She felt…guilt. For her deceit? For leading me here?
And where there was guilt, there was weakness.
I nearly grinned but I watched with narrowed eyes as she darted from the room, not looking at me again. Weakness I could exploit. That weakness would be what freed me from this prison.
Turning my head, I saw the human male watching me. I showed him my teeth, especially considering he looked wary. His nostrils flared, he took a step back, and then seemed to catch himself.
Another male appeared behind him. The one who I assumed had been snoring in the hallway, the lazy guard. In my horde, he would have been sent back toDothikhad I caught him.
They were undisciplined. Disorganized. Leaving the door open to my chambers and not chaining my tail. Letting a female of theirs freely enter without supervision, when I could have easily killed her.
What kind of place was this? And who was the leader that took responsibility for this?
“Send for Benn,” Jacques told the bleary-eyed male. “Tell him the horde king is awake.”
It seemed like I was about to find out.
Chapter Seven
Now that I was alone, I tested the cuffs encircling my wrists. They were tight around my ownVorakkarcuffs, the golden metal that theDothikkarhad placed on me shortly after completing the Trials. A symbol of service to Dakkar, to my horde.
Just as I suspected, the chains were blackened Dakkari steel. Unbreakable. Next, I tugged on it. It attached to a thick loop in the stone table, which was situated just above my head. Tugging hard, I felt the cuffs bite into my flesh and felt the tension of the chain snapping tight—but the loop didn’t give. With time, however, perhaps I could weaken the stone.
Examining my shackles, I saw that they could only be released with a key. But the weapons master at my horde, themitri, worked with Dakkari steel often. Perhaps he could release them if I managed to escape the chain.
I paused.
Then again, if what the female said was the truth, I was in the Dead Mountain. Likely deep underground.
At first, I had dismissed her words.
Surely, the humans would’ve succumbed to the red fog long before we reached the entrance of the Ghertun’s stronghold. And even then…where were the Ghertun? We had long suspected them dead…or that they had gone deep underground to hide from the fog. We didn’t know how it affected them but many died the day that the human queen of theVorakkarof Rath Drokka used Kakkari’s heartstone here.
None had spotted a single Ghertun since.
Had they truly been wiped out? Had the humans found a tunnel that led inside the mountain and decided to make their home here in the Ghertun’s absence?
That seemed the likeliest of possibilities.
It still didn’t explain whyIwas here, however.
Escape would be difficult if we were in the Dead Mountain. Because endless fog blanketed this place and these lands. Just like it had earlier, the fog would take my strength quickly. I would never reach the edge of it before that happened.
And my horde…
Valavik, mypujerak, would realize that something was amiss when I didn’t return for the morning training session. Or if Okan returned without me. He probably knew already, was probably rounding updarukkarsto lead a search for me.
I growled in frustration, pulling at my chains. The last thing I wanted were mydarukkarsventuring into the fog for me, risking their lives for me. Valavik had warned me to stay away from this place and yet I had done what I thought would serve us best.
In the end, I’d doomed myself.
I thrashed at the chains, twisting and pulling for long moments. My nostrils flared with the effort. The majority of my strength had yet to return to me. My head was throbbing and my throat felt like I’d swallowed a mouthful of sand.
Save your strength, I told myself, forcing myself to still when the chains didn’t budge.
I would need it.
My skin prickled just then and my gaze flashed to the door. Torchlight flickered underneath it and a moment later, I heard the handle unlatch and then the door creaked open on old hinges.
