Chapter 169 Burning Cacophony (6)

Chapter 169 Burning Cacophony (6)
P E R S E U S

The rage in my chest when I see her stirs up wildly within me, a living thing that claws at my ribs and demands blood. Ezekiel takes full control before I can blink, my bones cracking and reshaping as the dragon surges forward. I tear through the burning balcony, the heat licking at my scales but never touching her. I retrieve her unconscious frame from the bed just as the flames engulf the mattress behind us.

Close. Too close.

Securing her in my dragon hands, I dash out through the shattered windows and into the night air. Below me, those pathetic council members scurry out from the burning building like roaches exposed to light. One of them stops, pulls a rifle from his shoulder, and fires a worthless bullet at me. It pings off my scales and disappears into the darkness.

Foolish man. But I admire his commitment to death.

I open my throat and let out a deep, guttural roar that shakes the very stones of Bloodthorn. Then I release the fire. A spill of hot flames pours from my mouth, consuming every single one of them where they stand. I watch them squirm and scream in agony as their flesh and bones melt into the ground. The same death they wished for her. The same fire they used to try and take her away from me.

I shift back before their screams even fade, my feet touching the scorched earth as I hold Eleanor in my arms. She's heaving softly now, her chest rising and falling in quick, shallow bursts. Smoke pours from her mouth with every cough, her body trembling against mine. I hug her gently, careful not to press too hard, terrified I might break her further. Tears spill out my eyes before I can stop them. She starts crying at the sight of me.

"It's okay, it's okay. I'm here now," I reassure her, my voice cracking on the last word.

She buries her face in my chest. "I thought... I thought I lost you."

"I'm sorry for leaving you here." My throat tightens. "Deeply sorry."

The sizzling of the fire crackles behind us. I turn my head to see Bernadette and Athena working together, casting spells and summoning water to quench the flames. Well. That's an odd collaboration I never expected to witness.

"Tsk. Tsk. Tsk."

The annoying voice slithers through the air behind me. I look up to see George, his blade in hand, approaching me with a handful of treacherous soldiers at his back. They fan out slowly, surrounding us in a loose circle.

"Look who came to pay a visit," he says, smiling like he's already won.

The fury comes back. Hotter than the fire. I hold Eleanor tighter with one arm while the other curls into a fist, ready to burn him down where he stands. After everything he's done to her. Her clothes are torn at the side, hanging off her frame in shreds. Her wrists are bruised and bloody from the chains he bound her with. He left her there to burn. He left her chained to a bed while flames ate the room around her.

That's a level of cruelty that the Devil would second guess before he even tried to execute it.

I notice how wet it is between her legs, soaking through her torn dress and onto my arm. My heart breaks at the idea of how scared she must have been to wet herself. What kind of terror does that to a woman? What kind of monster—

I'm soon to find out that I read the situation completely wrong.

Thomas, Jeffery, and Severus make their entrance, their horses padding on the stone floor as they screech to a halt behind George's men. Dust rises around their hooves.

George doesn't flinch. He just smiles broader. "I'm glad he's here so I can finish you both, once and for all."

He approaches me, step by step, taking his sweet time. He clears his throat, ready to launch into another dramatic monologue—the kind he probably rehearses in the mirror—when a loud scream rips through the whole palace grounds.

Not a battle cry. Not a war scream.

Something else.

Her grip on my hand tightens until her knuckles go white. Her eyes bulge wide open, and I recognize that look. Pain. Real pain.

"Eleanor?" I cup her cheek, turning her face toward mine. Her skin is pale, slick with sweat. She screams again, this time clutching her side. "What have you done to her?" I bark at George.

"It's what you did, idiot." Ezekiel's voice rumbles in my skull.

"What I did?"

"The babies." Eleanor's whisper is barely audible. Her eyes find mine. "The babies."

I freeze. "The babies?"

My heart trembles in my chest as she screams again, her whole body arching against mine. George did this. He must have done something to her. Poisoned her. Hurt her somehow. I try to rise immediately, ready to rip his face off—but he's watching us with confusion. Real confusion.

"What did you do to—"

"She's in labour, fool." Severus' voice crackles through the air like a whip.

I blink. "What? Now?"

Thomas snorts behind me. "And you say I'm the bad father."

I turn and give him a hard stare that would have set a lesser man on fire. But before I can respond, Bernadette and Athena rush in. Athena shifts smoothly, her body contorting into her serpent form, and she slithers toward the soldiers with terrifying grace. One quick bite each. They hit the ground before they even know what happened.

George flushes red at the sight of her. His sword drops from his grip and clatters on the stone floor.

Athena giggles as she approaches him, her scales glistening in the firelight. Bernadette swats my arm, hard, and reminds me to stay in the present. Stay with Eleanor.

Right. Right.

I lift Eleanor up, moving fast but carefully with her in my arms. I expect a war to break out behind me. I expect blood and flames and the end of Bloodthorn. But when I glance back, what I see stops me in my tracks.

A shy George, red-faced and stammering, getting scolded by Athena and Thomas like a child caught stealing sweets.

And I realize that the end of this cacophony isn't more death.

It's the birth of my children.