“It shouldn’t be possible. That’s what everyone told me. The bite of avirutudragon is deadly. I was supposed to die, but I killed him first. Then, instead of dying, I lay paralyzed by his venom as it slowly dripped into me from his teeth embedded right here…”
He found the side slit in his skirt and flung the fabric aside, revealing his legs.
A scream caught in my throat. The gleaming white bones stood in a stark contrast to the darkness of the night. His feet were shaped like those of an animal, with his heels extended into hocks that bent backwards. The long bones of his toes ended with curved talons. His left thigh remained normal with skin stretched over hard muscles and a triple sheath with throwing knives strapped to it.
But his right leg was just bones below the knee. The outside of his right thigh was covered by the white, flat scales, similarto the scales on his upper arm. A crescent-shaped indentation marred the scales in the middle of his thigh, as if the flesh under them had sunk into the bone beneath.
Timur dug the claws of his right hand into the indentation.
“Right here,” he said, grinding his teeth. “The dragon’s bite. This is where his poison seeped into my body for several weeks after his death until they found me. For weeks, I just lay there, unable to move a muscle, as it spread through me, rotting my body from the inside.”
“Oh God…” I closed my eyes, unable to imagine the full horror of what he must’ve felt while dying a slow torturous death and fully aware that he could do nothing to stop it. “How did you survive? Why didn’t it kill you?”
He exhaled a long breath.
“I don’t know. Nobody knows. A hag told me that because the poison was not released all at once but instead dripped into my body slowly for weeks, it didn’t kill me outright. But it will still kill me.”
“What do you mean?” I swallowed hard as worry dried my throat. “The poison is gone, isn’t it? The dragon is no longer here.”
“The dragon isn’t, but his poison remains in my veins, and it never stopped taking over my body.”
I ran both hands through my hair, staring out into the vast darkness of the ocean below. Still a day ago, I didn’t care whether Timur lived or died. Maybe I would’ve even preferred him dead if it gave me my freedom back. Now, dread seized my heart with icy fingers.
Was compassion at the root of it? Maybe. But I also dreaded for my future. As a human, I feared I had no chance of survival in Ashgate on my own. One way or another, a fae would claim their ownership over me. At least Timur was someone I couldcommunicate with, which was infinitely better than being at the mercy of someone cruel like Ray.
“What if it takes over your body completely? Will you die? Or will you turn into a dragon?” I asked, holding my breath in anticipation of his answer.
“I’m not turning into avirutudragon, Sweet One. Not exactly,” he replied slowly, as if unsure of the answer himself. He gestured at his face. “This is not how they look.Virutudragons are creatures made of blood and flesh. They have black scales on the outside and black skin underneath. Their bones are white, but they’re inside their bodies, covered with flesh, skin, and scales. What I am…” He glanced down at his deformed, skeletal feet, then yanked the fabric of his skirt over them, hiding them from view. “No one knows what I am or what I will become at the end. What happened to me has never happened to anyone else. All I know is that it’s been ten years since the bite, and all these years, I’d been slowly losing parts of my body to the poison and pain. I’ve lost everything of the life I used to have—from the people I held dear, to the position I honored, to the status and respect I’d worked hard to earn.”
His voice remained even. He wasn’t bemoaning his fate but simply telling me the facts.
“I’m so sorry, Timur,” I said and meant it with all my heart.
He held my gaze for one long moment, not searching for sympathy or even an acknowledgement but simply giving me time to absorb his words.
“You asked what I want from you,” he said softly, but there was no plea in his words, only the usual quiet force that told me he’d get what he needed from me, no matter what.
“I did,” I confirmed carefully, my heart beating faster in my chest.
Having learned the truth about him, I understood Timur was a man with his back to the wall, facing the world that had notbeen kind to him. If he had a plan, there was nothing that could get in his way because he had nothing to lose.
“I spent years living off the mercy of others while rapidly losing friends, dignity, and honor,” he said grimly. “What I want now is gold.”
“Do you think money will buy back everything you’ve lost?”
He scoffed bitterly. “Not even close, my sweet little thing. But enough gold will allow me to get the fuck out of this gods-forsaken place. It will buy me a comfortable place to live, enough food and water, and…” he winced, his voice breaking off, but he stilled himself with a firm breath, “and servants to do things for me I likely won’t be able to do on my own very soon.”
The dragon poison didn’t kill him at once as it should’ve. Instead it’d been killing him slowly ever since that bite. Sooner or later, it would finish him by claiming the rest of his body. Timur was deteriorating, and he knew it. Coming to Ashgate and buying me had been his last desperate bet on a chance to die with dignity.
“What I want from you,” he continued, “is to keep enjoying every meeting I arrange with the people who will pay for your joy, so that I can repay what I’ve borrowed, then save enough money to last me for whatever time I still have left in this world.”
I stared at him, speechless. Grotesque and misshapen as he was, I found it hard to look away. His shimmering skin blended with the night while the bones glimmered starkly, keeping my gaze on them. He’d covered his legs, but his arm, shoulder, and face remained exposed, with his red eye glowing in the dark like smoldering coal.
Now I knew what he was. He was many things—a soldier who fought for his queen, who must’ve abandoned him once he was no longer useful; a man trying to get back on his feet, even as his legs no longer held him; a pleasure trader who boughtme at an auction. He was a criminal I should hate. But instead, compassion squeezed my heart.
Except that Timur didn’t ask for my compassion. He didn’t need me to feel sorry for him. What he asked for was my cooperation. By the laws of this world, I was his property, with no rights and no power. But maybe, I could use this fucked-up situation to get something out of it too.
“How much money do you need?” I asked. “Do you have a certain number in mind?”
