“We’ll get her back,” Kinsley states with nothing short of absolute conviction that I latch onto, trying to absorb some of his confidence for my own. “Saige is too strong to let her take over forever. She’s been at the mercy of dragons for far too long as it is.”
Exhaling a heavy breath, I nod more to myself than anything. “We still can feel her; Saige isn’t gone. We’ll catch up with them soon.”
Resting my arm against the door, I gaze out the window, straining to catch a glimpse of sapphire somewhere, even if it’s faint. But all that I find are grey skies and snow flurries.
“I just hope it’s before it’s too late.”
Chapter 22
Saige
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Curled up in the snowat the base of a tree, a shiver rocks my body. Since her plan went awry and I showed up shifted, Faye pleaded for me to let her approach the door to the hidden bunker alone, knowing it could go one of two ways. Either they’d kill the boy, blaming it on his presence drawing other dragons near, or they’d simply refuse to open up and we’d stand no shot at getting him out. And honestly, it made me more convinced that I wasn’t walking right into a trap, plenty of space between us to tip me off if she was bringing people back to ambush me.
My dragon on the other hand, isn’t as pleased. She just wants to storm the damn castle and burn the village to the ground despite the fact she can’t breathe fire.
The triplets could though, if they were here.
“They don’t want us,”she snaps, still hurt and nursing her wounded pride.“And why would they when we can’t do anything on our own?”
Sighing, I stop arguing for a bit, knowing she isn’t going to hear me anyway. She has tunnel vision right now and has pointedly ensured the guys are outside of it. Instead, her focus is on Faye, on proving that we matter; even if it’s for the worst possible reason.
When the minutes turn into an hour, and then another, even I can’t stand waiting around here anymore; mentally or physically. Rising to our feet, we start pacing, trying to get our blood pumping. That lasts a whopping five minutes before she has enough, turning on her heel and stalking Faye’s fading footprints in the snow towards the human hideout. With the rate the snow is piling up, we would have lost all hope of tracking her if we’d waited too much longer.
We trek at least a mile, finding Faye outside of a pitted cliff. It extends high above us in a nearly solid wall before the snow covered ledge, leaving us at the bottom of the drop off. A sudden lurch of terror surfaces, and for once, I’m immensely grateful that I’m not in control, that my better half can keep on unfazed. Because while it may not be a mountain and these shallow caves are a far cry from tunnels, with the way Faye is heatedly arguing with a couple of men inside of one of the alcoves, it proves there’s something hiding inside of the intimidating terrain after all.
“What the hell did you do?” one of the men hisses at Faye, taking a step back.
“You sold us out,” the other accuses, reaching towards the ground and wrenching a panel up.
Faye shakes her head, gesturing for me to stay back as she continues to plead with them. “I didn’t! Please, I just want to help. She can help! He doesn’t have to die,” she chokes out.
All the while I continue to prowl closer, my dragon ignoring her gestures since it’s clear she isn’t making any headway. My head lowers as my jaw slowly opens, an ungodly loud sound echoing across the seemingly abandoned terrain, amplified by all of the shallow caves.
The panel on the floor slams shut, sealing all of our fates. Faye shrieks in frustration before sinking to the ground, smacking the frozen stone. “You don’t even want him!” she screams, voice echoing across the desolate landscape.
