“You’re as dumb as a box of rocks,” she snarled, standing, pacing forward to lean against the prison’s wall. “You’re adragonfor fuck’s sake. You’re supposed to have guts. You can breathe fire, you fly, only a tactical nuke can take you out. And you give in to some prissy little fat man?”
I smiled grimly. “That prissy little fat man has dozens of dragons on his payroll, all loyal to their bones. Can you fight a dozen dragons at once, Jade? Can you fight maybe eight? Nine? I can’t. If Arnaud sends his soldiers out to kill me, how far will I get?”
Jade slid down the cell’s wall to her knees, her head bowed, her hair hanging like a shroud.
“There are two guards upstairs,” I went on softly. “In case you did find a way to escape. You won’t get far, Jade. They’re dragons.”
I paced to her and knelt, putting myself on her level, eye to eye should she lift her head. When she finally did, I stared straight into her abject terror, her hopelessness, her tears glimmering in her eyes.
“Help me,” she whispered, pleading. “Help me, please.”
I rested my palm against the glass, a pledge. “I will. I swear it.”
Chapter Five
Jade
I paced. Unable to relax, I couldn’t get Magnus’s words out of my head. Arnaud planned to torture me, not just hold me for ransom. Record my screams not just for posterity, but to encourage my father to reconsider not caving in to Arnaud’s demands.
He’s leaving town the day after tomorrow. I’ll find a way to neutralize the guards upstairs. Eat, Jade. You need to keep your strength up.
I couldn’t eat. The burgers and fries he’d brought cooled in the cold basement, their scents, once tantalizing, now smelled icky. My stomach churned until nausea entered, and once that happened, all hope of eating vanished. I feared I’d puke up what I didn’t have in my stomach, hurl nasty bile all over the floor.
For the umpteenth time, I focused my attention on the slide that allowed Magnus to feed me. I worked at it, frantic, trying to slide it open. Not that I could fit through the opening, but it was the cell’s weakest point. If I opened it from the inside, maybe my dragon claws could grab a hold, my strength break it to pieces.
“Fucker,” I muttered, working at the door. “How’d they put me in here? Not through that.”
Once again, I searched for the entrance, not finding a single seam, no button to push, no hinge. Stepping back, I gazedup into the bright light. Not at the beams above, but at the top of my cage. Shifting, my dragon body all but filling my cell, I reached up to the top. My claws scrabbled against the smooth glass, or whatever the shit my prison had been made from, and I pushed.
I pushed hard.
The round top I’d never knew was there popped out and slid down the cell’s side to land with a clatter on the floor. In disbelief, I stared at the opening. No way could my dragon fit through that. My human body sure, that’s how they put me in. Nor could my two-legged body climb up the slick walls.
“Shit,” I muttered, reaching my right talons through the opening.
I grabbed hold of the edge and yanked.
Nothing happened save I hurt my arm. Swearing under my breath, the sweet closeness of freedom teasing me, making me hurt myself in my attempts to break the glass. I set both taloned hands to the edges and pulled down. I succeeded in pulling myself up.
It hit me then.
Still hanging onto the edge, I shifted forms. Now I hung twenty feet above the cement floor, hanging by my fingers. Strong, yes, athletic, yes, I’d never worked out using pull-ups. Taking a moment to breathe, hang, and rest, I shut my eyes.
I visualized pulling my body up through the rounded opening. I imagined my arms strong enough to not just hold my dead weight, but to shift it upwards. I saw myself gripping the edges, rising high enough to rest my arms, not just my hands, on the outer glass.
Just do it.
After I took a deep breath, with plenty of oxygen in my lungs, I pulled with every ounce of strength I possessed. It felt as though my arms were being ripped from my shoulder sockets.But my body rose. Higher by an inch, then another. I knew my head had passed the opening, for now I scented the dank, nasty cellar air.
Come on.
Grimacing, I fought for more height. My hands trembled, threatening to lose their grip, my arms singing with pain. I called on my dragon strength, my other self, the part of me that only a tactical nuke could take out.
I rose higher, my body shaking, until I thrust my right elbow across the edge. Then my left. Breathing hard, I rested, the terrible weight off my biceps and gathered now in my shoulders. I dared not rest too long, for my shoulders might give way at any moment.
However, without something to grab onto, I planted my palms on the clear glass. Terrified I’d slide right back down, then plunge to the cement floor below, I kicked upward with my legs. I gained an inch. Another kick, another inch. Now my chest lay against the edge. Until my belly did, more than half my weight hung into open space.
I needed to get my greater weight resting on the glass roof. Bracing my arms, I kicked, and heaved my chest further up, the edge now cutting into my stomach. I breathed raggedly, panting, the important part of my body now lying on the glass.
