Wildfire

Twelve

There is no hesitation as the heavy wings that grace my back when I shift slice through the air with a precision that only comes with the calculation of a cool rage, the fire in my belly leaping up and out of my mouth in spurts in anticipation of being able to be the bringer of swift justice, Rayne's honor on the line, his body so badly broken by those who wished him ill simply for being born out of a lower class. 

I do not think that I have ever felt so thoroughly connected and conscious while letting my dragon take control, our minds doing a nimble dance as we keep our eyes vigilant for the carriage carrying the Hirai family's crest, the entire portion of their family that had cursed us with their presence going to go up in flames the moment the emblem comes into view, my beast and I still at odds over whether or not we should then continue on to their family homes and burn the estates into ruble, or if I should let any of them survive at all. 

I have not the time to dwell on it, the heartbeats of the stallions that lead their carriage catching the attention of my sensitive ears, my eyes narrowing as we drop in altitude to descend on the family who thought they would be able to get away with harming my Queen. 

The twisted green coat of arms painted on the side of their carriage comes not view and there is not a single pause in the prying open of my jaws, my anger so intense that my flames seem to melt and quiver, shrieks giving me the satisfaction of their pain as they start to realize that the punishment they thought they had escaped was indeed falling upon them, and it was doing so swiftly and silently, my beast slowing the pace of our wings, our body starting to circle as we dump every single ounce of outrage onto the melting skulls and skeletons of the dragons beneath me, the wooden and steel carriage now a burning pyre that fills my primal side with a murderous glee not normally indulged in. 

...

Rayne

...

"Rayne, you must be still! You've been badly injured!" The words being shrilly shouted over my cries do little to calm me, my beast having heard the angered cries of Prince Emrys in dragon form, the need to go to him and provide comfort to the pained creature that had withstood its flame and proved himself without a doubt the husband that it wants, the memory of his mating call finally being connected in its half of our shared mind to the man who is currently seeking vengeance for what the branch families so honored by his father had done. 

"I have to go to him! Papa, please!" It seems as though no matter how hard I struggle against the multiple sets of hands trying to hold me down on the large warm bed that so much smells like my Prince, I cannot seem to find the strength to push myself past the confining hands of my family members, "He needs me!"

The screams of Prince Emrys's beast light up the sky with every breath he exhales, his flames visible even from here in the palace though his silhouette hangs in the distance like a vengeful god as he recovers my reputation and defends my person... The passion in the attack he unleashes upon the found assailants one that takes my already strained breath away. 

I'm not sure how I'll even get myself to him, still mostly blinded and ever so weakened and as battered as I am... Not even my beast himself has the energy to surge to my surface and force a shift in order to try and fly to the Prince that had asked for nothing short of my hand... I just need to go to him... To fly cradled closely underneath him, safe and protected while he causes the world to burn for the pain coursing through my face and body at this very moment. 

"He wanted us all to stay here, Rayne! You cannot go to him in the state you're in!" This time it's my mother that speaks, the hands that had been trying to restrain my arms and keep me from striking out against those restraining me using their grasp to pull me closer until she can embrace me, a hold that offers me no comfort though it stays until I thrash no more and slump into her hold, "I know what it feels like, Darling... Your soul hurts just as much as your body does  because he's without you while in such a deranged state, but you need to stay here, for if he were to misdirect just a single flame and cause harm to you he would fall upon his sword with his heart full of regret, do you hear me?"

...

Emrys

...

It takes a very long while for my beast and I to be satisfied, our warning to any other creature who might think to harm the beautiful young man that had caused my heart to sing so loudly more than accomplished, our rage satisfied with the look of the smoldering ash that is all that remains of the Hirai's and their carriage, their pain-filled deaths having long since been accomplished...

But once we have that satisfaction I can stand to circle the wreckage no more, anxiety replacing my flames as it creeps up my throat, my beautiful bride last seen by my eyes in such a destroyed state, all fight having evaporated in him the moment he had realized that it was me who was holding him... Losing consciousness the moment he knew he was safe...

With how quickly I had been able to trace the Hirai's down I'm surprised with how long it takes for my wings to carve our path home through the air, my dragon not slowing until it manages to stop just short of crashing into the ballroom that had started out as the source of such great joy this evening that is currently still full of disgruntled guests waiting to be dismissed and never asked back again.