Opponents who wanted her dead and gone for no real reason. There was no negotiating with any of them as they wouldn’t be deterred from their goals. They were too determined to destroy her for their own petty greed and wants.
As a dragon, she didn’t require much and wanted even less. Most of the time, she just wanted to be left alone.
Because of all that, she didn’t like others as a rule. The handful she’d put her faith in had betrayed her, thinking to advance themselves with her family or other nobles.
Or they’d actively plotted against her for no reason, other than entertainment. Only her brother and his wife had ever been kind to her. Davin had done his best to protect her and shelter her from their father’s wrath, and their sisters’ viciousness.
She didn’t like the games that others played with dragons’ lives. So she’d avoided those snares and the dramatics that went with them. “I’ve never had to negotiate before.”
“It shows. I should warn you before you traipse through the human world, humans will not play fairly with you. They’ll destroy your innocence. Think long and hard before you agree to this, because the knowledge of being human cannot be undone. Not even by magick.”
Tanis knew he was right. Humans preyed on weakness and innocence, even more so than unicorns. She’d only been in their world once and it still fed her nightmares.
She loathed them all and had vowed to never go near their world again. Not for anything.
But that old grudge no longer mattered. She had to see this through.
For Davin.
No matter what her father said or what punishment he’d deal to her later, she couldn’t allow Davin’s head to be some man’s trophy. To be paraded around and mocked. It sickened her all the way to her soul every time she thought about how they were treating Davin’s remains.
When she’d fought her way back home after she’d been taken and abused, and her father had wanted to banish her again, Davin, alone, had made sure that she wasn’t a complete outcast.
Now, it was time for her to return that favor. She just wished he was alive to see it.
Pushing down memories she’d give anything to purge, she forced herself to do what was right. “I don’t care so long as I kill that human beast. Painfully. With relish. Lots and lots of relish. And even more bloodshed.”
“Are you sure you don’t care? Because the price for magick of this magnitude is always the one thing you value most.”
There was a note in his voice that warned her against this. One that told her to run as far away as she could. But she was set on her course.
Besides, what could he demand from her that hadn’t already been taken? Brutally.
At least this time, she had a choice.
There was nothing left in her life that she valued. Davin had been it.
“Name your price, Unicorn.”
The unicorn stared into her eyes for a moment as if he could see all the way into her battered and weary soul. “Then the price is your freedom.”
You’ve got to be kidding me...
Tears caught in her throat as she realized that there had been one last shred of something she valued. One last semblance she’d managed to hold on to, even though they’d taken it from her for a while.
Of course, he wanted to own her. What had she been thinking? He was a unicorn. They were soulless animals, just like the humans they worked with and sheltered.
Why would this one be any different?
Just set fire to him and to the village.Kill them all and be done with it.
That was the sanest course of action. Safest, too. And why not?
Haven’t I suffered enough?
But Davin deserved honor. He’d been a true hero, and he’d taught her better. She wouldnevershame his memory. He deserved to be buried whole. To have a sanctified funeral, surrounded by those who’d loved him, and placed in the catacombs with their noble ancestors.
His children deserved to bury their father with that honor. How could she deprive them of that?
