The word jumped into her mind when she’d rather have bitten off a robust mouth-pleasing curse. Instead, she remained silent and paid attention to her surroundings. The soldiers were heading toward the arched entrance at the front of the castle and the raised gate with myriad spikes. This was a nightmare.
Given what Leo had told her about his parents and what she’d witnessed, she should’ve expected a flat rejection of Leo’s marriage. Their faces. They’d acted so icily toward Leo and treated him like a possession rather than a beloved son. Was that the dragon way? She had no idea, but given Leo’s sweetness and determined protectiveness, she’d assumed his parents possessed a smidgeon of honor.
The soldiers marched into the vast courtyard that lay beyond the entrance. Other men filled the area, and from what she saw, she assumed they were training. Some fought with swords while another group pummeled each other with their bare fists. Those not fighting stood around, laughing and joking and critiquing performances. The scent of ash and body odor still perfumed the air.
The two soldiers striding beside her wheeled left and directed her into a dim-lit corridor. Each of the doors contained a barred window, and a few held prisoners since she saw them peering at her. One issued a sharp wolf-whistle and shouted an obscene comment that had heat crowding into her cheeks.Eew!A shudder of distaste rippled through her.
“She can share my cell,” another shouted, cupping his groin as they passed.
Holy Hannah.Would they do that to her? Force her to share a cell with a strange man? Surely they wouldn’t be that cruel.
When they reached the end of the corridor, a soldier opened a door. She started as a rat scuttled in front of them and disappeared through a crack in the wall. The soldiers didn’t flinch. They escorted her through and down a set of steps into another hall. The prisoners’ raucous cries were even more disturbing, and an icy wave prickled over her skin, leaving chill bumps in its wake.
She prayed even harder they didn’t intend to make her share a cell.
The dragon prison was many levels deep and increasingly darker and colder. Fear and panic played with her mind, and begging words bubbled up, pushing for freedom. Luckily, the knot in her throat prevented them from spilling free.However, a croak of dismay escaped, and one soldier laughed.
“Wouldn’t want to be in your shoes, human,” he said.
They kept marching onward, and she and the soldiers strode along another two corridors before her captors halted outside a door. A tall soldier opened it with a huge key—the sort one might see in an old movie or read about in a book. Gwenyth pushed at the thought, and her head throbbed, so she backed off.
The hinges on the door squeaked as it opened.
“In you go,” one soldier shunted her through the doorway.
It was like entering a black hole. Somewhere in that darkness, water trickled from the ceiling, the steadydrip-drip-dripbringing to mind dungeons in drafty castles. Oh, wait. This was a dungeon in a drafty castle.
“What have I done to deserve this?” The words burst from her, distinct this time.
Sympathy etched into one guard’s face, but he didn’t speak.
The other guard said, “Don’t know. Don’t care, human. We’re following orders.” He pushed her another two steps, backed up, and slammed the cell door shut. The key turned in the door with a scraping click.
“Wait! Don’t leave me here.”
The soldiers ignored her plea, the click of their boots on the stone floor receding. In the distance, a door opened. A few seconds later, it slammed, and Gwenyth pressed her forehead against the icy steel bars of the solitary window in her prison.
“Leo will find me,” she murmured, the sound of her voice bringing minor comfort. The truth rattled in her brain, pressing against her temples in a pounding ache.How would Leo find her?
Her shoulders slumped.
That was if Leo recovered enough to realize the soldiers had taken her.
“Hey, human.”
The quiet voice had her stiffening. Compared to the other prisoners they’d passed, he sounded normal.Gwenyth hesitated to respond. It behooved her to use caution and not trust anyone.
She bit her lip, wondering if she should reply before curiosity got the better of her. “Yes?”
“Why did they toss you in the dungeon?”
She considered and decided there was no reason not to tell the truth. “I married Leonidas, Champion of the Skies.”
There was silence before the man barked out a laugh of genuine amusement.
“Yeah, that would do it. I doubt Tudoarreo, The Dragon Lord, andQille, The Taker of Life, would accept their son’s marriage to a human.”
“How do you know I’m a human?”
