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Inside, his dragon roared louder, clawed harder to escape. To burst free and feel the prince’s blood flow between his teeth. Chase down the soldiers and watch them burn. Rush would tear apart anyone his dragon left behind. This bastard brought him to the same lake where he’d murdered Sorcha, where Aura would drown if he couldn’t get out of these fucking chains.
The bolt of panic ripped through the barrier imprisoning his dragon. Rush sucked in a breath as the beast emerged. Scales materialized along his skin, spreading, bones elongated, fire flooded his throat, and the chains broke. Smoke rose from his nostrils, seeped out of his lips. The Starnight soldiers shouted, but his pulse thrummed too loudly to understand their last words. And not that he gave a fuck either—they wouldperish.
Flames erupted from his mouth, lighting up the shore. Fire licked across the guards’ skin, filling the air with the rancid scent of burnt flesh. Their shouts turned to screams of anguish as his dragon whirled around to face the prince. His vision narrowed on Pax and the prince pulled a sword from his belt. Rush fought the urge to rein in his dragon in order to kill the prince with his own two hands.
But there wasn’t time to waste. Aura was drowning.
His dragon lunged forward, and Pax leapt away, out of his path. But he wasn’t quick enough—Rush’s wing clipped him, hard, sending him flying through the air to the mud. Rush would deal with him in a moment. He lifted Aura from the water in between his talons. She hung there lifeless as water dripped from her hair, her dress. He pulled her close and pressed her protectively to his chest. Against the softer scales, he could feel her heart hammering.
Alive.
Satisfied by that knowledge, he turned on Pax.
The prince was sprawled in the mud, his teeth chattering in terror. Pitiful. His dragon reveled in the moment, the wide eyes, gaping mouth, ragged breaths. Rush wanted the death to be slow, painful, leaving a memory behind in its wake that Rush could relish. But Aura’s life was more important than giving Pax a long death.
“Rush. Y—your Majesty,” Pax pleaded as he pushed up onto his elbows and scrambled backward. “I’ll bow down to you. You don’t know the truth about your sister. She begged me to be her lover. I felt sorry for her, and then she trapped me on purpose. Her obsession was becoming too much, her lies. I had to. We can talk about—”
Rush slammed his clawed foot down on the prince. Bones snapped and cracked beneath his weight. He felt the heat of Pax’s blood, heard his body crunch.Dead. His vengeance at last.
Cradling Aura, Rush launched himself into the air. A mix of emotions churned within him, but he focused on her, the woman who he’d once hated but now only wanted desperately to save. He flew to the palace, his wings cracking against the wind, and shifted the moment he landed in the garden. Not a single guard hurried forward to help him as he ran to the doors, stepping over the unconscious bodies scattered about.
Inside wasn’t much better with prone guards everywhere. “Astor!” he shouted. However, he didn’t come down the stairs or hurry through the hallway. Where the fuck was he? Was he…No.He couldn’t be dead. Not the one person in his court who was like a brother, who he trusted more than anyone.Fuck!
There wasn’t time to check right now. He had to get Aura to the cellar first. “I’ll fix this,” he promised her, and started for the cellar. After she was situated and safe, he would search for the hawk shifter.
Pausing outside the first door, Rush growled. His key was in his torn clothing at the lake. “Damn it.” He shifted Aura in his arms and kicked the door. It shuddered against the impact and he did it again, harder this time. The wood splintered around the lock and it flew open. He then charged down the stairs and repeated the motions with the second door until it gave way. As he stepped inside, his heart nearly stopped.
“Sorcha?” Her name fell from his mouth in a choked whisper.
Behind the tied-back curtain, his sister stood beside her spinning wheel, still in her blue dress, her dark hair wild like always. Her bright sapphire gaze met his, then roamed around the room. Rush could’ve sworn all the blood drained from his body. She wasalive.
His chest constricted at what that meant… He held Aura tighter against his chest.
“Sorcha,” he repeated.
“Rush,” she said softly. Her eyes then widened. “You’re unclothed.”
“Give me a moment.” Thoughts spinning, he hurried into the bedchamber and rested Aura on the mattress with shaking hands. He grabbed the blanket from the end of the bed, shaking it out, and wrapped it around his waist before stepping back out.
Sorcha peered around him when he exited, her lips tilted down as her gaze landed on Aura. “You didn’t listen to me.”
He dragged in two deep breaths. That wasn’t true—hehadlistened. It was simply too late to stop what he’d begun. “I…”
“I told you to break the spell.” She rounded the wheel and approached him, her chest heaving. “What have you done?”
He looked at his sister and his confidence crumbled for the first time since he’d become king. “I tried to break it. I’m sorry—Itried. I killed Pax after he nearly drowned her, after he spewed lies about you. But Aura is still here.” Though she wasn’t awake.
Tears filled his sister’s eyes. “I hate him. I hate myself for ever being captivated by him, for what he did to Aura, for whatIdid to her, knowing she was his betrothed.” She paused, closing her eyes for a moment.
“The spell needs to be broken, Rush. I’m not meant to remain here. When it’s time, the gods will allow us to meet again, but until then, I want to be with my child.”
Rush swallowed deeply. “The sorceress said I need to break the spindle from your spinning wheel, but I can’t touch it anymore. No one can.”
Furrowing her brow, she turned back to her spinning wheel. She lifted her fingers and pressed them lightly against the wood, then wrapped her hand around the wheel. “That’s not true,” she gasped. “It seemsIcan.” The line between her brows deepened once more as she released the wheel. With a shaky breath, she wrapped her arms around Rush, squeezing him tight. “I know what needs to be done. When Aura wakes, tell her I would’ve liked her as a friend. Tell her … that I’m sorry.”
“Sorcha, I’m not good without you here. You don’t know all the things I’ve done,” he admitted, holding his sister in the way he always should’ve when she used to hug him.
“Then fix them, Rush. You’re not like Pax. Your heart isn’t consumed by darkness. Besides, we all have a vicious side.” She stepped away from him and pressed a hand to his shoulder, her eyes shining with truth in her words. “Now, I’m going to see if this will work. And if it doesn’t, then I’ll find a sorceress myself.”
