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Chapter XXXII
The dragon didn’t makea portal once we were on its back.
No, the dragon stretched out, its hind legs launching upward. The wings beat loudly as we pushed higher and higher in the sky. I gripped Cole’s shoulders, pressing my legs against the dragon’s back, and held on for dear life. Wind ripped through my hair. We pierced clouds, nearly vertical as the dragon drove higher.
Then it ripped through the barrier that held the realm together.
The magic around me shifted—we were in the land of the living. The full moon glowed overhead, lighting the land in a silvery blanket. The dragon didn’t slow as we pierced the skies again. I held on tighter, my heart pounding. Thousands and thousands of stars lit the night, not a single cloud obscuring them. They grew larger as the dragon pushed forward. The air turned thin.
I sensed the barrier between the heavens and the realm of the living. It crackled against my magic. We weren’t wanted. But that wasn’t going to stop the dragon beneath us.
It pushed against the barrier, wings straining and straining without moving forward. I called on my magic too, trying to help. Cole’s own power wrapped around mine, and the three of us pushed against the Moon Goddess.
With a great cry, the dragon pierced the veil between realms.
We landed in the great hall, the emerald dragon roaring at all who saw us. Cole dismounted and caught me as I jumped down.
Thank you, I thought to the dragon.
It gave a soft cry back, a sound I would hold in my heart forever. It said that it appreciated my gift and was glad it had fought for me.
Without warning, it burst into a mass of green sparks. The sparks swirled higher, coming together into a single column. Then they arched back down and slammed me square in the chest.
The dragon’s magic pierced me. I was in my usual sweats and vine-made tank top. My exposed right arm was suddenly covered in a winding tattoo, the unmistakable shape of a dragon head landing right on my collar.
It had taken everything the creature had to get to where it was not wanted, to get us to the Moon Goddess’s realm.
I slid a glance at Cole. His own tattoo, twin to the one on my skin, was hidden under his clothing. But he had to know. “You didn’t tell me this was a one-way ticket.”
He shrugged, ever casual even as we were now in enemy territory, with our very souls at stake. “If we lose, it won’t matter.”
I rolled my eyes. “How practical.”
His feral grin was answer enough.
“So good of you to join us,” the frost-filled voice called from high above.
I turned from Cole and took in the room. The Moon Goddess was seated high above on her throne, but my gaze didn’t land on her. No, all I could see were the thousands and thousands of ghost shifters lining the room. They had the same translucent outlines as the one she’d sent for the first trial, their bodies filled with stars. Some were in humanform, others in wolf form. Every single one had a choking collar of stars around their neck. Their pain called out to me, begging to be heard. I bit down a snarl. Cole didn’t, outwardly growling at the treatment of the Moon Goddess’s enslaved army.
“Your plan failed. We’re here,” I called out.
Her head cocked once more in that stilted way of hers, a mockery of natural emotions. “Plan? I simply wanted to make certain you were suitably determined to continue on this path.”
Yeah, and I had her a hunk of rock in the sky to sell her.
“Before we go any further,Phoebe, you need to allow your son to enter the realm. He’s our referee and you have no right to block him.”
The Moon Goddess seemed to twitch at the use of her given name. Well, she shouldn’t have given it to me if she didn’t want it used. It was that, or one of the more colorful nicknames I had saved up for her.
“Naturally, since you are here, I will do this,” she assured us.
What a load of crap.
A portal opened high above in the sky. Unlike the smooth circles Phaidros and I conjured, hers was made of shifting rectangles, pure white sparks shrinking and enlarging. The edges seemed sharp as ice, like if they jerked at the wrong moment, they would cut whoever came through. Phaidros fell through the portal seconds later, the star-skinned demon nearly crashing to the ground before opening his own portal and landing on his feet like a proper cat shifter instead of a demon.
“Oh good, dove, your plan actually worked.” Phaidros winked at me, though I saw the unease in his movements. He reached through another smaller portal and pulled out a flask.
When he pulled his hand back through the portal, though, his wristwas seized with a band of stars.
