“Don’t feign stupidity, Panos,” I growled. “You know why I’m here.”
His brows winged upwards. “Oh?”
“If you haven’t figured it out, then I’m certainly not going to tell you.” I stepped forward, pulling my spear from my back.
Panos danced back down the path, far out of range of my weapon. “You seem to be missing the mortal girl. A pity, really. She could have helped you get through the portal.”
“You are an idiot for coming here, Panos. I will tear your head from your body.” I ripped off my left glove and tossed it onto the mossy ground. “And I will make sure it hurts like hell when I burn the flesh from your bones.”
Giggling, Panos rushed to my side. He was toying with me now, and I had no time for games. I flew forward with a roar, raising my spear high in the air. I shoved it toward his head, but he dodged to the left.
If only I could get my hands on him, I would turn his body to ash. Again. I knew it was hopeless. He’d only grow right back. He always did. But right now, I just wanted to make him burn for what he’d taken from me.
I’d held in my wrath for far too long. Someone needed to pay.
“Careful, Yuto,” he said in a singsong voice. “Or you’ll transform into a monster just like me.”
“I already am a monster!” I shouted at him.
My words echoed all around me, a chilling reminder that I wasn’t wrong. I’d done so many terrible deeds over the course of my life. Sometimes, I wondered if I really did deserve this fate. Perhaps Inishfall was right to keep me here. Because if I escaped, blood would paint the lands.
“Where did she go, Yuto?” Panos asked, stilling for just a moment in his strange dance with fate and death. “I want the girl.”
“I know you want her,” I growled, tossing all caution to the wind. It didn’t matter if he knew where she went. He couldn’t get to her now. “That’s why I sent her back through the portal. She’s out of your greedy little grasp now. Not that it makes any difference. Because I’m about to boil the blood in your veins.”
Panos clapped and then vanished into thin air. Rage bellowed from my throat as I tipped back my head to face the sky. The loss of Callista still burned in my veins. She’d been in my Thunder the longest of anyone. She knew my darkest secrets, and I knew hers. She would have protected them with her life.
And I had failed her.
Hell, I’d failed them all. If only I’d seen the warning signs from Lysandra, I never would have left the court in her hands. Galen would still be alive. I closed my eyes and sagged against the nearest tree.
How could I call myself the Lord of Dragons when all I did was fail?
At least Aradia was safe. She’d never see Panos again.
26
Aradia
When I stepped through the portal, I hoped to find Yuto there waiting for me. Instead, I found someone else.
Panos loomed from the shadows, his weed of a body backlit by a moon that glowed red. Swallowing hard, I stumbled back. The portal shimmered only inches away. All I had to do was sprint toward it, and I’d be safe.
“I don’t think so,” Panos said, whispering out of the darkness and latching his fingers around my wrist. He squeezed tight, and sharp shockwaves of pain raced up my arm. Panos was far stronger than he looked.
I ground my teeth together and blocked it all out. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing just how much he’d hurt me. I refused to wince or grimace, and I especially refused to cry out.
“I know you think you’ve won,” I said with all the strength and fury I could muster. “But you’re wrong. I can’t take you back through the portal. It won’t work.”
Panos giggled, a high-pitched squeal that shook the steel surrounding my frazzled nerves. The sound wasn’t anything close to human. “Do you think I didn’t puzzle that out for myself, girl? Otherwise, Yuto would have already used you to escape. No, the portal won’t let you leave with one of the island’s prisoners. A shame, really. I would have liked to get a taste of your city’s flesh.”
Revulsion roiled through me. “Then, what the hell do you want from me?”
A stupid question. I knew what Panos wanted. My blood. He’d feast on me just like he’d feasted on all those bodies we’d found in the forest. Swallowing down my terror, I scanned the nearby trees. I needed to get to Yuto, not only to save my own skin but to save his, too. It had been a few hours since he’d pushed me through the portal. He’d be halfway home by now. If I screamed, he wouldn’t hear me.
“Looking for your lover?” Panos sneered as he jerked at my arm and snared my attention once again. “He’s long gone. He can’t save you now, girl.”
“Maybe I don’t need him to save me,” I whispered.
