Dyris opens her wings and sets the cage swinging again as she pushes away, beating hard to get into the air. Her tail, unlike the males, is forked at the end, swirling in the eddies of the wind.
The arc of the cage slows after a while, and I am alone once more. I doubt I’ve got through to Dyris, but at least I know a bit more as to why I’m in this cage. As usual, it’s revenge.
I release a slow sigh. Nothing changes. I want revenge for losing my mum. She was my rock, and cancer took her far too soon. Mum wanted me to fight it, to fight for her. She wanted me to raise money for more research into the disease and to continue empowering women with the skill she passed on to me. Revenge was never in the question, and as much as I hated the way cancer turned her into a shell of her former self, robbing her of her life, she never lost her spark or her desire to help others.
She was a beacon in my old world, as she is a beacon in my new one.
There may be no hope for Dyana, but these female Sarkarniihaveto survive for the sake of the Sarkarnii on Vorostor. Theyall have to have the opportunity to meet, to fall in love, to be together, as I have with Dalox.
Wait.
What?
Fall in love?
I can’t be serious. I don’tloveDalox, do I?
Just because we’ve…
It doesn’t mean…
And how long have I known him…
Nah.
Nah.
Oh, shit. My heart squeezes in my chest once again, flip flopping like it’s a fish out of water, trying to get my attention.
I can’t possibly love him. I can’t feel anything like love. My heart is supposed to still be in mourning. There’s not supposed to be any space left for anyone else. Especially a great big, scaly male with smoldering eyes and a voice you could grate bone with.
Love isn’t supposed to strike in the midst of despair. But the way my heart is behaving, it most definitely has.
DALOX
Some of my strength has returned, and I am able to sit up. However, my shift is not working, and my head thumps as if I’ve fallen into an entire vat of ale-wine and had to drink my way out.
There are chains on my wrists and ankles. Whilst I have attempted to free myself, I have not been successful, and until this venom has left my system, I doubt I will be.
By which point, I expect the females will have come up with another way of holding me.
It had better be a good one, or they will be regretting their actions swiftly thereafter.
With my head a little clearer, I’m contemplating the fact there are female Sarkarnii here on Vorostor, after we thought they had all died. Did Deus know? Was it the reason he lost his senses?
I shake my head, although it’s something I regret given the way my brain seems to slosh around inside it. I’m sure Darax said something about a lost mate being the reason for his brother’s insanity.
Even so, you’d have thought he might have mentioned female Sarkarnii who survived the great virus which decimated the rest.
“Nev you, Deus,” I grumble to myself.
“I doubt I’ve done anything to deserve your ire,” a voice rasps in my ear. “Especially as I’m here to help you escape.”
The two chains on my wrists have gone.
“Escape?”
“I presume you were going to attempt it at some point,” the voice growls. “I got bored waiting.”
