Into a Dragon's Soul: Chronicles of the Four, #3

By Marissa Farrar

A Kingdom falling.

Life and freedom at risk.

And a girl who can save them all...

The Second Great War has begun.

With the knowledge of her brother's fate threatening to drive Dela apart from her three consorts, they must travel with her dragon to warn each of the races of King Crowmere's plans and request their allegiance.

Their perilous journey across Xantearos tests the love and loyalty of Dela, Vehel the Elvish prince, Warsgra the Norc, and Orergon the Moerian, as never before. As things heat up between them, they are forced to think of their future together. As a Dragonsayer, Dela is destined to rule and she wants to do so with her three men by her side.

Can she unite the other races of Xantearos and face the biggest battle of her life, or will the King keep his throne?

Download the final book in this epic Reverse Harem fantasy series now!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Warwick House Press
• Release date: Sep 17, 2018
• ISBN: 9781393346647

Book preview

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For a cast of characters, and the different races and their homelands, you can follow this link to the end of the book.

Cast of Characters

Chapter One

Dela

THE PICTURE OF DELA Stonebridge and her brother Ridley trembled in her hand.

Around her sat the three men she’d come to think of as her best friends, and behind her lay the massive dragon that had saved her life on several occasions now. The heat from his body warmed her back, but the rest of her had grown cold.

She stared at the big Norc who’d just delivered information that had flipped her world upside down.

What did you just say? Her voice was barely a whisper, and the implications of Warsgra’s words lodged like a stone in the centre of her chest.

I know what happened to your brother. Warsgra raked his hand through his long hair and, to her surprise, he glanced over at Vehel. It happened during one of the Passovers a few years ago.

Dela nodded, anxious for information, but equally terrified to hear it. What if Warsgra gave her news that would change everything? What if he’d done something that meant she could no longer bring herself to be around him? That was when he went missing. Is he dead, Warsgra? Did you kill him?

Warsgra frowned. No, I didn’t kill him. But I don’t know if he’s alive or dead.

Her hand went to her brother’s ring, still held on a piece of leather at her throat. Why? What happened? Tell me, please.

There was an ... altercation.

An altercation with who? You?

But Warsgra shook his head. No, with Vehel’s brother.

Both Vehel and the Moerian, Orergon, sat up straighter.

Vehel frowned. My brother?

Aye. Vehten, I believe it was. The oldest of the three of you.

Vehel nodded. That’s right.

They got into an argument right before the cloud descended. I don’t know what about. Vehten ordered him arrested.

Dela’s mouth dropped open. Arrested? The Elvish can’t arrest a human.

Aye. That’s why all of this stood out in my mind. Your brother was apart from the rest of the human convoy for some reason, so they didn’t see what had happened. And then we spotted the Long White Cloud creeping across the mountains, but it happened differently than when it descended on us. It came over the side of the cliff instead of coming up the pass, and people had time to scatter. Your brother had been taken by the rest of the Elvish by that point, and the humans fled one way, and your brother was taken the other.

What are you saying? That Vehel’s brother took mine?

Warsgra nodded. Aye.  That was what happened. I don’t know how events unfolded beyond that point. You’ve seen what it’s like when the Long White Cloud descends—everything turns into chaos—but he definitely had him before then.

Why didn’t people tell my mother and father what happened?

The human convoy may have not realized what was happening. Some of the other races spotted the cloud coming, and people just scattered, the humans included. Panic spreads like a disease, even if sometimes people don’t even know the cause of the panic. But I didn’t know if the cloud descended fully, or just passed over the Southern Pass.

Confusion filled her. I don’t understand. What happened to him after that? Did Vehten let him go? Was he killed in the cloud?

Vehel’s teeth dug into his lower lip. I don’t want to get your hopes up, Dela. My brother is heartless. I wouldn’t put it past him taking someone back to the Inverlands if they upset him in some way.

Wouldn’t you know? she asked him, her eyes wide. Wouldn’t you have seen Ridley locked up in the castle?

But Vehel shook his head again. That isn’t what we do with prisoners. There are no cells, like in Anthoinia and Castle Tearos. Beneath the castle lie vast catacombs, where demons reside. That’s where we put our prisoners.

Dela widened her eyes at the thought. How do you get them out again?

Most don’t come out again. Most of them are just put down there as a place where they can be forgotten about.

My brother may have been put in the catacombs?

She couldn’t imagine it, how frightened he must have been—might still be now. But surely he wouldn’t have survived all this time? Even if they did make it back to the Inverlands and he was put into the catacombs, there was a good chance he’d have died by now. Staying alive somewhere like that wouldn’t be easy.

But she had to know. There was no way she could ignore this information now. If there was the slightest chance her brother was still alive, she had to find out.

How do we get into the catacombs? she asked Vehel.

Horror crossed his pale face. No, Dela. No one willingly goes into the catacombs.

The dragon curled around them lifted his massive head and snorted smoke out through his nostrils as though agreeing with Vehel.

Orergon spoke up. Dela, I understand this is important to you, but you have to stay focused on what is happening in the rest of Xantearos. The human army are already marching to slaughter the Norcs at the Southern Trough, and then they’ll move onto the Moerians or the Elvish. We took back the dragon egg to win the trust of the dragon to bring this war to an end before it even gets started, not to go on a quest to find your brother.

She snapped her head toward him. What would you do, Orergon? What would you do if it had been your wife or child who had been taken by the Elvish and cast into the catacombs? Would you forsake them for everything else?

Your brother is a young man. He can take care of himself.

Being male doesn’t make you immune to needing help, she said. By the Gods, after all these years, I can’t even imagine what kind of state he must be in.

Vehel reached across and took her hand. Dela, the catacombs are vast and filled with dangers. Most people who go into them don’t come out again.

Her eyes filled with tears. So, you’re telling me there’s no point in even trying to find him?

I’m trying to warn you not to put your hopes on it. At least now you know what happened to your brother. Can you not use that knowledge to find some peace?

She jumped to her feet, and the dragon began to rise behind her. No! That doesn’t give me peace. That only makes me more determined to find him.

So, you go into the catacombs and abandon Xantearos and its inhabitants to King Crowmere. Chances are you won’t come out again, and our beautiful country will be back at war until each of the races is crushed.

You’re asking me to choose between my brother and my country.

You’re destined to rule, Dela, the Seer told you that. You can’t throw it all away to vanish into the catacombs.

Her mind whirred. Though all of her heart told her to drop everything and go to the Inverlands immediately, to stand in front of Vehel’s father and brothers and demand for Ridley’s release, she knew they were right when they said she had other responsibilities. The human army were marching through the Southern Pass, and as soon as they reached the Norcs, the fighting would start. She didn’t want to see deaths on either side.

She exhaled a slow, shaky breath. Okay. The Southern Pass and the Southern Trough are both on the way to the Inverlands. What if we stop the human army first, and then go to see Vehel’s father and brothers?

News will get back to King Crowmere that you interfered with his army, Warsgra said. He won’t be happy about it.

The memory of how the king had commanded his soldiers to cut off her arm to release the dragon egg flashed through her mind. The king would have seen them all hanged if it weren’t for the dragon.

Dela scowled. Good. Let him come for me. I’ll happily watch the man burn to ash in the dragon’s flames.

You can’t do that from the catacombs, Vehel pointed out.

There will be time. The dragon moves faster than anything else.

Not faster than Elvish magic, Orergon said.

Maybe not, but King Crowmere doesn’t have access to Elvish magic.

Oregon scrubbed his hand over his eyes. There’s nothing we can do tonight. We need to rest, and then at first light we’ll fly across the Southern Pass and see if we can spot the human army.

And then will we move on to the Southern Trough? Warsgra asked.

Dela nodded. Yes, we need to warn them about what’s coming.

A ghost of a smile touched the big Norc’s lips. It will be good to see my people again.

Dela returned his smile. They’ll be surprised to see you still alive.

Aye. They’ll be even more surprised to see me turn up on the back of a dragon.

She laughed. I guess they will.

Dela turned her attention to the egg they’d taken from the castle vault. She’d felt movement beneath the shell on a number of occasions, and she placed her hand on it again, feeling for any signs of life. The dragon had been nurturing the egg, puffing hot smoke against the shell and keeping it close to his body, but she didn’t know if that meant it was going to hatch soon. A baby dragon. She couldn’t imagine how incredible it would be to see such a thing. She still didn’t know if her dragon was the only one alive, or if there were others, but if an egg could hatch after spending years locked away in the cold and dark, didn’t it mean there was the possibility other eggs across the land could still hatch, too? This couldn’t be the only one, she was sure. And if there were more eggs, the dragons could come back to Xantearos, just as they’d been hundreds of years ago. Seeing them soaring through the skies would be commonplace again.

It seemed like a dream right now, but the thought of all their kinds living peacefully, side by side, with dragons roaming freely, was what she was striving toward. She wanted to make it happen, and to find her brother, as well.

But what if Ridley was dead? Vehel’s brother was the one to stop him from coming home to his family. How could she deal with that? Perhaps if she found Ridley alive, she could forgive Vehel’s brother, but if he was dead, and Vehten Dawngleam was responsible, how could she just let that go? It would put Vehel in a difficult position, too. He’d never hidden how he felt about his father and brothers, but would he want to see them dead?

She was supposed to be about peace, yet now she found there were two men in the country she’d happily see dead—King Roland Crowmere and Prince Vehten Dawngleam. She remembered what the Seer had said, about how there would be bloodshed before there was peace. Was this the bloodshed the Seer had been talking about?

Perhaps she was thinking too simplistically about the idea of peace. As long as people kept trying to hold power over one another, wouldn’t there always be war? And by her taking hold of that power, wasn’t she the one starting the fighting?

It hurt her head to think about it too much. She needed to remember the people. They were all that mattered. She had to remember how they’d been forced to take part in the Choosing year after year, and then made to travel through the Southern Pass just to collect jewels and gold for King and Queen Crowmere, while the other races of Anthoinia struggled to find food. They’d all been repressed by the Treaty, and that needed to come to an end.

They were losing the last of the light from the sky. Dela was exhausted, as she was sure the others were as well. She was also hungry and thirsty, but she could ignore that while she slept. They’d need to find food and water in the morning. Of course, that would be far easier now they had the dragon and could travel great distances in no time at all.

We’ll sleep now, she told the others. In the morning, we’ll travel to the Southern Pass and see if we can spot the human army.

Chapter Two

Vehel

VEHEL WAS FIRST TO wake.

The early morning light hit his eyelids and called him from slumber. The effects of the Yiridian root he’d been given while in custody of King Crowmere had worn off fully now, and he wasn’t experiencing any side effects. As an experiment, he reached inside of himself for the ball of magic at his core and was relieved when it sparked to life inside him. The paralyzing root hadn’t done him any long-lasting harm.

He was lying in a tangle of limbs and bodies. Warsgra’s thick arm had somehow ended up slung over Vehel’s chest in the night. Vehel frowned and picked up Warsgra’s wrist between his thumb and forefinger and moved it to one side. Dela was curled in against Orergon, and their hair had become tangled as they’d slept, her golden locks threaded through his silky black strands.

Cautiously, Vehel lifted his head and looked behind him. He’d already known the dragon had remained with them throughout the night. It was impossible not to sense the presence of the creature—not only from the heat it gave off or the scent of smoke on the air. But it was more than the physical qualities. He didn’t know if it was down to magic, but the dragon had a kind of aura around him, a power he manifested without having to do a thing. Even if Vehel had closed his eyes and held his breath, he’d have still known he was in the presence of something extraordinary.

He looked over to the dragon’s head to discover one large, golden, slitted eye watching him. His breath caught. Did the dragon know he’d been thinking about him? No, such a thing was insane.

The dragon blinked, slowly and lazily, and then the eye shut again, and Vehel was able to exhale. The creature was there to protect Dela, as were they, and so he hoped that put them all on the same side. He certainly wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of the dragon.

The sun rose higher in the sky, and the others began to stir. They’d need to find food and water before they did much else. The dragon would need to eat, too, though Vehel wasn’t sure what made a meal for a dragon or even how often they needed to eat.

Dela sat up and glanced over at the egg. It hasn’t hatched yet.

Vehel shook his head. No. I would have had a shock if I’d woken to find a baby dragon staring back at me. It might not realize we weren’t provided to be its first meal.

Dela laughed. Look at the size of the egg. The baby wouldn’t be able to eat us.

It might decide to try roasting a few fingers, though, he said doubtfully.

The others woke at the sound of their voices and began to stir.

Its dad would have put a stop to that, she said.

Vehel returned her smile. I hope so.

Warsgra and Orergon both got to their feet and stretched out stiff limbs. They took a moment to assess what was around them. They were on a hill, green grass and leafy trees stretching out below them. Where the dragon had been lying, there was now a patch of scorched foliage.

Should be easy enough to find water here, Orergon announced. Everything looks green.

Vehel’s stomach growled. And food as well. I’m famished.

Dela clambered to her feet. Yes, we all need to eat. She turned to the dragon. Do you think you could find something for us?

The dragon huffed smoke out from its nostrils and nudged the dragon egg.

Dela laughed. Yes, don’t worry. I’ll take care of the egg while you’re gone.

The dragon rose to its feet and spread out its massive wings, creating shade over them. But the shelter from the sun didn’t last for long as he flapped his wings and lifted off the ground. Vehel watched, his hand shading his eyes, as the dragon rose higher into the sky then swept down, over the hillside and into the valley below.

What do we do while he’s gone? Warsgra asked. I’m not one to just sit around.

We need to find water, Orergon said.

Dela shook her head. We can’t leave the egg here alone, and it’s heavy. I don’t want to carry it any distance.

You and Vehel stay here, Orergon replied. Warsgra and I can see if there are any streams through those trees.

Vehel was happy to have some time alone with Dela. Since Warsgra had mentioned about his brother taking Ridley, he’d been twisted with guilt. Even though he hadn’t been there and knew nothing about it, he still felt responsible. It was his family, after all. Why was it that whenever his father or brothers came into things, they always seemed to mess things up for him? He didn’t want Dela to think badly of him now.

They watched the other two make their way down the hillside, and then he turned to her.

I’m sorry, Dela.

She frowned. What are you sorry for?

It was my brother who took yours. I’m ashamed of being related to my father and brothers at times.

She reached out and squeezed his hand. You weren’t even there, Vehel. You didn’t do anything wrong.

Maybe not, but I still feel responsible for my own kind.

She gave a cold laugh. The humans aren’t exactly perfect either. We’ve caused more harm than the Elvish ever have. I won’t take on all of their sins, just like I don’t expect you to, either.

She had a point. It was because of the humans that he hadn’t been able to do magic his whole life, but he didn’t hold her responsible for that. It was different, though, when it was direct family.

I wish I’d known, he said instead. I wish I’d been able to stop Vehten from putting your brother in the catacombs.

He was surprised he hadn’t heard that they’d taken a human male prisoner. News like that would normally have traveled around the castle. But perhaps their father had realized things might turn ugly if news got out that the Elvish had taken a human hostage. Surely Vehten doing that had broken the Treaty long before him doing magic had?

Or else Ridley had simply not made it back with Vehten and had died in the Southern Pass, just like Dela had believed all these years. The possibility made his stomach turn. He didn’t want Dela to be disappointed either. But she needed to know the truth, and the only way they’d ever get that truth would be directly from his brother’s mouth. He was ashamed to admit the idea of confronting Vehten and his father made him nervous. Would they make him appear weak and pathetic in front of Dela? He vowed to do everything he could to stand up to them.

A black dot appeared on the horizon and quickly took shape.

The dragon’s back already. Acid curled up his throat at the thought of being able to eat something.

Good. I’m starving.

Vehel’s arm found its way around Dela’s waist, and he held her close, both of them ducking as the massive creature swooped, circling the hillside once, before setting himself down. The dragon ducked his head and dropped several charred lumps on the ground.

Vehel sniffed at the scent of burned meat. Appetizing.

Dela jabbed him in the side with her elbow. It’s meat, and it’s already cooked for us.

She went to the dragon and ran her hand along the scales of his long neck. Thank you, she said, and the dragon snorted out a puff of smoke from his nostrils.

She continued along the length of his neck until she reached his head and the spot where he’d dropped his catch. Vehel imagined how those scales felt beneath her palm—warm and smooth, with ridges where they overlapped. He didn’t dare stroke the dragon, knowing he was only tolerating the men because they were with Dela. He didn’t like to imagine what the dragon would do should one of them upset her.

Still, he followed her to the charred lumps of meat that had been dropped for them. It was impossible to tell what they’d been when they’d been alive, and Vehel couldn’t help wrinkling his nose.

Dela crouched at the offering. Once we get the blackened skins off, I bet the meat beneath is good to eat.

I think maybe Warsgra or Orergon would have been better for this job, he said. I probably should have gone to get the water.

She turned to look over her shoulder, her eyes wide. Oh, by the Gods. Sorry, Vehel. I completely forgot you don’t eat meat.

He twisted his lips. If it comes to eating meat or starving, then I’ll eat the meat, but as for skinning the creatures, Warsgra or Orergon would definitely have been better choices. The other two men were hunters by nature, where he’d grown up in a palace, surrounded by fine things. Things hadn’t always been that way, as he’d been born in a time of war, but he’d been too young to remember the harder times.

Did someone call my name? called a deep, gruff voice from farther down the hill.

He turned to see Warsgra and Orergon heading back up the hill toward them. They’d created leaf cones, which he assumed held water, and their pockets bulged with some kind of fruit.

Yes, I did, Vehel called back. We have a job for you.

Warsgra lifted his nose to the air. Aye, I can smell it. The dragon did good.

Dela smiled with pride. Yes, he did.

Orergon reached into the leather pouch at his side and pulled out some fruit Vehel didn’t recognize. Here. We thought you’d appreciate these.

Vehel took the fruit and looked down at it doubtfully. It was the size of his palm and had a thick pink skin that didn’t look edible.