Fire Breather

93.

THERE was no chance for the venin when Andarna landed directly in front of me, then opened her mouth and breathed fire down upon him, roasting the dark wielder before she snapped her jaws down and ripped his head straight off his body.

I scrambled to my feet, stumbling away from her and whipping my head to where Liam was moments ago. But he was gone.

It couldn't have been real.

Was it all a hallucination?

"No," I croaked, dropping to my knees, feeling my blood and tears rush down my face from my eyes. "No, no, no! Don't leave me!" I screamed, not caring anymore if I looked insane.

I was going insane.

"Blaine?" Violet dropped to her knees in front of me with Cat, her hands rushing to my face with the color gone from her own. "What was that?"

"How aren't you burned out?" Cat asked straight after her, gaping at me.

But I couldn't stop crying, my whole body trembling with grief. "They're gone," I cried, bracing my hands before me to stop myself from collapsing against the ground. "Axel...he...Oh, gods!"

"I'm so, so sorry, Blaine," Violet whispered, pulling me into her arms.

A dragon landed to the right, sending slush flying over us and then another dragon—then two more.

"Blizzy!"

"Sweetheart!"

I barely lifted my head up before I was pulled into stronger arms, the person's chest damp with no doubt blood. "I saw what happened," my brother said, his voice cracking as I fell apart in his arms. "I'm sorry I didn't reach you sooner."

"He's gone, Xade," I barely got the words out, grabbing the front of his flight jacket. "Axel's dead because of me, just like Liam. I killed both my adopted brothers. I killed them. I. Killed. Them."

"No, you didn't," he sharply countered, shaking his head while his heart raced against my ear. "Their deaths are not your fault and never will be."

But they were my fault.

Liam gave up his life so I could live.

Axel died trying to save me.

"Mom doesn't even know," I whispered, squeezing my eyes shut. "She lost her boy. She lost her son."

Xaden stiffened, only holding me tighter before exhaling deeply. "If I could, I would end this war right now and fly you straight to her...but the war is still raging, Blizzy. We're still needed and I'm so sorry for having to say that—"

He went silent when I let out a guttural scream, anger, and grief laced through it, powering around us and making every dragon's head shake in the hearing distance before my lungs gave out and there was nothing left.

"I want every head of every venin from the battlefield," I said, pushing away from him to see Garrick at his back, holding my three braids in his hands, eyes pinned on me and full of tears. I completely forgot I had to cut my hair, cutting away another thing that kept me linked with my past. "I want every fucking head of every wyvern."

"Then you'll have every venin head," Garrick promised me, squaring his shoulders.

"And you'll have every head of the wyverns we kill," Violet agreed, standing up.

Cat nodded, unsheathing a short sword. "I'll make it my personal mission."

"Melgren orders us to the Vale," Nim stated, a snarl to her tone with her eyes narrowed on the dead venin near us.