I hear the thud when it lands.
He and his companions laugh. I’m grateful that the men holding me aren’t as callous.
Brevan stands near the drop, still holding Katherine.
Her head rolls to the side, and she looks at me. She mouths,I’m sorry.
Tears begin again. There’s so much I want to say. I want to beg for her life, I want to apologize to her, I want to confess and tell them to take me instead. But I can see the injuries. She’s already on borrowed time.
Caiden moves next to me. “Are you ready to see Death, my little raven?”
I turn to him and note the intense joy radiating off him. He likes this. He likes to cause hurt. I lift my chin, then nod.
The gesture seems to be enough for him, and he points to Brevan. “Throw her in.”
Brevan hesitates.
For a brief, shining moment, I hope. I look at Katherine. Her breaths are ragged, her eyelids heavy.
Then, they close.
And her chest stops rising.
Brevan moves to the hole, then holds her out like an offering. I whisper a silent prayer to Mara right before he drops her.
She falls.
Her hair fans out around her face, her limbs extend. She almost looks like she’s floating.
Suddenly, a roar sounds, and a creature leaps to catch Katherine, jaws open wide, horrible sharp teeth each the size of my forearm. Nostrils exuding smoke and eyes slit like a cat’s. I see horns and claws, and wings that hang beside a massive serpentine body.
They have a dragon.
Twenty-Seven
Terror hasme frozen in place. Bones crunch, then fire roars up from the bottom of the pit, and I jerk back. My captors release me as they scramble away from the hole.
Only Brevan and Caiden remain still.
The scent of brimstone lingers, and I wait, expecting to see more fire, but it’s eerily still, too quiet.
Caiden walks toward me, as proud as a new father holding his babe. “Princess, allow me to escort you to your new rooms. I’m sure you’re tired, and we can’t have you sleeping in a room with a secret passageway out of the castle.”
He loops his arm through mine, and I walk alongside him, numb. Katherine is gone.
And a dragon ate her.
The new room is next door to Juliette’s. She stops by to check on me, but I don’t open the door.
I don’t open it for dinner, either.
When the sun sets and the lamps don’t automatically light, I sit in the dark, staring at the smoldering embers of the dying fire.
I can’t believe she’s gone. I can’t believe that I stood by and did nothing. It could have been me. It should have been me.
It shouldn’t have been anyone.
Because we shouldn’t have to live in a world like this. I ball the fabric of my dress up in my fists. My emotions are a tangled mess. Tears stream down my cheeks but I’m not sure if they’re from sorrow or rage.
