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ChapterThirty
The Realm of the Gods
I hadn’t known what to expect once we crossed through the portal and into the Realm of the Gods. Julian had explained to me earlier that it was an ever-changing place—a place that reflected the gods’ and goddesses’ wants and needs. It was a place where they could honor themselves. They could alter it at their foolish whims, much like they liked to do with the lives of their people.
The Realm of the Gods had always seemed like a foolish waste of space to me—a place where only the gods and goddesses could reside while there were so many others of us who were floundering without a Realm to call our own. But I guess they felt they were entitled since they’d been the ones to create the Realms in the first place.
I thought for sure the Realm of the Gods would be a place much more sinister, considering The Destroyer had made the changing Realm his home. A place that epitomized everything he stood for—violence, anger, hate, and cruelty. I expected darkness and monsters lurking around every corner. Thrones of fire and fury. Eerie sounds and helpless cries from those who were being held against their will. But my expectations came nowhere near the reality.
The Realm of the Gods was a place of sheer beauty. A beauty so pure that it almost brought tears to my eyes. It was light and brightness all rolled into one—a city of ice with crystal palaces that gleamed like diamonds and streets made of freshly fallen snow. White covered every surface. It would have been glaringly bright had there been an illuminating source to reflect off of them.
Julian had explained that the Realm of the Gods had neither sunlight nor moonlight, so all who passed through its gates would not fear death.
“This was not what I was expecting,” I said to the copper dragon beneath me.
No, but many times it is the unexpected that can be the biggest threat. Keep your eyes open.
There was a field with hills and valleys covered in snow below us—pristine in its beauty. There were no trees, no blue skies, just endless clouds and fields of white. As we soared through the sky the hills rose and fell below us.
I hunkered low over Esmerelda’s back so we could fly faster, and I struggled to keep my eyes open and on everything around me. Riding on the back of a dragon was not a way to cure a fear of flying. Her powerful muscles bunched and flexed beneath me, and Julian moved closer, touching my leg briefly with his black scales to ease my discomfort.
We passed over the last hill and my adrenaline surged.
A castle made of glass and white stone sat nestled between two hills. It was circled by a crystal-clear lake and guarded by a drawbridge made of diamonds. White dragons launched themselves from the rooftop and came at us in a fury. Thousands of them. These dragons weren’t the same white as the Russian clan. These were of the purest white, never varying in shade. And they were our mortal enemies.
They charged us in straight lines—hundreds upon hundreds of them for as far as the eye could see. Erik had always been a great general. He knew how to win battles.
All of our dragons dropped the human Drakán they carried to fight their own battles on the ground. Erik hadn’t been a hundred percent successful in his breeding experiments because it looked like there were still many in his kingdom who couldn’t shift form, just as many of ours couldn’t.
Julian led his dragons back up into the sky. He was dead center of the pack. Feng and his best warriors flanked Julian’s right, and Xana and our best warriors flanked his left. The others under Julian’s command quickly got into formation so they mirrored the white dragons.
I growled in anger as Cale and his people held back. It was too late for them to change their mind. They were trapped in this Realm. And they would either fight or die. Esmerelda and I came up behind them, and she roared her displeasure, forcing them to take their place in the battle lines.
I knew what my job was. I’d had to fight for it, but in the end I had won. Esmerelda and I were to find the prisoners and release them—though most of them would be no better than humans now. Their fragile human shells were going to make their escape all the more difficult.
Have a care, lifemate, Julian whispered through my mind.I would be most displeased with you if you injured yourself again.
It was the last thing I felt from him. He closed himself off completely, and the loss of him was almost debilitating.
Snap out of it Rena, Esmerelda said.He’ll be fine. You must see to your tasks now.
Esmerelda and I veered off from the group and flew down to the castle. I held on tight as she made a smooth landing in freshly packed snow. The sounds of battle came from above—the clang of razor-sharp claws as they hit against each other like swords—the gnashing of teeth—the ripping of flesh.
I watched as the first drops of blood fell from the sky and marred the pristine snow with red. The Realm of the Gods was white and beautiful no more.
ChapterThirty-One
Drakán fought Drakán across a battlefield of snow as Esmerelda and I made our way closer to the drawbridge that led into the castle. Red-scaled dragons fought furiously against the Drakán who guarded the inner gate, and Esmerelda and I slipped by while they were preoccupied and entered the castle.
White marble, veined with the palest gray, lay beneath our feet. The walls were white stone. The ceilings were made of glass, so every floor above us was visible. We could see straight into the sky. Straight into the carnage of the battle raging overhead.
The large foyer split in three directions, forming three hallways—one to the left, one to the right, and one down the middle.
“We should split up,” I said.
Esmerelda was still in her dragon form so she spoke to my mind.Julian told me I wasn’t supposed to let you out of my sight.
“Every second will count if we’re going to free our people. We might already be too late to save them.”
