“The Xin’Oji is here?” The woman sighed heavily. “What trouble is the blue devil trying to make now?”
Cvareh kept his mouth shut. It served his image, and if he didn’t, he might have spit out a hasty defense of Petra. He’d learned the hard way to keep his mouth shut in a train station on Loom in a confrontation that now seemed an eternity ago. It was a mistake he wouldn’t now repeat.
“You sure you don’t want to go back to her and beg for your place in House Xin? They may invite you to their tea parties and wine tastings if you do.”
“My loyalty is, and always will be, to House Rok.” Cvareh forced his mouth to make the words when his heart revolted at their very thought.
“Good boy.” She patted his head. “Make sure no one goes in. If you do, I’ll rip the muscle from your bones.”
“Yes.” He assumed his place against the door.
The woman started down the hall. Cvareh’s heart raced. As soon as she was out of sight, he was going to find Arianna. He was going to get them out of there. He kept his eyes focused on the Rider’s feet.
“Oh, what did you say your name was, Xin traitor?”
Cvareh looked up on instinct, anger flashing hot at the mere mention. Their eyes met and she tilted her head to the side, staring at him with more intent at the spark of resistance. Cvareh quickly lowered his face.
“My name…” he hadn’t thought of a name. “Rafansi.” Cvareh cringed instantly at the first thing that came to mind.
“Rafansi?” She started back toward him with a snort of disbelief that echoed Cvareh’s reaction when he’d first heard the name. “Look at me, Rafansi.”
Cvareh had no choice but to oblige. The illusion was melting around him and he’d only add heat to the flame if he resisted. If he was careful, he might be able to save the situation.
The woman stopped. “What kind of a name is that?”
“Any wonder I tried to get away from my parents on Ruana?” he tried to jest.
“Say,Rafansi, were you at the Crimson Court?” She leaned forward.
Cvareh shook his head, amazed he could while under the tension of his muscles.
“Shame. You could’ve watched the pampered prince of Xin cowering behind an Anh to do his fighting for him.” The woman stepped away, shrugging. “I wonder if he could even stand up in a fight.”
“Better than any Rok could.” The words flew from his mouth like caged birds escaping at the first opportunity.
The woman froze. “I thought you looked familiar,” she snarled.
Twenty gods above, I didn’t learn anything on Loom. Cvareh chastised himself as he watched her muscles tense from her knees to her lower back.
Cvareh lunged to the side, expecting the twisting strike. His claws unsheathed, he pressed forward and up into the armpit of the Rider.
“Xin coward,” she snarled, pushing him away, raking her claws along his arms in the process.
Blood spilled to the floor, a warning call to any Dragons in the proximity. Cvareh cursed aloud. There was no time, no point in subversion now. He was going to fight his way out alone.
The Rider lunged for him and Cvareh side stepped. He countered; she thrust right for his chest. Cvareh twisted out of the way of her wicked sharp claws. The Rider wasn’t half as fast as Arianna, Cvareh realized in delight. He had been training for weeks with a creature far more deadly than some two-bead.
They came together, twisting, snarling, spinning, and splitting apart once more. Cvareh stumbled, falling to his hands, his feet wide in a crouch. He pushed back then lunged forward, wrapping his arms around the woman’s waist. She slammed into the door and it swung open, the lock broken.
They tumbled into a narrow hall lined on one side with doors. Cvareh pinned her to the floor and sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of her neck. Blood and magic exploded into him. But it was a sour taste, fuel for what he needed to do and nothing more. There was only one woman whose blood could make him hunger, could make him lust.
His hand sunk into the Rider’s heart, ripping it from her ribcage with brute force. Cvareh tossed it aside with a dull splat, uninterested in eating it. His mouth was already filled with the unwelcome tang of the foreign woman.
Motion from one of the rooms sounded like rainbows and fireflies and the brightest of magics against his ears, against his body. It sparked life into the dim corridor. Cvareh sprinted for the last door on the left, swinging it open. The smell of his mate assaulted his senses and Arianna looked up at him like some deadly, caged predator.
“Ari…” he breathed in relief.
Her lip curled in disgust at the mere sight of him. “You will let me out of these chains so I can properly kill you.”
