let out a blast of fire that singed the hair of the nearest shifters. He was so much bigger than anyone else on the field. Everyone else could see him.
I glanced back at Joachim’s dragon, expecting him to fly to attack Jaik.
But Joachim was gone. I frowned and turned back to the chaos. One thing at a time.
“It’s time to stop fighting!” I shouted. “This is what the isle’s enemies want. They want you at each other’s throats.”
“The predators have been at our throats all our lives!” One rabbit shifter called back to me.
“I understand! The kingdom needs to change, but we can’t make those changes peacefully once you start killing each other. Stand down!” I shouted at them all.
Some of them started to fight again, and Jaik reared up, aiming a blast of flame their way.
I don’t care which side you’re on,” I said. “Predator or prey, anyone who starts fighting again is disobeying their king.”
And we would kill anyone we must for the sake of peace.
A prey shifter drew back his bow, taking aim with an arrow at a bear shifter on the other side. The predators began to move forward, growling.
I cursed and drew my knife, launching it cleanly across the field. It sank into the shifter’s throat, and he clutched at the hilt as he sank to his knees. The prey around him surged back, and the predators on the other side halted warily.
“This war against each other ends now!” I shouted. I glanced at Jaik in his dragon form beside me. I’d kill one of my own rebels for the sake of peace. Would he let me kill my own but not his?
Two bears growled, then loped forward as if they were driven by Joachim. Jaik whirled and breathed out fire, a long breath that never seemed to end as the shifters nearest them retreated in panic from the wall of flame and heat. When Jaik snapped his jaws shut, his nostrils flaring and golden eyes dangerous, the two bear shifters were nothing but ash on the ground.
It felt as if it were the two of us against the two armies. But slowly, they started to back away from each other.
It wasn’t peace. But it was an end to the battle, for now.
“Joachim disappeared in the chaos,” Lynx’s voice was familiar. I turned to find Honor and my friends walking toward me.
My heart rose at the sight of the red-haired woman who had walked into my life and turned it upside down. The dragon I hadn’t known I needed. For a second, the chaos around me faded, and all I saw was her beautiful face.
Honor rushed to me, and I caught her up in my arms. I buried my face in her hair. For a few long seconds, I didn’t have any words for once.
Having her in my arms was everything.
CHAPTER31
Branok
