Chapter 83: Eighty Five

Elora’s POV I woke to being shaken, cold wet hands gripped my shoulder before I feel myself being pulled upright into a sitting position, my eyes felt like sandpaper as I forced them open to see my surroundings. Aldrin was holding me up, he was drenched in blood, as his pale face watched me worriedly.

“Elora you need to stay awake” He whispers. I felt like I had been hit by a truck, as I looked around. I gasp when I see we were both sitting on a huge rock within a cave, completely surrounded by hundreds of Dragons, or half dragons. All screeching, some rambling in foreign tongue.

“Don’t move to fast” Aldrin whispers, not like I could anyway, everything was aching, my head was pounding. The cave was huge, the ceiling so high before it opened at a point and I could just make out the night sky, a huge fire was burning in the middle and I realise we were at the back of the cave, furthest from the caves opening. Flaming torches were thrown on the rocky surface at random lighting the cave.

I notice the man from atop the dragon, his muscular frame moving between the Dragons in their weird forms. Another man was with him also holding some bucket dripping of red liquid and I gasp when I realise it was Aldrin’s blood. I noticed a few men standing around to the side of us rambling, they were in human form but by the way they were moving and chattering they weren’t of sound mind but were clearly human again.

Both men look up, a huge smile splitting onto his face, “Malika she has awoken” He says looking at the other man. He had a huge scar that went from his eye all the way down his neck, his face contorting as he smiled and licked his lips.

They both turn toward us about to head over, I feel Aldrin tense beside me before their attention was diverted when a Pack of werewolves walk into the caves opening, growling, teeth bared. The black one walking ahead of them all, shifts into a man with shoulder length hair, his eyes pitch black as he stepped over the dragons. One of them tried to bite him but he swiftly kicked it in the head stepping over it as he made his way to the centre.

“We did what you asked Jed, hand over our mates and we will be on our way” The man says.

I watch as the rest of the wolves shift into human form, their eyes looking around the huge cage.

“Settle down Madok you will get your mates, but she stays. I can’t have her running back to the castle and telling them where we are”

I gasp when she steps forward, completely horrified. Is she the reason they were able to get into the castle all this time?

“The kings know where you are, they always have known you hide in these caves,” Taylor tells him, her eyes dart to me and I see her swallow before giving her attention back to Jed.

“Very well, bring them out” Jed yells. I hear shuffling off to the side for notice a crack in the cave wall that must have been used as a makeshift prison. Woman rushing out of it, completely naked as they run towards their mates.

“I’m sorry Elora, I had no other choice” Taylor calls to me. I only met her a couple times she was Dragus friend and escorted me to Abbie’s a few times, so I was shocked to see that she was behind this.

“Don’t talk to her” Jed snaps and she turns her glare back to him.

“Our Alpha will come for her, not even the fates will save you when he does” She spits at him while the wolves rush their mates out of the cave.

“Is that so and who is this mysterious Alpha if you don’t answer to Madok then little wolf”

“King Dragus of Draquin, you fool, you just took his Queen” She says before turning on her heel and walking out of the cave.

“Well, that was certainly entertaining now wasn’t it children?” Jed says turning back to us and walking up the rocks toward us.

“Well seems I now have a deadline, looks like I have no time to waste” He says reaching for me. I smack his hand away and Aldrin also struggles when he puts a blade to my throat.

“Don’t fight me, it will just make your death faster” he says. Aldrin freezes as the cold steel of the blade presses tightly against my throat.

“Now get up, Fae boys blood works but is a lot slower, and now that I have a time limit, I need to speed things up a bit”

He grips my arm hauling me to my feet. Aldrin tries to get up, but I shake my head, he doesn’t need to get himself killed for me. He already looked weak enough with the slices down his arms.

The man grabs my arm before pressing the blade to the inside of my elbow and running it down to my wrist. My blood pouring out and down my arm while he caught it in his bowl. I see the other man Malika approach when he suddenly bites his wrist, and grips my hair forcing his blood down my throat, healing the wounds before he tosses me on the ground back toward Aldrin. I watch as they walk around giving the Dragons my blood, they were right, Aldrin’s blood take a longer to work some still not having changed back, where as mine works almost instantly.

‘They have been draining me for hours, my magic is weak now, not working as quickly”

“I can’t even feel mine” I whisper back to him and his eyes dart to my stomach.

“You need blood lots of it, or you need daylight, we are creature of the light” He say looking to the ceiling above where the roof opened up. Dragons shifting before our eyes, Pluto was right, a lot weren’t mentally stable, some even trying to attack Jed and Malika even after they were changed back.

Malika chaining them to the rock walls, and I noticed a few of the mutated dragons were also chained down. Aldrin noticing my stare as I looked at the half man half dragon beside us.

“Don’t move to close to that one, he nearly ripped off my arm” He says, and I nod.

“Pluto told me some of them weren’t of sound mind”

“Yeah, those ones over there” He nods to his side where there were a group of them huddle together rambling nonsense.

“They have been like that since they changed back, talking about the curse needs to be broken and wrongs righted, or they will change back or some shit” Aldrin says shaking his head.

“Did you say Pluto?” I hear a soft voice come from behind me, I jump when I see the naked man, he was skinny and frail, and covered in dirt.

“Please miss, my brother Pluto do you know him” His gravelly voice asks.

“He is my friend” I tell him, and he nods before darting off and I see Jed walking back up towards me, he rips me to my feet repeating the process. I cry out when he presses the blade deeper this time, my blood running out faster filling the two bowls. I feel on the verge of passing out when I am force fed Malika’s blood again. Aldrin grabbing me and pulling me against him as I sway.

“We just need to hang on my Queen, your kings will come for us” He whispers as I pass out again.

I woke in a castle, in our castle, I knew I was dreaming stuck in a state of between what was going on in the real world and this one that my mind had conjured up. I look around and I can see a man and a woman arguing, the woman was beautiful with hair so long it reached the back of her knees, as she fought with a man that had a striking resemblance to Silas.

Looking around the room, everything was different, the furniture was outdated but I had no doubt this was our bedroom, sitting up I watch the man and woman fight, their voices slowly coming into focus.

“I warned you this was a bad idea, I warned you and you still did it anyway. I can’t believe you Darshan, why couldn’t you listen for once in your life?”

“They were planning to go to war with us, I never expected this to happen, you can’t blame me, I had to take action.” The man snaps at her tossing his crown on the bed.

“You didn’t just kill her, you wiped out the entire bloodline, you have doomed us all, you need to fix it, beg the Fates for forgiveness. Blaire will retaliate and when she does it will destroy him, it will fucking destroy everything we have built” She screams at him.

“You dare to talk to me like that, talk to your king this way, I did what I had to do, for this kingdom, for us”

“ I am not talking down to you, you are my husband, not my king, No, you did this, you did it because you were scared, I knew that Helcate was up to no good the moment he walked in here”

“It’s done it cannot be undone, I can’t bring the woman back from the dead, Laine. It will work out, we stopped a war, this is a good thing, why can’t you see that?”

“Because she fucking cursed us, you think you ended a war Darshan , you didn’t you just started a new one” She screams at him.

“The curse won’t withstand my love, she is dead, all curses die out when the one that bestowed it dies you know this”

“You fool, Blaire won’t stand for this, the Oracle won’t stand for this, forty years we have lived in peace with them, forty years and you ruined everything. Silas wont’ forgive you for this, you took his only chance at happiness, Blaire will reject him for sure now and then what happens? when their a no heirs to take over, the kingdom will fall”

“He can take another woman, he will understand in time my love”

“No, we can only procreate with our mates” She argues.

“And he has two already, surely one of them would be able to knock up some whore”

She slaps him, the sound echoed of the wall and I held my breath.

His chest rises and falls heavily as he growls at her.

“You dare speak of a woman in such a way, I won’t stand for it. You cursed us, doomed us all” She spits at him turning away and walking toward the window and looking out. The man stood there watching his wife, a troubled expression on his face.

“The Oracle said all we need to do is rewrite the wrongs of the past, I will speak to Blaire’s father, tell him what happened, admit my guilt, it will work out my love”

“How can you say that? the Oracle warned you, I warned you and now she has left us. Our son will hate you for this, he will hate you for taking her from him, for forcing her hand”

“She will accept the mating; she has to, it’s in the treaty” He says pinching the bridge of his nose. The woman laughs and his head snaps up to look at her.

“You old fool, you broke the treaty the moment you killed her, now Blaire will make us pay, make us pay for killing her, no one meant more Blaire then that woman and you know it Darshan, she loved her long before she married that Helcate idiot, they have always loved each other, Silas was willing to share her with them, they have been sorting things for weeks and you do this, do this a week before they are supposed to wed”

“She won’t go back on her word; won’t go back on the treaty” He argues.

“Yeah, and what about the witches, you think the treaty can’t be broken, you forget the Oracle created it, she can also break it, the Oracle hates us for what you did, we all know when she picks sides who’s side, she will be on, all because you were to blinded to see”

I watch the woman sit on a chair, her head in her hands as she sobbed, he walks over placing his hand on her shoulder.

“I can’t lose you” She cries, “You won’t?”

“But blood must be spilled, yours must be spilled to right the wrongs or the curse on the Dragons won’t break, it’s already happening, they are changing, growing weaker” She whispers looking up at him tears streaking her beautiful face as her snake like eyes stared back at him.

“We will find another way, I will ask King Aziza for his help”

“And if he says no, if Blaire says no?” He pauses, looking out the window.

“Then I will pay for my sins” He says, and she starts sobbing again.

“Silas must never know, he won’t find out my love everything will work out, you’ll see, Blaire will accept the bond, she will accept him”

The dream fizzles and warps light shining behind my eyelids, beaming down on me brightly from the hole in the roof. Aldrin’s pale face leaning over me causing a shadow to fall over me.

“You okay, you were muttering in you sleep”

“I think I know how to break the curse” I whisper.

“The curse is broken” Aldrin says looking at me before helping me sit up. I see naked men everywhere, men all pulling on cloth trying to cover their naked bodies.

“They have been taking blood from us all night” Aldrin says, and I look at his arms multiple scars littered his skin the same with mine.

I shake my head “They will change back” I whisper, and he looks at me confused.

“Elora are you okay?”

“No listen Aldrin, they showed me, the fates showed me, the curse isn’t broken, only the curse on the Fae, and the fertility one, the dragons though their curse was different, it was never our sacrifice to make, our blood won’t keep them here forever they will change back if they don’t have their mates”

“Elora your not making sense, look they are fine and Dakari is fine he been like it for weeks now” Aldrin says pointing to the hundreds of men.

“Yes, but he found a mate, to ground him, he has Abbie” Aldrin shakes his head not understanding, I barely understood it myself, but I knew after what I saw that the curse wasn’t broken, the balance needs to be restored for the Dragons to remain, a life for a life. Blood for blood. I just hoped Silas would forgive me, if he is even here.

“I need to find him” I tell Aldrin.

“Find who?”

“King Darshan Silas’s father”

Author Note Let me know what you think of this chapter. This are getting interesting.