Dragon 4 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

I tore off the last of the pig. The others had refused to eat any, wanting me to restore as much of my energy as I could.

"Thank you." I dipped my head to them, changing the scales on the back of my hand.

"N—no problem at all." Trina waved her hands frantically. "Really. You are fighting for our entire race to be left in peace. I don’t know what we would have done if they’d attacked before you’d become king."

I met all of their eyes for a moment before I nodded. "You all stay here."

"Absolutely not!" Jadelyn stomped her foot.

"This is going to be a nasty fight. I don't want to have to worry about spells flinging about and harming one of you. Ikta is the kind of person to use exactly that to her advantage." I told them.

Jadelyn puffed out her cheeks.

Scarlett put a hand on her shoulder. "You know he's right."

"Damn it, Scar. For once, can it not be about my safety? Zach is about to fight a Fae Queen; I want to be there for him when it is over." Jadelyn turned a pleading expression to Scarlett.

She paused and looked up at the ceiling. "This is a terrible idea."

"But you are going to let me watch." Jadelyn grinned from ear to ear, knowing that she had won.

"We'll be there and able to provide cover should there be danger." Polydora commented, trying to aid Jadelyn.

Scarlett let out a defeated sigh. "Fine. But you stay behind the dragons. And if Ikta tries to use us, we are gone. We’ll use the dragons to fly us out to the barge and leave Morgana behind to help him."

Jadelyn bobbed her head excitedly. "Done. We'll do that."

I wrinkled my nose, but it seemed like a reasonable enough plan. "Come on then. Follow out after me. First sign of trouble and you are gone."

Jadelyn jumped forward and kissed me, followed by Yev, Morgana, and finally Scarlett.

We'd come into Tiamat's study looking for the crystal, but I came out with a vast wealth in my bracer. And Morgana had also tucked away quite the stash. The others would have less, but I had a feeling there were some rare jewels in their pockets. Not that I begrudged them in the slightest.

I had noticed that each of them seemed to be in new and very expensive dresses. Trina had even found one that looked like tiny little chain mail links. They were clustered tightly enough that it was actually opaque.

I stepped out, now filled with much more power. My dragon had grown little, but my capacity for magic had exploded. It was time to put it to the test.

Stepping through the portal, I squinted my eyes. The sun was high in the sky. It was close to noon, if I had to guess.

And the driders had been working. The cliff face surrounding the beach now had several yards of web that extended up over the top. It was so thick; I wondered if it would stop a projectile.

As I stepped out, my arrival caused the driders to stir. Clacking noises sounded as they started jostling about.

But my eyes moved to Ikta. She’d set up a throne made up of dark purple carapaces and spiny legs flaring out behind her.

She had changed. Her hair, still dark, caught the light of the day and turned purple. Her spider legs were purple as well, and she had painted her lips. They were currently parted in a rich, velvety smile.

"You're back." She stood, and the dress she wore twinkled like the midnight sky, even as it slid down over her long legs as she took a languid stride that made her hips sway.

Behind me, my mates and the others stepped out of the study as well.

Ikta watched them with slightly narrowed eyes. "I thought our duel was one on one, as the dragon customs are."

"You said you wouldn't harm anyone else on this island until the duel is concluded. They will watch." I nodded for them to get going, and the dragons picked up the non-dragons, launching themselves up the cliff face where the driders parted, making room for them.

"They are lovely women. When you become my pet, are they a package deal?" Ikta chuckled, her eyes shining bright purple.

"You wish. This is a duel between us. Intentionally harming the spectators is forfeit.”

Ikta raised her hand. "I give my word that I will not attack intending to harm those watching or others on the island. However, that only goes as far as you holding yourself to the same rules."

I grunted. "Agreed. There's no reason for me to attack your driders; your supply seemed to be inexhaustible."

She laughed and twisted her body shyly. "You say the sweetest things." As she did that, though, the eight spider limbs rose behind her ominously.

"It wasn't a compliment. Let's get this over with. If I win, you will not bother the dragons or their allies for a thousand years." I reminded her of the terms of the duel.

She nodded. "If I win, you become my pet. You'll make such a little lovely plaything, especially now that you've allowed some of my power in you." She giggled like a girl with a secret.

I suddenly had a very bad feeling. Her words made it sound like I’d done her a benefit; I’d expected her to be angry since I had consumed her power.

But it was too late to back out. I’d agreed to the duel and her power had already become part of me. "Both of our conditions require the other to be alive; we will fight to submission."

"Perfect. I know exactly how to make you beg for it to end." She winked at me and blew me a kiss.

As she made the move, I felt something brush across my mind. I quickly shifted my mind to my mates and my dragons, breaking whatever she was trying.

"We haven't started yet." I growled.

But she waved a finger at me, tisking. "We agreed to start as soon as you came back through the portal. And that was just a little glamor to make things fun. Come on, do you not find me attractive?" She put her hands around her chest, letting them glide over her hourglass figure. She smoothed out her dress as she gave me bedroom eyes.

"Just a little taste. What could it hurt?" She finished by hooking a finger at me, and I felt a sudden tug as the beast in my chest became as obedient as a puppy, rolling over on his back for her. That was new.

I growled and slammed a wall down on my thoughts, trying to break whatever spell she had slipped around me. "Cut the shit." I roared, feeling better with the release.

"You took a little of my power, that of the wild fae. Don't you feel like throwing everything to the wind and joining me on the sand? I'd give birth to dozens, maybe even hundreds, of dragons for you. I’d let you use me, grind me into the sand until dragons flood the world." She hugged herself and her tongue flitted out, licking her painted lips.

"And I'd be your pet." Disdain filled my voice.

"The happiest pet ever." She agreed. "But you'd restore your race to unheard of levels, and they would have my protection."

I narrowed my eyes. "You tried to have Jadelyn killed. Nat'alet, the trolls… you were involved."

Ikta's sexual play broke, and she scowled, looking up at Jadelyn in the crowd with narrowed eyes. "I wanted her skin. It would have been far easier to pretend to be her and have you breed me."

A shiver went down my spine. She was no longer playing or teasing. She was angry her initial plan hadn’t worked. Ikta was messed up in the head. If she thought she could pretend to be Jadelyn and I wouldn’t notice.

"You know, I'd be furious if I ever found that you harmed my mates." I tried to inject some reason into this conversation.

Ikta was more unhinged than I thought if she’d thought I would have fallen for her initial plan.

"I'd give birth to so many dragons. Mana would blossom throughout the world, and a new era would come. Paranormals would rise up again and humanity would be banished back to the mud. Humanity doesn't deserve this world with how they take care of it." Her eyes locked on me, seeming to return to the present.

I nodded, encouraging her. "So you want to breed dragons? Why me?"

She chuckled. "You are the son of two creatures that were worshiped as gods of the two halves of dragons. For the first time, dragons have one true god of their people." Ikta gave a girlish laugh. "And I'm going to make you my pet. Breed from you an army of each color."

One moment we were talking, the next she was whipping her hand towards me. Purple lightning raced towards me.

"Contegos." A grid of hexagons appeared before me, and the lightning splashed across it like water over a windshield.

I shifted to my dragon knight form as she came over the top of my shield, her spider limbs lashing out.

One of her legs grazed my cheek as I kicked off the sand and made space between the two of us. My cheek burned with the cut from that limb. They really were razor sharp.

Ikta paused, bringing her spider leg down in front of her face as she licked my blood off of it. "I don't want to hurt you, my pet."

"Too bad." I leveled my hand at her and poured my anger at her into the word. "Envokus."

Rather than a fireball, what was closer to an explosion roared out of my hand. It covered the other half of the dueling beach and steamed the ocean.

I cursed, wishing I had better control.

As the blast cleared, Ikta was standing there, looking bored. In a circle around her, the beach was covered in a thin layer of glass. "So unrefined. Don't worry, the first thing one needs to do with a new pet is to train them."

I shifted my scales to silver and white and sprayed frost over her, rolling out into the ocean and freezing waves mid swell. Then I kept going, continuing my frost breath for several moments.

A purple shield shimmered around Ikta before it faded, and she laughed merrily. "Chilly. Makes me feel like I'm in the winter court."

Fire and frost hadn't worked, but I wasn't out of options yet.

As I worked through my next move, I realized that if she was a wild fae, and she was obsessed with growing the population of dragons to make the paranormal thrive, she was focused on life. Which meant I should hit her with death.

My scales shifted again to black and copper.

The moment I changed my colors, her expression changed, and I knew I was getting closer.

Her spider legs jerked her to the side and raced at me far faster than I thought possible.

Before I could unleash the breath, she was on me and her fist found the soft spot under my jaw, slamming my mouth shut and making me choke.

I tried to grab at her, but she was fast and moved around me as a purple cord of magic wrapped around my throat.

"It seems the training must begin early. Such a disgusting breath." She pulled at the magical cord around my throat as she planted a foot on my back.

The beast inside me snarled, and for a moment I panicked, but then I worked to refocus. Morgana had taught me better than to become desperate just because of a chokehold. It was slightly different, but it was close enough..

Turning my neck, I took the direct pressure off my windpipe and got my claws into the cord. With a soundless roar, I curled forward, ripping the magical cord and lifting all of Ikta's legs off the ground.

She let out a small squeak of surprise and her eight legs went to work, trying to stabilize her.

But I wasn't going to let her have that time. I spun, grabbing one of the spider legs and planted my hip before whipping back around with the full strength of the king of dragons.

Ikta was ripped off the ground with my strength and I kept spinning, using my momentum to rob her of opportunity before I slammed her down on the sand.

My hands were claws, and I twisted with both hands, tearing that leg off at the nearest joint as sand sprayed down around us.

Ikta screamed, and seven other spider limbs tried to skewer me.

I jumped back, dodging most of them. Two hit me, one deflected by my scales, but the second found purchase and tore a jagged wound across my chest.

The spider queen was on her feet in an instant, purple magic sprouting from the ground, wrapping over me and cocooning me. "You will obey me." She screamed.

Trapped, my shoulders were being crushed by the force of her magic.

But I was a goddamn dragon, and I would not be kept down. She would not own me. I was king of the dragons; I would rule.

Drawing on as much of my strength as I could, I pushed. I felt resistance, but I continued pushing, feeling the momentum starting to build like a train leaving the station. Feeling the slightest give, I felt motivated and continued driving my arms outward.

The magic surrounding me cracked, and I lifted my arms until her magical web tore.

Freeing myself, I lifted my claws. I planted both feet in the ground as I stood tall in my dragon knight form, staring her down, anger rippling through my eyes. She dared try to make me submit.

Ikta’s eyes grew as my mouth opened quickly.

Death breath spewed out of me.

It tasted terrible, but the purple fog rolled across the beach.

The fog did nothing to the beach, but as it caught the tip of one of her spider limbs, the limb shriveled, curling in on itself.

Ikta cut it off with a swift chop of her hand and glared back at me. "You are a very disobedient pet. I even allowed you to 'steal' part of my magic. Do you not feel even a little big grateful for that power?"

I snorted. "You didn't allow me to do shit." Bart had suggested it and I had accomplished it without her.

A smile curled on her lips. "Wrong." She hooked a finger at me. "Come."

To my surprise, I took a step. My legs betrayed me and I stared down at them, anger growing within me.

Ikta howled with laughter. "Kneel, my pet. You've already slipped the collar around yourself. That was my power. Do you really think it would be so easy to take it for yourself?"

My knees buckled, but I strained, trying to keep myself from kneeling. Anger roared through me, but it did nothing to stop my limbs from obeying her words.

Staring at her, I focused my mind. While she clearly had control over her magic, I still had my magic. And I was the fucking king of dragons.

A growl far deeper than a body my size pulled its way, kicking and screaming from my throat. I felt my death breath rise up inside of me.

"Swallow that breath." She replied simply.

Involuntarily. I did so.

Ikta looked far more comfortable as she strutted up to me. "My pet, why are you resisting kneeling to me? The surrender will be so sweet; you'll live in bliss for your entire life. You'll breed me, and I'll bring an entire gaggle of wild little nymphs that will keep you entertained for eternity."

"Never. I will not leave my mates." The idea of them, the possessiveness I had towards them, became a sudden flare in the growing darkness as Ikta continued to exert her control over me.

"You will, and you will forget they ever even existed." Her nails raked along my scalp. "Just stop fighting and let bliss follow." She stared into my eyes. Her entrancing vision captured me.

My skin prickled with pleasure, and everything around me softened. Muscles went lax and started to drift off.

I could feel my brain sinking into her control, my body already under her spell. But as images of being with her were pushed through my head, I retaliated by pushing other images to the forefront. I thought of Jadelyn, Scarlett, and Morgana.

I pictured Kelly back home, chasing her pack of idiot betas around as they tried to steal more of the potion.

I remembered Yev and Tyrande, picturing them holding hands and beckoning me back to them with the dragon girls further in the distance.

I growled and felt something shift inside of me.

My two halves clashed. The chromatic and metallic parts of my strength came together almost explosively.

In that moment, Ikta’s glamor disappeared, my brain returning to me.

I realized I was mere inches from her. My knees had almost touched the ground. I knew that would be surrender and my loss of the duel.

Her magic was strung all throughout my body, tying me up and giving her control, but my mind was mine once again.

She had never intended to fight me in the duel, but use it as a way to control me. To force me into seeking the easy path for strength.

I felt my scales shifted, the various dragon colors rippling through my body, my chromatic and metallic colorings working in tandem to grind through Ikta’s magic.

“Just a little lower, and you’ll submit to me. Submit to an easy, pampered life.” Ikta continued to entice me.

Slowly, I felt my body returning to me, but I kept myself limp in front of her, head bowed. I knew the moment she saw my eyes, she’d realize I was no longer under her control.

"My pet, stop resisting. Kneel and surrender this duel." Her words were like silk rolling across my skin and cupping my face in comfort.

Biting down on my tongue, I kept my wits about me as the duality of my halves ground the new wave of her magic to dust. I felt my body pulse with power, but this time, it was my own.

Gathering my death breath once again, I waited for it to build. It was mere moments, but it felt like ages as I built up enough to end this once and for all.

The moment I had enough, I snapped my head up, spewing purple fog straight into her.

She tried to leap backwards, swinging her spider limbs in front of her to protect herself.

The death breath hit her limbs, shriveling them into gray husks before she could get clear.

Ikta slid along the glassy sand on her human legs. Her spider legs were shriveled and curled up like a dead spider.

"No! You partook in my power! It was perfect; you should be mine." She glared at me as if she was trying to burn a hole in my chest.

I stood and brushed myself off. "I am the king of dragons. You should have known better than to try to tame me." I didn’t entirely understand how I broke her influence, but I knew I would always fight any threats to my mates or my kind.

Somehow, the two halves of my strength had come together, swirling together and mixing in a way that I’d never experienced before.

But it had grown my strength, unlocking something long hidden inside of me. Finally, I felt like Tia and Bart’s son, with the strength of Bahamut and Tiamat.

My parents’ powers had merged, cooperating with each other. I was now whole.

"Appreciate the extra power. I think I’ll keep it." I grinned viciously.