Chapter 2
The obsidian-dark elf murmured a silent thanks to the storm that concealed the sound of her dragon flying through the clouds. Rain thrashed from above, and thunder growled in the distance. Beneath her, her dragon, Sinafey, drifted soundless through the tempest.
The half-blood elf hadn't noticed her hunt. Not astonishing. He had claimed a dragon a week ago, using it to unleash terror in the human cities, leaving over two hundred humans scorched and lifeless. Not that she cared about the deaths of humans, but dragons were sacred to her kind. They were venerated beings, bonded only to the worthy. But for an half-elf to claim one? That was sacrilege.
Even so, the dragon he had bonded with was the smallest of the progeny, likely responding to the vague drip of undiluted magic in his blood. Dragons sense magic in you; the greater your power, the more formidable the beast you can claim. Her long, pale silver hair was drenched with rainwater, matted to her angular cheek as she skewed sharply through the air.
Sinafey released a loud roar, alerting the lad.
He turned, laughter expelling from his throat as though the sight of her were a jest. He couldn't have been more than eighteen by human age.
"You owe the King a debt, boy," she called. "Surrender the dragon now, and you may yet receive a lighter sentence."
"Lighter sentence?" he scoffed, brushing rain from his forehead. His mouth curled into a smirk. "And what would that be, Lilith Maryon? A clean blade to the neck instead of blazing me from a dragon's flame?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Release the dragon, half-blood."
A bolt of lightning roared from the sky, illuminating her silver hair and bluish-dark face marred with scars. She looked like Death. Any sane person would tremble at the sight of her. But the boy stared at her defiantly.
He gripped the saddle, steering the dragon to face her. Sinafey snarled at the traitor who had allowed filth, a half-blood, to claim her. Through the lightning, she saw his face clearly. Tanned, bronzed skin, broad shoulders, every inch of him muscled. Had it not been for his human heritage, he would have been deemed a powerful elven warrior. But his rounded ears, human voice, and eyes were a stark reminder of what he was: a half-blood.
"Do you know what they did to my ma?" he asked. "She was a human slave assaulted by an elven lord. They raped her, and she didn't survive my birth. There was no healer to aid her with the bleeding after my birth, and she died. I've spent years in the mines, the fighting pits. I clawed my way to this moment. I earned this dragon."
"You are filth," she hissed. "Relinquish the dragon now and crawl back to whatever gutter you came from."
His lips moved as he uttered a command to the dragon, and the dragon spat flames towards her.
Lilith's body danced like a wraith, moving through the flames untouched.
Foolish, she mused. Did he know dragons and full-blooded elves were immune to fire?
"Sinafey!" she commanded her dragon, pulling on the saddle.
Her dragon obeyed, spitting fire. The flames caught the boy's face. He screamed, flailing, and tumbled from the dragon's back.
"Pathetic," she murmured, turning to the traitor dragon. At her command, it flew back to its cave. She watched it for a moment before descending, pursuing the boy. She knew he would survive the fall but with devastating wounds. The magic in his blood would see to that.
The moment her boots kissed the ground, she spotted him, splayed in the mud, gasping for breath.
"You'll await my return," she said to Sinafey before walking away. Her dragon would remain rooted to that spot even if she spent a day away. The command in her voice would not let her fly off.
Blood soaked his side. One side of his face was blackened from the burn, blistering and peeling at his touch. A human would not have survived that fall. He groaned, attempting to rise.
"Any final words, half-blood?" she asked, lifting her sword to his throat.
Tears poured from his eyes, mingling with the rain.
"Please... I beg you... Please don't kill me," he cried. "I just wanted to be seen. For half-bloods to be regarded as elves."
"You are nothing," she spat. "You'll never be regarded as an elf."
She pressed the blade further into his skin.
"Wait!" he yelled. "I know... I know about your mate... Vornal, as he is called."
"What?" She froze. "What do you know about him?"
He blinked through the torrent of pain. A smile twitched on his lips at the mirror he'd cracked. "I saw him die. Killed by my High Lord. I was ordered to use his skin for pelts."
Her grip wavered. Rage and anguish rose, just enough for the half-blood to strike. He kicked the sword from her hand, seizing it as he slowly staggered to his feet.
Lilith tilted her head. She stared at him like a bug she could squash at any moment.
"You fool," she snarled. "I am a powerful mage. Do you think you can defeat me with a sword?"
Sinafey roared at the lad's brazenness, waiting for a command from her sire, but Lilith refused. The lad deserved more than death.
"I will destroy you," she said. "As I did the other half-blood who thought himself my equal."
Words sliced through her lips as she spat at him, cursing him.
The air shifted. The red sky darkened. Her magic erupted through her.
The boy dropped to his knees, limbs changing. Bones snapped and shifted at unnatural angles. He screamed. Veins bulged as though they were about to burst from his skin. His skull twisted, mouth widening as thick fur sprouted from his flesh. The screams morphed into a deep roar. Claws pushed through his bleeding hands.
Lilith watched as the curse turned him into a hound, something fit for his kind. But as the magic shaped him, she noticed he was far more than the hound she had cursed him to be. He was grotesque, with thick, dark midnight fur, six inches above the ground, and a long silver tail.
Another roar tore from his throat, and suddenly he was changing again. Bones cracked as he retrogressed.
"Make it stop!" he cried.
"From this day, your existence shall be a curse in itself."
"Please!" he begged, clawing at his chest. "It's burning! Make it stop!"
With an anguished scream, he bolted for the sea and plunged in.
She waited and waited, but he never emerged. Whether the ocean claimed him or the curse took him, she was apathetic. She turned and walked toward Sinafey, mounting the dragon before taking off into the sky.