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All of them were panting, and victorious howls came from Nish and Ryder as Haxil finally broke through the prince’s air affinity. He joined the guards and piled on top of the prince.
Norivun sputtered a breath when Haxil knocked the wind from him with an easy punch.
“Cheating bastards!” the crown prince choked out as he wheezed and laughed.
The guards chortled.
A devilish grin split Norivun’s face. “Don’t say you didn’t deserve this.”
In a flash of magic so strong that I felt it in my bones, the prince’s form abruptly vanished. A second later, a roaring dragon stood in his place. My eyes turned into saucers, and I blinked, then blinked again.
The dragon was still there.
“That is the most realistic looking illusion I’ve ever seen,” I breathed.
Sandus crossed his arms, smirking. “It’s not an illusion.”
“What?” I backed up, but Sandus stopped me.
“Just watch. He’ll want you to see.”
“He?That’sNorivun?”
Sandus grinned.
Black scales covered the dragon’s... no,Norivun’sentire body as puffs of smoke blew from his nostrils. Huge, leathery wings tipped in talons lay against his body as a long tail swung along the floor, knocking all of the guards from their feet.
“Oh, fuck,” Sandus said from beside me as he huffed a laugh. “He hasn’t pulled that stunt in a while.”
The guard leaned against the door, an amused smile on his face as we watched the chaos that was being unleashed.
My eyes widened more as I took in the sheer size of Norivun, who apparently had a dragon shapeshifting affinity—an extremelyrareaffinity that the prince never told me about because he liked seeing me curious. Since dragons were only normally found in the underworld, guarding the gates to Lucifer’s kingdom, it was unheard of for a Solis fairy to acquire their form when a shapeshifting affinity manifested. I’d read in a history book that it’d only happened once and that had been centuries ago.
“He’s truly unique, isn’t he?” I said in amazement.
Sandus nodded. “That he is.”
In his dragon form, Norivun rose twenty feet tall. At his full height, his lips split into a grin as long, razor-sharp teeth hung from his gums. The guards had completely given up on besting him in their sparring, and I could have sworn that Norivun was grinning at me.
“Very nice, Nori. She’s thoroughly impressed.” Sandus waved toward the prince’s shredded clothes on the floor. “Would you like me to grab you a new pair of pants and a tunic?” He headed toward a chest against the wall.
In a second brilliant flash of magic, so strong it nearly knocked me off my feet, Norivun shifted back to his fae form. His huge leathery wings, tipped with talons, appeared at his back again, and my eyes widened.
“That’swhy you have talons on your wings?” I blurted as the crown prince pulled on a fresh pair of pants that Sandus had thrown to him. “It’s your dragon affinity that caused that?”
He gave me a crooked grin. “I wondered how long it would take you to figure out.”
Haxil, Ryder, and Nish all laughed or smirked, and I resisted the urge to smack the crown prince on his chest.
Norivun’s grin increased as his nostrils flared. “Is that scent I’m detecting from you anger or admiration?”
I crossed my arms. “You could have just told me about that affinity and saved me the shock. I thought it was an illusion.”
He laughed. “And miss seeing the disbelief you’re still wearing? No way.”
Haxil chuckled while Nish laughed so loud that he had to prop himself against Ryder to keep from tipping over.
“If it makes you feel better,” the prince said, stepping closer to me, “I don’t often shift. It’s my weakest affinity, and I can’t hold my dragon form for more than a few days.”
