Chapter 6
Chapter Six
MARI
The hours go by too quickly. I don’t eat or drink what Tor thoughtfully packed for me because my stomach is in knots and I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll throw up all over my fuzzy little transport platform.
Despite the fact that I feel like I’m going to my death, flying is a lot more comfortable like this. Although the pallet swings around in the wind, the makeshift seatbelt keeps me anchored so I don’t get flung around too much.
I’m tempted to tell them to stop several times but it’s just delaying the inevitable.
There’s no staying in the odd little bubble we had at the dam, and there’s no escape, no going back to the way my life was before.
I spend the hours as the pallet swings trying to resign myself to my new reality, hoping that the past few days with Tor and Brax wasn’t some perverted joke.
I can’t help but wonder if this was all a weird charade to break me though.
Maybe they do this to all their ‘Tributes’.
The thought leaves me curling into a ball in the middle of the bundle I’m encased in, but then the sensation of warmth suffuses me, and I feel Brax at the edges of my mind.
He’s concerned, but trying to give me assurances, I think.
There aren’t any words, but I focus on him as I huddle in the fur-covered pallet and close my eyes.
The slight thump of the landing takes me by surprise and my heart begins to beat painfully hard as I sit up and try to steel myself to whatever’s coming next. Neither Brax nor Tor have been forthcoming about their home. Lair?
The edges of the fur fall away, and I take in my new surroundings. We’re in a huge cave with a high, naturally vaulted ceiling. It’s dim, but not dark so I can easily make out the space.
‘So, this is the Tribute,’ says a low, female voice from right behind me that makes me jump and twist my head quickly to look.
There’s a woman there. Tall and muscular with long, black hair in a high ponytail. She’s wearing the same kind of clothes as I am under my many layers of furs.
Her eyes are cold and assessing. They focus on my hair for a beat too long. ‘My, my. Aziel is going to have a field day with you.’
I glance around and swallow hard, trying to locate Tor and Brax, but it’s only the former I see. He’s throwing on his clothes nearby. He looks up at the female’s voice, a bored expression on his face, but says nothing.
She finally takes her eyes off me and turns to him. They narrow slightly. ‘Your protégé returned here days ago. What took you so long, teacher?’
The last word is practically spat as if Tor is beneath her, and I frown when his head dips a little in deference to her.
I’d known Tor wasn’t in charge here, but by the way she speaks, and his body language, I’m suddenly wondering how far down the pecking order he actually is. And what that might mean for me.
‘Injury and the storm delayed me,’ is all he says, not looking at her.
She snorts and turns back to me.
‘Get up,’ she orders. ‘Lose the furs. Aziel will want to look at his prize properly.’
I glance at Tor, but he doesn’t even look at me. Feeling a little dizzy, I unhook myself from the pallet and rise, taking off the many layers of furs while the dragon woman watches.
When I’m clad only in my tank top and black pants, she beckons me with one finger. ‘Come here, human.’
I let out a slow breath and step from the pallet, my gaze flicking to Tor and then away when he doesn’t look back.
The dragon woman takes me by the scruff of the neck in a firm, almost painful grip and pushes me in front of her. I don’t struggle. What would be the point?
‘Time to meet your master, underling,’ she chuckles.
Finally, Tor speaks up.
‘She’s to go to the main chamber.’
‘Aziel wants—’
‘The law is clear, Raina,’ Tor says, looking into her eyes for the first time and speaking with much more authority. ‘Tributes are taken to the Commander first. Always. Aziel will have to wait.’
The dragon woman, Raina, freezes and twists around to look at him. She seems surprised that he’s spoken, and her nails dig into my skin hard as if she’s annoyed but doesn’t want to show it.
He holds her gaze, and after several tense seconds, she lets out a chuckle. ‘Fine. To the main chamber first, then.’
She uses her grip to get me moving. ‘No matter. Aziel will just be in a foul mood when he begins training his new slave girl.’
Tor doesn’t answer, but I hear him falling into step behind the female whose cruel grip tightens with every step until I feel her long nails piercing the side of my neck.
‘Dreythos won’t thank you for bleeding his Tribute,’ he mutters from behind us, and her hand on the back of my neck relaxes enough that it’s no longer digging into my flesh.
‘Well, well, teacher. Left a kitten and returned a tiger just because you were given your first mission in, what, three-hundred years?’
‘Something like that,’ he mutters.
Raina lets out a scoff. ‘I’m just making sure the human knows her place here, Torvial,’ she says sweetly. ‘You know it’s best that they understand these things quickly.’
Tor doesn’t reply.
I’m urged down a long, wide corridor of roughly hewn stone that abruptly changes to smooth. The sound of dripping water echoes through the tunnel, but it sounds far away.
We turn a corner and go through a huge metal door and the hallway abruptly narrows, the ceiling lowering so much that a dragon wouldn’t be able to pass through it.
A bottleneck, I realize. So they can’t be attacked by others of their kind in great numbers all at once.
Our town was on a small peninsula with a thin strip of land to get to it with just a narrow bridge as the only way in on foot. It was said that it was built as a defense just after the Fall when humans were still warring with each other all the time.
The tunnel walls change to cream-painted cinder blocks about halfway down, reminding me of the ruins of an old elementary school that the other local kids and I used to play in.
There are multiple doors on both sides, but most of them are closed until we get to the end.
I’m pushed over the threshold and stop abruptly, taking in another huge cavern.
But this one is man made. Or maybe dragon made.
Its ceiling is even taller than the first cavern.
There are walkways on platforms spiraling up all the way around with more doors every few feet. It’s like an inside out pigeon coop.
‘Finally,’ someone drawls.
I belatedly look down in front of me and realize there are at least forty men and a few women in the room.
They’re mostly sitting at long wooden tables around the edge of the space with plates of food in front of them.
At any other time, it might smell good, but my rebelling stomach definitely doesn’t want anything.
There’s a platform to one side with a high, lone seat.
On it sits a huge man. He’s dressed like all the others, but I instinctively know that this one is in charge.
The Commander. Dreythos. He exudes strength and power, making my stomach twist even more.
He’s staring at us. He waves a flippant hand, and I’m thrust forward, the punishing fingers of Raina leaving me.
I stumble a little and I hear a few sniggers as I right myself.
‘They’re sure scraping the bottom of the barrel these days,’ I hear a male chuckle.
‘I don’t know. She looks like a fighter. Bet she’ll be fun to break in,’ another answers. ‘That mane will be fun to hold onto.’
‘Too bad you won’t get the chance, huh? Since she’s Aziel’s.’
I shiver at the words. I don’t look at the pair who are speaking though. My eyes are locked on the dragons’ leader.
Dreythos.
He half-watches me, a bored expression on his stupidly handsome face.
His lips are full and his features, angular.
His shoulders are broad. He’s even bigger than Brax, and he’s the biggest man I’ve ever seen in his human form.
But when I really look at him, his eyes are a bit glazed.
He’s hunched in the chair, but pretending he’s lazing in it. He looks exhausted.
I look over my shoulder at Tor. He stares straight ahead, not even bothering to glance my way. So much for his support.
Suddenly, I’m angry. At the dam it was all promises and cuddles, but here, when I need it most, I’m given nothing. Brax isn’t even in the room as far as I can see. The fuckers have abandoned me.
I clench my jaw and straighten, reminding myself that even though I’m a human in a dragon’s den, I’m a fighter. I’m not weak.
I start forward, willing my legs not to shake, and I notice humans.
There are men and women. They’re moving between the tables, refilling cups and offering food from platters.
The women are all in tan colored dresses that go to the knee.
The men are in shirts and pants of the same hue.
None of their eyes rise above table height and not one of them looks at the dragons.
‘Clumsy little cunt!’ someone hisses loudly.
I hear a scuffle at the back table and my eyes widen when I see that one of the serving women has been caught by a huge dragon man.
He grabs the tray she’s carrying and flings it to the ground.
Her eyes are pleading but she says nothing as he stands and pushes her over the tabletop, flipping up her dress and ramming himself inside her.
Her pained squeal is drowned out by his booming voice.
‘Teach you to spill food on me! What do you say?’
‘Thank you, sir,’ she whimpers brokenly.
I look away, sure I’m going to throw up.
No one else even looks at them. Not one person, even the humans, seems even remotely surprised by what’s happening. A couple of the dragon men check their watches like this is taking too long.
I’m shoved hard from behind and I realize I’ve stopped walking.
‘The Commander beckoned you!’ Raina snarls.
Somehow, I make my legs move again, shuffling to the raised platform where the dragon commander looks me up and down slowly.