My heart dropped, and I swept the velvet aside and slid through as it shut behind me.
“This omen must be a blessing!” the other dragon cried out.
Dumbasses.
A corridor of dark wood stretched ahead, lit by candlelight.Verydifferent from the grandeur of the other room.
My pulse pounded like a drum as Snakey wrapped around my neck.
I crushed it, but now Ineededto find?—
“The basilisk,” a drake’s voice drawled from ahead. “She’ll make a fine drake with Roak’s seed, don’t you think?”
“Perhaps,” another said. “If the creation of a new drake could happen, I am sure it will be from this joining. Maybe Roak will let us have a turn if he doesn’t succeed.”
My vision shifted red as my demon form burst out of me.
I didn’t think; Imoved.I ran down the corridor and into a damned cult chamber with drakes all over the place.
Rune stood in the middle of them, dressed in a long gold silk evening gown that hugged her curves. She wore a fuckingcollarthat made my hands itch to tear off her.
One drake reached to touch her cheek with two fingers like she was a fucking sample for him.
Snakey struck forward and sank his fangs into his wrist before my brain caught up with my body.
The drake grunted in pain as he took a knee.
“Ooh.” I faked a wince. I wanted to rip his fucking heart out. “That looks bad. There’s anti-venom in the healer room. You should check that. I was sent to grab her for the big guy.”
Chaos magic exploded from me, sending the entire room into a tizzy. I was already at Rune’s side, palm at her back.
“Walk,” I told her, lowering my voice.
“Slater—”she hissed, looking at me with accusatory golden eyes.
“Walk,”I snarled.
She stumbled, following my lead until I brought her into a side corridor and then a powder room with way too many fucking mirrors.
I shut and locked the door behind us before I finally allowed myself to breathe again.
She was safe now.
She looked at me as if I were crazy. “You almost blew your cover back there! And mine!”
“Those fucking drakes looked at you like you were theirs.” My magic was sparking around me as I caged her against the wall and slammed my hand against it. “You’renot!”
She went still. The air between us was filled with static. Carefully, she placed her hand on my chest, right over my heart. “I’m not,” she agreed. “They aren’t even real, Slater. They’re simulated drakes.”
“Next time,” I growled, swishing my tail back and forth behind me, “I kill them all.”
“You’ll fail the sim if you do that,” she chuckled breathlessly.
“Worth it for you.”
She huffed but leaned up and pressed a soft kiss to my lips before pulling back. “I’ll be okay, but I have to complete my mission.”
“It’s like my soul is trying to tear out of my skin to get to you when I sense that you’re in danger.” I let out a ragged breath, cupping the back of her neck and tugging her against me. I inhaled her midnight orchid scent as if it were a drug. “Please don’t fault me for that.”
