Feel the Burn (Dragon Kin #8)(100)

Snarling, he got to his claws just as Vateria launched herself at him, melted gold covering her from head to back claws.

She tackled Gaius to the ground, the pair rolling across the mine floor, slamming into furnaces and knocking over other crucibles.

They were Iron dragons. Born of fire. They felt nothing as they battled each other through the dwarf mines.

But Vateria was no longer the Vateria Gaius once knew. Emotionally, of course, she was still the same evil bitch she’d always been. Her god had not changed that. Yet he had changed the rest of her, made her stronger. Although she seemed to have no skill with weapons, she had her tentacles and claws, and her talons tore at Gaius, her tentacles wrapped around his throat, choking him.

Gaius, however, still had his rage. He grabbed his cousin by her hair, the gold starting to harden, and yanked her back. Off him. Gaius stood, dragging the bitch with him. Still gripping her by the hair, he turned and flung her into a wall.

He yanked out his blade and started to walk over there, ready to cut her into pieces that he would bring back to his twin.

“No!” the child’s voice screamed as he dashed over to Vateria, throwing himself in front of her, arms wide. As if he could protect her with his tiny human body. “You get away from her!”

Gaius studied the boy, then looked at Vateria. It dawned on him, as bright as the two suns now coming up in the skies outside these mountains.

“Your son.” It swept through him. Cold. Brutal. The rage that had made his name for him. The rage that allowed him not to care. About anyone. Anything. Growling now, he said again, “Your son.”

Vateria’s forearm wrapped around her offspring’s body. For the first time ever, he saw fear in her eyes. True, absolute fear. Because for once, she cared about something other than herself.

“You wouldn’t dare,” Vateria told him.

But this Gaius would dare. This Gaius, who remembered his sister, trapped with Vateria, would dare many things to right that wrong.

Gaius raised his blade over his head, his entire body shaking, his gaze locked with his cousin’s, enjoying the pain he knew he’d cause her.

Even knowing this was wrong, nothing would stop him. Nothing.

Gaius yanked his forearms back a bit more to get the most power behind his attack when he heard Kachka scream from above, “Gaius, no!”

He fought against her voice. Fought against how right it sounded.

“Do not! He is just child!”

“Vateria’s child,” he reminded her.

“Would this make your sister proud? Or are you finally becoming Thracius himself? Do not do this.”

Gaius’s will began to wane. Kachka was right. Harming a child to get at its mother? That’s what his uncle not only would do but had done.

And now he was about to do the same.

Don’t, Gaius.

Aggie—

Please. Don’t.

He’d let his sister in and hadn’t even realized it. So, if he did this, she would do it too. It would be her memory as well as his.

That he couldn’t do. She had enough bad memories to last her a lifetime. He wouldn’t add the guilt of this sin.

Gaius lowered his weapon and, gripping her offspring tight, Vateria reached back and opened a mystical doorway. She was in it and gone in seconds.

Dropping to his knees, Gaius let the pain of what he’d almost done flow through him. He needed to feel this so that he never did it again. So he never came that close to the edge again.

He didn’t know how long he stayed there, kneeling in the dirt. But he felt Kachka’s hand press against his leg.

“It is all right, Dragon King.”

“It’s not all right. I almost—”

“But you did not. Because if you had, I would have come for you. For your great sin, I would have been your punishment. For I am the Scourge of the Gods. But I am not here to punish. Because you made right choice.”

Gaius finally found the strength to laugh. “You are really loving that name.”

“I am.”

“It fits her,” said another voice.

Gaius looked up, rearing back a bit. “You.” He watched the soldier for hire he’d met on the road a few days ago walk around him.

“Me.”

“You sent me to gold mines,” Kachka said.

“I did.”

“Why?”

“Just being helpful.”

“Who are you?” Gaius asked.

“Just call me Eir. Oh! I have something for you.” She removed a sword from the scabbards strapped to her back and handed it him.

It was a gladius. Rather plain. But a very sweet gesture.

“Thank you, but you don’t—”

“Please. Take it. Make good use of it.” She walked over to Kachka, held out her hand. “Give me the eyes.”

Kachka stared at the soldier, eyes narrowing. “No.”

“It’s all right, Kachka,” Gaius told her.

“How can it be all right?”

He gave a small smile, now fully understanding who this friendly neighborhood soldier-for-hire truly was. “It just is. Trust me.”

“All this trouble . . .” She pulled the leather bag from her boot and handed it over to the woman.

“Thank you,” she said. “And good luck to you both.”