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Vishana charged forward, ai fro toaround, so that her tail whipped into his face Knocked back, Hyto went spinning He caught himself and turned in time to catch her before she could rake his side with her claws She ainst the white, droplets raining down like snowflakes

S Hyto’s other side Hyto returned fire and S flaht him by surprise and he careened away

The next mo down and catching hi another avalanche down the slope of the htAsheré, who had apparently recovered enough to grab his staff andhand-to-hand, and for a wounded ood Shade launched himself out of the bushes, but before he could reach the down on the rogue h the bone--I could hear the splintering fro his arm, and Iris took that an to shift, and I realized he was turning inside out--Iris had her powers back, all right As his flesh split, his organs spilling to the ground, I stared at her, and she grinned and gavewith obvious exhaustion But it was a high-five, nonetheless, because we no longer had our mad oing on in the sky Hyto had taken a couple of direct hits and dove into a cloud bank Where was he? Could Smoky and Vishana have dispatched hi behind , I turned There, barreling down out of the clouds, talons out, was Hyto, dive-boer When would the fucking creep leave an to run, slogging through the snow I could hear Delilah and Iris screafor hi the thick blanket of clouds into which Hyto had vanished I could tell by the way they were circling

"Going sohter as Hyto’s talons caain, shrilly as I could to catch Srasping ht

Hyto let out a loud bellow "This tiet away And this ti to die Slowly, painfully, one liround, I stopped trying to get hiround As I looked down, Shade stood there, looking helpless He’d just reached where I’d been Delilah and Iris were struggling forward and Asheré was a bloody blot on the ground

I held on for dear life, clutching Hyto’s leg, wondering what the fuck was going to happen now If Smoky or Vishana attacked us, Hyto could easily cut ure out a way out of this mess, I noticed that Shade had vanished I knew he couldn’t transforone into the shadows Maybe there was so he could do from there to help

"Are you ready forto me That collar around your neck proves it And now you’re my means to an end I know my son And I knoife" Hyto’s voice ruher into the sky as the snow began to fall in earnest

Chapter 22

Hyto kept hold of me as we sailed into the sky I could hear Delilah and Shade screaround below, and I looked down to see the speed, and , and the only thing between htful

As I tried to think about what I could do fro from our left I diddirectly at us He knew that Hyto had hold ofher position, even as her long, snakelike body coiled to give her purchase in the air

Hyto hovered, his wings gently beating the air "What are you going to do now? Going to strike round? She’ll be dead before you touch me"

"What do you want?" Shed, then said "Your life, my son Your life If you choose to follow, an to spin, and everything vanished in a cloud of smoke and vapor

We were in a different realm, but it wasn’t the astral, that I could tell And it wasn’t Hyto’s private dreyerie He was still in dragon fore on the cliff face, I saw a cavern mouth Great, more caves I was mildly claustrophobic and with all the caves and barrows lately, all I wanted was to spend a week out under the open sky

Hyto hovered over the ledge and let go of round I dropped to the narrow outcropping and scra, I quickly looked around for a place to run, but there was none Unlike his other dreyerie, this place had no path leading down The cliff was straight with granite beneath the snow I’d never be able to climb down the rock face I decided to chance the unknown and raced into the cave before he could lay hands on irl? Get your ass back here or I guarantee, you’ll be begging me forHe lanced around, wondering where the hell I could hide I couldn’t see--coht of the snow-covered mountain had the same effect as if someone had snapped a flash ca my hands out to feel for the walls After ahe wouldn’t notice et the fuck out here" And there he was--standing not ten feet away I could see the gli to do now?

He swung around and then stopped, staring inwas up "Well, well There she is" He started forin y left in it--probably enough for one big blast If I had to, I could bring down the cavern on both of us, and I was considering doing just that The thought of being buried under tons of rubble wasn’t all that appealing, but the thought of Hyto putting his hands on ain was even less savory

"Leave her alone!" Smoky’s voice came from the front of the cavern and then I could see hi "You wanted o and I’ll stay"

"No!" I shouted at hi ready to make a trade "Don’t you dare! He’ll kill me after he kills you It’s both of us or neither"

Hyto let out a loud snort "She’s sive her that She’s also sweet Her meat will be tender and delicateor maybe I’ll keep her around to bewhen she’s in pain" And then he lashed out A jagged spear of ice ca out of his palms, aimed directly for my husband

I screamed and thrust the horn in the air Maybe none of us would come out of this alive, but Hyto would die "Lady of the Land, hear me!"

The cavern shook violently and the spell Hyto had cast slid off target by a e it Hyto let out a string of curses in what I could only irabbed for the wall as a low ruh the cavern There was a roar behind an to fall

"Camille!" Smoky shouted at me, and I tried to ht hold of me with his hair and drew me toward him

"You decide to play for keeps, then you take the consequences, girl" He wrapped his hair tight around me and I screa went on and on, and the ceiling began to cave in, stalactites cru for a thousand years A cloud of dust began to rise and I started to cough I could hear Shter as the world started to spin<ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>