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Chapter 37
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2023-09-20 20:37:08Related chapters
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 38
“This way,” he said and then charged down the hallway.She followed after him, peeking her head into doorways. Everyone they passed was crumpled and unconscious. They didn’t have to fight a single soul as they fled the building.They both halted when they exited and saw the sun rising bright on the horizon.“The tournament,” Fordham gasped.“Shit,” Maya spat.“We’ll have to run back to the arena.”“Can you make it?” she asked him, gesturing to his side.“I’ll have to,” he said with fierce determination. “Where the hell are we?”Maya assessed their surroundings and then shook her head. “I’m not sure exactly. Still north valley. They must have moved us to a more secure location. But we mountain just have to follow the mountain.”She pointed to Draco Mountain looming in the distance. Far, far in the distance.Fordham straightened his shoulders and took off at a jog. She could hear him wheezing as she followed after him. Broken rib. If not multiple. Under no circumstances should he be run
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She opened her mouth to argue, but Maya gasped, cutting her off.Darrid of Herasi, the competitor that Fordham had humiliated in the last task, was sneaking up on Fordham from behind as he dug through one of the boxes on the platform. Fordham stood, a look of triumph on his face as he slid the third piece of his medallion into place. Then Darrid was there. And just like in her vision, everything fell apart.A shove, a scream, hands reaching out.And then Fordham was free-falling toward the arena water below.His body moved past one, two, three platforms. His momentum carrying him faster and faster and faster toward that impending water. The water that would push him out of the tournament forever.Maya could hear cheers and boos from the stands. Some who were mad that Darrid had pushed Fordham. Others who were delighted to see the prince of the House of Shadows fall. But she was focused on him soaring through the air. He had no magic. He couldn’t buffer his fall. He couldn’t slow himse
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That night, five years ago, when she had been beaten in the alley and had her first vision, her magic had exploded like that as well. She had been the one to knock out the Fae who were going to kill her. And all along, Dozan had let her believe that he had saved her. That she’d been about to die and he’d killed everyone to keep them from hurting her. Dozan… who had never done anything magnanimous in his entire life. Now, she knew the truth. He’d done it because she had power… power that even she didn’t know what it was or how to control it. And then she had been stupid enough to tell him about her vision that night.“What is it?” Theo asked, reading her face all too well.“Nothing,” she said with a shake of her head. “But we have to go to Black House.”Maya cringed even saying the words. She knew what Theo response would be, but it was her only lead from the weapons deal. Her only chance to find out who the assassinTheo paled. “You can’t go in there, Red.”“Well, not until Fordham is
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I covet you,” he said baldly.She laughed at him. “You want my powers. Nothing more. I’m just another instrument of the king of the Wastes.”“Is that so bad?” he asked, closing the distance once more. His hand came up under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him. “Is it so bad to be wanted? For your powers, for exactly who you are, Maya? I don’t want you to be anything else. You don’t have to change for me. You can be as brilliant as you are, right here, with me.”His lips dipped down toward hers, but she wrenched back before he could finish. She was not going to fall helplessly into Dozan Rook’s arms. She didn’t want to play thatShe slapped him across the face—hard. “Don’t you dare presume to kiss me.”He grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I do love your fight.”“You lied to me. You want to use me. You’re a scoundrel and an asshole.”“I am what I am, Maya,” he whispered her name like a prayer, holding his hands out in front of him.“I’m done,” she spat at him. “I’m just done. The
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She nodded, but otherwise, she didn’t move. He stepped forward until they were mere inches apart. His hands came to rest on her shoulders. The heat from his body melted the hold that had been on her from the… spirits. She sank into his touch, pressing herself into his chest and clutching her still-frigid hands to his shirt.She felt him tense all over at her abrupt embrace. Then his hand came down around her and held her against him.“It’s all right. We’ve both had a long couple of days.”“Thank you for coming with me,” she whispered. “I know I… accused you of having ulterior motives last night, but…”“It’s fine,” he said.“It’s not. If I don’t want people to judge me for being a half-Fae, I shouldn’t judge people for things they can’t control.”She tilted her head up to look into those big gray eyes. His flicked between her eyes and then her mouth and back. Her heart stuttered in her chest for a whole new reason. She watched the calculation in his mind. The pull that she could no lon
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“You favor your left side,” he said simply. “I know that because I know you.”“Okay,” she croaked, rising to her feet again. “Know your enemy. Got it. But how can I do that if I don’t know my opponent?”Fordham picked back up where he’d left off, and she reluctantly followed him. Though she was more on guard this time. This was a lesson, not basic footwork.“If you don’t know your opponent,” he told her, “then you rely on your training. You must understand how others fight, all the potential ways they could attack you, have a mental dictionary of ways that an opponent could hurt you. Then, you train every one of those mistakes out of you.”Maya slid into the next movement, considering what he’d said. “You’re going to train my mistakes out of me?”“Yes and no. I’m going to train every mistake out of you. So that when an assassin comes at you again, you aren’t surprised when they jump out of the shadows.” He finished the last sequence and let the sword drop to his side.This time, when
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“We should go,” Fordham said, reading her mood.“Yes, I think so.”Darkness had truly fallen in the village, but no one would be the wiser. Street performers had come out to dance and sing and play music. Taverns were open, and customers sprawled out onto the steps. A dance had started in the intersection to Painters Row. Merriment was had all around.“I never knew anything like this existed,” Fordham admitted as they passed row after row of dancers.“Is the House of Shadows so different? No dancing? No music?”His eyes grew distant. “There is music and dancing, but it’s not like this. We have been closed off in our world for a thousand years. No one leaves, and only humans dare to cross our borders—and most do it by accident. We have made our own city our own realm.”“That sounds isolating,” she admitted. Though she did not ask the question she wanted to know—how exactly had he gotten out?“It likely helps that the majority of us do not know any different,” he admitted. “They have no
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“And how exactly do you presume we get to Elsiande? Isn’t it a few days’ travel by horse?”She bit her lip and grinned up at him.“Oh no,” he muttered. “That look usually precedes us being tortured.”“I have an idea.”“If someone catches us, we’ll probably be kicked out of the mountain,” Fordham reminded her as they crept through the dragon quarters.“Where’s your sense of adventure, princeling?”“Securely on the ground,” he muttered.She turned around in surprise. “Are you afraid of heights?”“Heights? No,” he said at once. “Falling from extreme heights—like off the back of a dragon, for instance…”She laughed. “Dragons are perfectly safe, and riding one is the most exhilarating experience of my entire life. You’re going to love it. Or… at least, you’ll get used to it since you’re trying to get a dragon in a few weeks’ time.”“Fine,” he muttered.Maya grinned at him and then continued through the cavernous rooms where she had spent so much of her time, growing up. She could name prac
Last Updated : 2023-09-22
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Regain your place?” she asked in confusion. “Is this about your curse?”“No,” he said forlornly. “I’m not who you think I am, Maya”“You’re exactly who I think you are, Ford. I’ve spent the last month with you. I know precisely who you are.”“About what? You cannot lie with actions.” She forced him to look at her. “I know who you are.”“I was exiled,” Fordham bit out. “That’s why I came to get a dragon and join the Society. I’m no longer welcome in the House of Shadows, and I should never have brought you into this with me.”Exiled. Gods!“Why? Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked, the hurt seeping into her voice despite everything.His face went dark. “Why should I have told you?”She took a step back at the viciousness in his voice. “Ford…”“It was a mistake to invite you to join the House of Shadows, and if you come home with me… I can’t guarantee your safety.”“Guarantee my safety? Since when have you ever been able to do that?” she snapped back. “I’m the one who has been running st
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 64
Corinna put her hand on her shoulder. “Bravo.”Fordham stepped up to her side and then Aurora, surprisingly followed by Roake and Noda. They might have argued against her in the cave, but they were one now. She could feel Tieran’s presence heavy behind her. And she no longer felt alone.“We still need to convene a council meeting to discuss this,” Lorian grumbled.“I believe we have a majority present,” Helly said with a coy smile.“That is not decorum.”“Neither are the circumstances,” Bastian said, striding to Helly’s side. “I call for a vote on the matter of Maya’s entrance into the Society.”“All in favor?” Helly said.Maya’s heart caught in her throat as she counted the hands raised in the air. Half. It was at least half. She kept counting—nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Oh gods! Almost everyone.“Those opposed?” Helly called out.Lorian shot his hand up, and four others slowly raised their hands as well. Maya memorized their faces. The council members—Masters Roldan and Dowde and Mis
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 63
A council meeting will be held to decide that,” Lorian said. “She doesn’t qualify. She has no tribe, and we have never had a half-Fae.”“You never had a human before either, and you let two compete last time,” Aurora shot back.“And look at how that turned out,” Lorian snapped.“Just because there are a few loud bigots doesn’t mean that we should go backward! We must stay the course or else people will think that all they have to do is cause enough fuss and we’ll take away other people’s rights. That is not the Kinkadia that I know and love. And I won’t stand by and let you use your prejudiceMaya wanted to duck out of sight. She’d never had someone like Aurora , who was so full of privilege, so very Bryonican royalty, stand up for her… to completely defend her. She barely even knew her.Lorian opened his mouth to object again, but Aurora barreled forward.“And on the second account, my mother and I have agreed to select Maya into Bryonica under the House of Drame.”Maya’s stomach flo
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 62
Footsteps sounded behind her, and she didn’t have to turn her head to know that Fordham had followed her into the mayhem, as he had been doing for weeks. She didn’t slow. He would catch up to her. She kept moving forward, glad for those hours and hours of running so that by the time she reached the first line of Red Masks, she wasn’t winded.Maya used her wind magic to bowl through the first group, and they hastily fled. But she could see the leader up ahead. Their leader was holding up a large, swirling gray orb, much like the amber one Basem had used against her.This was her chance to get revenge for what those people had done to her. This was her chance to end it. No longer would Red Masks walk her streets. No longer would they terrorize humans and half-Fae. No longer would they try to take away their rights. It could end right here, right now.The crowd had cleared enough for Maya to slow as she approached the leader of the Red Masks. He turned to face her. He was a large man. Th
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 61
One of the goblets was offered to Maya. “Drink from this. You will pass into the spiritual realm, where you and Tieran will meet. When the binding is complete, you will be dragon and rider.” Tara touched Maya’s hand with a wide, genuine smile. “I’m so happy for you. Good luck.”“Thank you,” Maya whispered, staring down into the goblet. It just looked like water, as it did in the pool, but she knew it was part of the spell. She looked to Tieran. “Ready?”As I’ll ever be.Maya frowned and then downed the drink at the same time Tieran lapped from the pool. For the second time today, her vision went fuzzy, and then she blackedFor the last five years, Maya had thought constantly about what it would be like to go through the dragon-binding ceremony. Having witnessed it firsthand, she had seen each of the competitors drink from the goblet and then enter a state of sleep, coming to with excitement as the bond set in. She’d imagined every scenario for how the binding was actually accomplished
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 60
Maya came to, gasping for breath. She put her hands on her knees and tried to suck in enough life to leave that horrible nightmare behind. She knew that it was the faerie illusion that she had walked into. That it was designed to warp reality and pull out her deepest, darkest fear. She had just lived it—marrying Ashby March and living a life where no one ever saw her for who she truly was. She had come out on the other side of it, had risen above the adversity, but it had felt so very real.Her body trembled with exhaustion from the illusion, but she was no longer helpless. Her magic flared bright and bursting within her, and all of her injuries had been healed. She straightened to her full height and found herself before a gaping audience. The cave was large enough to hold the five dragons—Avirix, Netta, Tieran, Luxor, and Evien—as well as their five Dragon Blessed handlers. Standing before them were the four competitors who had made it this far. Aurora stood with wide eyes, farther
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 59
You got tested?” he asked in exasperation. “Why does that not even surprise me?”“It wasn’t purposeful. I wanted to know what testing was, but when I stepped inside, Gelryn said he’d been waiting for me.”“Ominous,” Fordham muttered.She laughed. “A little bit. But it ended up being fine. He actually left and went to the Holy Mountain to try to find information on my visions.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if he’ll find anything, but he seemed confident.”“That’s good at least. You need to get those under control.”“Hey, they’ve helped you!”“They have,” he admitted. “I just don’t want them to control you.”She nodded and fell silent. They did control her, and if she didn’t find a way to stop them, then they always would. It was why she’d gone to Gelryn in the first place.They continued trudging through the plane and watched as they crossed over the South River without ever getting wet. Then, the landscape turned rocky, and suddenly, they were in the mountains. The sun was low on the h
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 58
He came to his feet. “Well, that’s lucky.”She swallowed back the lump in her throat. Marc here to save us after all.”“We should probably set out at dawn,” Fordham said. “Together, we can get out of here.”“All right, princeling,” she said with a half-smile. “But first, we’re going to need some pinecones.”Fordham didn’t ask, just helped her cover a few pinecones in sap, and then she cracked the two biggest sticks she’d found on a sharp piece of rock, placing the sap-covered pinecones inside and dipping them in the flames.He looked at her, impressed. “Torches. How did you know how to do that?”“House of Dragons teaches us more than just etiquette,” she said with a grin. She brushed mud off his brow and laughed. “You look ridiculous.”“I ate poisonous berries,” he reminded her.And then they both laughed.The weight and fear of the night before had dissipated at dawn. They had gotten through a lot together this last month. This was one more adventure.Together, they tracked through t
The Dragon queen is a witch and a vampire Chapter 57
With a determination set into her very marrow, Maya left for the portal room. It was not a long walk, and within minutes, she was at the end of the hallway. She waited patiently for the two guards standing in front of the room to turn and walk the other way. She didn’t know what kind of gods’ luck this was, but as soon as their backs were turned, she hustled down the hallway. With her heart in her throat, she turned the doorknob and entered the room, carefully closing the door behind her.The room itself was enormous. Big enough for multiple dragons to comfortably stand in. This was only the Fae entrance. There was a separate tunnel that the dragons could enter through that disappeared deep into the mountain. And standing as large as a house was a giant stone archway, magnificently carved and ornately built. The center of the archway shone a brilliant iridescent. Just as in her vision, there stood a goblet on a table next to the archway.Maya warily approached it. She looked into the
