Fire Breather

89.

   I dropped the wall, and the air was snatched from my lungs, my hand grasping Rhia's wrist. The wardstone laid in two pieces on the ground, and there wasn't a flame in sight.

"Navarre is defenseless," I whispered dreadfully, not even acknowledging the pounding footsteps behind us.

Jack stumbled backward, a dazed but elated look twisting his face as he wrenched a dagger from his shoulder and dropped it to the floor.

"What the..." Garrick trailed off, stopping at my side with his eyes wide.

"He killed his dragon," Rhia said as if she couldn't believe it.

"Then the fucker only has minutes," Ridoc muttered, a healed hand braced against the wall as he stood on the other side of Garrick. "We should've let Blade kill him the day she wanted to."

"Yeah," I agreed, taking my longsword from Rhia. "You guys should've."

Jack fell to his knees and laughed up at the sky fifty feet above us while Mira moved silently around Baide's corpse, and Xaden sent her a subtle shake of his head when she lifted her sword. She kept it poised for attack but didn't continue.

"You know you're about to join your dragon, don't you, dickhead?" I seethed; my voice low.

"That's the thing," Barlowe said, his blond hair covering his forehead as he fell forward onto a hand. "I'm not. They have us thinking we're the inferior species, but did you see how easily I controlled her? How easily the energy she bonded us with is replaced?" His eyes slid shut as his fingers played on the stone.

"Holy shit," Rhia blurted, shaking her head once. "He's turned venin."

All four of us stiffened, sharing a long, fear-full look. Barlowe could easily kill us all in here within minutes.

"Jack! Don't do this!" Nolon stormed past us, his features slackening when he took in the destruction around him. "You...you're better than this! You can choose!"

"There is no choice!" Jack shouted. "And if there was, I made mine the second I saw her"—he shot a glare Violet's way—"bond the most powerful dragon available at Threshing. Why should they determine our potential when we're capable of reaching for fate all on our own?"

"Magic requires balance," Nolon argued as Tairn's silhouette blocked out the stars far above us. "It does not give without a price!"

"Does it?" Jack inhaled, and the stones around him turned from a dark, slate gray to a dusky beige. "Do you understand how much power is beneath your feet?"

One block paled, then another, and another.

I faced my palm downward toward the ground, power rushing through my veins as I lifted the four of us an inch off the ground, surprising Rhia and Ridoc while Garrick wrapped an arm around my waist, keeping me standing. I focused on all my power under us, then started to expand it toward the general, lifting her up.

When my arms started to shake from the power that slowly made its way toward the others, Xaden locked his gaze with mine, noticing my strain.

Then his shadows shot forward, knocking Jack backward and throwing him across the floor before lifting him from the ground, pinning him in midair. "When did you turn?" Xaden asked.

I closed my fist, feeling my power skitter away from us, dropping our feet back against the ground while I sucked in a sharp breath, trying to ignore the way my head throbbed.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Jack fought the binding, but my brother closed his fist and the shadows snapped even tighter.

"I know you're going to tell me." Xaden walked forward. "Because I have nothing to lose by killing you. So tell me when. Earn yourself a little good will."