“You are making a mistake, Braxton. I am willing to forget that you are her offspring.” He enunciated the pronoun as though my mother wasn’t worthy enough for him to mention her name, and my hands fisted at my sides. “Take my offer. You can’t go against me; you are not strong enough yet,” he seethed. “You can still rule this place if you just give me what I want. Give me the Mirror World and I—"
“Oh, I will rule this world. It is my birthright,” I vowed, “but first I’m going to erase every ounce of presence you left in it.” I stepped closer too, not intimidated by him. “It will be like you never existed.”
“Take the deal!” he roared madly, like he couldn’t believe I didn’t want to be by his side. “Do not be an imbecile. This is a battle you cannot win. If you want to save them from me, from Azazel…” he gestured outside the window, where Evie and everyone else awaited, “then let’s settle our differences now and give me what is mine!”
“The Mirror World is not yours, and I’ll make sure it never is even if we have to obliterate the portal. You destroyed my family, Raithian. You destroyed eons of our legacy, just because you couldn’t come to terms with the fact that you couldn’t be a great king. Not like Angus Devenish III was, and all the ones before him. I will never fight by your side, Raithian. Can’t you understand that? I won’t help you.”
“If what you want is war, then war you shall have,” he seethed, his lips trembling from the anger coursing through him. My words had hit their mark. “But heed my warning, Braxton Devenish. From this fight, you will not come out alive.”
Straightening before him, I slowly nodded. “I already know that.”
A humorless chuckle escaped him, and he shook his head at me. “What a waste.”
The throne room disappeared as his staff illuminated, the green light shining brightly. When my bearings returned, shouts of war echoed below us.
“I have to help!” Skylar urged, seeing the same thing I did. Over a thousand sentries rushed out of the sides of the mountains, overcoming our army—and that was just the first wave.
“Vyper!” I called through our connection, while Tharion and my guard’s Dragons were still melting the larger, second layer of foothills. Evie’s team held their position steady, waiting for the four-headed Dragon to appear.
Turning, I jumped from Venom, landing on a broad green back a moment later. “Take me higher.”
My Dragon Eye ignited instantly, capturing an image of Azazel awakening on Raithian’s command. Through his gaze, I noticed the sentries setting him loose, and running out of the cave. Groggy, Azazel turned to the large rupture on the rocky wall behind him, seeing hundreds and hundreds of more sentries running into formation, and something else I couldn’t recognize.
Our weak connection ruptured when Raithian called on him again, and I blinked, trying to figure out what I had seen. Row after row of slaves stood in the middle of the courtyard, chains linking them all. Deeply troubled by the sight, I urged Vyper forwards, flying towards Evanna’s guard.
“Azazel is coming!” I informed Evie, and she nodded, gesturing everyone into place.
As I circled back, Tharion and the others finished opening the path for the land riders and warriors, only for more sentries to come out of the mountain. Fuck!
“Go protect your warriors!” I urged Vyper as Aaron’s, Charlotte’s, Willow’s, Nikau’s, and Louis’ Dragons did just that. Their streams of fire captured different groups of sentries in a targeted attack.
Running along Vyper’s head, I jumped just as Tharion shot into the sky, letting Vyper go help the others. Unfortunately, Tharion didn’t return to me like I expected. Instead, he headed for the massive, black mountain that rose threateningly behind the Hollow.
“Tharion!” I called for him, but he didn’t answer me. He didn’t even look back.
An image of Midnight sweeping me off the sky entered my mind, and I flipped in the air twice, preparing to land on him. Imogen and Midnight caught me the next second.
“What is he doing?” I asked, reaching my mentor’s side. We both glanced up in the distance to see Tharion lift higher and higher, before diving straight into the mountain’s open peak.
“He didn’t tell you?” she yelled over the wild gusts of breeze, swirling around us from so many flapping wings. She sighed when I shook my head. “These are Tharion’s lands!”
Shock gripped me with the news and my head snapped back to the black mountain, just in time to see the demon of lava and fire shoot out of its depths. Understanding washed over me like a bucket of frigid water.
That wasn’t a mountain, it was a massive volcano… And there was no demon here, only Tharion.
His dark form acquired a reddish glow after he dipped into the volcano, finally returning home, and orangey-red embers began to dance out of his nostrils. Tharion’s body turned in the air, flying along the Crimson Fortress’ wide base, and making his way over the lava moat as though doing so meant something.
It did.
Threads of molten lava lifted into the air when he circled back, seemingly called into his core. The lava seeped under his scales with each pass over the molten river, illuminating him inch by inch until his huge frame blazed a deep and dangerous red. His eyes gleamed with the same ardent hue as he flew straight towards me.
A memory overlaid with the sight, one shared with me during the Rebirth of the Prince ritual, until the glowing lava demon and Tharion became one, a rider set on his back… My father.
“He told me,” I breathed, stunned. “He actually showed me his true self, I just didn’t recognize him.”
Tharion soared over us and then swerved back towards the Hollow at full speed, filled with the sweltering power of his land. Waves of blazing energy swept in and out of my being through our connection, giving me a glimpse of his true might. The feeling caused my fists to tremble, being fifty times stronger than the supercharge I got after absorbing the ward.
No fucking wonder he always confronted the massive, four-headed Dragon like he could take him in his sleep. Seeing the powerful, luminous red being before me now, there was no doubt Tharion was formidable enough to defeat him…
A frightening roar burst out of Tharion when a clearly enraged Azazel rose in the air across from him, eyes glowing a bright green with the Warlock King’s influence. His four mouths widened, but before he could fire, Tharion crashed against him at full speed, sending Azazel tumbling backwards towards the Crimson Fortress.
34
EVANNA
Four roars echoed across the Blazelands, making everything tremble as Azazel crashed into the side of the dark palace. The wing of the castle exploded under his weight, destroying two of the towers and sending bricks, rocks, and dust in several directions.
Before Azazel could recover, the glowing, red giant Tharion had turned into lunged for him again, fire lava shooting out of his mouth and engulfing one of Azazel’s heads. Another set of roars ripped the air when Azazel reared back from pain and then jumped on Tharion.
Forcing my attention away from them, my gaze connected with the warriors and sentries below us. Braxton’s psychological strategy had worked. Many sentries were taken aback by the multiple sights of their evil king and master in the battleground, and up in the sky—attacking them, killing them.