Diamond in the Rough - Vivienne Savage Page 0,49

the sewer until we found what remained of the dragon hunters’ supply. Of course, very little remained. Fragments of herb. A leaf here and there amidst ashes. But that is all it takes, isn’t it? Do you already feel the tickle in the back of your throat, dragon? Is there a tremble in your chest?”

Xavier didn’t dare to inhale the smoke, though the smell of it was already in his nose, burning down his nostrils and bringing tears to his eyes.

With what power he had left in his lungs, he exhaled a jet of flame and sent it billowing over the pebble-strewn ground. The corpses of guards and deceased demons alike went up in flames. He breathed until he had nothing left in his aching lungs and the gland that supplied his fiery breath was empty.

At the end, the spymaster remained unharmed and the remnants of his magical shield fell around him in glittering fragments.

But the dragon’s bane was gone. Sometimes life and battle were about the small successes, and while he may not have slain his enemy, he’d removed one threat from the battlefield.

Furious, Xavier charged to continue the onslaught with his physical gifts. He fought viciously, snapping with his teeth around an invisible force that barely sparkled with magic. He snapped again, clashed teeth together, and closed it around a shield that held up against his assault.

Their battles were reciprocal for those moments—Xavier fighting to end the warlock’s life, the Moritta and Rosalia fighting to buy him the time to do it.

He had to kill the man if he was to help his friends and allies, and he had to do it soon, before the next wave of demons emerged.

Xavier bore through the magical shield with all of his might. It fractured and splintered under his draconic strength and the power of his claws. The next shove obliterated it, and the momentum carried his talons forward into the man desperately hoping to fend him off.

He took no pleasure in the human blood spilled, but he hoped the spirits of the dark wizard’s victims were at peace.

Before staggering away from his slain foe, Xavier plucked the Rod of New Life from Caius’s twitching fingers. He drew his wings in tight against his body and crossed the final distance toward his objective. The mirror hung suspended within the gate at its apex, the source of the portal’s power.

As a dragon had made the blasted thing, only a dragon’s blood could undo the vile curse. Xavier dipped one claw tip into the blood welling from beneath the fissure in his tough hide, then he flicked the scarlet drop against the mirror’s glistening surface.

An instantaneous reaction quivered against the glass and it warped, shifting within the frame. Although he had spent much of his life studying the mirror and struggling to understand his grandfather’s notes, he’d never thought he would be faced with the opportunity to destroy it once and for all. Instinct told him what to do next, and he drove the Rod of New Life into the center of the portal.

The shockwave that spread from within it was cataclysmic. The ground rocked and quaked, and power reverberated out in every direction, flinging away surviving demons, Moritta warriors, and the few guardsmen clinging to life. Sheer force of will and his draconic constitution kept Xavier on his haunches.

All at once, the mystical doorway lost its insidious gleam and took on a semi-translucent, silver luster. The tranquil gleam spread skyward to create a pillar of light.

And the gateway to another world opened.

18

To the Void

Without Xavier by her side, Rosalia prayed that their last moments together would not be at the mercy of a demon army. She had to trust that he would succeed, just as he trusted she would do the same.

Her goal was very clear. Lacherra could not be allowed to escape. She had to pay for all the misery she had caused.

Finding her in the chaos wasn’t easy, but an intuitive tug had Rosalia ducking through a crumbling archway, narrowly avoiding a demon with claws as long as her arm. As she stepped through to the other side, Lacherra came into view, battling a Moritta warrior. He had the bulk Lacherra lacked, but the assassin was faster. She gutted him in one swift motion then turned to flee.

The callousness set something in Rosalia ablaze, and the vast distance between them evaporated in a single step, bringing her against Lacherra in a tackle. The two women collided quite abruptly and hit