“I figured it out,” Dashiell replied, as if it was obvious.
It wasn’t obvious, but it was clever. Gods, so much had been lost within the temple. Perhaps his beast had been right all these years; they should not have bowed to superstitious dread. They should have been here, reopening the mountain.
“Turn the wheel, then climb in,” Dashiell ordered.
“Don’t do it,” Izzy argued, her eyes shining unnaturally in the flickering light.
Luka didn’t move. “I’m not leaving her.”
“We’re coming too,” Dashiell snapped. “Turn the wheel.”
Izzy kept her eyes on Luka’s. “Don’t. He’ll use us against each other forever.”
Gods, Luka wanted to hold her. To touch her. To tell her that he would do anything for her.
I want to kill Dashiell and throw his body off the mountain in tiny pieces. Then Izzy and I will celebrate… for hours.
That too. Once Izzy was safely at his side, not even Chaos could save Dashiell. Luka glared at the treacherous guard while his beast muttered about ripping out his throat.
Dashiell pressed his blade deeper into Izzy’s precious skin. “She’ll die before you reach me,” he growled.
Izzy must have seen the rage in Luka’s eyes. She leaned forward, almost onto the knife blade. “Do it. Attack him,” she whispered roughly. “Fight. And if I die… then there’ll be nothing to stop you destroying him and the business he’s built on misery.He takes their claws, Luka. The dead drakes’ claws! That’s how he makes Firebreather.”
Luka’s stomach heaved. How could someone do something like that? His own talons burned his fingers like fire.
“If we listen to him now, we’ll be caught forever,” Izzy continued. “He’s going to sell us.” A tear slid down her face, her expression twisting with misery and rage. “Don’t let him.”
Luka paused, suspended between needs. The overpowering drive to kill Dashiell as his beast demanded—to listen to Izzy, do what she asked, and rip apart the man who hurt her—competed with his need to wait. To be careful and cautious. To never, ever, risk her.
His beast withdrew, coiled and alert, but no longer roaring for blood.You’re right.First we save our mate.Thenwe’ll shred the traitor.
“I’m ready,” Izzy urged once more. “Kill him before he takes us down there.”
“No,” Luka rasped. “You’re asking me to do something Icannotdo. I won’t risk you, not like that. So long as we’re together, there’s still hope.” He started to reach for her and then let his hand fall. He didn’t dare touch her. “I love you.”
He didn’t wait to see her reaction. He couldn’t bear to see shock and disbelief in her eyes. Instead, he spun toward the hoist and settled his hands on the wheel. He had to get it moving before Izzy tried to sacrifice herself again.
Chapter
Thirty-Six
Izzy had never felt sohelpless. Not during the frantic hours searching for her brother, or the terrible afternoon she sat with her mother and explained that Rayan was dead, or even when Luka told her he didn’t want her. She’d always had a plan, another idea to try, some hope that things would get better, eventually. But now, all she had were her claws, and she didn’t dare use them.
Luka had finally said he loved her. He’d finally, come for her, but it was too late. Anguish spiraled through her. They were already lost. All they had to look forward to now was pain and heartbreak.
We don’t have a planyet,but we will. We just have to wait for the right time.
Izzy swallowed down her rising panic and tried to believe. They had survived this far.
We can do this.
Okay. She forced her chin up. She had done many hard things in her life. She could do this.
Luka put the lamp on the floor and used both hands to turn the heavy wheel. It ground against its ancient mechanism, and Luka strained to force it to move. The garnet shifted slowlyfrom the open spiral toward a closed circle. As soon as it clicked into its new position, a low vibration began to thrum through the rock. A long hiss and the tink-tink of expanding pipes reverberated somewhere within the wall.
“Well done, Captain. Now get in.” Dashiell tilted his head toward the hoist platform.
“Wait!” Izzy twisted, trying to see Dashiell without cutting herself on his blade any more than she already was. “How do you know it will hold him?”
