That was when it all went to hell. One minute, Lucas had the entire situation under control. He’d shown enough interest in the dragoness that he was all but certain he was going to be able to let her down nice and easy, and the next, Adin blundered onto the balcony.

  “Ahhhh, ssso thisss isss where yove been hidin…” he slurred, obviously drunk.

  “Hiding, no?” Lucas ughed. “Drinking in moderation, absolutely. You should try it. Chicks dig a man that knows how to hold his liquor.”

  The dragoness took his lead and ughed politely as she looked at the other man with derision. She seemed happy to dismiss the wretch as the two of them walked past Adin, at least until he blurted out, “Yeahhh… well, they don’t ssseem to have any problemsss with pricksss that cheat on their fiancccé’sss”

  It was that final word that made her stop and turn. “Fiancé?” she asked Lucas. “What’s this man talking about?”

  “How the hell should I know,” Lucas said, going with denial since it seemed safest. “He’s drunk as a skunk and probably high on something to boot.”

  “Oh, I wisssh I wasss high, Missster Blue,” Adin said, whirling on them. “Maybe then I wouldn’t care that you were cheating on my sssissster…”

  When Skyra turned her head and moved back toward Adin, Lucas started to shake his head, but Adin ignored him. “You sister?” she asked. Walking up to the half-skeletal noble. “And exactly who has my dear Mister Blue been two-timing me with. Give me a name.”

  “My dy, truly, there’s no one but you in my heart,” Lucas said, grabbing her by the shoulder and trying to defuse this situation. “The night is still young. Let's leave this wretch and—”

  In a motion that was deceptively strong, Skyra brushed aside his grip and then knocked him back against the wall half a dozen feet behind him with a single, dismissive motion. That knocked the wind out of him, but even as he got to his feet, Adin was already spilling his guts to the woman. Lucas knew it was already too te.

  “You sister? Is it?” Skyra asked. “Tell me. Is she pretty? Is she prettier than me?” Her tone dripped venom, but Adin seemed completely unaware of either the danger he was in or the danger he was putting his sister in, as all of this was spinning out of control.

  “Danria? Ssshe’sss much prettier than and old—” That was all Adin got a chance to say before she picked him up by his colr and tossed him off the balcony before whirling on Lucas.

  Lucas was pretty sure that the man would hit the moat instead of the ground as he once had long before, but he didn’t care. He rather hoped that Adin died after what he’d just done. “Is this true, Lucas?” she asked. “Are you two-timing me with a younger woman?”

  “I’m not,” he said in his most sincere voice. “I’m truly not. Adin Danria, they’re just part of my cover. I—”

  As he tried to expin, she picked him up by the throat and smmed him hard against the wall of the castle for the second time in as many minutes. “We’ll see what the Prince has to say about this,” she said coldly as anger fshed in her eyes. “If you’re lying to me… If there’s another woman, well… I can be very possessive of my favorites, Mister Blue.”

  Lucas gasped and tried to respond, but she was stronger than any man he’d ever fought with. She was probably stronger than full-blooded orcs or even minotaurs. So, he wasn’t able to speak or breathe until she dropped him and continued into the party without him.

  A few other nobles had come out at the sounds of the competition, but they had no idea what to make of the scene they saw. Instead of trying to expin anything or save face, Lucas simply caught his breath, popped his healing potion, and then started walking as calmly as he could toward the exit. Right now, the most important thing was to get out of here and get home.

  While he couldn’t rule out that the dragoness would do something rash, he could hope that her desire to maintain decorum and secrecy about who she really was would slow her down enough that he wouldn’t have to hope that everything worked itself out.

  As soon as he reached the courtyard, he approached his carriage and shouted to Mort, “I gotta take this horse, man,” as he started to undo the harness.

  “What? Why?” the younger man asked. “Do you want me to get the guys together and—”

  “There’s no time,” Lucas said as he pulled the horse free and then mounted it. “Adin might be dead too. That's something else I need you to figure out.” His valet had grown into a much more confident man than he was a year ago, but right now, Lucas really had nothing for him, and when he opened his mouth again, Lucas just shouted, “Sorry about this!” before kicking his mount into gear.

  Lucas stayed only slow enough not to freak the guards out as he approached them at a canter. When one of them gestured for him to stop, he said, “It’s cool, guys, I’m just all partied out, and it's time to bail.” Before any of them could question that, he flipped a golden dragon toward the lead man and rode right past them. Money couldn’t buy happiness, but it could buy guards, and none of these guys were worth half what he’d just paid.

  He didn’t have time to dick around, though. This wasn’t a world where he could just call someone and let them know they needed to get out of the house. Cell phones hadn’t been invented yet. All he could do was send a messenger, and in this case, there was no time, so that messenger was going to have to be him.

  He had no idea what it was Skyra and the Prince were discussing. By now, she’d certainly forced her way into his inner circle. He’d almost certainly want to discuss this in private. That would buy him a few minutes, but would it buy him enough time to get to ride twenty or thirty minutes? He didn’t know, and Paron Manor was at least twenty minutes away at a ft-out gallop.

  He couldn’t do that in the city, though, not with the cross traffic and the gates. If a guard saw him running, they would certainly assume that he was up to no good and give chase. Just like hunting dogs, that's the way they were wired.

  So, he traveled in bursts, and as quickly as he was able, he wound his way toward the east gate. When he reached it, he let his fine clothes do the talking for him. That worked for a moment, but when someone asked what happened to his saddle, he threw silver at the problem. It was only after that that he could finally let loose and see just how fast this horse could go.

  Lucas was not a talented rider. It was a skill that he’d developed some, but in this case, desperation counted more than talent, and he hung on to the sweating mare’s ribs with his knees and her mane with his hand as he urged her to go ever faster.

  The miles flew by in those moments, but with every few seconds that passed, he allowed himself to believe just a little more that he might have freaked out over nothing. Maybe she’s not as crazy as I thought she was, Lucas’ mind whispered as he started to calm down.

  Even in that crity, he still didn’t slow down. He wouldn’t until he reached his destination and took Danaria somewhere safe.

  Then, the moment he’d been dreading for the entire ride finally happened. One second, he was galloping ft out through Meadowin, and the next, he heard the sound of terrible wing beats, and they were gaining. Just as he cleared the vilge, she flew low, less than fifty feet above him, easily outdistancing him.

  If he was going twenty miles an hour, she was going sixty or eighty, and she bsted right past him like he was standing still, leaving only a gritty wind in her wake. “No!” Lucas screamed as loudly as he could. “Take me! Not her!”

  Skyra didn’t respond. Instead, she flew like an arrow toward where Danaria y safely in bed, and there was nothing he could do to alter that. When she reached the Parin estate, she circled once above it, as if making sure it was the correct spot. Then she unleashed hell.

  The fmes nced out from the sky in a bolt of orange death that expanded as they traveled, and in an instant, the silhouette of Parin Manor was almost completely obscured by fmes. One second, it had stood out from the night as a peaked roof shadow, and the next, it was like it had been hit by a bomb.

  “No!” Lucas yelled, spurring his exhausted mount even harder as he rode toward the pce. “”

  That wasn’t enough for Skyra, though, apparently, because as she circled the manor like a fiery behemoth and hit it with gouts of fme a second and a third time. Each torrent of fire wasn’t just an inferno; there was a shockwave as well. It was like she was dropping bombs, and the building, well-built as it was crumbled beneath her force.

  Each time she breathed, the heat that radiated was enough that he could feel it wash briefly over him. Considering how far away he was, that was shocking. He continued to scream at the sky, but she ignored him if she even heard him at all. It was only then, when the pce was in ruins, that she roared once more and flew off, leaving Lucas and the wreckage of his life behind as he raced toward the ashes in a desperate search for survivors.

  Lucas arrived on the gravel drive less than a minute after Skyra left, but even so, he was far too te. I should have been faster, his mind screamed as he charged past the dazed guards that had been patrolling the fence line.

  No, I should have killed Adin long before now. A darker part of his mind whispered. I was soft, and that makes this my fault.

  In that moment, as the fmes leaped and the building continued to colpse, he hated himself almost as much as he hated that terrible woman. He should have given her an OD when he had the chance. He should have done the same to Adin. Rather than telling his guys to ease up after what had happened at the Fallen Orchid, he should have crushed everyone who could have hurt him, and now he was paying the price for that mercy.

  They were the only ones who seemed to be moving, but for now, Lucas ignored them. Where there were one or two survivors, there might be more. Still, when he passed the fountain and got within thirty feet of the building, his horse reared up and refused to go further. Lucas tried as well, but it was just too hot. He took off his jacket and dunked it in the water as he tried to remember if he had any potions of fire resistance in the cider house.

  “There’s no time for that!” Lucas scolded himself as he put the soaking jacket over his head and prepared to charge into the building.

  That was when he saw the shape of someone coming out of the fiery doorway. It took a moment for him to realize that the hulking figure was a badly burned Hura’gh. From here, Lucas could only make out that it was a small figure. He wasn’t sure if it was a woman or a dwarf, but whoever it was he’d been trying to carry out was most assuredly dead already, and he held his breath as he felt a terrible certainty assault him.

  Suddenly, he didn't want to know who was dead, and he charged off to the cider house to fetch whatever medicine he had lying around. The dead could wait until the fires were out. For now, he had to focus on the living.

  SpoilerAuthor's note: Before anyone threatens to drop the story, I would note that the next chapter is the st chapter of book 2, not this one. Apologies for the cliffhanger.

  [colpse]