The Last Dragon King (Kings of Avalier #1)(55)

Have an heir? Why was she talking about that at a time like th—?

“NO!” The blood-curdling scream ripped from my throat as she let go of my left hand and dropped down into the fray. Cal frantically reached over and grabbed my other arm, shifting his weight to relieve my injured shoulder.

I peered down in shock as Regina pulled out her blade and then spit a stream of fire, trying to fight her way through the twenty men attacking her.

No! Not like this. It couldn’t end like this.

“Regina!” A stone sank in my gut as I immediately started to lower myself and help my beloved commander, but before I could do anything she was gored by half a dozen arrows in seconds. As if that weren’t enough, a Nightfall soldier walked up and took her head clean off. Unbridled rage and wild grief filled me with equal measure, one not making enough room for the other as they smashed about within my body.

Cal squeezed my arm. “No! It will all be in vain. Get us over that wall. The king hasn’t come back to help, which means he’s hurt.”

Cal’s urging shook me from my grief. The king was hurt? Why hadn’t he come back to help us, or responded to me?

I watched Regina fall forward, and my entire body flinched and went numb. It was all I needed to see to know that if I didn’t get us out of here right now, we were both dead. I flapped my wings wildly, holding Cal mostly with my good arm, and soared up and over the fence now that my load was lighter. I made for the outcrop of trees that held our saddles, and hoped the king was there as well.

Regina… my idol, my mentor, the leader of the King’s Drayken…

Dead.

I couldn’t process it, it didn’t feel real. I prayed that I would wake up any moment and find out that Joslyn’s and Regina’s death were some sick nightmare.

The moment we got to the trees, I knew something was wrong. Drae was on his hands and knees, heaving up the contents of his dinner.

I landed awkwardly, tripping over my dangling feet but relieved to finally let go of Cal’s weight on my injured arm.

“What’s wro—?” Nausea washed over me as a cold sweat broke out over my body.

Drae stood, and I noticed that he too had been hit by an arrow. Grazed was more like it. His arm had a slight line of blood on the side.

“Regina’s… dead,” I said, blinking rapidly as everything blurred.

What is happening? Was losing Regina and Joslyn in the same night too much grief for my heart to bare? I felt like I was dying.

The king stomped forward, grasped the tip of the arrow in my shoulder, and yanked. I tried to scream but he covered my mouth so that I merely wailed into his salty fingers.

“Arrows are poisoned,” he breathed, eyes wide as he looked over me. “Did we bring another antidote?” he called to Nox.

Nox stepped forward. “No, sir, only the one you just took.”

The wild panic that consumed his face made my knees go weak.

“I’m going to die,” I whimpered.

Maybe that was best. Maybe tonight would be known as the Night of Sorrows. The night when the king’s betrothed, backup, and commander were all taken from him. I didn’t care anymore, I just wanted to be out of pain.

“No!” He shook my shoulders and then glanced up at Cal. “Can you and the others make it back to Embergate on foot?”

Cal nodded.

“My lord, she will not survive the flight home. Dr. Elsie is too far,” Falcon said.

Drae dipped his head. “I know. But we’re only a few miles away from the Archmere border.”

Cal’s eyes widened. “You’re going to the elves?”

Drae sighed. “I have no choice.”

A horrible cramping seized my stomach then and I fell backwards. Drae reached out to catch me.

“Just let me go. I want to be with Joslyn and Regina,” I whimpered.

He pulled me to his chest and muttered in my ear, “I can’t. I need you.”

I need you. It was something I’d wanted him to say for so long, and yet… somehow I didn’t think he meant it in the way I wanted.

He needed my womb. Not me.

Everything got hazy then and life began to pass by in snippets.

Flying.

Drae running into an elven couples’ humble home with me in his arms as he screamed in panic.

The elven woman of the household scanning me with her healing wand.

Her shaking her head to Drae that I would not make it.

More flying.

It all finally ended with an ominous-looking male towering over me. He had bright white hair and a thin silver crown on his head. I was lying on some type of crystal bed. Hard, and yet… it was not uncomfortable. It seemed to be carved out of a giant rose quartz with indentations that fit my body like a glove.

“This matter does not concern me,” the male said as he stared down at me.

I rolled on my side and moaned as the cramping in my muscles became so painful I wanted to die. My heartbeat felt like it was in my ears.

“Raife,” Drae growled. “She is important to me. I know you can save her. If you do… I’ll give you whatever you want. Coal, boats, jade. Name your price!”

Raife? Raife Lightstone. The elven king? Rumor had it that he lost his entire family in one night at the hand of the Nightfall queen. His parents and seven siblings. Now he was a broken man hadesbent on revenge.