“Shut up!”the male shouts, a whimper following in response.
“Please.Pleaselet me go. I didn’t know—” A loudslapsilences the female, and my blood heats as my fingers tighten painfully around the hilt of my dagger. Leaning forward again, I watch as they come into view. A guard, tall and broad, his dark hair shorn close to his scalp and stark against the shine of the silver armor he wears, grasps a female by her arm, tugging her behind him while she cradles the side of her face.
“Stop talking, or I’ll make it evenworsefor you.”
My blood thrums beneath my skin. This isn’t Kaito or any of the other targets I’ve been trying to get my hands on for weeks now, but surely, it isn’t coincidence that a prime example of the filth I like to hunt appearsrightin front of my warehouse? A hedonistic smile breaks free beneath my mask as I begin to formulate my plan. Whetherdivinelyplaced in my path or not, it doesn’t matter. Tonight, I’llfinallyscratch an itch that has spent far too long being ignored.
I had questioned my morality in the past when it comes to what I do, to the joy I take in it. Now, a certain pair of orange-hazel eyes annoyingly flickers to the forefront of my mind and brings with them the question of whatshewould think about this. Stupid considering that once our time is done, I will never see her again.
“Isn’t this the part where you threaten me?” the guard asks from where he hangs when he finally wakes. I had knocked him out and then given the female information for the group home before dragging him, armor and all, into the warehouse. Stripped of it now, he watches me as I tilt my head, my fingers dancing along the outside of my thigh.
“Is that what they tell you the Shadow does?” I counter, adopting a male voice. The light of a nearby flame gem cascades over his face, revealing him to be a rather handsome male.
“You’d be surprised what the king knows about you,” he says, and I scoff. That prompts a laugh from him, the chain he’s hanging from rattling in a way that briefly pulls me back to the temple with Father Yamin. I yank my dagger free, if only to let the cool dragon stone hilt tether me back to the present. “That’s what he’s counting on. You underestimating him. Underestimatingus.”
“You cannot underestimate that which is not a threat to begin with. After all, it was fairly easy to catch you, wasn’t it?” He says nothing, only closing his eyes as the corners of his mouth draw up.
“So go on, then. Do whatever it is you need to do to try and get information from me. It will be pointless, just so you know,” he drawls, opening his eyes when he hears my footsteps. “I’m afraid I’m just a lowly grunt without the clearance to know anything of value.”
I click my tongue as I walk behind him, dragging the tip of my blade against his back, only a thin undershirt preventing the cold metal from splitting his skin. My own arms break out in goosebumps at the thought, and I keep walking until I’m at his side, his head turning to look down at me. “I could do all of those things if I wanted to, but I’m guessing the king didn’t let you in on thisonelittle fact aboutme.”
“And what is that?” My blood heats at the mirth still in his voice. Just like Sir Dae, there’s a defiance in him that I ache to snuff out.
Reaching up, I undo the mask covering the lower half of my face before pulling down my hood. The guard’s eyes widen as he takes me in, his gaze running down the length of my body twice while his mouth works to pull words from his brain. Only stuttering noises come out.
I drop my voice modification. “Sometimes, I don’t capture and torture fae for information.” He heaves a shuddering breath when I twist the tip of my blade into the soft spot between his ribs. Smiling up at him, I revel in the way fear finally alights in his eyes. “Sometimes, I do it just for fun.”
Chapter One Hundred: Myla
IbreatheeasierasI walk through the forest towards the dragon fields, the trees having shed most of their leaves in preparation for the impending winter. They crunch beneath my boots despite the lighter steps I take as I reach the edge of the treeline, and the expanse of the mountain base and the field next to it come into view.
I had taken my time in the basement of my warehouse, finally releasing that invisible weight that had been slowly crushing me the past few weeks. Despite the cocky way in whichhe promised he knew nothing, Ihadlearned something new from the guard. There is to be a celebration in the coming weeks that will call some of the guards out of Khargis and back to the palace. He didn’t knowwhyorwhatthe celebration was in name of, and unless my father created a new holiday, I can’t think of anything before the winter solstice that would merit both festivity and an increased guard presence. Then again, perhaps that wasn’t so out of the ordinary. I had recently learned that not only was my father kidnappingmages, he was trying to repair broken bonds with dragons. Or form new ones with Bali and likely Sunis. He had increased patrols of our borders in what Navin and I could only assume was a desperate attempt to find more mages.
Walking across the loose gravel that leads to Sunis and Bali’s cave, my gaze skims over the dragon fields. They are dark, the mist hanging lower than usual as it partially obscures my view. But even with what Icansee, something notable is missing from the grassy area: burning remains. It isn’t until I’ve reached the mouth of the cave that I realize there is also anunnaturalstillness in the air, making the hair at the back of my neck lift. Palming my dagger, I prowl closer, narrowing my eyes to help them adjust to the darkness as I peer inside.
“Bali!” I shout, my voice bouncing off the cave walls in a way that sends my heart galloping in my chest.
No resounding growl or adjusting of leathery wings answers, just more of that unnerving silence. It isn’t completely unusual that they are both gone, as occasionally they’ve gone out together to hunt or simply stretch their wings. But there’s a sinking feeling in my gut that I can’t explain, one that propels me away from the cave and onto the dragon fields. I don’t have to walk far before the scent of rotting meat hits my nose. Reaching into my pocket, I pull out my small flame gem from its pouch, its light dimmer than usual but enough to see about a foot aheadof me, where the scattered and half-charred bodies of goats and sheep lay.
“Shit,” I whisper, inching closer and looking for any sign of the belladragis. My stomach reacts, attempting to purge itself at the rotten smell of the meat, but I get close and sniff the air anyway, searching for that pungent floral, acrid scent among the decay. Squatting lower in front of one of the goats, I close my eyes and focus on my next inhale, and there, layered between the ever-present brimstone scent and that of putrefaction, is just a hint of the belladragis. I look at the carcasses that dot the darkened field, my stomach sinking. It can’t be coincidence that there are no burning remains mixed among the tainted meat.
Standing I pocket my flame gem, anger forcing my nails to bite into my palms. My father had taken them. Was likely trying tobondthem, and I have no fucking clue where they could—
Spinning on my heel, I run back towards the forest, fury pushing my legs faster.Imay not know where the dragons have been taken, but I am sure there is someone who does.
“Let me get this straight,” my brother says as he paces blindly in front of the couch in our sitting room, his hands pressed over his eyes. “You think that Bali and Sunis were taken by our father to the same place they are doing the experiments with the mages—”
“That is what I said.”
“Don’t interrupt,” he growls, still pacing. Still covering his face. “And you want to sneak into where they are doing said experiments to try andrescueSunis because even though you haven’t bonded, you consider her to be your dragon?”
“Sheismydragon,” I say sharply, looking up at him from where I’m sitting on the couch.
Navin drops the hands over his eyes, letting his arms turn into dead weight as they hit his sides and he turns to face me. Not wearing a tunic, I can see the scars he’s collected over the many decades breaking up the colorful tattoos that otherwise cover his upper body. The two most prominent are that of a blue dragon, its wingspan wide over one half of his chest as if mid-flight while the tail trails down and wraps around his torso, and the goddess Solana over the other half, her hands outstretched much like they had been on the statue depicting her in the temple. I have given up asking him to explain why, of all things he wanted permanently inked on his skin, he would choose one of the deities Father Yamin weaponized against us. Againstme. Navin had never given me a straight answer, and I suppose for all the secrets I both asked him to keep and kept from him, I shouldn’t be annoyed that he would have one of his own.
Beneath the goddess, however, is something new. Not a tattoo, but a wound. White gauze starts on the front of his stomach and wraps around his side, the large piece held in place by tape that winds around the width of his torso. “What happened?” I ask, jutting my chin out towards it.
He looks down, long raven locks spilling past his shoulder as he does. Shaking his head, he mumbles, “Training,” and then strides to the armchair where a dark top is laid across the back. I don’t miss the way he grimaces as he tugs it on, and though I know my brother can handle himself, my teeth still grit together in anger. “Myla, you aren’t asking me to help you traipse into a secret room in the palace. This isdifferent.”
