Chapter Sixty-Seven

Daegal.

Kelli levitated from the ground the moment I jumped at her and reappeared behind me.

I wasn’t sure if that was new or not, but I stumbled to catch myself and turned to swing wildly. She wiped the blood from her cheek and looked down at it on her fingertips.

Something wicked traveled over her face.

The tips of her fingers brightened and fire scorched the ends. Selena’s gaze shifted to mine, and at the same moment, Kelli turned and scorched Selena.

My heart stilled in my body.

I leaped, shoving Kelli across the room, and covered Selena with my wings, putting out the fire.

Her scream sliced through the crackling sound of the ground and the chaos ensuing outside. Melinda’s hands cupped my shoulder and pulled me up to face her. Her wise eyes were full of heat and anger. “I’ll take care of her. You take care of Kelli.”

Melinda began to strip her of the heated clothes as smoke rose from her skin. Part of her face was burnt but her blue gaze met mine. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

I shook my head, hearing Kelli stirring around behind me, I looked back as she stood up from the floor. “I’m going to kill her,” I told Selena. “For all of this.”

She closed her eyes as Melinda picked her up and carried her toward the kitchen.

The ground shook beneath us but I didn’t budge. I listened as the crack grew from the front door to the lobby, only inches from my feet.

Kelli chuckled. “You should have killed her with the fire the first time. Now she has to walk around with those ugly burn marks.”

Kelli dusted her clothes from her fall. “Now, that leaves you and me, since you cleared the room. I can’t imagine why everyone wanted to leave.”

I listened to the crying of the dragon behind us. He seemed hurt enough they’d take him down soon, and at the moment, I felt enough fury that I could take Kelli down alone.

Kelli cleared her throat. “Well, we shouldn’t delay this anymore, shall we? You’ve got me alone, Daegal. Do with me what you may.”

The look on her face, the smile, it ripped my dragon’s small heart into pieces and destroyed it. She might as well have sliced every ounce of compassion I had from my chest.

I flexed my fingers and my talons elongated.

Kelli smiled at them and brought fire from her fingertips.

“Too bad I don’t burn like Selena,” I said. “That fire won’t do any good, Kelli.”

She chuckled. “It’s not for you, Daegal.” She turned to face her left and shot fire from her fingers.

The remains of our living room after the tornado caught fire.

She blew her fingers out playfully. “It’s to burn this down. Just a reminder for your kingdom after I kill you of what they no longer have.”

My dragon took complete charge, I flew across the living room and missed her by a few inches. She danced around the flames and jetted toward the second-story.

Her scent led me up the stairs and to the long hallway. Kicking each door open as I passed it, I looked in with irritation.

Kelli loved a good cat-and-mouse game.

I didn’t. My heart was with Poppy and Jeremiah. I wanted to check on my kingdom. To check on my queen.

I stopped at the guest bedroom that Selena stayed in and halted. Kelli's scent hung heavily in the air but I didn’t dare go inside.

I could smell a trap a mile away.

Backing away from the room, a figure danced from one room to the next, and then the hallway lit on fire.

Kelli’s silhouette stood on the opposite end toward a giant stained-glass window.

The smell of fire and the heat of it surged my dragon. She was fueling him with those. The castle was gone either way. It was a waste of time to burn it down. I could feel the foundation cracking beneath us.

The wind picked up, blowing flames and artwork from the walls at me.

I braced my feet and placed one foot in front of the other, pushing myself through the growing wind.

The hallway grew longer and longer the more steps I took. The flames licked at my skin and blurred Kelli's figure at the end of the hallway.

I felt the growth of a looming darkness hovering behind me. Swiftly I turned and found Kelli watching from behind me. The wind shoved me into her and we went sailing down the hallway, over the staircase, and into the opposing wall.

She tumbled to the floor and I landed feet away from her.

Grabbing her ankle, I tugged her over and flung her into the stair railing.

The castle shook again and the crack grew across the room and opened beneath me. I caught myself on the edge and pulled myself up.

Kelli’s gaze turned dark and heated as she lunged for me. I kicked her off and she hit the opposite wall.

I looked around for something to stake her with but everything was out of order. Either falling into the gaping split of the ground or on the opposite side of the house.

The kitchen door opened and Melinda tumbled out. “How is Selena—”

“Fine. Here.”

I looked down at the knife in her hand. I took it in my hand and looked down at the blade. Kelli was crawling up from her place on the ground when I saw her.

Poppy.

She stood by the broken staircase with Jeremiah in her hands. My heart stopped. She wasn’t here, was she? Had they not got her out of the castle? Where were the guards? Why was she here?

“Help,” Poppy said.

I took a step toward her but Melinda grabbed my wrist. “It’s not real,” she whispered. "It's an illusion. The guards got Poppy out."

They looked so real.

When Kelli steadied herself there was a smile on her face. It looked pulled out of any horror movie. “Help your little mate, Daegal. She’s looking for you.”

My dragon pushed me toward the broken staircase but I stopped myself. “It isn’t her,” I whispered. “It’s not her.”

Frustrated tears brimmed the corners of my eyes. I wanted to rip her head clean off her body. Her maddening laugh danced along my skin as I tightened my grip around the handle of the knife Melinda handed me.

I turned quickly and flung it at her. It struck her in the middle of her chest. She stopped, her hands moving toward the handle, and for the briefest moments, she looked like a scared little girl.

The blade was a little to the right. I walked over, kept to the right of the giant crack splitting our home in two, and grabbed the handle from her.

Blood dripped down the corner of her mouth as I pulled out the blade and shoved it back into her heart.

The blackness left Kelli’s eyes and she chuckled as blood poured from her mouth. “I should have known you would win this. You survived that realm I put you in for months. I’ve wanted this kingdom long before you got it. It’s so beautiful, isn’t it?”

I pulled the knife from her chest and tossed it amongst the rubble.

Kelli slumped down to her knees and braced her palms on the side of the splitting ground. She looked into the lava for several seconds, accepting her fate, before she let herself fall into it.

I stared into the darkness, my dragon dancing in victory. The foundation groaned again and part of the upstairs crashed against the stairs, shattering it into pieces.

Reality hit me in the chest and I found my way into the kitchen. Melinda had Selena spread out on the island with some sort of gel on her.

“We have to go. The castle is going to collapse any second.”

Melinda grabbed her creams and I slid Selena into my arms. “Is she dead?” she asked weakly.

I nodded as pieces of the ceiling began to fall on me. “She’s gone. I got her in the heart.”

Selena rested her head as Melinda and I walked out of the veranda door to the courtyard. Our kingdom was in complete shambles. The ground was split open and a giant dragon lay amid our garden.

Several dragons were wounded and being carried toward the infirmary.

I swallowed my pride, knowing that the threat was gone this time and I carried Selena toward the infirmary.

My heart throbbed in the pain of the aftermath but then I felt it again.

Poppy’s heartbeat.

It was slow and steady but she was alive. Jeremiah’s quicker one followed.

I let myself slip. Tears cascaded down my cheeks like a wounded child. Only this time, I prayed it’d be the last time for heartache.