Niyx Samantha Kroese (i am malala young readers edition .TXT) 📖

his throat and crossed his arms, taking a few steps back from Kiril. “I can see why she’s with you now.”

Niyx smirked at Onyx, proud of his wife. “You really should not concern yourself. Kiril can take care of herself. If she cannot, I will defend her.”

“What will you do with the baby? Or does he have some crazy deadly magic too?” Onyx stepped toward the door, giving the child a wary look.

“Nial has no magic.” Niyx furrowed his brow, then shrugged. “Kiril thought perhaps Rebekah would be willing to watch him for us?”

“Of course I would!” A perky voice piped up from the hallway and Rebekah bounced into the room, eyes bright with excitement. “Hi. I’m Rebekah! You must be Niyx and Kiril. Is that the baby? Nial, is it? Oh look! He has a puppy, too!” She darted past them to sit on the floor in front of the drooling toddler and puppy. After a moment, Nial was babbling nonsense happily at her, and Nek was barking and dancing around them in excitement.

Niyx relaxed at the scene. “See. It will be fine. Come, Onyx. We must go. You will lead us.” Niyx waved his brother out the doorway. “We must strike swiftly.”

“What are you talking about? I can’t see the future like Kiril or read minds, you know!” Onyx huffed in irritation. “Where are we going?”

“It is time to drive the rats out of the Den you grew up in. It will be the new home for the Night Creatures. Kiril has foreseen it.” Niyx beckoned to Ice, and the tiny dragon flew over to perch on his shoulder as Kiril fell into step at her husband’s side.

Onyx stopped in his tracks, a look of shocked horror on his face. “What? You want to kill the Divide and take over their base? Are you mad? No one can kill the Lord of the Divide.”

Niyx paused to look at his twin. “That is not true. The Lord of the Divide is a sorcerer, but he is not a necromancer. He has no power that can contain my magic. I will crush him like the insect he is.”

Onyx balked, his long ears flattening. “Niyx, this isn’t a game you’re playing. The Divide is dangerous.”

“They are dangerous because they have raised you to believe they are more than just the simple mortals they are. Dangerous mortals, yes. But they will not withstand my wrath. If it is too much for you, then show us where the entrance is, and you may return home.” Niyx shrugged as he continued down the hall. “They will pay for all they have done. It is the time for your vengeance, Onyx. Is that not what you have desired all these years?”

Onyx hissed and hurried to catch up to them. “Yes. You really think you can destroy them?”

“I have no doubt,” Niyx agreed with a slight nod. He glanced at Kiril, and she nodded as well. “Show us to them, my brother.”

“Let me tell Ruel,” Onyx muttered and ducked into a nearby room.

Niyx and Kiril paused. Niyx leaned against the wall, his eyes narrowed, as he heard bits of the shocked conversation. “My brother doubts our power.”

Kiril threaded her arm through Niyx’s and leaned against him, her green eyes glowing with magic. “It will be well, my love. He will understand soon. They raised him to be less than he is because they feared him. We will awaken him.”

Niyx smirked again, pleased. Yes. They would awaken his twin. Then together they would hunt the Templar zealots. But first, the Night Creatures had to be saved.

CHAPTER FOUR

The rooftop of Ruel’s manor was flat with a short parapet around the sides so that the Lords could enjoy it as a place to sit and look over the city. But tonight, Onyx led Kiril and Niyx up to the roof, so that Ice could regain his full size and fly them to the Den. The snow drifted lazily through the air and enough littered the ground to leave tracks as they passed through. “How will we get out of Aderaan if the Templars are hunting you?” Onyx asked with a hint of apprehension in his voice.

Niyx closed his eyes and tilted his head into the cold wind briefly before he gently picked the dragon off his shoulder. He set Ice on the ground and waved them back.

Ice’s tiny form shimmered with blue magic. It mimicked the storm with blue snowflake-like bits of magic driven by a magical wind dancing around the dragon. Then slowly his size doubled until he towered over them. Niyx smirked at Onyx and climbed up Ice’s tail to his back to sit behind the dragon’s head. Kiril followed, her steps light and dainty, almost floating up the dragon’s back until she sat behind Niyx.

Onyx hesitated for a moment. He felt a twinge of fear, but he shoved it aside. His twin’s dragon pet had no cause to be displeased with him, and it was clear Niyx had full control over it. He climbed up to sit behind them and said, “We must go past the forests outside of Aderaan. To the East, until we come to a smaller forest grove.”

At his words, Ice rose from the roof and with a whispered magical command from Niyx, the air shimmered around them. They flew over the city, hidden by Niyx’s magic, as Aderaan slept below them. Onyx had rarely seen the city from this far up in the sky and it looked different. Like a bunch of children’s blocks made from precious metals scattered haphazardly around as if thrown in a tantrum.

The longer Ice flew the faster the dragon went until the ground below them whipped by in a blur. The small grove that hid the entrance to the Divide’s Den appeared below them almost before Onyx was ready to see it. “There it is,” Onyx said, pointing to the grove.

Ice slowed to circle the forest a few times before landing just outside. When everyone