Rainbow Comet Chapter 17

“Flynn, please, just strengthen me. I can die doing this. It’s dangerous.”

I kiss him back then, winding my hands in his hair.

Flynn

Brett immediately insists the castle goes on lockdown with all of the queens and smaller mushroom people inside as he walks quickly out into the courtyard with Teyran and a few other guards.

I look around as I follow him. There’s an ominous scent in the air, and the sky above us seems to be darkening.

What the hell’s going on?

“Swears!”

“Not the time, Teyran,” Brett snaps.

Already, he’s raising a hand as a huge portal appears above us in the sky, growing larger, quiet far from the castle but with its size still enough that it looks like something could come through and harm us.

I’ve never seen such a large portal, like a dark, swirling ring of clouds.

Good gods…

“I’ll handle this,” Brett says. “Keep the others inside. This kind of being, the chaos can be contagious.” He waves a hand. “Teyran, you can stay along with Artos and Behrick. The others must go inside.”

Teyran motions for the others to go, as he and the other two guards mentioned quickly transform into tall, ripped warriors more typical to what you expect from the fae.

Ready for battle. I’ll never get used to the difference. With a smile, I wonder if their shoes will still squeak.

Not the time, Flynn.

I’ve always dealt with hard things with humor.

And as Boreas waves a hand, making a tall rainbow portal and gesturing for us all to follow him through it, I can tell this is a very bad thing.

We come out of the whooshing rainbow air that smells like cupcakes to be directly below the portal, where it looks like something large and dark and scaly is coming through it.

Brett lets out a grunt and I look over to see the air seems to be blurring around him, as if he’s becoming two people and then one again rapidly.

Alarmingly, air seems to be shooting out around him, surrounding him with a thick, gray smoke, starting at the ground and then obscuring him to the waist.

He turns to me apologetically. “I’ll have to shift. Chaotic nightmare dragon.”

I suck in a breath. “Such a thing exists?”

He shrugs. “There’s always something worse. I’ve fought nightmares and chaos dragons, and now we have the combination I suppose. Someone was bound to breed one.” He pulls out his wand, looks at it, and then puts it away, as his body begins to blur again. “After all, as we get stronger, so do they. I’m part angel, part fae and part dragon, though my dragon blood has always been highly dormant. It’s part of what makes me the only one who can be king.”

I don’t ask more, because the smoke is almost obscuring him, and above us, something so big it’s head is as wide as Brett’s entire castle is emerging from the portal. Something with a mean, scaled face and red eyes that glow like embers. Something that looks oddly human despite its draconian body. It makes me shudder, and I am a seasoned warrior. Used to fighting chaos.

Brett is blurring again and he drops to a knee, disappearing in the smoke for a minute before pushing back up. “Flynn, come here for a second, I need you.”

The smoke is up to his head now, and it covers us both as he pulls me in.

I’m shocked as he jerks me against him for a kiss, pressing his lips to mine desperately, winding his arms around me as the whole world seems to blur around us.

I struggle then remember no one can see us in the smoke.

“Be careful, your majesty,” one of the mushroom guards yell. “He’s coming through.”

“Give me the fire fae you killed our princess for!” The thing yells in a primal voice that is low and yet screams at the same time. “A life for a life! You will pay for killing a royal.”

Brett pulls back from me, looking handsome and breathless. “I would pick a fight with the fae who have such a thing on a collar, wouldn’t I? Well, it’s my first battle, and luckily, you’ve prepared me.” He pats his front, then pushes me out of the smoke. Then he jerks me back in for another kiss, and I push back this time, confused how he can be doing this at a time like this.

“Flynn, please, just strengthen me. I can die doing this. It’s dangerous.”

I kiss him back then, winding my hands in his hair. Any excuse to do this, as long as it helps.

“Thank you. Now to show them they can’t come near my man, no matter what they send,” Brett says, pushing me out of the smoke as it grows and he continues blurring. “Get back, Flynn,” he yells, then lets out an alarming groan.

The smoke surges upward, billowing at an incredible rate, so tall I can barely see the top of it, growing wider as well.

As the huge creature above, which is metallic and clanking but might as well be called a dragon, though it looks more like a lizard crossed with a snake with a very big head, emerges from the portal, I hear a loud roar from the cloud that now covers Brett.

Then, amazingly, something bursts out of the cloud, something shimmering blue and white, lunging forward to clash with the other creature.

It seems to be Brett, if I had to guess, as the smoke clears and I no longer see him there.

I move forward, desperate to see what can happen. How can this kill him? My heart is thudding.

I love him. He has to come back to me. My heart couldn’t take it.

Deep inside, I guess this must be how someone feels about a mate.

I know he’s defending his kingdom, but I also feel him fighting for me. Watching out for me.

Going to war for me.

The huge creatures, so big you’d be able to see them across an entire planet, grapple with each other in the sky. The dark gray one appears to be floating somehow, dark chaos emanating from it and all around it, and Brett has wings, which beat hard as he attacks the other beasts’ neck.

The dark gray one pulls back from an attack, pushing off of Brett with its clawed feet and then opens its mouth, and a huge ball of red energy is building inside it.

But then Brett swerves around him and attacks him from behind, blowing a huge stream of blue and white fire over his huge body. It seems to cling to the other dragon, making a sizzling, hissing sound and forcing it to immediately shut its mouth, screaming as it falls from the sky.

It hits the ground so hard it throws me and the other warriors a foot up in the air.

Then it flails and kicks off the ground and back into the sky.

I’m just watching aghast the fact that I’m really seeing two such titanic creatures. One of them could crush me with a toe.

These are nothing like earth dragons.

I suppose Brett isn’t the future ruler of the most powerful fae land for nothing. The things that attack here are on a different level to anything I’ve seen.

More vicious too.

The chaos dragon is laughing now, as it circles Brett, making that ball in its mouth that makes an odd whirring noise that makes me want to cover my ears to protect my eardrums.

Then it shoots a red beam at Brett and he dodges. Brett curves around and shoots more fire, careful to direct his shots away from the castle.

Gods, he has so much fire, he bathes the other dragon in it, over and over, as the chaos dragon seems to emanate less darkness and opens its mouth less and less.

Finally, Brett closes in, closing his mouth down over the other dragon’s neck, beating his wings as he thrashes the other creature back and forth like an errant dog.

I can’t believe I’m watching my boyfriend take on a planet sized monster, but he’s making it look easy.

He breathes more fire on him as he holds him, and the thing slowly goes still.

Brett throws him to the ground then, landing and stomping him with titanic feet and claws.

He looks over at us, giant, gleaming dragon maw gaping, blue eyes like ice glinting. “Look away, now.”

So odd to hear his human voice in that deep, rumbling, primal register.

That’s really my man.

I couldn’t be more proud of him. When he’d said he would go dragon on that witch’s planet, I guess he meant it.

I wonder what all the feeding as to do with shifting.

I look away with the others, but then I turn back. I want to see what he does with this creature. How he punishes such a thing.

As I look back I regret it, because I’m just in time to see Brett’s dragon tear the other dragons head off, toss it in the air and swallow.

Then the chaos dragon’s body melts into a hissing pile, as Brett chews and swallows what was left of his face.

He burps, and fire and smoke roar out of him. Then he lashes his tail, letting out one more primal scream.

“Your majesty,” Teyran says, running forward with both hands up. “You must shift back now! You will lose your size with any more fire.”

I put a hand up to block the sun, now bright with the chaos portal receding, and notice Brett does seem to be shrinking, no longer quite the titanic mass he was.

“We are all safe now, majesty! You’ve defended your kingdom well! Please unshift!”

But the Brett dragon still looks ready for a fight, his whole scaly body tensed for battle, chest heaving, claws raking the ground.

“Very well,” Teyran says. “If you’re going to lose yourself I have no choice.” He brings out a wand from behind his back that looks nothing like the ones I’m used to. Instead of being long like a staff, it’s small and covered in little mushrooms along the body, with a glowing rainbow mushroom at the top. “I command you to change, dragon! Bring us back our king!”

Brett roars and struggles, but smoke swirls up and surrounds him, and to my relief, only moments later, my lover emerges, looking dirty but unharmed.

Except…

I frown as his guards rush forward to catch him as he stumbles and looks ready to fall.

I take my place next to him, ashamed for letting my startled state make me hesitate. I put an arm around him, surprised by what I feel and look up at him.

He’s lost at least hundreds of pounds. He’s ripped, maybe even more than when I met him before, maybe from carrying around so much extra weight. He’s still soft around the middle, but not very.

“Careful,” Teyran says, as we walk him back to the castle. “He expended too much energy. That was very close.” He beams at me. “It is lucky you prepared him so well. Fire is very calorically demanding. It is good that his tanks were so large.”

I just stare at him, confused by all of this.

But the place where the chaos dragon fell is just a black puddle of steaming sludge that is slowly receding, and Brett appears to be safe now, along with his kingdom.

The sky is a beautiful lavender once again, with its green and blue tinges.

We’re all okay, and the portal is gone.

Up ahead, I see his people flowing out of the castle, cheering.

Brett looks down at me, smiling warily. “I’m sorry, Flynn. I know you’re disappointing by the changes.”

I am, but I’m so glad he’s here that I don’t care. I hug him tight. “I’m just glad you’re okay. You had me scared there.”

“So what did you think of my dragon?” He asks.

I blanch, still amazed just thinking of it. Then we walk forward, as a wave of mushroom people envelop us, some crying, some cheering.

I look over his body. “I think we better start filling up your tanks.”

He throws his head back in a hoarse laugh, and I follow him back into the castle.

No matter how he looks, I hunger for him.

I think maybe this is love.