Magic Kingdom (Dragon Born Alexandria Book 3) (14 page)

“I’ve only had time to read through some of the book,” Alex told her. “It is massively long. And complicated.”

Kai glanced down at the book in Sera’s hands. “It looks familiar. Sera, that’s the book I told you about, the one stolen from my parents’ collection.” He looked up, his eyes hardening as his gaze met Logan’s. “You stole it.”

“Of course,” Logan said with a smile.

The temperature in the room plummeted. Kai was channeling the Arctic.

“I don’t appreciate people stealing from my family.”

Logan’s face was a mask. “Oh, that’s right. I heard you’ve been having some problems with break-ins lately.”

Kai clenched his teeth.

“Honey, you shouldn’t poke the dragon,” Alex told Logan. “It’s reckless.”

He snorted. “Reckless. Oh, like you, you mean? Did I steal your thunder?”

“Maybe just a little.”

Logan pressed his forehead to hers, his familiar scent of warm orange spice and leather flooding her senses. “Though, you know—” His lips brushed softly against hers. “I have a dragon on my side.”

“True.” She smiled against his lips. “But Kai has a dragon on his side too.”

Sera smirked at Kai. “Play nice.”

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Not yet. But I could see that look in your eyes.”

Kai’s face was doing a pretty good imitation of pure innocence. Only the fact that he was a mage who could shift into a multi-ton dragon spoiled the look. “What look?”

“The look you get whenever you’re considering shifting so you can step on your problems,” Sera told him.

He chose silence over innocence this time.

“Kai, I’m not going to let you step on my sister’s boyfriend,” Sera said.

He leaned back, expelling a resigned sigh that smelled like burning wood.

They spent the next few hours reading. Sera looked through the Dragon Born book, while Alex flipped through a few volumes in search of a supernatural who could cast green fire. She’d never heard of anyone who could do anything like that. Neither had any of the books she’d pulled off the shelves. Finally, she couldn’t even keep her eyes open—and not just because research was dead boring.

“I think I’ll head off to bed now,” Alex declared, standing.

“I’ve had some more books sent over here,” Kai said. “They should arrive tomorrow.”

“Thanks.” Alex yawned. “The south wing of the house is free. You can sleep there.” She yawned again.

“Great,” Sera said. “Now go to bed before you drop, Sleepyhead. We’re going to stay up a bit longer. We’ll be leaving early in the morning to go to the summit, so we might not see you until late tomorrow. Good luck catching your thief.”

“Good luck at your summit.”

Alex waved, then headed for the west wing. A staircase—long, dark, and really Gothic—loomed before her, daring her to conquer it. Alex glared at it, then turned to Logan.

“We need to find a house without stairs,” she told him.

“I could carry you.”

“Nah, I don’t think my pride would survive the ascent.”

She set her foot on the first step. Fifty-four steps later, they were at the top. Alex pushed open the door to their chamber, threw off her boots, and quickly tossed aside her clothing before dropping onto the bed.

“I didn’t find anything about this mystery supernatural in the books. For all we know, we’re looking for a god. Research is dumb,” she complained to Logan as he slid onto the bed beside her.

“There’s always tomorrow.” His hands began to knead deep circles into her neck, loosening the substantial knot that had persisted since their run in with the giant bees.

“Yes, I know.” She sighed. “There’s always another tomorrow. Another battle.” It would never end. “That tropical getaway is sounding better and better. Or an arctic one if you’re not fond of monsters.”

“I can endure a few monsters if it means I get to be with you.”

“A few?” She laughed. “You actually think it would ever only be a few?”

“Ok, a lot then.”

She snuggled up closer to him. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For being you,” she said, closing her eyes.

* * *

Thick fog surrounded Alex like an unwanted blanket she just couldn’t kick from her body. Someone was chasing her—someone hidden beneath a black cloak, someone who dripped magic with every step. Ancient and dark beyond belief, that magic shook like an earthquake, its tremors ripping through Alex’s defenses. It burned her lungs and scraped her soul dry before spitting it back out again.

She could see light beyond the fog. Fear collided with adrenaline, pushing her faster. She burst through the veil of heavy mist, reaching desperately for the sun. Except it wasn’t the sun. It was fire. And she was in hell.

The fog melted away, dumping her into the ruins of a fallen city. Hot, angry flames licked the broken walls and piles of debris. Monsters snapped and snarled, their eyes gleaming red. A lone howl echoed through the shell of a city. A moment later, a dozen voices sang out in response. A pack of wolves jumped through the front window of a building that had lost all of its floors, save one. Like every other painful note, the city swallowed the sound of shattering glass, folding it into its constant, never-ending song of misery.

The streets were a war zone. And the humans were losing. Vampires bounded from building to building like streaks of light. They plucked humans from their hiding spots, depositing them into the middle of the street. Mages shot magic and debris at the growing cluster of people. A few of the humans tried to flee, but fairies dressed in black leather knocked them down with Fairy Dust and arrows. Ghosts swarmed over the city in dizzying, glowing loops, their eerie song raising goosebumps across Alex’s skin.

A band of humans flew down on ropes, hurling magical explosives at the supernaturals. They carried magic swords, shields, and other artifacts. Behind the supernatural force, assassins stalked the shadows, ready to draw blood. A pack of hellish monsters stampeded through the brawl, trailing blood and death down the street.

The fighters looked more dead than alive. Their clothes were a mismatch of modern and past eras, but their unrelenting thirst for survival was as old as time itself. Blood and magic and death. There was little else left here, wherever here was. It felt like hell.

Alex never stopped running, passing one horrific scene after another. She could feel the dark and terrible hunter closing in. He—no, she—was too fast. The hunter remained cloaked, but Alex knew she was a woman. Somehow, she knew.

A blast of magic knocked Alex off her feet. She hit the ground hard, her body groaning in protest. But there was no time to count her injuries now. She hopped back up and faced her attacker.

She was too slow.

A storm of spells hit her body, each one pounding a fresh dose of pain into her flesh. The hunter’s magic was both dark and scary—and yet also very beautiful. The spells were strung together like a song, flowing from her like they were a natural extension of her body. Heaving in air thick with the scent of lilacs and sulfur, Alex tried to push up from the ground again. She failed. Black leather boots stopped in front of her. Alex squinted up into the face of her hunter.

She saw herself.

“How…” Alex croaked out, standing.

The hunter with her face hit her with magic. Alex fell, her life energy fading out. She was dying.

From the eyes of her enemy, she watched herself hit the ground dead. Then she brushed her cloak over her shoulders and pivoted around to glare at the band of humans. Those misfits. Those animals. They were nothing but trouble. Her army had done little to quell their rebellion. Fools. Never send a child to do a dragon’s job.

She drew on her pool of magic. As quick as her command, it sizzled to the surface. Its hot sweetness flooded her. The buzz was positively intoxicating. She could bathe in it all day. But not now. Right now, she had to deal with that wretched human rebellion. They were ruining everything.

“Goodbye,” she laughed.

Dragon fire shot out of her, the delicious burn of her release rippling across her skin in fiery pleasure. The purple flames swallowed the humans whole, turning them to ashes. One of them tried to run, but the fire got him too.

With the humans gone, she turned to the supernaturals. They were no better. And so their fate would also be no better. Alex unleashed her dragon fire a second time. The supernaturals tried to run. Some of them even managed to stall fate—if only for a few seconds—but in the end, the purple flames consumed them. No one could run from her, the greatest mage in the world.

At the far end of the crumbled, cobbled street, past the piles of ashes, a man stood in shadow against the fiery backdrop of the burning city. Drawing her sword, Alex ran at him. Beasts and people jumped out at her along the way, but she cut right through them with brutal efficiency. In times of war, there was no room for mercy.

She reached her target. He stepped forward.

“Alex.” His voice was like dark whipped chocolate.

“Logan,” she said, slamming into him.

She kissed him with a savage passion, as though every kiss, every caress, would be their last. She just wanted to stay there with him forever. The world could go to hell for all she cared. In fact, it already had.

“We’re being surrounded, darling,” he said.

Alex didn’t stop kissing him. “Let them come.”

“And then we will kill them together.” His whispered words caressed her lips.

“Exactly.”

Alex turned, striking out with her sword as she spun to face the human who’d snuck up behind her.

“You’re interrupting,” she told the man, slashing across his stomach. “You should have known better.” She stabbed him through, then tore her blade from his bleeding chest. She glared at his five human companions. “Run now, and I promise to give you a head start.”

“We aren’t running,” spat the woman in front. She lifted a knife. “We will fight you, Black Plague.”

Alex glanced at Logan. “Why is the world full of fools?”

He leaned in and kissed her with wicked slowness. “It’s about to be short five fools.”

She smiled against his lips. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

He launched two knives past her. As she pivoted around, her sword singing, Logan’s knives met their targets. Her sword met hers too. The rebels fell to the ground. It wasn’t even a fight. They should have known they never had a chance. One of them was twitching like a bug flipped onto its back. Alex walked up to him.

“Abomination,” he spat, glaring up at her. Hatred burned in his eyes.

“Yes, I really am,” she laughed, stabbing him through the heart. “And you should have known better than to attack an abomination.”

Alex wove through the dead bodies, returning to Logan. She draped her arms over his shoulders.

“You are an amazing woman,” he told her, stroking his hand down her cheek.

“And don’t you forget it,” she replied with a smile.

Rocks scraped and shifted from a nearby building. Growling, she peeled her hands from Logan and turned to face the next band of rebels. Dressed in rags and smeared with soot, they were a mix of supernaturals and humans, the earth’s sworn enemies working together.

“Really? You want to fight me?” Laughter burst from Alex’s lips. “Didn’t you see what I did to the last fools who challenged me?”

“We saw,” said a female mage with a tattered green bandana tied around her forehead. “And we know what you’ve done to all the countless others since you laid waste to our world. It’s time for your reign of terror to end.”

“And you will end it?
You
? Don’t you know who I am?” Alex demanded.

“Yes,” the woman said. “You are Dragon Born. A monster. And we will stop you.”

“You cannot win,” Alex told them. “You know that, right?”

“No,” the mage said. “
You
cannot win.”

A storm of elemental and telekinetic magic burst from the mages, joining together into a solid stream of spells that slammed into the building behind Alex and Logan. An avalanche of concrete and stone poured down, burying them.

Alex jumped up, her second death jolting her awake from the nightmare.

“Your dreams are getting worse,” Logan said.

She blinked, trying to focus. It was so much darker here than in hell.

“Yes.”

She could see him now. He was on his side, leaning against his arm. He’d obviously been watching her for a while. He didn’t speak again. Maybe he didn’t know what to say. What could you possibly say to someone who was clearly losing her mind?

“They’re worse than the bloodlust dreams I used to have before we mated,” she told him. “But these dreams—they’re not like the ones from before. They feel like memories. But nothing I saw has happened. Maybe they are visions of the future.”

“What did you see?”

“I saw myself killing…myself. Then Evil Alex killed tons of people, both humans and supernaturals. She was a monster.
I
was a monster.”

“That person was not you.”

“But what if that’s who I’m becoming?”

“I know you, Alex. Sera knows you. And we know you are not a monster.”

Logan extended his arm to her. Sighing, she lay back down, resting her head against his chest. He wrapped his arm around her, hugging her to him.

“Whatever this is, we’ll figure it out,” he told her, his fingers stroking through her hair. “Together.”

Alex only hoped they’d be able to do that before her nightmare became reality.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Ornaments of the Dead

ALEX OPENED HER eyes. It was late in the morning, not far from noon. Curtains blocked out most of the day, but she could feel the warm, fresh air wafting through the open windows. Logan was beside her, his eyes locked on her like she’d explode at any second.

“Good morning,” he said.

“How often do you watch me sleep?”

“Sometimes. I like watching you sleep. You’re beautiful, so serenely lovely when you’re not trying so hard to be a badass,” he teased, his fingertips kissing her skin as he tucked a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

“Except when the nightmares hit.”

Worry wilted his smile. “Did you have any more of them?”