Beautiful Torment *Book One of the Beautiful series*

27) Going Back

She could not stop the hollow laugh that escaped between hiccups, before a thought crossed her mind, "The Duke is a dragon too?" Her sudden change of subject drew Alexander's brows together, but he nodded once. "Will Victoria..." she did not know how to phrase it and beat rushed to her cheeks "Is she going to..."

Thankfully, Alexander understood her unspoken words and shook his head, "My words about his potential for a bastard child with the girl was an act. She would not be able to carry his baby even if she wanted to. Dragons can only reproduce together in dragon form, and even then the egg will never hatch without a Flame. They simply did not want him sullying himself with a human while we are supposed to be concerning ourselves with the issue of no more Flames."

This for, some reason, shook Lucy to her core, "There are no more Forged." The sobering fact fell over them like a blanket.

And did this mean they would never...? She swallowed hard, shaking the thought free from her mind as Alexander looked up past her shoulder towards someone approaching. He finally released her so she could turn in his arms to face her mother.

"That is not true." Sabrina's voice was hesitant but strong. "You are just as much Forged as I was."

"What do you mean, 'was'?" Alexander kept his arms around the front of Lucy so her back pressed flush to his front. "How can you no longer be something you were born as?"

The woman grew smaller if that were even possible. "There were many reasons that spell was rejected by the Forged." She pulled back the long sleeve of her dress to reveal papery, bone-thin arms. Perfectly straight black lines littered the skin of her wrists, at least a dozen scars each.

Alexander stepped backward, pulling Lucy with him, his chest vibrated against her as he hissed, "Blood Magic."

Quickly pulling her sleeves back down, Sabrina nodded her head once, "What magic I had left after the pregnancy went into this spell. Nearly killed me, and was the reason Endon did not bother to when I approached him with news of Lucy's death." A dark hatred filled her gaze. "He knew it was the ultimate punishment to live with not only our daughter's death, but the loss of the magic I chose over him. The one thing he knew could have stopped him."

In the distance, a voice called out to them. Cedric, riding in on a single horse they had unhitched from the carriage so he could seek out a messenger to bring word to the castle that the prince and 'princess' were unharmed and returning home soon.

Alexander released Lucy begrudgingly and stalked towards the manservant. He shot Sabrina a warning look before leaving the two women alone at the edge of the thin wood.

"Luciana," Sabrina whispered forcefully once the prince was well out of earshot. "My story is true. Going back to the palace...it is a dangerous idea."

Lucy scoffed, though a seed of doubt had been planted in her chest, a childish part of her still wanted to wound the woman who had left her behind. "Please, spare me the theatrics. Even if this outlandish tale of yours is true, I remember now. One of my flashbacks that came to me in the tavern...Men had broken into our house or shop. Whatever it was. Men employed by the king. Demanding to know where the prince's Flame was. Me. You selfishly kept me hidden from them and because of it, you made enemies on both sides. Your claim of good intention in pitting Endon against the Dragons was only half true at best. Either of their deaths would have benefited you. You needed them to kill each other to save your own neck," she hissed.

"And to one day reunite with the daughter I had to leave behind—" Sabrina tried to counter, but Lucy only continued.

"But to your disappointment, the dark God fled and I would wager he was smart enough to realize that with the Forged gone and the Dragons dying out, he only has to wait for the last one to draw it's final breath before he can return to Espen and finish what he started. Which is a very long time from now, because I would wager again that dragons live quite a while and I will be cold in the ground before Alexander takes his final breath."