“We screwed up the raid on the market,” Florian said.
“Screwed up?”
“I took three squads,” he said. “Plus the four that came back with Dirk needing to let off steam. Over two score of us.”
“It wasn’t enough,” Dirk said analytically, the voice of someone reviewing their mistake. “That place was a maze. We went from room to room, Caz. Rounded up everyone we could. But there wereso damn manyrooms. We missed a lot.”
“Many of the hunters left their, uh, wares behind,” Florian said, stumbling over the term to use for the living slaves. “More focused on fleeing and protecting themselves than anything else.”
“But not all.” I understood now their meaning and their apologies.
“We got as many as we could. We focused on those trying to take prisoners,slaves, with them,” Florian said, his eyes cold and hard. “Chased some of them down.”
“Whereare they now?”
“In the old dungeons,” Dirk said. “The ones in the east wing. We brought blankets and some bedding, food, etc. They’re well taken care of for tonight at least. Except for the ferals. I know you were looking for dragons but I couldn’t leave them there. Not with those bastards.”
If anything, Dirk hated the hunters more than I did. Not that I could blame him either.
“What did you do with them?”
“They’re in one of the old storage rooms down there,” Dirk said, rubbing at his arm. “They didn’t want to come peacefully.”
I noted the long, red welt on his right arm, a clear indication of a cut that was healing.
“Any sign of her friends?” I could have asked Dirk how he let a feral wolf cut him up. I also could have gotten upset that so many escaped their grasp. But there was no use in that. The fault lay in me at the end of it all. The operation was hasty and very basic in its planning. I’d been to the market. I knew it was a rat’s maze of tunnels and rooms.
If anyone should have known that more men were needed, it was me. I was the Ice Tyrant, and there was no one to pass the buck to. Chewing out my men wouldn’t help.
“Nobody spoke up who would identify as a Milly or Ella,” Florian said, but he shrugged in frustration. “None of them really were overly talkative. They could just as easily be in thebunch and not want to identify themselves.”
I grunted agreement, glancing back at the closed door. My dragon was beginning to get antsy at being so far away from Anna. We were supposed to be in front of her door. Protecting her. Not out talking in the halls.
“Anna will go down with me when she wakes,” I said. “Hopefully, they’ll see us together and realize they aren’t in any danger.”
“What do we do with the rest of them?” Florian asked quietly.
“Knock out the ferals and dump them in the wilds,” I said, taking care of the easy part first. “That can happen anytime. Her friends are dragons, so we won’t be risking missing them. Give anyone else the option of the wilds, staying in the dungeons for the time being, or being set free in Kylma.”
“I’ll handle the ferals,” Florian said, immediately volunteering to set out for the wilds.
Dirk and I didn’t bat an eye. Florian spent as much time out there as he could when his duties didn’t require him to be in the Ice Citadel.
“See to it all,” I told Florian, who nodded deeply.
“Of course, Alpha. It will be done.”
I bid them a good night, and returned to the room. Stealing silently across the floor, I paused outside the door, taking a deep breath in throughmy nose.
There, under the smells I was most accustomed to, was that hint of vanilla and cinnamon that called to me with its delicate nature.
I leaned against the wall and prepared to spend all night breathing her in. The hours would fly by.
My dragon purred contentedly right alongside me.
Eleven
Anna
