I’ve lost control of the prison, and I know exactly who to blame.
As soon as the lights in the arena sputtered out, the magical contract broke. Not on my end, I held up my side of the deal. Barely, but S’lach clearly got tired of waiting for results.
He severed our contract, and now I’m free of it.
I sprint through the corridors, heart pounding. It’s too soon to be relieved; the danger has just begun.
The cages are open, monsters of all shapes and sizes are roaming the halls, and Celine is among them. How did S’lach manage this? I should have suspected he was plotting something. The calculation on his face. The way his rage suddenly cooled.
If he contracted the other veydran, any chance of survival is slim. The monster realm will be torn to pieces, and Celine and I will be devoured in the process.
I should let it happen. Except something is tugging on mychest, yanking me deeper into the labyrinth of halls beneath the arena. An instinct as real as my pulse and as painful as a splinter made of glass.
I run, making turns on reflex alone until I find her. Red hair gleaming in the flickering floor lights, she tiptoes along the edge of the tunnel.
My breath escapes in a puff.
Maybe there’s a chance. I can get her out through the back—A roar shakes the tunnel. My blood runs cold; I’d recognize that sound anywhere.
Crag is after her. Thirty-feet tall and born to track, he’s the monster who hunts the others down. He’s hated Celine since losing a toe during the fight by the portal. If he’s here in this tunnel,then I’ve lost whatever flimsy control I once had over him too.
I’ve lost control of everything. Even myself.Especiallymyself.
I lunge for Celine, grabbing her arm and narrowly dodging her swinging blade. I cover her mouth with my hand, press my lips to her ear, and whisper, “Be quiet, please. Crag will hear us.”
She relaxes against me for a split second, then stiffens again.
The floor vibrates.Damnation, this deception runs deep.S’lach must have recruited all the veydran to make a mutiny of this magnitude happen.
A wet inhale, loud and raspy, ricochets around the corner.
Godsdammit. If we run, he’ll be on us in a heartbeat.
“Get behind me,” I whisper. “Under my cloak.”
For a second, she doesn’t move. Celine doesn’t trust me. Why should she? Her brow furrows, lips parting as she weighs her options. When she retracts her wings and scoots under my cloak, I can barely contain my sigh of relief.
Reaching back, I slice my hand on her blade and spread the blood all over my other arm. The cut drips on the floor, and I squeeze it several times, spilling as much blood as I can.
Celine braces against my back. “What are you doing?”
“Shh.” I press her against the wall, then drive the heel of my boot into the closest floor light until it flickers and dies. “Don’t move or make a sound. Our lives depend on it.”
Fingers curl around my waist and squeeze, a sign I interpret as agreement. If she wasn’t going to play along, she’d have extracted my spine with her longsword and used it as a garrote to strangle our pursuer.
“Hey,” I shout. “Crag, over here.” His sense of smell and memory are unmatched, but his eyesight is weak. I’m hoping my blood is enough to distract him.
Celine’s fingers flex around the hilt of her sword, which is wedged against the back of my right thigh. It’s the only move she makes, and I’m impressed once again by her nerves of steel.
Crag rounds the corner, and I wave my bloody arm at him, then point down the corridor. “The angel has escaped,” I say gruffly. “She went that way. Bring her to me.”
He tilts his colossal reptilian head, bares his teeth, and inhales deeply.
Beneath my cloak, I make a fist, putting pressure on the cut until more blood drips to the floor. “You follow my orders,” I snarl. “If the angel gets away, this whole trap will be for nothing. Our payday depends on you finding her!”
I’m taking a risk. Pretending I’m part of this scheme and hoping Crag doesn’t know that I’ve been forcibly excised from the command structure. Most veydran wouldn’t dream of including a monster in their plans. I can only hope he’s following orders and doesn’t have the whole picture.
Crag takes a lumbering step toward me and drops his crocodilian head to my level. His snout is bigger than my entire skull. When he sniffs again, my hair blows back, tickling the sides ofmy neck.
