Chapter 16 - The Child of Two Bloodlines
The blast threw everyone off their feet.
Mara hit the floor but kept Elara against her chest.
White fire filled the chamber without burning her.
Priests screamed and dropped their weapons.
The iron crown melted.
Isolde stared upward in disbelief.
“No.”
Chains snapped.
Corvin fell free.
The black pit opened wider.
A claw rose through it.
Varrik was coming.
Mara ran to Rowan.
“You’re Drakeborn.”
He looked dazed. “Apparently.”
“Can you breathe fire?”
“This feels like a bad time to test it.”
Despite the terror, she laughed.
He laughed too.
Then Varrik’s second claw tore through the floor.
Soren stepped toward the pit.
“Father.”
Selene grabbed him.
“He is not your father.”
Soren ripped free. “He kept me alive.”
“He kept you useful.”
The words hit.
Varrik’s enormous head rose through the stone.
His scales were black with streaks of old gold. One horn was broken. Iron spikes remained buried in his neck from centuries of imprisonment.
His eyes fixed on Elara.
At last.
The voice filled every mind in the room.
Mara nearly fell.
Elara reached toward him.
Varrik lowered his head.
Give her to me.
“No.”
She is mine.
“She is nobody’s.”
The dragon’s pupil narrowed.
You carry my blood.
“I carry my mother’s blood.”
Selene’s face crumpled.
Varrik’s gaze shifted to Rowan.
Then amusement rolled through the chamber.
Two broken lines joined again.
Isolde crawled toward the fallen ritual knife.
Mara saw her.
Too late.
Isolde lunged for Elara.
Rowan moved between them.
The knife entered his side.
Mara screamed.
Rowan grabbed Isolde’s wrist.
She stared at him, shocked by what she had done.
He whispered, “You should have been my mother.”
Then he shoved her away.
The floor cracked beneath Isolde.
She fell toward the black pit.
Soren caught her wrist.
Everyone stared.
Isolde dangled over Varrik’s fire.
She looked up at the boy she had helped imprison for years.
“Save me.”
Soren’s face became strangely peaceful.
May you like
“No.”
He let go.
