Shadow Dragon: Draignis Clans, #2

By Aleah Raynes

Learning to control the chaos was just her first challenge. Now Talia has questions that can only be answered by a trip to the dragon realm...

 

Half-mage, half-shadow dragon, Talia Sarri should be in total control, but she feels anything but.

 

Visions of her mother's ghost haunt her with tales of a relic most believe is nothing more than a legend sends Talia and the team on a dangerous trip to Draignis on a quest for an ancient mythical dragon horn. And as luck would have it, Raven has returned and wants to tag along.

 

The complication of their mutual attraction is a distraction Talia can't afford. After all, life as they all know it is on the line. But Raven won't take no for an answer. Can Talia trust her grandfather's premier team leader in light of his latest revelation? Or will he leave her and the team hanging in the shadow of the most dangerous fire dragon of all? 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Davis Raynes Publishing Group, LLC
• Release date: Aug 4, 2023
• ISBN: 9798201186593

Book preview

Chapter

One

Every morning, when I stepped outside for the first time, I was never prepared for the sight that always greeted me. No matter how many times I climbed the stairs of the emergency bunker and stepped into natural sunlight, the sight of the charred manor house always hit me like a blow to the chest.

The third floor and almost all of the second floor was completely gone. The remaining ground floor bore obvious signs of the magically charged fireballs that pelted the structure. Sometimes, it felt like the attack on our safe haven happened years ago. Sometimes, it felt like yesterday. Every so often, I wake in the middle of the night convinced the attack was still happening. I knew I wasn’t the only one.

After adjusting to the sight of the house that had become my home after the death of my father, I always found myself wishing for things to go back to normal. Kind of a sick joke to play on myself because what the hell is normal?

Was my life normal when the manor house was still intact and I was learning about my dragon heritage from my grandfather and his students?

Was my life normal before my father was murdered and my days were spent as a junior agent for his espionage agency?

Neither of those options were very normal.

You shouldn’t fixate. A voice by my side startled me from my thoughts. I turned to find Janice, my friend and a talented water dragon, looking at the remains of the manor house.

It’s hard not to. It looks like a movie set or a backdrop. It just doesn’t seem real.

I know. I’m just glad all of my important things were in the tech lab. Otherwise, I’d be truly screwed.

A pang of guilt hit my chest. As far as I knew, this was the only home Janice ever truly had. Same for just about everyone who was brought to the compound to discover their dragon abilities. I’d only been here for a few weeks before the attacks happened. Compared to everyone else, I’d lost the least.

And I was still alive.

Dozens were slaughtered that night. Many of them had barely learned how to access their powers. They never stood a chance against the military might of an entire fleet of fully grown, mind- controlled, magically enhanced, psychotic, murderous dragons.

A sizzling sensation rippled through my brain. An after effect of the brainwashing I suffered at the hands of twisted scientists loyal to the Elder fire dragon currently ruling the war-torn realm of Draignis. The realm of my mother and grandfather. The true home of everyone with dragon blood in their veins.

As a half dragon who had been born in the human realm, I wasn’t sure if I should consider Draignis a home or a place I belong. It was hard to feel that way about something I’d never seen. Not even in art.

The last two are heading out today. Janice jerked her head towards two young initiates, probably not even sixteen years old. They still wore the all-black training suits given to every student at the compound. It might be the only clothing they have left. The dormitories were hit hard during the attack. An attack that was obviously driven by insider information. We never stood a chance, even when we thought we had time to prepare.

Together?

They’re going to the train station together. From there, they’re splitting up. No idea where they’re going to end up.

Thaddeus was the only one who knew the destination of the handful of surviving students. It was smarter that way. I didn’t like the idea of sending them off without any kind of escort or protection, but if we’re attacked again, only one person will be able to be tortured for answers. Bleak, but true.

I hope they’ll be okay. It was a lame wish, but what else could I say?

Do you want to see them off?

I shook my head. They didn’t know me. Not well, anyway. To them, I was just someone who failed to keep them safe. To keep their friends alive. I’m going to go for a walk.

Not too far. You’re not completely healed yet. I’ll work on you when you get back.

Thanks.

Like everyone, I had sustained my fair share of injuries. I’d needed a cane for a few days after the attack. Thankfully, both my mage blood and my dragon blood meant faster-than-human healing. Janice, the only water dragon left in our compound, had been healing the survivors almost non-stop since the attack. Nikole got the worst of it. The Earth dragon nearly lost a limb after being almost torn apart by a rabid fire dragon.

I saved her life but sometimes, I think she wished I hadn’t. She rarely left the bunker and rarely spoke, a contrast to the outspoken person she was before everything went wrong.

Ethan, quite possibly the only fire dragon that hadn’t lost his damn mind following his dictator of an Elder, seemed more or less the same. Restless and determined to keep moving forward, but he’d managed to keep his easy humor. He doesn’t laugh as much as he used to, though.

I make my way to the nearest trailhead, eager to disappear into the forest. Not even a hundred dragons could make a dent in the natural beauty of the North Carolina mountains. There was a time where I ached for the familiar shining skyscrapers of my beloved Manhattan. I missed the noise and felt insane without being surrounded by the constant bustle of activity.

Now, I savored my quiet moments in the woods. I could pretend I was somewhere else. Someone else.

But there was another reason for my solitary walks.

I made my way to a specific spot between two stones. Completely ordinary looking except for the tiny rune carved into their surface, each one indicating a dragon surrounded by the elements. The first time I came here, I was completely out of my mind with pain, exhaustion, and magic burnout. I was in a trance the entire time. It was a miracle I ever found this spot again.

I stepped between the stones. As I did, the usual anxiety gripped me. What if it didn’t work? I really needed it to work today. I needed to talk to her. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing the way Rav—the way someone—once showed me how to do. He wasn’t around anymore, so I saw no reason to think of him as if he were.

When a crisp, chill blew through the air, I knew to open my eyes. Instead of the deep greens and browns of the trail, I was surrounded by a lush, autumnal forest. Not just any forest, as I’d learned the first time I’d come here, but a space between the Lands of the living and the dead. As someone who lived firmly on the side of the Living, I was not supposed to be here. But my mother was dead and this was the only place I could talk to her.

You cannot keep putting yourself in danger like this. My mother appeared before me, haloed in pale, shimmering light. Her hair fell nearly to the floor in a long, black sheet, like a dark waterfall. I touched a hand to my braid. I inherited her hair and her slight form. I got my blue eyes from my dad.

I don’t know what else to do. I never got used to talking to her this way. Her mouth never moved and I only heard her voice in my head. But there wasn’t another option. "I don’t know what else I can do."

I showed you something important the night of the battle. Have you found it?

I recalled the blinding image of a carved horn inlaid with silver designs she revealed to my mind while my body was bleeding out. When I asked my grandfather about what I’d seen, he dismissed the horn as a myth.

Grandfather won’t let me look for it. He shuts me down whenever I try to bring it up.

Keep trying! A line appeared between my mother’s brows. Her fingers twitched and it looked like she was fighting to keep still.

Is something wrong? I asked.

It’s the key to everything and I know what it is, where it is, and how to get you to it but I’m not allowed to speak about it in detail. It’s infuriating. She almost looked like she wanted to laugh, as if she were describing an annoying day at the office. Can you believe I once wielded great power?

I’ll keep talking to Thaddeus, I offered. Eventually, I’ll wear him down and it’s not like we’re overwhelmed with options right now. There has to be record of it somewhere. My friend Janice can dig up just about anything so long as it’s on the internet.

Her worry faded into a gentle smile. I admire your resilience. You got that from me.

Shadows gathered in the corners of the woods. Our time was up. I never saw what the shadows belonged to, but the sight of them alone was enough for my mother to start herding me back through the stones. All of the color leeches from the autumnal paradise, leaving behind a frigid winter wood. The chill prickles my skin just before I step back into my correct pane of existence.

Normally, I felt better after seeing my mother. Even if we didn’t get to talk for long, the sight of her was enough to lift my spirits. Today felt different.

I started making my way back to the compound. Time moves differently when I’m in that space between worlds. For all I knew, hours might have passed. I hoped that wasn’t the case. I didn’t know how I would explain it.

Halfway between the stones and the ruined compound, something glinted in the undergrowth. I got on my hands and knees to clear away the debris and find a gold pin inlaid with red gems in the shape of a flame.

I’d never seen a pin like this before, but I knew the symbol. Unsurprisingly, the flame was the sigil of the fire dragons. Every race of dragons had both a sigil and a gemstone. The sigil of my people, the shadow dragons, was a perfect pitch-black circle with the sun behind it, like an eclipse. We didn’t have any of the pins, though. They were all left behind in Draignis when my father and Ambrosia, the Elder ice dragon, fled to the human realm. They left behind anything that could identify them as dragons.

If we did have our pins, the gem would be polished onyx.

The fire pin I held now might have been dropped during the battle, but it might not have. It could mean a unit of brainwashed dragons was lingering nearby, planning to finish the rest of us off. There was no advantage to leaving us alive. I knew we were living on borrowed time.

I ran back to the compound fully aware of how much my body did not appreciate the extra stress but I didn’t stop until I was back in the bunker. My grandfather had set up a makeshift office beside Janice’s tech station. Ambrosia rescued a damaged chaise longue from the manor house for her use. She kept it close to the bunker cells that held her two brothers. Twins, Paris and Bastien.

I braced myself to walk past their cells. Even though the cells were spacious and comfortable enough to be considered bedrooms and I slept in a similar one farther down the row, I hated walking by them.

They’d been captured by the same dragon scientists that performed experiments on me in an attempt to brainwash me. Unfortunately, they were exposed to the experiments for far longer than I was. By the time we were all rescued, it was too late for the twins. They were fully indoctrinated. Anyone who wasn’t loyal to the Council, the ruling powers of Draignis controlled by the Elder fire dragon, was the enemy to them.

Ambrosia was the only one who could occasionally get through to them, but moments of true clarity were few and far between. Even when they were acting like themselves, the brainwashing prevented them from sharing any useful information with us. They were even resistant to my mind reading abilities.

I scurried past their cells, flinching every time they pounded against the reinforced walls in an attempt to get to me. For reasons I could not begin to understand, they hated me more than the others. I was their biggest threat. Laughable, honestly.

The cells were built to hold unstable dragons, so I wasn’t worried about them breaking out. Young dragons were often temporarily relocated to one of these cells to ride out their first transition. It was a rough process, though I wouldn’t know anything about it.

Despite being able to harness aspects of my dragon abilities, I hadn’t actually been able to shift into my dragon form. It wasn’t something that could be rushed. In fact, rushing or trying to force an early transition was dangerous. Deadly, on several occasions, according to my grandfather.

Is everything all right, Talia? Ambrosia called. You’ve been gone for a while.

Fine, I called back. I just need to speak to my grandfather.

Thaddeus looked up just as I reached his desk. I placed the pin down, face up. As soon as he set eyes on it, his expression turned grave.

Where did you find that?

On my walk. Could it have fallen during the battle?

No. Pins like this aren’t worn in battle. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. It’s a scout’s badge. Looks like the Council isn’t happy to leave us be.

Did we ever think they would? Ambrosia untangled her long limbs from the chaise and glided over. She nervously summoned snowflakes at her fingertips, manipulating their shape as she moved.

I’d hoped getting the rest of the students out would make them lose interest. Foolish. He ran a hand through his hair, dark like mine and my mother’s. We need to move.

Where? I asked. Any safe house we’ve ever had is compromised. We have no idea what they know.

There is one place they might not know about. It’s not a safehouse, exactly. It hasn’t been used in half a century.

Half a century? I repeated, confused. But I thought the dragons only came to this realm fifteen years ago.

We fled to this realm, yes, Thaddeus nodded. But before the war, it was possible to visit other realms recreationally.

So, dragons took vacations in the human world? The thought put a smile on my face. I imagined a dragon lounging on a Hawaiian beach among tourists in patterned shirts and cargo shorts.

And others. The ghost of fond memories flitted across his face before quickly fading away. We need to move before the scouts find us. We are in no position to defend ourselves.

What about the twins? Ambrosia asked. They can’t travel and I refuse to leave them behind.

I’m not leaving you here alone, Thaddeus said.

I might be able to help with that. Nikole stepped up to the desk. She’d moved from her cell to our sides so silently, none of us had noticed. I can whip something up that will knock them out. We’d either have to carry them or move them magically, though.

I can handle that. How are you going to knock them out? Ambrosia raised a brow.

The greenhouse wasn’t totally destroyed. I can find something in there to use.

None of our plants add up to a potion like that. Now Thaddeus raised a brow.

Just because it’s not part of the curriculum doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, Nikole shrugged. Besides, we’re past the point of doling out detentions for breaking school rules.

She’s right, Janice called over her shoulder from her computer desk. If I’d stuck to the rules earlier, we would have never found the secret lab and Talia and the twins would be lost to us.

Point taken. Thaddeus rubbed his face. Nikole, do what you have to do. We’re leaving tomorrow, so I suggest you get to work.

A sparkle I hadn’t seen in some time glinted in Nikole’s eyes as she hurried out of the bunker. I felt jealous. Before the attack, I struggled feeling useful and it