A terrible warmth raced up my hand when I touched the band in the box. I picked it up and dropped the box. Slipped the bone band onto my pinkie.
For a brief moment, it dangled loosely around my finger. Too big. Grotesquely curved. Then it seemed to... shrink into place.
And everything changed.
Dark, delicious chills ran through me in waves.
I felt relief. I felt stronger. I felt...
Rapture.
“No!” Rothwild shouted. A madman. Enraged. Like a whip, he lunged at me through the bars. Reached for my throat. Wanted to choke me. I seized his arm, and for one fevered moment, we were wild animals. Grappling. Shouting. Arms everywhere. He was too strong. His other arm flew through the bars and clutched my throat.
Pain seared through me. Breath left me. He was going to break my neck.
THUMP-THUMP-swish. THUMP-THUMP-swish.
Flailing, my fingers flew to his rings. Slipped. Found purchase.
And twisted.
Behind me, a big fist extended and slammed down on Rothwild’s arm. The madman howled and released my neck. I gasped for air as Father’s arm wrapped around my chest and pulled.
I was yanked backward.
Still gripping Rothwild’s finger. The knuckle gave. Skin tore. The finger held, but it didn’t matter.
I fell back against my father with Rothwild’s bloodied bands in my grip.
“No-o-o-o!”he bellowed, retracting his arms. He flung his ringless hand, shaking out the pain. Maybe I’d dislocated his finger. I didn’t care. While he struggled with a trembling hand to force his key into the lock—while his robed goons raced toward us—I tugged the too-snug band off my finger with no small effort and quickly slotted it into Rothwild’s bands.
It was easy. Just like Huck’s gum-wrapper demonstration. My band fit in the middle of the others. They clicked together like magnets and formed a circular dragon design on the top.
Vlad Dracula’s war ring. Made from human bone and blood. Cursed. Powerful.
Mine.
I slipped the puzzle ring onto my pinkie, felt it tighten against my skin.
Part of me. Bone against bone.
My knees weakened. I swayed on my feet as my vison went red. Rothwild, the cavern... all of it filtered through a dark, crimson haze.
THUMP.
THUMP.
THUMP.
Steady. Strong. In unison. It was a pulse, not a heartbeat. The pulse of something big and old and mighty.
The Dragon.
It was awake.
It was inside me.
It was me.
