Her laugh echoes off the cave walls. “It was for your own good, little one. You’ll smell better. I want to see my prize,allof my prize.”
I take the sponge—and while keeping one eye on her—I scrub my face and run my fingers through my hair. The dark strands fan out around my shoulders, the muck Lenka put on me washing off and disappearing into the milky water.
“There you are.” She’s in front of me with alarming quickness. “Beautiful, aren’t you?”
I back up but bump into the side of the pool. She grabs my chin, her gaze searching my face. “Quite the Bargain.”
“What do you want from me?” I press my back against the wall, my heart pounding.
“Just you.” She leans in.
I yelp and scoot to the side. “What are you doing?” I slosh through the water but not far enough to get out. Not when I’m utterly naked with nothing to cover myself.
“You belong to me, little one.” She’s on me again, caging me against the wall. Her deep orange eyes flicker to my lips. “Once I claim you, the DragonLands will be mine.”
“Claim me? Vander already c-claimed me. He took the Bargain. The Arbiter?—”
“Pah.” She rolls her eyes. “The Arbiter is long dead, rotting in her tower.”
“What?”
“She hasn’t been seen in ages.” She shrugs, her muscular shoulders glistening in the torchlight. “Not that it would matter if she still drew breath. I took you. That means you’re mine. And dragons don’t give up their treasure.”
“I’m Vander’s,” I blurt. “He’s my dragon. We’re—we’re together.”
Her pale brows draw together. “You’remine.” She grips my neck, pressing me painfully against the stone behind me. “You need to remember that, little one. Making me angry isn’t any way for us to start this mating.”
Mating? I grab her wrist, trying in vain to pry her grip from my throat.
Without warning, she kisses me, her mouth hard and hot, her tongue slithering between my lips. I shove at her, but I can’t do anything, can’t stop her. She keeps kissing me, her hand cutting off my air as she does. My arms get wobbly, my vision beginning to fade. She wraps her arm around my waist and yanks me against her. My lip stings, my body going limp. When she releases my throat, I gasp in a breath.
Her hand slides down my side to my waist. “I know he didn’t claim you. He’s far too weak, too soft. The same as his parents.” She smirks. “His brother, too.”
I swallow hard, my throat aching and my mouth going dry. “You’re one of the DaySilvers. You killed his parents, his brother. You betrayed them after they showed you mercy.”
“Ibetrayed them?” She looks up thoughtfully. “No, little one, I don’t think so. Vander let me in, allowed me to slay his own family. If anyone is guilty of betrayal, it’s him.”
“No.” Revulsion is like acid in my throat. “You’re lying.”
Her eyes flash. “Watch that sweet tongue of yours, mortal, or I might just have to rip it out.”
Vander! My heart screams for him, my mind going fuzzy with terror.Vander, please! He can’t hear me, doesn’t even know where I am. I bite back a sob.
Sela clucks her tongue. “No tears. Not yet.”
“Let me go. I’m not your mate. I’m not?—”
“You needn’t worry. I won’t take your tongue without reason, without you forcing my hand. I’m no despot. In fact, I’m a hero to all DragonKin. Whatever Vander’s told you about me are nothing more than the falsehoods of a guilty conscience. I saved the DragonKin from a weak king and a useless royal family. Unlike them, I take what I want, what Ideserve.” She grips my hair, yanking my head back. When she bites my throat, I scream. A searing pain blooms along my skin and pulses to a discordant rhythm. Has she opened my throat fully? Am I already bleeding out?
When she meets my gaze again, my blood stains her lips. “Just a mark of my affection. There’ll be plenty more all over you when I’m through.”
“Vander will come for me.” I say it with all the courage I have left in me. “He’ll come for me, and you’ll regret everything.Everything.”
“I don’t do regrets. But mortals?” She grins, her hand dipping below the water’s surface. “I do them quite well.”
“Don’t.” I grip her wrist, my entire body shaking. Terror, the same shade of it as I felt on the wall at Raingreen, tries to engulf me. “Please don’t.” I press my thighs together, my entire body going cold despite the warm water.
“I’ll be gentle.” She flattens her other hand on my chest, pinning me to the wall with crushing force. “Thistime, anyway.”
