“Where is he?” I whispered, both of us searching the empty cell.
“Here, my lady,” came a deep, accented voice.
In the shadowed corner, two golden orbs shone, like the eyes of a demon in the dark. Then the Visigoth king stepped into the pool of light.
XVITRAJAN
There was no stopping the growl that instantly rumbled in my chest. Though the king was behind bars, my dragon knew he was a threat, and he seemed unaware that he let his beast be known through the glowing fire in his eyes. Julian hadn’t been wrong. This Germanic king of the Visigoth barbarians was a dragon.
He was formidable in size as any dragon in human form. Wearing only trousers, he was covered in all manner of filth from hisparade through the forum, bearing the onslaught of the crowds. His dark hair was long and matted, his facial features sharp and hard. Savage.
But it wasn’t his presence that sparked the air with a drugging sort of enchantment. It was Lela. A tantalizing sweep of ethereal energy encircled the chamber. The Visigoth tilted his head up and inhaled deeply.
“What kind of sorceress has come to my cell?”
He spoke Latin. Interesting.
“A powerful one,” she answered confidently. “I am Lela, and this is Trajan. What is your name?”
He crossed his arms, mouth tilting with amusement. “Alaric. This is quite the civil secret visitation to my jail cell.”
I pushed back the hood of my cloak, drawing his attention to me. His features tightened as he stared me down. Enough of the civilities.
“Why haven’t you shifted into a dragon to try and save yourself?”
He remained preternaturally still. Then the beast in his eyes dimmed, as if he hadn’t known he’d let me see the truth. He shoved his dragon back, away from the surface.
“I’ve been holding that information close to me,” he said, glancing at Lela again. “But she’s drawn him out.”
Lela’s magic could certainly do that. Like knows like. Her gift came from the gods, the same as ours.
“You’re a witch,” he stated, without animosity.
“I am,” Lela answered easily, surprising me.
“I watched what you did to that guard. You make men obey your word with a taste of their blood,” he said. “That is a useful skill.” He tilted his head, observing us both keenly. “Too bad you use it to help the Romans.”
There was no mistaking the disgust in his voice.
“I help this Roman to help myself,” said Lela.
“And why would you use your magic to help this Roman?” His gaze slid to me.
“I think you might find,” I said, easing closer to the bars, “that we have similar interests.”
“Oh? You have an interest in freeing me from this cell?”
“I do,” I told him. “But I’m curious, why won’t you simply shift?” I examined the ceiling made entirely of clay and stone. “Any dragon could burst out of here easily enough without damage to himself. Though you would have to battle the deathriders in the skies once free of this cell.”
“How did you know I was a dragon? No one else has guessed.”
“We’ve met before. Or actually, you met my general. He was the one who saw you for what you are. Besides, we figured there was only one way out of those woodlands you set on fire and that was your men blending in with ours, in dragon form.”
The barbarian king smiled. “You were in Moesia then.”
“I was.”
“How is your general? Did he die of the wound?”
