rylee adamson 10 - blood of the lost (21 page)

She wrapped her arms around me, holding me close and whispering in my ear. “Your mother is so proud, Lark. You are going to change this world. Not destroy it, but remake it into something better, stronger.”

I pulled back from her. “I hope you’re right.”

She smiled at me. “Have I been wrong yet?”

The laugh that escaped me was only a little bitter. “A time or two.”

Niah held up one finger. “But not this time, child, not this time.”

I truly hoped she was right. May the mother goddess have mercy on us all. If I was wrong and this wasn’t the right thing to do, I would be condemning my family to utter destruction.

Standing, I held a hand out to Pamela, but spoke to my sister. “Belladonna, take them to the ceremonial grounds near the badlands.” We locked eyes. She knew the place I spoke of, we’d been there together once before. Right before I’d been banished the first time. She drew in a slow breath and nodded. I went on for the benefit of the others. “That is where the final battle will take place. Wait for me there before going into the fight, no matter how bad it looks.”

“Where are you going?” Bella asked, and I felt the worry of my people as keenly as a sharp knife against my skin.

I gave her a half-smile, took her hand, and squeezed it.

“I am calling in the favors owed to me. It will not only be the Terralings who stand with Rylee and this world. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

CHAPTER 26

RYLEE

THE COLD SNAPPED through me like a bitch slap from hell. I tried to take a deep breath, but my lungs seemed to freeze, and I knew I didn’t have long to find Ophelia. I stumbled through the snow, following the dragon’s threads. Even though she was only a few feet in front of me, I couldn’t see her. She lifted her head, her body completely covered by a thick layer of snow and ice. Her violet eyes blinked at me and her voice cascaded through my body.

Rylee?
Her head lifted sharply and she looked past me. Looking for Blaz. I reached her side, my whole body shaking as hypothermia hit me as hard as if I were still affected by the Hoarfrost demon’s sting. My hand went automatically to the black snowflake on my chest, tracing the pattern. “Ophelia. I need you to make a fire.”

Here, come closer.
She snaked her head around me and pulled me into the curve of her neck. A deep rumble echoed through her body and a few seconds later the scaled skin under me heated. I clung to her, sheltered from the wind by her body, and I burst into tears. “Blaz is dead, Ophelia.”

A low-pitched keening slid out of her.
I felt him die. I knew he was gone, but Erik didn’t believe me. It is why I sent him and the children away.

I blinked up at her. “What do you mean?”

Ophelia’s deep violet eyes shed tears that froze as they fell through the air.
I knew you would need me to fly you into the final battle. And I knew if you came for me, the children would be in danger. I couldn’t have that.

Pressing my forehead against her neck, I breathed in the scent that was uniquely dragon; wind swept skies with a touch of ozone, and with Ophelia, an underlying layer of meadow flowers. “Thank you.”

There are not only your children to think of, Rylee. I laid my eggs days ago.
My head jerked up without meaning to.

“Blaz and you?”

Yes. He knew; he knew I was carrying a small clutch.

The cold had receded enough that I could think clearly. “Ophelia, we have to go. We have to get back to the farmhouse. But I will freeze my ass, most literally, off if we travel without anything . . . .”

She clawed at the ground in front of her and dug out a long, heavy flying coat.
I made Erik give me his for you.

There were holes in the top of the coat. “You yanked it off him?”

He didn’t believe me when I said Blaz was gone. It is the curse of being called mad, Rylee. No one believes you. Especially after what happened with the demon.
She looked away and I put a hand on her.

That had been hard, for her to realize she’d been duped because she so badly wanted to bond with another Slayer. A demon had convinced her he was a Slayer and she was his dragon. Her grief over losing my father had left her open to manipulation and she’d fallen for the ruse, which had almost cost us dearly.

Around us, the direction of the wind shifted, and with it came the sound of howling that was anything but natural. I Tracked demons as a whole, gasping at what I felt. I grabbed the coat and pulled it on. “We’ve got to get up in the air, ‘Phelia. We’ve got incoming nasty fuckers.”

She shifted her weight and the remaining snow slid off her body. Using the rigging attached to her, I climbed up and strapped myself in as the gusts picked up, as if the very elements were against us.

As soon as I was buckled in, she threw herself sideways and we dropped into open air. We’d been on the edge of a high cliff deep in the Brooks Mountain Range in northern Alaska. She tucked her wings tightly to her body and we shot toward the ground at a speed I’d never felt with Blaz.

Male dragons are known for their strength and power with the elements. Females are known for their speed and maneuverability. You know that. I do not understand your surprise.

I did know that, we’d worked together for months training, both Blaz and I. But I’d never ridden Ophelia during those months. She gave a hard bank to the right, flipped sideways and slid between a narrow gap in the mountains.

“So you can outrun these bastards?”

I do not know; how many are there?

I Tracked the demons again. “I’m guessing, but at least thirty.” The impressions I picked up were odd, though, thirty that kept blending and twisting into more, and then less. How the fuck was that even possible?

“They’re doing something weird.”

If we were bound together, I could read them through you.

If we were bound, her life would be tied to mine; but there was a problem. One dragon, one Slayer. That was it, no second chances. “That’s not possible, though. Erik said so.”

She let out a long snort that curled flames back over her neck.
Erik does not know everything. Your father trained him, and while he taught him all he could, Erik did not like learning from his brother. His pride kept him from truly understanding. The question is, would you even want that with me?

Carefully, I Tracked Ophelia. I wanted her emotions more than anything, to know what she was truly feeling.

She was scared that she wasn’t good enough for me, but inside that fear was a kernel of hope.

I put my hands on her hide. “Okay, I’m going to try and bind us together.”

Her thoughts whispered back to me, and I understood the fear in her.
I will not survive another rider’s death, Rylee. Promise me you won’t die.

I sucked in a breath and lied. “I promise, I won’t die. The plan is for all of us to get out alive.”

Then do it. We are stronger together than apart. Blaz wouldn’t mind. He loved us both.

I pressed my hands hard against her. “That he did. But he doesn’t have a say in this, does he?”

Ophelia laughed, the echo of it rumbling back to me.
No, I suppose he doesn’t.

The thing was, I didn’t know what had bound me and Blaz together. We’d flown together after fighting, and when we’d landed, we were bound.

Highest heights and lowest valleys, Rylee. That is what we must do. And you must allow yourself to enjoy it.

She tipped her body and began to climb into the ether reaches. We passed the last mountaintop and I swayed in my rigging as the air thinned and I struggled to breathe. “Too high,” I whispered, hoping she could hear me.

One more stroke of her wings and then she tucked them to her sides and rolled in the air. We seemed to pause for a breath, as if gravity had somehow failed.

The free fall was like nothing I’d ever experienced with Blaz, and I realized something.

He’d always held a little back.

I think he was afraid to lose you, always knowing what you would be asked to do.

“That bastard.” Easier to be mad at him than to remember the pain of losing him.

The mountaintops raced toward us and with them, the first of the demons. I stared hard at them, trying to make out what form they’d taken. Flying monkeys again? Harpies? Dragons?

None of those shapes.

They looked like people, with wings and long tails tipped at the end with an arrowhead. “Fallen angels?”

That is very, very bad.

Of course it was.

Ophelia plummeted toward them, and as we drew closer, they tipped their faces up to us. Pre-requisite glowing red eyes, of course, but other than that, there was nothing. No nose, no mouth, not even ears. They were completely naked but there weren’t any distinguishing features that would mark them as male or female. As in no breasts, no twig and berries.

We blasted through their ranks, sending them spraying to all sides as if a wave of air had hit them. As we continued our free fall, I stared back up at them. “They’re regrouping, tell me what’s so bad about them.”

They are
literally
the fallen ones. They were good once, even fought against the demons. But somewhere along the way they lost themselves to the darkness. Their touch can paralyze, and then they will take their time raping you with their hands and then tearing your guts out of you. Not necessarily in that order.

The wind screamed around us and I kept my eyes on the fallen ones. I didn’t need to look at the ground; I knew Ophelia would deal with the fall.

And like that, the bond snapped open between us.

Her emotions and fears, her worries and strengths flowed into me, and mine flowed into hers.

It is predicated on trust, Rylee. But I could not tell you that. It can be harder to bind yourself to a dragon the second time. I was . . . concerned.

“Didn’t want to tell me that, either, huh?”

She laughed and all of a sudden, she changed the angle of her wings and we skimmed the ground. The plant life around us whooshed outward with our passing. The scrub grasses of the arctic were brown with only hints of color here and there. “Better to land and fight?”

No. Now you will see what a fully trained dragon can do for you, Rylee. Blaz was good, better than any other dragon could have been for the minimal time we had to train.
She paused and tipped her head so I could see her violet eye all but sparkling at me.
But I am better than him, by a very large margin.

“Humble too,” I said, trying not to laugh. Gods save me from dragons and their pride.

Ophelia let out a roar and did a somersault in the air, flipping us to face the fallen ones. They hovered at a distance of a hundred feet or so. Each held a flaming sword to go with their flaming red eyes.

“Lovely. So best practice, don’t let them touch me. How the hell am I supposed to send them back then?”

You need to be faster with your sending. No more long words. A simple command. “Go” will suffice.

I let out a breath and nodded. “Then let’s kick demon ass, lady bird.”

Ophelia reared back and shot a blast of flame toward the fallen ones. They scattered, and before the flame died, she shot toward those closest to us. I was thrown back in the harness, shocked at her instant velocity.

We raced toward the demons and they swept in at us, swords pointed straight at Ophelia. How the hell was she going to avoid this?

My heart was in my throat as the seconds ticked slower and everything moved as if trapped in the thick ice of the high mountain. Ophelia back winged, essentially slamming on the air brakes right in the middle of the fallen ones while simultaneously rolling in the air, her tail lashing out. They had no choice but to fall back or be sliced by the tip of her tail. I clamped my mouth shut against the quick rise of nausea.

“Holy shit.”

I’ve bought you time.