Sophia drew in a breath and decided she’d let him take the lead on this one since he deserved the chance at retribution. Wilder sensed this and pulled ahead, gaining on Tanner.
The Rogue Rider opened his hand and pulled on the object he’d taken from the satchel. Then he threw it through the air, straight at Wilder.
Sophia realized what the object was in a flash, and panic raced through her. “Watch out!” she yelled, suddenly terrified.
Chapter One Hundred Nine
The thing about battles is that the advantage can shift in an instant. A wounded opponent didn’t ensure a clear victory. That was the reason Sophia tried never to be overly confident.
Wilder and Sophia had for a moment believed that erasing Tanner would be easy, but he’d pulled a new card—one that she hadn’t expected, and it changed everything.
The grenade spiraled through the air, headed straight for Wilder. He saw it in time though, and quickly veered Simi out of its trajectory, turning her sharply up.
Sophia and Lunis did the same thing, although they were farther from the grenade’s path. Still, she didn’t know the range of the explosion about to follow and didn’t want Lunis to be anywhere near it.
The blue dragon soared high, following Simi as the grenade fell toward the waters below. It exploded when just off the surface and sent a blast of heat and a flash of light through the air. Water shot up like a geyser, briefly obscuring the area between them and Tanner. He was almost to the island and making a quick descent. Sophia suspected if he got there, he’d portal to safety. They couldn’t let that happen. They needed that soul stone. It was their only chance to save the elves’ homeland.
Chapter One Hundred Ten
Tanner was desperate. The way he was willy-nilly throwing the grenades over his back proved that. But they did the trick to keep Sophia and Wilder back.
“He’s going to get away!” Sophia yelled, desperation in her voice.
“Not a chance,” Wilder fired back. “Can you get to the port side?”
Sophia nodded. She didn’t know what Wilder had in mind, but she trusted him, and he had a better plan than what she had—which was nothing.
“Do it safely and get him to launch a grenade at you,” Wilder ordered.
“No problem,” Sophia stated with confidence and came up with a quick idea. It would be impossible to pull up beside Tanner at the rate he was throwing grenades and not running out of them. She needed to get into position and fast. “I’ll be right back!”
“Be careful,” Wilder warned as Sophia opened a portal and sped through.
What she was doing was a risk since locating a portal wasn’t always exact. She risked her and Lunis landing right on top of Tanner, but it was their best option. Since Coal wasn’t flying fast and was descending to the island below, Sophia was marginally confident that she’d be able to portal right next to the Rogue Rider and dragon. She had made a quick calculation and projected where Tanner would be a few seconds later.
The demon dragonrider might have been momentarily relieved when Sophia and Lunis disappeared through the portal. She’d also noticed that Wilder had stopped pursuing. Whatever he planned wouldn’t require hand-to-hand combat.
Sophia held her breath as she and Lunis jumped through the portal and landed exactly where she’d anticipated, right next to Tanner.
He started, terror in his eyes at their sudden appearance and proximity. Lunis was so close that all he’d have to do was tilt to the side and he’d slam into the black dragon. But Tanner wasn’t out of grenades so that attack would be unwise. Instead, the blue dragon veered in the opposite direction as Tanner threw a grenade at them.
Sophia suddenly felt short-sighted. They were too close. The grenade was speeding in their direction. Getting away would be close this time.
Lunis shot straight up as a blast of wind sped through the air. It came from the west. Sophia jerked her head around to find Wilder using his wind magic—he’d sent a gale in her direction. It was the element Simi controlled so the force was much stronger than anything Sophia could have done.
The wind simultaneously sent Lunis straight up much quicker and the grenade back the way it had come.
Sophia looked down as Tanner realized what had happened. The wind knocked into him and suspended the black dragon, who struggled to stay up from the assault. Tanner’s eyes widened with sudden horror as the grenade sped through the air like a bullet. It happened too fast for him or his dragon to react.
Tanner’s grenade collided with his dragon’s side and exploded on impact. Fiery shrapnel shot off in all directions. The details of what happened to the Rogue Rider were unclear with all the fire and smoke in the air, but as the rider and dragon plummeted to the beach below, it was clear that was their final flight.
Tanner and Coal were without a doubt dead.
Chapter One Hundred Eleven
The Castle must have known that Sophia was upset because when she walked into the entryway with Wilder beside her, her favorite song played from an unseen speaker. In truth, there wasn’t a speaker at all because the music came from magic. And the song, Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra worked like magic on her and made her smile instantly as some of the heaviness from Tanner’s death eroded from her heart.
Sophia knew that Wilder and she had simply done what they had to. They had given Tanner a choice. They had warned him of the consequences if he didn’t comply. He’d made his choice and decided to battle the Dragon Elite.
It still hurt Sophia’s heart, knowing that the Rogue Rider was so much less experienced than them and Coal not as strong. However, Tanner had decided to work for thieves, and he’d assaulted Wilder when he was held prisoner and restrained by the other Rogue Riders. He wasn’t a good person, and Sophia told herself that he got what he deserved. Still, that was a hard pill for her to swallow.
Killing another dragon and rider wasn’t something she took lightly. Coal was from the new batch of dragon eggs, and his death meant one less dragon in the world—forever. There were no more eggs after this, and when a dragon perished, no more would replace it. But sometimes even a rare species had to be taken out.
Wilder also sensed that Sophia was upset about what had happened and slid his arms around her and held her tightly. She knew it hadn’t been easy for him either, especially the last part. Tanner’s and Coal’s bodies were almost unrecognizable after the grenade’s blast. However, Sophia and Wilder had to go through their remains to find the soul stone, which had survived the explosion unblemished.
They stayed embraced like that alone in the Castle’s entryway for a long moment.
When the song ended, Wilder peeled away from Sophia slightly and dropped a gentle kiss on her head.
“Castle, my favorite song is Heroes by Alesso, but you already know that,” Wilder said with his trademark grin. “I’m simply reminding you.”
Sophia’s second favorite song, Dream On by Aerosmith started playing. She laughed and buried her head in his shoulder.
“Oh, what blatant favoritism,” Wilder teased, pretending to be offended.
Trin poked her head through from the dining hall. “Oh, you’re back. I made you something to eat if you’re hungry.”