I rotate the sword in my hand, its light weight perfectly tailored for precision. “It’s been a while since I’ve held a blade like this.” Daggers are easier to transport, less cumbersome to move with. “But you don’t have to worry about me, Brother.” Moving to slide down Lan, I’m stopped by Navin with a hand on my arm.
“Remember the plan, Myla. Find a spot to hide in the enclosure holding the dragons andwaitfor me. Once I’m sure the area is secure enough for us to search for Sunis withoutgetting caught, I will join you, and we will look for your dragon together.” His eyes bore into mine, their shade infused with more gray than black as we wills me to agree. I nod, and his shoulders relax. “I’ll be back soon.” He waits for me to climb down, and I feel his gaze on my back as I edge along the black dragon stone building, its exterior smooth beneath my free hand. When I finally reach the front, I hear Lan take off and watch as they rise into the sky before disappearing to the other side of the compound.
Gripping tightly to the sword, I eye the front of the building as I cautiously walk towards its entrance. Calling it such feels like a misnomer, considering theentranceis just a fucking hole in the facade large enough to fit a dragon Bali’s size through. With the sun gone, I stick close to the edges of the structure, a shadow blending into the onyx.
Rounding the very edge of the enclosure’s opening, I slip in without issue, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to the dim lighting. The air is warmer here and thick with a myriad of smells, all of them unpleasant. Edging against the inner wall, I take in every detail I can see beneath the sparsely lit torches. The inside is round and carveddeeplyinto the mountain in a feat that must have takendecadesto accomplish. My steps falter when I realize that the dark heaps set between more standing torches at the center of the enclosure are fuckingdragons. The hum of their snoring vibrates the air, and an uneasy feeling slithers down my spine as I get close enough to take in the first one.
A metal cuff is attached to each foot that I can see, chains thicker than my forearm looping together and connecting to a stake as thick as a tree trunk into the stone floor. A muzzle made of metal and stone is strapped to the dragon’s snout, preventing it from breathing fire with any sort of efficiency. I take a step closer to the dragon—its green color indicatingit’s predominantly from the Hiravar line, though striations of black flow on its side—and I’m hit with the pungent smell of belladragis. It makes saliva gather at the back of my throat. An empty metal basin sits to the dragon’s right, the opening wide enough that it can dip its entire caged mouth in to get a drink of what was likely the tainted water.
I push forward to the next dragon and then the next, the color of their scales indicating they aren’t Sunis. But the scene is the same for every beast I visit; dragons are chained and drugged, awaiting whatever methods my father has mapped out for the mages to use. The scent of the paralytic plant grows stronger the deeper I traverse into the cavern, completely abandoning Navin’s commands tostay put.
I had never done well at following instructions anyway.
Despite the cargo this enclosure holds, I only spot a handful of guards. The king has no reason to worry that this place will be infiltrated. It’s a fucking suicide mission to even try.
Metal scrapes against stone, and I duck behind a water basin set between two knocked-out dragons as a guard leisurely walks up to the one closest to me. “Hey!” he shouts, his voice booming as it echoes out. “Look at this!”
Without waiting for his companion to answer, he begins to climb the sleeping dragon’s side. I slink deeper into the shadow cast by the basin, holding my sword at an angle in front of my body to try and keep it hidden. Dragons have always been treated with the utmost respect because they were supposed to be gifts from the gods specifically to the fae. It’s why no other kingdom commands them. Why no other being can bond with them.
Laughing rings out, another male voice taunting the guard now pumping his arms over his head as he begins to jump on the slumbering dragon. “It’s the only way you’ll ever ride one of the beasts.”
“Fuck you. I’ll get a dragon soon. Especially after the king is done messing with them.” He squats down, fingers scraping down the dragon’s scales. “There’s that young black dragon we just got in. Bali’s offspring. Maybe I’ll take that one.”
To make this male bleed would be agift, and I consider leaping up and sliding my blade across his throat before I calm myself. While it would satiate the need to shut him up, it would also alert the others to my presence. I was already breaking my word to Navin by venturing in here without him. I suppose I should at leasttryto keep the casualties low until I get to my dragon.
“I think the king wants her for something else.” The second voice grows closer, and steady my breathing as my fingers flex around the sword’s hilt.
“Well what can he do if I bond her first?” The male jumps off of the blue dragon’s back, his armor clanging together when he lands. “We’ve got another mage test to get ready for—there’s a fresh batch of them, I hear—but after that? I’m bonding that fucking dragon, even if I have to keep her drugged in order to do it.” Laughing, they carry on with whatever it is they are supposed to be doing.
Once they move out of earshot, I slink deeper into the cavern until I’m so far back that I can no longer see the monstrous opening at the front. I pause when I finally spot Sunis, relief sweeping through me until I catch sight of the muzzle and chains. Then my eyes move to the right, and I grit my teeth togetherhard.
Sunis is here, and she isn’t alone.
Chapter One Hundred and Two: Myla
Sunisbucksatherchains, her roars smothered by the restraint clamped around her snout as she tries to back away from the guards surrounding her. My blood roars in my ears as I watch them close in, every instinct within mescreamingto go to her. But two things grab hold of the rationality that now feels volatile within me: Sunis might be injured, and until I assess thatshe is okay to fly out of here, I will have to be strategic about how I kill these males since I have no clue when Navin will join me. And the other is the fact that Bali lies next to her, completely motionless.
Sunis is old enough to not need her mother, but the two have remained close, challenging the knowledge I had read about when it came to parent and offspring relationships between dragons. If Bali is critically injured, I do not believe my dragon will leave her behind.
Inching closer, I hide behind a cart filled with medical supplies as I count ten guards surrounding her, not including the males I had passed on my way back here. My hand runs over the two blades tucked into their slots on my vest, a matching pair on the other side. If I can manage to draw a guard or two into the dark corner behind Bali, I can kill them quickly there without drawing attention right away.
“Can’t we give her some more belladragis?” one shouts, swinging his blade in Sunis’s direction when she attempts to lunge for him, the chains clanging loudly at her ankles.
“The king says the dragons need to be awake when the mage comes again,” another responds, his voice deep as he steps in front of the others gathered. I take note of the insignia stamped on the front of his armor, near his right shoulder, that signifies he is a commander of the King’s Riders. “She’ll tire out eventually, and maybe this time, the mage magic will work to bond her.” My jaw clenches as I slip out from behind the cart and dart towards Bali, all the guards’ attention on Sunis in front of me. Steps light, I reach Bali’s side and take in her slumbering form. Her breaths are labored, her chest rising and falling slowly as the scent of belladragis sits heavily in the air. My boot scuffs against a handful of broken stone pieces on the ground as I crouch low.The perfect distraction. Scooping a few up, I waituntil the guards have quieted their conversations and toss them against the wall behind me.
The guard closest to Bali, his long black hair braided down his back, turns, eyes narrowing in my direction. “What was that?”
“What was what?” his companion asks, a male with a missing ear.
“I thought I heard a noise.”
The commander steps between them, his own raven locks cut short with a few strands hanging over his forehead. “Do a patrol and ensure the space is empty,” he says, eyes narrowing. “Last thing we need is an escaped mage hiding back here.” The two nod, placing both hands on their swords as they begin to prowl in Bali’s—inmy—direction.
“What do we do if we find one?” the guard with the missing ear asks.
The commander smirks, lifting his own sword. “Keep them alive, but show them what happens when they disobey.” The commander turns and joins the other seven guards who have backed away from a still aggravated Sunis.
Staying low, I watch as the guards split, one going towards Bali’s tail while the other goes towards her head. I follow the first, tossing another chunk of stone so that it bounces on the ground and draws the male’s attention in the opposite direction. Launching into a sprint, I leap over Bali’s tail and land behind the guard, weapon already swinging around his front. He doesn’t have time to do more than quickly inhale before my sword is slicing across his throat.
