“You’re not drowning.”
He’d confessed the nightmare he saw one night after a few ales. His ‘father’ had tossed him into a river when he was little more than a baby, ostensibly to help him learn how to swim. We both knew that Lorien looked nothing like his faired-haired mum or dad and so had to be the result of the herbs failing when she lay with a customer. His mother loved him fine, but his father was far from unhappy when Lorien the cuckoo left the family home and joined our gang.
“I know…” he groaned, standing up straight. “Gods, how I hate this place.”
“At least we’re used to it—” I started to say, when Fern’s voice cut me short.
“No.” She shook her head firmly, backing away from whatever she saw. “No, you can’t make me. I won’t! I will not marry one of those men!”
See…the sly voice said.She has no intention of becoming your mate.
And you’re some long dead bitch of a dragon, I shot back as I stomped over, forced to dodge my way around the dragons as they worked.
“You cannot expect me to marry a man who wants me only for my dowry.” I watched Fern’s spine snap straight as she stared down an invisible foe. “A man who intends to get sons on me before fleeing back to the arms of his mistress. I will not be tied…” As her voice broke, I was there, stepping closer. “I will not bind myself to a man that compares me to a barnyard animal!”
“He didn’t…” My arms were around her in seconds and at first she fought my embrace. “Gods, Fern, tell me he didn’t.”
“Let me go!” she yelped. “Let me go!”
“Unhand her!” When Lance appeared, all traces of the lieutenant was gone. His snarl, the way he held his sword pointed at me. This was a man that meant business. “The queen will never take her, not while I draw breath.”
“Which queen?” I asked before looking down at Fern. “And what man dared insult you?”
My questions seemed to be the thing to break the spell they were under. Both of them blinked, then stared at me.
“Kael…?” Fern turning in my arms as she gazed up at me? Whatever happened, it would be worth it for just to see the look in her eyes. “What?—?”
“The hell happened?” Lance’s eyes were everywhere and he hadn’t re-sheathed his sword, and I was fairly sure he wasn’t seeing visions anymore. Something else had him on edge and ready to fight.
“There’s a reason they call it the Tomb of Terror,” I said. “We should’ve talked this through. I intended to sit everyone down and discuss what this place is like before we went charging in. A species of mushrooms grows only within these caves and…” We all turned as the last rock was carried away, revealing a tunnel, the gloom broken only by a faint purplish glow. “They affect your brain. They make you see whatever the hell scares you the most.”
“Drowning.” Lorien appeared beside us. “How about you?”
“My mother.”
Fern’s cheeks burned bright red, making me think there was more to it.
“We’ve got something in common then,” I told her. “I see the bastard that impregnated my mother. Not Barry. How about you, Lieutenant?”
“Right now I see your brother walking into this tomb,” Lance said, shoving his sword back in its scabbard. “And if we want to stop him, we better move.”
“Shit, Dain.”
Sure enough, he walked into the very same tunnel he told us to steer clear of, his white hair a beacon in the dark.
“Lorien, take Fern?—”
“Into the tunnel?” came her sharp reply. “I’m glad we are agreed.”
“Dain saw you die in here,” I said between clenched teeth. “I’d really rather that the tomb didn’t become your last resting place.”
“So we’ll have to be careful.”
The way Fern stood up to me, eyes blazing, was a familiar thing. She’d used my words against me, hadn’t she?
“We’re losing sight of Dain,” Lance said. “If we’re going to follow the one man who seems to know the way…”
We needed to go now. With a nod, I took a step forward, hearing a faint whine as I passed beneath the gate. Figures loomed up out of the darkness as we walked on, forcing my hand to my sword. The others did the same, freezing to the spot as dragons flared to life. Not actual living, breathing ones, of course, but those carved from stone. Dragonstone it looked like, because as we drew close, something flickered then glowed brighter, lighting our way.
