Chapters (64)
- Front Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Pronunciation Guide
- Prologue
- Part One
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Part Two
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Part Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Part Four
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Epilogue
- Excerpt from The Sun and Its Shade
- The Night and Its Moon Playlist
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Back Cover
The ag’drurath reared onto what remained of its hind legs, slamming its front feet into the stadium wall and arching its black neck up to its maximum height, striking for the archers. The dragon shifted its weight onto its back left leg, focusing its vengeance, its pain, its wounds and mistreatment on the men and their weapons. The centurions screamed their cowardice, scrambling from their posts. The crimson queen fell backward as she crawled on her elbows and knees to push herself as far away from the beast as her shaded alcove would allow before her back was against its stone. The ag’drurath struck successfully at one of the armed men, then a second. The first archer had been a strike to wound; the other was to consume. The archer was gobbled while his men in arms ran, terrified by the black serpent. Its attention remained fixed on the fleeing soldiers, leaving just enough time for Gadriel to land the final, mutilating chop at the demon’s leg.
It was enough.
Amaris gasped against their success as the dragon appeared to feel its liberation. The screams of the people amplified as the craven wails of the wicked queen intermingled with the legion of the serpent’s demonic shrieks. It released itself from its prone position against the wall and flapped its wings once, then twice. It began to move away from the chain before its smoky tendons knit together.
“Let’s go!” Gadriel shouted.
She obeyed, following the general as he pulled himself onto the spikes that ran along the ag’drurath’s spine. Gadriel hooked himself around a sharp, bony protrusion that jutted from its back in time with its movements, hoisting himself from the monster’s tail onto its body. He reached an arm for Amaris, and she jumped from the sand, grabbing his forearm while he swung her onto the creature. She scrambled briefly against the slick surface of its body before Gadriel pinned her to the demon, allowing her to find the handhold she needed. The serpent continued to flap its wings, searching for a lift she imagined it hadn’t felt in a long, long time.
She held her breath as she begged the dragon to take its chance.
The dragon sensed its once-chained legs lift from the sand below it and shrieked again, pumping its thunderous black wings while the audience erupted into chaos, screaming and sprinting, pushing from their seats to escape. The panicked fleeing sent several clambering audience members over the coliseum’s edge, caught in the selfishness of the thrown elbows and arms around them as they plummeted fifty feet into the stadium below. The sounds of cracked skulls splattered against the unforgiving, packed sand. The cries of the fallen and the terrors of the onlookers continued to attract the serpent. Wholly distracted by the chaotic bloodbath, it paid no mind to the warriors who clung to its spine.