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“Again!”she called, launching herself off the chest of one dead male and ducking under the strike of a still-living one.
I did as my mate bid and smacked a second group around, allowing her to finish them off.“I’m counting all of these for me, you know,”she teased.
“Absolutely not, they count for both of us,”I argued. To prove my point, I snapped out and ripped a soldier in two with my sharp teeth. Then I turned my massive head toward her and dropped the broken body at her feet.“That is one for me.”
She scoffed, then slipped under my belly and emerged from my talons just in time to stop one from thrusting his sword into my ankle.“That counts as two since I saved your scales.”
“You can’t make up the rules as you go along,”I stated, swinging my tail like a club and sending a group flying. They landed with a satisfying crunch against some of their fellow soldiers.
“We didn’t agree on them before, so naturally I have to do it now,”she pointed out, charging forward and taking out another male. I huffed, and a plume of smoke fled my nostrils. I didn’t protest further, enjoying our little game and the threads of lust it wove between us as we battled for our numbers. In my Dragon form, I could protect her, provide her with enough cover to rack up the kills she desired.
But in the end, I’d show her why I was the emperor, and after the battle, she’d ride me until all she saw was stars.
36
Iwasn’t sure whose blood I was covered in anymore. The kutya bite still stung, and I could barely grip my saddle as my muscle tissue weakened. The sun beat down upon us as if it had a personal vendetta against the war waging beneath it. For the late fall day, it was hot as fuck.
My waterskin had run dry an hour before, but there was no time to return to the back of the line to refill it. Our attention was split as we fended off attackers on two sides, and as twenty-one Dragons quaked the ground beneath me, I knew we were fucked. Behind them, a violent inferno blazed, racing toward the battlefield while the Iron Fae we’d beaten back into the tunnels two nights prior streamed out of it, trying to rein in the blaze.
“Kaztar!” I called out, searching for my fellow horseback rider.
He was nowhere in sight. I shoved my heels against the stirrups, trying to get a better angle. “Fuck!” I swore when pain lanced through my thigh, and I collapsed down before I’d managed to see anything. Still, I kept searching, trying to find someone, anyone, and figure out what the fuck to do next.
A flash of long hair caught my attention, and I returned to the spot I’d ghosted over a moment before. Liliana fought fiercely in the midst of the Iron Realm’s army, sticking close to the Dragons. Even across the battlefield, she took my breath away. Her seafoam green eyes danced with determination, and her teeth were gritted behind every strike. Light scaled armor hugged her figure, and my heart sank for a moment as I realized just how firmly she’d settled into the Iron Realm if she’d shucked the traditional fighting leathers of the Night Realm.
It was a way of declaring her loyalty without having to speak.
Without thinking, I kicked my horse in her direction, the Night Realm’s army parting for me as I pushed to that front. Shoving the reins up my mount’s neck, I lowered myself in the saddle, giving him his head so he could race even faster. His hooves pounded into the churned earth, flying over discarded weapons and bodies of the fallen, dodging those still locked in struggles.
None of it held my attention like the female in front of me. As I closed the distance between us, she whipped her head to the side, and our gaze collided like two exploding stars. Liliana halted in her tracks, and Izidora swept from behind her, slicing deep into the shoulder of one of the soldiers under Vadim’s command. Izidora said something to her – likely that the blow could have killed her – and Liliana broke our trance. She wasted no time in rejoining Izidora and Zuriel, fighting side by side with them as they advanced through her brother's forces.
Shaking my head, I returned my awareness to my surroundings just in time to see a sharp talon slicing through the air above me.
Oh, shit.
With no time to do anything other than react, I threw myself from my horse and rolled over my shoulder to lessen the impact. A heartbeat later, the Dragon’s foot smashed into the ground,the sharp edge of his claw sinking into the horse’s hide. He released an anguished whinny before careening to a stop on his side, dead.
The giant beast didn’t cease his movements. Backstepping, I tried to get out of the Dragon’s way, but his focus was firmly on me. With a black so dark it seemed to suck in the light around it, I could only assume it was Ruslan. I raised my hands in surrender, dropping to my knees and praying to the Goddess that I wasn’t about to get roasted.
With a mighty swipe of his claws, he cleared the area around me of Night Fae. Liliana rushed forward, Izidora reaching for her hand and missing before chasing after her. The growl that rumbled in his chest made me glad I was already close to the ground.
“Ruslan will allow you to say goodbye,” Izidora panted when they skidded to a stop in front of me.
“Good to see you awake, Izidora,” I said with a sad smile. “You didn’t deserve that. Just like you didn’t deserve anything else that happened to you. I’m glad you finally found your happiness.”
Izidora’s eyes grew glassy, but with limited time, I wanted my sweetest words to go to the female I’d loved for longer than I cared to admit. Liliana’s chest heaved as she stood parallel with her best friend, and a tear tracked down her cheek as she stared down at me.
The sun shifted, spilling its rays into her seafoam green eyes and making them even brighter than they already were. She looked so beautiful, despite the flecks of blood that adorned her face and the wild way her hair hung, covered in sweat. She could have crawled out of a mud pit, and I’d still think she was the most gorgeous Fae to ever exist. Clearing my throat and swiping my hair out of my face, I admitted everything. “Liliana, I’m so sorry I didn’t stay. You were right about everything. I’ma dumbass for choosing him over you. He’s insane, and you are – were – the best thing to ever happen to me. I’ll die happy knowing that I got to have you for a little while at least.”
My chest constricted, and I itched to reach out and pull her to me for one final kiss before I departed this world and never saw her stunning smile or the sultry sway of her hips again.
With a choked sob, she fell into me anyway, nearly knocking me over as my thigh screamed in protest. I was covered in blood, filthy, and so very wrong in my decisions, and yet here she was, giving me everything she had in the very last moments of my life. I clasped her to me, one arm circling her waist and the other grabbing the back of her neck. I hesitated only a moment before crashing her lips against mine.
Even among this hell, she tasted like heaven – sweet berries and fragrant flowers with a hint of peppery spice. The smell of her, the taste of her, would linger until my last breath. Our tongues twined as I deepened our kiss, and I savored every inch where we touched. Something wet brushed across my cheek, but I didn’t stop until both of us needed air. When we surfaced, twin rivers were carved into her dirty face, and I knew mine was a mirror to hers.
“I love you, Liliana. I’m sorry.” My voice broke over the words I should have said months ago – years ago. Pushing her hips away was the hardest thing I had ever done.
“I love you, Endre.” Her words were a whisper, but I heard them clearly over the din of battle around us.
