Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 69711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69711 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 232(@300wpm)
The village elder takes up the call, and the crowd joins in. “All hail, Queen Renee!”
“Thank you.” Renee slides a hand to the base of her bare throat. Her fingers creep up to stroke the mark I put on her, binding her to me. “I’m all good,” she calls, and the portal, which I’d completely forgotten about, blinks out of existence.
She really is staying. Ulf be praised.
Renee looks up at me from under her lashes. “Now the collar,” she whispers.
With careful fingers, I secure it around her neck.
A distant rumble warns of the coming earthquake. “Brace yourselves,” I command everyone, summoning the jynx as the ground begins to tremble. I scoop up Renee before she’s knocked off her feet. Behind us, the throne rocks on its platform. People cry out, clutching each other to stay upright. In their pen, the tyrlee bellow in distress and stamp their hooves. A few are rushing the fences, trying to get out. Plutus dips and wheels overhead, letting out an ear-splitting screech.
“Into the huts!” the elder cries. The festival tree, which the villagers spent hours erecting and decorating to my specifications, sways and crashes to the ground.
“No!” I shout. The jynx have prepared for this—it’s why I summoned them immediately. “We will evacuate.” I raise a hand and create a portal of my own with a shower of circling sparks. It leads to a great room in the lower floor of my castle. The jynx flit to and fro, herding people towards it, and guiding them through it with the help of the village elder.
Mount Vracor roars. The smoke billowing from its summit is as black as my horns.
I hoist Renee up higher against my chest. “I must get you to safety.”
“We need to do something,” she cries, coughing from the ash filling the air.
With a great leap, I launch us both into the sky. Renee presses her face against my chest, still wheezing.
I strain my wings, gaining height. Plutus flies with us, following just behind. I would shout at him to go, but he will not leave my side.
Renee clings to me. I’ve found a plume of fresh air, high above the village, but more and more smoke is escaping from Mount Vracor. Soon, everything will be swallowed by smoke and ash and fire.
While my Omega has returned to me, she cannot live in this land. Not like this. No one can.
But maybe it doesn’t have to be like this.
I clutch my mate tight and head towards the volcano, into the eye of the storm. I can sense the borders of my kingdom, and Mount Vracor pulsing like a beating heart in the center. Heart of the demon. Summoning all my power, I strain to contain it but the fiery fury has been building for too long. It’s too strong. If only there were two of me, combining our powers to halt the raging, destructive fires threatening to burst forth…
You are not meant to rule alone.
And I am not alone. I have my queen.
“Renee. My love.” I squeeze her. “I need you.”
She gazes up at me and blinks, her eyes streaming from the smoky air. “What do you need?”
“I need your help. My queen. My power alone is not enough to stop the volcano from erupting. But if you join me, if we combine our powers… we might stand a chance.”
“Let’s give it a shot.” She coughs against my shoulder. “Tell me what to do.”
I flap my wings, taking us closer. “Be still,” I command her. “Listen to the music of the bond.” I tune into the humming melody. It’s been sweet since the moment Renee emerged from the portal and returned to my side.
No, that’s not true. That was the moment it began to gain momentum. It’s been humming happily since the day I began to bring the joy of Renee’s holiday to my people. And it’s underscored by the slower, deeper but no less harmonious music of the land.
“Can you hear it?” I ask Renee.
“Yes.”
“Join me. Open your heart, and share the music of our bond with the land. Our union will heal it.”
Renee closes her eyes, her long lashes fanning over her freckled face. “I feel it,” she murmurs. “It’s gorgeous… like a symphony.”
I hear a thousand hrioxes playing my mother’s favorite song—a ballad of her village, about a young man who goes away to find himself, only to return and realize his lover’s arms is where he feels most at home.
Renee is humming something under her breath. “Let it snow…”
Ahead of us, Plutus squawks and wheels to the left. A vast plume of fire shoots out of the top of Mount Vracor. Sparks shower the thick black smoke.
Lava sprays into the sky. The summit’s a dark cauldron, bubbling over. Molten rock, glowing with heat, oozes down the volcano’s sides.
I pull up short, retreating before the scorching heat envelops us. “It’s not working,” I shout over the cacophony of the dying land. “We must go back.”