“Your mate?” Brodrick sneered, dismounting and drawing his lance in one smooth movement. “I think you are mistaken there, beast. The princess belongs to me.”
Taliesin’s pupils narrowed to slits. “Rhiannon is no one’s property.” He paced back and forth, watching, weighing his options. He needed to rescue her, but armed as he was, that knight could easily hold his own. Rhiannon wouldn’t appreciate him killing the man either. Even if he deserved it for kidnapping Taliesin’s precious mate.
“Release her,” he repeated, crouching low, ready to pounce. His tail swished back and forth, thumping against the stones and trees around the road. “I will kill you if I must.” It was a lie. At least, he thought it was a lie. The longer this man pointed that lance at him, the longer he denied him his mate, the more the urge to rip him limb from limb grew.
“Not if I kill you first.” The tip of the lance struck the ground, and with a slash, dirt and mud flew through the air and splattered in Taliesin’s eyes. The dragon reeled back, and Brodrick charged. Taliesin lashed out, tooth and claw snapping and groping blindly. His fangs came too close to something, catching hair. The horse shrieked and snorted. Hissing, Taliesin drew back. He’d almost hit Rhiannon.
Brodrick laughed. “Worried about my wife? What a courteous monster.”
Speaking gave Taliesin a target. His tail smashed into the ground, just missing Brodrick but knocking the knight off-balance regardless. His ear caught the sound of kicked gravel, and he lunged for it, teeth bared. His jaw snapped shut around flesh and bone. Hot, metallic blood spilled into his mouth as his teeth sank in. Human blood. His second eyelids at last cleared the dirt blinding him.
Too late he retreated. Though Taliesin had bitten down with enough force to break the bone, he hadn’t gotten Brodrick’s sword arm. The spear flashed again and found its sheath in Taliesin’s chest. An inhuman bellow accompanied the spray of crimson gore and blinding pain when the spear withdrew, and again Brodrick stabbed at the stained scales.
This time, the wooden pole snapped when the metal sank in just above his collarbone. Blood poured from the injury, far too much for it to be a flesh wound. If Taliesin could think beyond the pain, he’d have recognized that. But in that moment, all he cared about was getting Rhiannon and getting her away to safety. He spread his wings, aiming to take to the air and swoop for his bride. He’d take the horse too if necessary. If only his limbs would cooperate.
The world blurred and dimmed. His wingbeats weakened. His forepaw gave out. Taliesin pitched sideways. The ground shook with his collapse. He struggled to rise from the scarlet puddle forming around him. Pain lanced through him, and his neck no longer could support his head. It was all he could do to keep from falling in such a way that would drive the spear tip deeper.
Metal slid from its sheath. Brodrick lifted a new sword, a menacing sneer and a splatter of blood marring his features. “Allow me to put you out of your misery, beast.”
“Don’t hurt him!”
Brodrick paused and looked back. Taliesin labored to lift his head enough to peer past him. In his near miss, he’d shredded the ropes binding Rhiannon, and she had taken the opportunity to tear off her gag. Rather than escape, she flung herself at Brodrick and seized the arm holding his sword.
“Don’t kill him,” she half sobbed. “Please. Leave him alone.”
It was nothing for the knight to shake her off. “This thing needs to be exterminated, or it will come after you again.”
“If you kill him, I’ll—” She glanced around desperately. A splinter of the spear, large and sharp enough to act as a weapon, lay in the grass a few feet from her. She lunged for it and placed it over her own heart. “If you kill him,” she said, forcing her shaking voice to steady, “I’ll kill myself too.”
“All this for a beast?” The knight waved a hand toward the dragon that struggled to remain conscious. “It’s dead anyway. I’ll just be finishing the job.”
“Don’t kill him,” Rhiannon repeated. “If you spare him, I’ll come with you willingly.”
“No!” The shout gurgled in Taliesin’s throat, dislodging something he hacked up. Thick globs of red splattered in the dirt.
Rhiannon offered a watery smile. “I’ll be okay,” she said faintly. “I couldn’t live with myself if you died because of me.”
Brodrick snatched the spike from her hand and tossed it aside. “Don’t be a fool, Your Highness,” he spat. “That thing doesn’t give a damn about you other than what you taste like.”
“He is my husband,” Rhiannon said with a confidence she didn’t feel with Brodrick towering over her, “and loves me more than you ever could.” The back of his hand struck her cheek, sending her sprawling in the dirt. Taliesin roared in anger and struggled to rise. Smoke puffed uselessly from his nostrils, the blood in his throat quenching whatever flame he tried to summon. “I’m okay,” she said, pushing herself to hands and knees. “Don’t move. You’ll make your injuries worse.”
Brodrick yanked her up by the arm with his good hand. “I’ll leave the beast alone,” he finally relented, if only because the dragon would be in its death throes shortly. With her current behavior, he couldn’t be sure Rhiannon would cooperate if she saw the creature bleed out. “Come with me.”
This time, he didn’t tie her up. He simply hefted her into the saddle and settled behind her. Rhiannon cast a desperate glance behind her at Taliesin. Brodrick gave his steed a kick to the sides, and off they went.
Tears rolled down her cheeks that she did nothing to stop. Rhiannon wasn’t stupid. She’d seen just how much blood had pooled around him and she knew what it meant. Sobs racked her frame, ones Brodrick wouldn’t have soothed away even had he not been in a foul temper. She’d saved Taliesin from an instant death only to condemn him to a slower, agonized one. One he needn’t have suffered at all if he hadn’t fallen in love with her.
She should have just stayed at the castle. Then, she never would have met Taliesin, and he wouldn’t have ended up like this. He’d have kept traveling and singing and never known her or the threat to his life. Rhiannon wouldn’t have known this bitter ache in her chest, nor the regret of losing someone so dear to her. She should have just suffered through a life with Brodrick. Then Taliesin might have lived.
It’s all my fault. And now he was dead. All because of her.
The sight of his scales stained red with blood would haunt her for the rest of her days. All my fault.
Her heart hurt. She couldn’t get any air in her lungs. All my fault.
The world went black. She slumped in the saddle, and Brodrick hurried to catch her before she fell.