Taking a deep breath, I calmed the ire that swirled through me, my scales and smoke receding. When I turned around, I found everyone rooted in place by fear after witnessing only a fraction of what I was capable.
“Leave now, and never come back,” I ordered Lachlan, taking another step towards him. “This is no longer your home.”
A gruesome sound reverberated when he cracked his jaw back into place, spitting a mouthful of blood. All while trying to hide the terror capturing him when he looked at me. “You have no authority—”
“Leave!” The word boomed through the air much louder than it should be possible, the order amplified by my magic. I was done with his shit.
Tharion and the rest of my Dragons rose to their full height along the perimeter of the arena, their fierce roars echoing my demand. The power of our combined voices caused the earth to shudder beneath our feet, the ruins trembling around us while I advanced on him slowly and he continued to retreat.
“Evanna considered you a dear friend. She forgave you more than once, against her better judgment, and long after you no longer deserved forgiveness. She protected you and those who joined you even when you doubted her, turning them against her because their safety was more important to her than her feelings. If anyone should be ashamed here, it is you, Lachlan. You are a disgrace to our people.”
The men who stood alongside him staggered away from us, giving me a wide berth, and abandoning their leader’s side while he continued to back away, trying to keep some distance between me and him.
“I am Braxton Devenish Skystorm,” I declared, “Son to the Harbinger of Justice and the Princess of Caelisium. I am the Dragon Master, and the one true king of this realm. You are no longer welcomed here, or in any kingdom I rule with my queen. You are here and now banished!” My piercing gaze turned to his men. “Pray to the Sky Gods that I never see your faces again.”
Nikau’s devastated eyes found mine, making it clear how horrible he felt about what his cousin had done.
“Get him out of my sight,” I ordered.
“My king,” he began, completely crestfallen, “may I return after he’s escorted out, or am I exiled for his faults?”
Contrary to the piece of shit his cousin turned out to be, Nikau was an integral man. He helped my father long before he was the Harbinger. He’d helped my dad and Evanna’s parents free many slaves throughout the years, risking his own life each time, and the pain and shame now pouring through his eyes spoke louder than any words.
“If your good faith and loyalty to my queen and I remain intact, then you may rejoin us.”
“I pledged my allegiance and sword to you just like I did to your father once, that will never change.”
With my nod of acceptance, he gestured for his men to seize Lachlan, who swayed on his feet, trying with everything inside him to remain standing. It was likely he’d suffered a concussion from the blow the combination of my fist, Dragon strength, and magic inflicted, but I found it difficult to feel sorry for him.
An aching pull reached me while Nikau and his men dragged Lachlan and his goonies out, and I turned to find Saithar, Lachlan’s Dragon near the stage, her whines cutting through me. One by one she sent the memories she’d shared with him into my mind, from the day she claimed him as her soulmate, to this moment, and the depth of her sorrow made my chest constrict. Letting our tree of light form all around us, I sent a surge of warmth and unconditional love towards her.
“It’s okay,” I offered sincerely, feeling how torn she was between leaving with him and remaining by my side. She knew who I was, and how deeply connected we were because of it. “If you want to leave with him, I will not hold it against you. I know you love him. He is your soulmate, and he needs you.”
The shimmering tree dissipated, and she bowed her head to me, her appreciation coursing through me before she communicated with the soulmates of Lachlan’s men, telling them it was okay to leave with them. Grateful, they all moved towards the exit where Lachlan and his goons were taken, meeting them there. Silence descended in the arena as the men were forced to mount their Dragons, no longer welcomed here.
Turning around slowly, I scanned the faces of my guard, my friends. They still stood there, taken aback, feeling deceived by me, confused, just like our people were.
“Lachlan said his piece,” I spoke glancing at all of them, “it is my turn now.”
Pulling away the wrap off my torso and the imperial cape, I let it fall to the floor, exposing the marred skin that stretched over my side and back before facing everyone.
“My mother might have been Raithian’s daughter, but he never was and never will be my grandfather,” I declared, addressing everyone in the arena. “I did not choose to be born in his family. I never chose to be connected to that monster, but I was. And still, he took everything from me…” I gestured to my scar. “He killed his own father for power, the last person my mom had left after watching Raithian murder everyone she loved. He tried to kill her too, but my father rescued her, and then he followed us all the way to the Mirror World, burning my father to death with Dragon fire, your hero, in front of my eyes!”
Pain burned through the disfigured skin as though fire once more engulfed it, making my throat constrict and my eyes sting with the memory, but I didn’t stop.
“I was just a child when I watched my father burn, his screams echoing in my ears, and yet, I still wear the scars that remind me of his loss every day. But that is not the only thing the Warlock King took from me. My mother suffered a mental and emotional breakdown after having to leave the man she loved behind, bound by flames, just so she could save me.”
My arms trembled, but I pushed forward, knowing they needed to know.
“Her mind turned against her until she could no longer distinguish between reality and the nightmare she survived. All she ever did was to be strong for everyone else—for her grandfather, for her husband, for me. And so, I lost my mother too. She sacrificed herself for all of us. For you, even if you didn’t know it. I was taken to the Mirror World because the power I possess would be deadly in Raithian’s hands. I have Dragon abilities, but as you just saw, I also inherited the magic of the Supreme Wizards. The Devenish. Yet, this power is not only deadly in his hands, but in mine too.”
A round of murmurs and questions travelled along the arena, but their uncertainty only seemed to grow.
“It is true, I made a deal with Raithian,” I confessed, stepping forwards. “He has no idea who I am or the danger I pose to him, but he is intrigued by the power he senses in me, and I’m using that against him. I convinced him to leave all of you alone, this kingdom, and our queen, in exchange for me training with him. I exchanged myself for your safety and for the release of the people who have arrived here in the last few days. Every time we meet, I demand more slaves, and he always agrees because he thinks he will get to drain the magic from me once this is over. But this will only end when I destroy him. I am the weapon that will end him, and that is why I’m here.”
Taking a settling breath, I picked up the piece of my mother’s letter from the floor.
“This is the proof Lachlan had against me. It is the last page of a letter my mother left me after she died. A letter where she finally told me the truth of who I was and what this world was to me. Before that I didn’t even know about this world, or Dragons, or the Warlock King. The Harbinger of Justice was just Dad to me… Whoever read this to Lachlan, didn’t know enough to truly understand, or they simply decided to see only what they wanted to see. This is what it really says…”