The Dragon Queen (Death #4)

29. Talon

Chapter 29

Talon

I have Calista.

A breath of relief escaped me.

With my talons, scales, and fire I will protect her.

I know you will.

I can still protect your soul, but you will need to protect your body.

I will do my best.

Because I love you, Talon Rothschild—with my whole heart.

I sucked in a harsh breath as my eyes watered. I love you too, Khazmuda.

You lack wings and fangs and a tail covered in spikes, but you don’t lack heart. It’s the same as mine. I may be a dragon and you may be human—but we’re the same. We’re brothers.

I clenched my eyes shut so the tears would fall. I’m honored to be your brother.

And I’m honored to be yours.

When I felt the silence in my mind, I opened my eyes once more. The soldiers were placed around the tree, ready to give up their lives to defend it, even if that meant only a handful of elves survived. This fight went beyond immediate mortality, but the Realm of Caelum that would heal their souls in the afterlife.

That was what we all fought for.

I stood on the dais with my sword across my back, knowing I was the last line of defense for the tree, for the gateway to the afterlife, the last protector of the people on the other side whom I still loved.

She appeared beside me, coming out of darkness and turning into light. In white armor with her golden sword, she stood nearly my height, a tall woman who was infinitely prouder than I was…because she was a god.

I met her stare when I felt it.

She looked at me with the same accusation that Queen Eldinar wore. “The pathway that I opened to his realm never closed. He managed to use it to his advantage. Something I should have foreseen.”

“I’m sorry…” I’d never meant an apology more.

“Your apology rings hollow.”

“I mean it?—”

“But you’re not at fault. That blame lies with me, and I won’t let you take it from me. You asked Queen Eldinar to keep your promise, and she failed to do so. Your dragon and your lover poked and prodded until they got what they wanted. The blame lies in all of us.”

I looked ahead into the forest. “I will give my life to protect this tree.” Without the army of the dead at my command, I was just a man with a sword. Nothing special. And it probably wouldn’t be enough.

“When I stepped into the underworld, I shed my immortality.”

I looked at her once again.

“I became vulnerable to the blade. Vulnerable to death and the veil. As a visitor in the land of the living, he, too, has forsaken his immortality. He will remain powerful and swift, but he’s as sensitive to bloodshed as you are. You can beat him, Talon Rothschild—we both can.” She was the first one to have any ounce of hope—and that hope bathed me like sunlight. “We fight him together.”

I nodded in agreement.

Queen Eldinar approached, looking like a queen in her armor and her short swords at her hips, her husband at her side. But the life was still sucked out of her face. Gray tendrils of death punctured her skin and took hold. She approached Riviana and gave a slight bow. “Riviana, God of Caelum, I apologize for all of this?—”

“There will be no apologies.”

Queen Eldinar straightened.

“General Ezra.” Riviana looked at him directly. “Your men are responsible for keeping the dead at bay. They will break through the tree line any second. I feel their fires already burning. In the midst of the chaos, Bahamut will appear. Talon and I will take him on—and I ask that you keep all others out of our way.”

General Ezra nodded and stepped away to fulfill those orders.

“The dragons aren’t enough to stop the dead before they reach the forest,” Riviana said. “I can’t defend the Realm of Caelum and protect the forest at the same time—so I must choose. The forest will burn.”

Queen Eldinar continued to look up at Riviana as she waited for orders.

“Fight with your people,” Riviana said. “Protect your forest.”

Queen Eldinar continued her stare before she shifted her look to me. Her eyes remained there, giving me a long and hard look. “I apologize for the way I spoke to you before. I gave in to a moment of weakness…and for that, I’m ashamed. I should be a monument of strength in the face of despair. I should be the rock when the sand shifts. Forgive me.”

“There is nothing to forgive, Queen Eldinar. If I die protecting this tree, then it’s an honor to die alongside you.”

“Let’s not speak of death like it’s promised. Let’s speak of victory like it’s possible. I know you will fight valiantly, King Talon.” She gave a nod before she stepped away to join her husband in the ranks, ready to take on the dead who would break through.

The sky was dark, but if it were daylight, all you would see would be smoke. The trees throughout the forest burned as the dead marched through the trunks, coming closer to where we waited to meet them. It became hard to breathe, and then the ash started to fall from the sky.

I stood beside Riviana in silence, staring out into the clearing as we waited for the enemy to arrive. Khazmuda informed me with the updates on the battle. They burned the dead and stopped at least half their forces, but they simply couldn’t get them all. Bahamut was nowhere in sight.

I knew he was sitting upon his throne, biding his time, waiting with his signature smile on his face. The world burned and the dead marched on, and he tapped his fingers upon the wooden armrest of his throne while he waited for his moment to appear.

Sailing to his lands and seeking out his powers would forever be my greatest mistake. If only I’d told Khazmuda my intentions rather than lying to him, he could have talked me out of it. He could have talked some sense into me…and spared everyone from this.

But if that had happened, I wouldn’t have met Calista.

Regret was a complicated emotion.

I blinked—and then he was there.

Short blond hair and pretty blue eyes, he looked like a prince rather than the God of the Dead. He wore his midnight-blue armor, his sword across his back, and on his lips was the smile I’d seen many times over the last few years of my captivity.

The dead had entered Riviana Star and breached the clearing, engaging the elves in a battle for their lives and their afterlives. Bahamut wasn’t only flanked by the dead who had fallen in battles long ago, but the dark elves who allied themselves with his power. Astaroth was there, along with others I’d seen in Riviana Star and the Southern Isles, foul creatures cursed by the God of Light.

I thought I would die, but I felt no fear.

He stood there with his arms by his sides, looking at me with the smirk that wouldn’t fade, savoring this moment like he would think about it again and again…for all eternity. Riviana stood beside me, but all he cared about was me. “All hail King Talon Rothschild, King of the Southern Isles.” His smile widened. “The man who won a kingdom, not on his own merits, but the merits of the lord he swore to serve.”

His words wouldn’t provoke me. Insults wouldn’t distract me. He knew he was more powerful than me, but he also knew he was vulnerable to injury and death. In the underworld, there was nothing I could do in retaliation because he was immune to all forms of attack.

But not anymore.

He reached for the sword across his back then slowly unsheathed it, drawing out a long blade that was dark like the night, hard to see in the smoke that turned the sky to the color of ash.

Riviana unsheathed her blade, golden like a sunrise, reflecting what little light and color there were in the clearing that was quickly becoming swept up in the fire.

He flicked his eyes to her. “No running this time.”

I unsheathed my blade and gave the hilt a squeeze, ready to face what came next.

He looked at me again. “Who are you?”

The battle raged on around us, elves being slaughtered when they were overrun by the number of the dead. Screams pierced the night. I couldn’t think of them. I couldn’t even think of Calista, who remained above the fight on the back of a dragon I trusted more than anyone.

“Without your dragon,” he said. “Without your army of the dead. Who are you?”

I continued to grip my sword.

His smile widened. “We’re about to find out.” Then he rushed forward, a mountain that cut its base and shifted in an earthquake. His blade spun then struck down, meeting Riviana’s blade before spinning and meeting mine.

Even if he fought in this battle as a mortal, he was still gifted the strength and speed of a god, a behemoth that could process information with a greater focus, could react and think quicker, who could simply move far faster than I could.

Riviana was quick and strong just as he was, but even she wasn’t enough. Without me to block and strike him from behind and command his attention, she would have already received a blade across her neck.

It was chaos, the three of us dodging and moving, locked in a dance of fire and ash. It hurt to breathe, hurt more with every passing second as the fires continued to burn the trees that used to sing.

It’s starting to rain.

I ducked before the blade could slice through me. I rolled out of the way.

Riviana withstood his ire. He drove her backward as their swords came together and clashed, slipping past each other. When her blade was down, he slammed his fist into her face and sent her hard to the ground.

I pushed myself up and ran forward, watching him spin back to take me on because he knew I would pop up again. With the strength of five strong men, he wielded his sword like a titan, pushing me back and blocking all my hits and landing his blows to my armor. Khazmuda’s scales remained together, but the bruising underneath made lose my breath with every new hit.

Riviana was back, taking his attention away long enough for me to slice my blade just above the top of his boot.

He released a growl then came back for me, more animal than man, charging me down before he knocked the blade from my hand then gripped me by the neck. He punched me in the face over and over, hitting me so hard I blacked out every time, felt my body go limp. It was like a mountain against my face, the waterfall a geyser of blood.

I felt myself hit the ground. There were no more punches. Blackness took me for seconds, but then my vision returned.

Talon.

He’s too strong…I’m sorry.

You’re stronger, Talon Rothschild.

No…I’m not. I watched him come for Riviana, who held her own against him better than I did, but she was growing tired. I could see it in the way she wielded her sword, the way she had slowed down noticeably. She couldn’t block his hits with the same timing, and as a result, she was receiving more injuries to her hands and wrists.

You are, Talon Rothschild.

I pushed myself to my feet and wiped the blood from my face. It continued to drip from my nose into my mouth.

Bahamut found an opening and knocked her sword away. He gripped her by the throat and slammed her down to the ground before he did it again and again, bashing her head and making her bleed, a disgusting smile on his face.

I pulled out my dagger and threw it, aiming at the exposed part of his neck. It hit its mark and sank deep.

He released her.

But he didn’t fall. Didn’t sway. He left her where she lay then faced me, the dagger sticking out of the side of his neck with a small line of blood. He looked at me, only slightly provoked by my actions. “You call yourself King of the Southern Isles, and that’s all you have? A slip of the dagger when your opponent isn’t watching?” He grabbed the dagger by the hilt and tugged it out of his flesh.

Blood ran down his neck and dripped inside his armor.

I gripped my sword and prepared for his attack.

He changed the grip of the dagger then turned to Riviana, where she lay on the ground coughing.

I sprinted toward him, but I wasn’t fast enough.

He stabbed the dagger right through her stomach, pinning her to the wooden dais below.

She gasped for breath then stiffened, afraid to move even the slightest.

Bahamut turned to me, but he wasn’t the handsome man who’d struck a bargain with me on that desolate island. Now he was the monster several feet taller than me, the one with a face that protruded in three different ways, with sharp fangs that could pierce my armor like a dragon. “Thank you for the assist, Talon.” His voice was deeper than it was when he was a man. It sounded like the underworld itself. “It’s just you and me. How long do you think you’ll last, Talon?”

I held my defensive stance, ready for the behemoth to rush me and rip out my throat.

“I want what was promised to me. Your soul, here and now.”

I knew I would lose this fight. I knew it with my whole heart—and nothing would change that. Tell Calista I love her.

Khazmuda’s emotion burst through his voice. Talon.

I’m sorry…

Talon!

I blocked him out, pushed him out of my mind, spared him the horror of feeling me die. I spun my sword around my wrist and looked at the monster that haunted my nightmares and my waking moments, that destroyed my moments of happiness. I would lose this battle, but I would do my best to make it count. “You can kill me, but my dragon will never let you take my soul. Do your worst.”