A Destiny of Dragons (Tales From Verania #2)(164)

And then shadows enveloped his body and pulled him from this world to the next.

The gateway closed with a furious crash.

The clearing in the Dark Woods fell quiet, the only sound being the great heaving sobs of the younger brother.

Eventually, they left.

Eventually, Randall pulled the King of Sorrows from madness by the sheer force of his will alone.

Eventually, the name Myrin was wiped from the memory of Verania.

As if he had never been at all.




“YES,” MYRIN said, sounding amused. “Quite the sad story, I know. It’s just so… melodramatic, isn’t it? If it hadn’t actually happened to me, it would be one of those things that’s hard to believe. Alas, I don’t have problems with belief. Do you, Sam? Do you have problems believing?”

“You’re standing on water after having broken your way out of the shadow realm,” I said. “I’m really not having a problem believing right now.”

He tossed his head back and laughed. It sounded so much like Morgan, and the dissonance caused blood to rush in my ears. “Oh, Sam,” he said, chuckling. “I know now what he sees in you. Honestly, it took me a while. I mean, hearing from a god that a child would rise against me? Can you imagine what that must have felt like?”

“Um. No? Wait. Yes. Because a god told me that another villain would come here and blah, blah, blah and then I would have to kick his ass and then all would be right with the world. So I guess I could imagine that after all.”

He cocked his head at me. “That easy, is it?”

“Yes.”

“Really. Well. I hate to break it to you, kiddo, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Would you like me to tell you why?”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh gods. This is it, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“This is where you monologue. For fuck’s sake. We already had that moment. I thought we were past this. What the fuck, man? Don’t you remember? You were all like, hey, you, I’m your opposite, and, oh, look at me, gods and partiality and death and destruction and what the fuck ever. I am so sick of villains like you. What the fuck is your deal?”

He looked taken aback, but he covered it up quickly. “Sam,” he said. “Believe me when I say you have never faced someone like me. It will be an education like you’ve never before experienced. But first, a chance for you. To end this all now.”

“Let me guess,” I said, trying to sift through the green and the gold. My magic was running through me, thrumming just underneath my skin. They had to feel it. Ryan. Gary. Tiggy. Kevin. Maybe even Zero. They had to. And if they did, we could end this now. We could. “You’re gonna give me the chance to join you—again, by the way—to be by your side, to learn how to be a Dark douchebag. Sound about right?”

“Yes,” he said slowly. “That sounds about right.”

“Because—oh, whaddya know—there’s never been someone like you, but oh look, there’s never been someone like me either. Sound about right?”

“Quite.”

“And if I don’t join you, you’re going to kill everyone and everything I love. And if I do join you, you’ll spare the others and you and me will live happily ever after in some cave in the Dark Woods while you continue my wizard training to make me into a fucking dickbag who monologues with the best of them.”

“I wouldn’t say it’s a cave. I mean, there’s a house and everything. And you’re sort of monologuing right now. I don’t know how much more training in that you would need.”

“Okay, let me stop you right there. No.”

“No?”

“No. I will not. I won’t ever. You can just cut that shit out of your diabolical scheme right now.”

“My diabolical scheme,” he repeated.

I squinted at him. “You do have a diabolical scheme, don’t you? I mean, you’re a villain, right? The big bad? It’s kind of in the job description, dude.”

“Oh,” he said. “Is it now?”

“Wow, you sort of suck at the whole villain thing. Am I going to have to tell you how to do this too? Yikes. I think the star dragon might have seriously overestimated your abilities. That’s… slightly depressing. Oh! Don’t get me wrong. I’m super glad that you’re… like that. I just thought there would be more of a challenge.” And why the hell could I not feel any of the others? Why couldn’t I at least get through to Kevin?

“I think there may have been a bit of a misunderstanding,” he said.

I snorted. “You’re telling me. Are you going to need a moment to shift your worldview back to being a bottom feeder?”

“You talk too much.”

“Eh. I’ve been told that before. Still my thing. Dude, just listen, okay? Can you do that? Okay. So. You won’t get the dragons. I already have two of them. I know the star dragon had to come to you and whatever—which, let’s be honest, as far as prophecies go, that’s really sort of lame—but you won’t get what I have. Kevin is mine. Zero is mine. The other three will be mine. You won’t have them.”

“You’re a bit of the cocky sort, aren’t you?”

I shrugged. “Prophecies from the gods will do that to you.”