“I’ll explain everything, but we need to stay quiet if this is going to work,” he warns. “Can you use your magic at all?”
I try. I try to call it forth, but nothing comes. That’s when I remember.
“Blood ore. I’m wearing blood ore chains.”
“That’s what I figured,” he mutters. My eyes adjust to the darkness as Kai holds the candle to the lock and, with one hand, slips a key inside. It doesn’t fit. He goes through each of the keys on the rusted ring, and on the seventh try, the lock clicks open.
Relief floods through me as he eases the barred door open and scrambles toward me, dropping to his knees. He throws hisarms around me tightly, and I lean my head against him, unable to hug him back with my restraints.
“Thank gods, you’re alright,” he whispers against my hair.
“I’ve never been happier to see you,” I murmur. “The others?”
He pulls back and shakes his head. “I don’t know. I was knocked out during the chaos. I didn’t see. Come on, we can’t linger,” he urges, making to lift me. The chains yank me downward.
“I’m chained to the ground.”
“Fuck,” he hisses. “It’s too dark in here. I can’t see enough to swing a sword, and even if I could, I might take off one of your hands.”
“There has to be a key somewhere.” I eye the iron ring in his hand.
“Blood ore is spelled—there is no key.”
“Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Isn’t that what they say?”
Kai and I go utterly still.
“My little brother, the traitor.”
Ice creeps up the back of my neck at the sound of Kylian’s voice.
Gone are the honey-dipped tones and seductive purrs, replaced by the cold, calculated voice of a cruel king. He takes a slow step through the open cell, towering over us.
“I always knew you were a detestable little earthworm, but have you no loyalty to your blood? To your dear, dear older brother? To the crown?”
An iron fist shoots out and grips Kai by the neck, slamming him against the stone wall so hard that dust and debris crumble around his head. I let out a choked cry as he dangles Kai off the ground, his feet kicking for purchase.
“Have you no respect for yourking?” His maniac voice rises.
“Leave him alone!” I roar, rearing against my chains to reach him. Kylian slowly, like a possessed doll, turns his head toward me. A brilliant and horrifying smile spreads across his proud face.
“My love,” he breathes, dropping Kai so abruptly he crumples to the ground, gasping for air. “How I hate to see you bound and chained like this.” He starts toward me at a leisurely pace.
“You did this to me, you asshole.”
“And I regret it wholeheartedly. Do you think it brings me pleasure to see my future queen rotting away in filth and decay?”
“Future queen?” I hiss.
“That is why I’ve brought you here. You have done what no one in hundreds of years has managed to do.” He pauses dramatically, splaying a hand over his chest. “You have stolen my heart. You are my equal. The last Blackblood Dragon Rider. You will make a worthy queen, and we—” He closes the gap between us and slides his hands into my hair. His grasp borders on rough—like when you find a puppy so cute, you just want to squish it in your hands.
“We will ruleeverything,” he concludes.
I spit in his face.
“Such venom.” He chuckles, wiping the spit from his cheek with one long finger and licking it up. “And yet it tastes so sweet.”
“You sick son of a bitch.”
