Fire Unleashed (Reign of Fae Book 3) Read online

  Mordecai winked and gave her a roguish smile, hinting it was their bond affecting her.

  “It’s time.” Hilgrid nodded to the portal. “We’ll see you soon.” She said her wish aloud, hoping it would be true.

  Chloe didn’t have the heart to say goodbye. She walked to the Mirror, stepped through to the Horsemen realm, and prepared to face War.

  What she hadn’t said to Mordecai and Hilgrid, what she couldn’t say out loud, was that if she fulfilled her promise to Bram, if he couldn’t be saved and she had to end his life...she wasn’t coming back.

  8

  Such Sweet Sorrow

  The ominous realm’s landscape was just as inhospitable as Chloe remembered, only this time it was raining. At least Chloe hoped it was rain.

  Droplets, larger than average rain drops, were blood-red, and hitting the barren desert floor with a sizzle. They seeped into the cracked parched ground and disappeared. Chloe cowered, holding the iron toolbox over her head, she looked for shelter. There wasn’t any. She worried the drops were some sort of acid as they hit her skin, but they seemed to be benign, and she relaxed.

  Far in the distance, the ledge of the volcanic mountain range was erupting. Plumes of smoke and spitting lava filled the horizon. Massive undulating clouds hovering over the mountain range, the formations Mary seemed so afraid of last time, started to draw near. Chloe didn’t want to find out what was in those clouds. She got to work.

  As the Mirror closed, Chloe searched the land and sky for Bram’s dragon, but saw no trace of him. She’d have to lure him out. Repeating Mary’s steps, she pulled a vial from her pocket and created a small circle on the ground with Mordecai’s blood. As she lit the portal on fire, purple flames whipped in the wind without even a hint of being extinguished. Hilgrid had ensured her that the dragon wouldn’t be able to get through the portal. The witch had promised to make sure of it. Her hand went around the axe’s handle and pulled it from its holster. Chloe slid the weapon down her arm, just as Mary had, coating its edge in her blood. She flicked some of it into the sky for good measure before throwing the axe into the center of the circle. Its edge bit into the ground and Chloe’s blood soaked into the sandy cracks below.

  Still, no dragon appeared.

  Chloe place the iron toolbox on the ground, opened it, and pulled the Horseman sword from its sheath. The blood-rain stopped. The ground underneath her began to tremble.

  This is what you want. Walking towards the volcanic mountain range, she called the blade and summoned its fire. The weapon’s metallic shink echoed off the mountains. She stopped.

  As fire ignited along the sword’s edge, a dark object the color of rust exploded up out of the spewing lava atop the mountains. The dragon’s wings unfurled like giant sails. He floated into the clouds, hovered there, and roared.

  “You want it?” Chloe held the sword high into the air before aiming its tip at the craggy ground below. She jammed the blade deep into the unforgiving soil and let the flames go out. “Come and get it!”

  “Are you even in there, Bram?” Chloe screamed into the sky. “Avery has Mary. Do you hear me? Mary! Remember? She needs you!”

  Massive wings flapping against the air was the beast’s only response as he circled around her like a shark. The pendant remained silent to her human ears.

  “If I can’t bring you back…” Chloe squeezed her eyes shut. I know I’ve lost you! She shook her head, unable to admit the words out loud. Hope of finding a glimmer of Bram inside the beast was growing dimmer with every thunderous roar. Bram was gone. She knew it. “God dammit, if you’re not going to fight for us, why should I?! I’m tired of fighting. I’d rather die than do this without you anymore!”

  Finally, he landed with a thud a few yards in front of her, sniffing the air as he sauntered near. The enormous beast’s slow movements were more horrifying than if he would’ve simply attacked her with the speed she knew he harnessed.

  “Bram, please.”

  The dragon roared at the mention of his name. The force knocked the breath out of Chloe’s lungs, nearly dropping her to her knees. She refused to bow down and stood her ground.

  The dragon seemed intrigued.

  Reluctantly, she retrieved the sword. Her heart sank into the pit of her stomach as the dragon ended his slow approach, leaving little space between them. Intense heat emitted from the dragon’s body. “Please don’t make me do this.” She wanted to throw up. Her heart started pounding louder and faster. Fear and a defiant refusal to run made her that much more an enticing prey to feast on.

  His wet nose was at her belly, lifting her shirt hem, sniffing and savoring, wanting to devour her at her soft center first. Tears fell freely down her face. She hoped her end would be swift as she had promised to make his. Chloe clenched her jaw, trying to ignore his proximity to her vulnerable flesh. While he was transfixed, she removed the pendant from her neck, and placed it on his back. Refusing to watch, Chloe raised her hands above her head, aimed the sword down between his wings, and prepared to pierce his heart and heart-stone. They would die together. She gathered her last bit of strength, bracing herself to have her flesh ripped apart by the terrible beast. She would use her dying breath to fulfill her promise and end Bram’s life.

  Suddenly, the dragon’s movements stopped. Even the howling winds quieted, and the volcanic eruptions subsided. A muffled heartbeat cut through the stillness and the silence. It was faint and beating so fast it didn’t seem real. Somehow, the thrum of life had been amplified by the dragon’s magic, but it sounded nothing like the familiar beat she had heard from Bram, his beast...or the pendant. Tha-thump tha-thump tha-thump, the sound thrummed in her ears. What is that? The dragon let out an unexpected whimper and nudged at her belly.

  Chloe’s eyes flew open. Oh god! No, it can’t be! I can’t be. I’m...she couldn’t even say the word in her mind, but the realization was deafening. The dragon’s golden eyes met hers for the briefest moment. “Bram, I’m, we’re...”

  The beast roared and shot into the air. Sounds and seismic activities came back with a vengeance and the winds whipped all around her.

  Chloe dropped to her knees. I’m pregnant. She cried into her hands and screamed. All her nausea made perfect sense to her then. Exhausted, she couldn’t think anymore and didn’t know what to do. Twice she had tried to bring Bram back and failed. Chloe’s mind raced with a flood of thoughts, mired in doubt and anger. She lost track of time as she sat in the desolate inhospitable realm, trying to process the weight of her new found responsibility. Some of her tears fell to the dusty ground below and she watched as the ground quivered underneath the tiny drops. They seemed to refuse to become absorbed by the earth below them. She came to a realization then.

  The dragon circled in the sky above her and screamed, but this time it wasn’t a roar of rage, it was sorrow.

  Slowly, Chloe got up, wiped her tears, and holstered the Horseman sword. She was in control of it now, refusing to let the weapon influence her emotions and decisions anymore. The pull toward the life growing inside her was stronger.

  With renewed determination, she started walking towards the circle of flames on the ground, back to the Spree. There had to be another way to save Mary, and in turn, free Bram. There has to be another way!

  Chloe looked at the claiming bands encircling her arms and stopped cold. “I’ll never name another Horseman, ever!” She shook her head. “But if I have to become one myself to save everyone I love, to save you, to save Mary...so be it!” She looked into the sky, daring the dragon to stop her. “Any idea what beast I’ll become?” She taunted. “Guess we’ll find out!”

  The dragon’s fiery breath erupted along a straight line on the ground a breadth away from her, first on her right, and then her left, reminiscent of a runway. The walls of flames rising from the ground were so close the heat seared her skin. Her flesh crackled over and over again, and then slowly began to heal. War screamed and landed with a heavy thud behind her. Apparently he didn’t like her
plan to become a Horseman.

  Chloe was trapped within a corridor of death. Flames on both sides of her, and the dragon at her back, the portal to the Spree was her only escape...if she could get to it. She had a choice to make. Run and provoke the dragon’s feral instinct to hunt. Or remain defiant, move slow, and with conviction.

  If the beast of War wanted her dead, and Bram wasn’t strong enough to fight to get back to her, they would both have to destroy her with her back turned. “If you’re going to kill me, then just kill me already... and our baby! But I’m not stopping, you coward!” She refused to turn around as she slowly made her way to the portal down the path of flames.

  Expecting an assault or at least to hear the beast scream in protest again, she walked away, stronger, yet forever heartbroken. What she heard then unexpectedly made her skin tingle and took her breath away.

  “Chloe?”

  Hungry for more Reign of Fae? BURNING CINDERS, the final book in the series, is coming soon!

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  About the Author

  USA Today Bestselling author, coffee loving gamer girl, and sci-fi enthusiast. CK Dawn always loved to snuggle up with her cat Hagrid (the shadow-seer & Netherwalker inspiration) and read. But with a nudge of encouragement from her lil’ sis, she found writing fantasy stories was even better than only reading them. So, a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, CK let her unique modern tale of knights and Camelot dancing in her head take form and fly with Cloak of Shadows, her Readers' Favorite award winning debut novel from the Netherwalker Series. Now, you can find CK writing in the witching hours with Hagrid by her side while being distracted, far too often, by social media. There's more fantasy adventures to come. Seriously, the stories have only just begun.

  I love connecting with readers and fans! Hope to talk to you soon in my FB group the Cloaked Crusaders. -ck

  Also by CK Dawn

  Cloak of Shadows - Netherwalker Book 1

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