“He’ll kill you for this.”
“He couldn’t kill me when I took his father’s head,” she taunts, her fingers tracing along the side of my breast and lower. “He’s a coward. A fool. He hasn’t even broken you in, certainly hasn’t made his claim to end the curse.”
“He’s not a monster like you.” I meet her gaze, and I hope she sees the loathing in mine.
Her hand flashes in my peripheral vision for only a hair of a second before my cheek lights with fire, the sound of the strike reverberating around the cavern.
I bite back my cry and force myself to look her in the eye, to give her defiance when all I truly feel is horror.
“You’re a mouthy bitch.” She presses harder on my chest, my ribs aching. “I’ll fix that soon enough.”
“My queen!” A male voice, alarm in his tone.
She bares her teeth and looks toward the hall where we entered. “What?” she snaps.
“A dragon approaches.”
Her other hand stops its descent and rests on my hip. “Is it him?”
“Alentes saw gold.”
She smiles, her eyes flickering to serpentine slits. “He’s already here for you, little one.” She leans forward and runs her forked tongue along the bite she left on my neck, sending a fresh flare of pain ricocheting through me. “The perfect bait. I’m going to enjoy this, all of this, far too much.” She releases me and strides from the water. I collapse, my knees going weak as tears burn behind my eyes, the bridge of my nose tingling. “Get her out and to my chambers.” Sela stops and pulls on a robe. “And no one is to spoil her. Do you understand?” Her voice is sharp, cutting to the bone. “She ismine.”
“Of course, my queen. I swear it.”
She storms out as yells sound down the hallways.
“Come.” The male at the door grabs another robe off the wall.
I don’t move. I won’t get out of this pool with him watching. I can’t. “I’d rather chew glass.” I hate the tremble in my voice, in my entire body. A sob tries to escape, but I swallow it back down.
“Come, mortal. You heard the queen. No one will harm you.”
“Sh-she will.” My teeth chatter.
He shrugs, completely uncaring.
I glare up at him. Tall and broad, his dark skin seems to absorb the torchlight.
“Come now or I will come in to get you.” He stares at me, his pale irises faintly glowing.
I can’t stay here, but I can’t seem to be able to bring myself to leave the water. Everything has been taken from me. Can I not hold onto a single scrap of myself? “Will you just … will you not look?”
He stares at me, his pale green eyes narrowing. “You think I want to look at you, mortal?”
“I don’t … I don’t know.” I look up, not that I can see the sky, and wonder if Vander is overhead. I say a silent prayer to the gods that he’s coming for me, that he’ll get me out of here. Things are complicated with him, but he would never hurt me. Somehow, I know that. I know he wouldn’t take what wasn’t given.
“Idiot mortal.” He sighs deeply and turns his head while holding out the dark robe. “Don’t make me wait.”
I swipe my hand across my face, the warm water now cloying and sinister. Slowly, I ease through the water, wincing when mybare skin becomes visible. Once I’m fully exposed, I climb the steps quickly and snatch the robe from his grip.
He keeps his head turned until I’m fully wrapped up. The robe is thin, the material somewhat like what my dresses were made of. But the moment I’m out of the water, a chill invades me that the robe can’t combat. Nothing can.
“Follow.” He strides into the hallway.
I glance around. There’s no way out of here, at least not that I can see. Following the hulking DragonKin is my only option. With halting steps I move along, keeping him in view as he leads me through the dusky tunnel. We’re climbing, my breathing becoming easier as we rise through whatever levels are contained in this underground hive.
He turns here and there, his broad back disappearing until I catch up. The warriors who were in the hallways earlier are all gone. The air is still and dank. Gods, have they all gone to fight Vander? A pit forms in my stomach. If he’s up there, he’s in danger. These are his enemies.Ourenemies. I gingerly touch my cheek, the pain duller now but throbbing. My neck is on fire where she bit me, as if she scraped away the skin and left it raw. Sela has already shown me who she truly is. Cruel and calculating. I won’t survive here, not for long.
