He nodded briefly, sheathing his sword.
“And Zayr,” I stopped him before he left. “Don’t give any formal promises or vows to any man or woman ever again, do you hear me? If it gets tough, find me in Teneris.”
“Teneris?” He raised an eyebrow. “Is that where you’re going from here?”
“Yes.”
As Zayr left, the woman under my arm turned her head to see who was holding her. Just a glance at me was enough to send her into a fit of terrified screams and desperate struggle against my grip.
“Shh,” I tried to soothe her, which wasn’t an easy task when looking the way I did. “I’ll keep you safe. Ray is gone. No one will touch you against your will ever again. I’ll make sure of it.”
She stopped screaming, but only because she’d run out of breath, exhausted. Taking her with me, I flew down the corridor that Zayr had pointed at for me. The ceiling was lower here, and the walls came closer together, leaving hardly any space for me to fly. I couldn’t walk, but I would crawl to Elaine if I had to.
Thankfully, the corridor remained just wide enough for me to fly all the way until white curtains closed off the space ahead of me. The light material swayed in the draft blowing through the tunnels. There were no guards here. They either ran off, trying to escape Prince Rha’s army or Mazra had never posted them in the first place.
Moans came from behind the curtains, curdling my blood with terror. Rage gripped me by my throat, making it hard to breathe. Struggling to keep it under control, I carefully sat the human woman down and noticed with relief that she was steady enough to stand on her own.
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“I’m not going back in there,” she warned, giving the curtains a hostile glare.
“I have no time to take you to safety,” I explained. “If you run outside alone, someone will catch you, and it may not be someone you want. Stay close. I promise I won’t leave you here with them.”
She glanced down the corridor, then gave me a long assessing look, taking it all in from my red dragon eye to the wings moving behind my back to the tail lashing around behind me.
“Where will you take me after?” She swallowed, her voice strained. “What do you mean by safety?”
“Teneris.”
“Back to Teneris?” She sighed, biting her lip in the gesture that painfully reminded me of Elaine, urging me to run to her. “To Prince Rha’ssaraiagain?”
“Yes,” I said quickly, burning with impatience. “Unless you prefer staying and dying in Ashgate.”
“No, I…” She kept staring at me while keeping cautiously to the wall. “What are you?”
Fuck, I didn’t have time for this. But I couldn’t just leave her here, either, not without making sure she’d do as I said.
“I’m someone who will get you out of here soon and won’t feed you any magical tea against your will,” I snapped.
“Teneris is fine,” she finally conceded, then scowled at the curtains again. “Better than here.”
“Good. Stay close then.”
“My name is Mia,” she said.
I nodded. “Come with me, Mia. But watch out because theywillattack me.”
Tearing the curtains off the hooks, I tossed them aside. The corridor widened here, opening into a cave with a high ceiling. White curtains divided the space into sections with moans coming from behind them all. I yanked aside the curtain closest to me.
Mazra lifted her head from the crotch of a human man lying on his back on a pallet of blankets. All six of her tendrils were buried deep in hisleilathas.
“Close the curtains. Erik doesn’t like being watched,” she hissed over her shoulder. Her attention remained on his cock with her hand replacing her mouth.
“Where is Elaine?” I growled in a hoarse voice I hardly recognized myself.
Mazra jerked her head, turning to me. Her eyes seemed clearer than Ray’s, though it still took her a moment to focus.
“You…” she snarled, bearing her fangs.
