Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
LARELLIN
“Let go!” I struggle, trying to wrench myself away from whoever’s got me in his grip, but it’s useless. I may as well be trying to free myself from the Rock of Sacrifice. In fact, those chains had more give than the man at my back.
“And if I don’t?” His voice is taunting.
I rake my nails along his forearm.
He laughs. “That’s it?”
I fight harder, working to writhe out of his grasp. But it’s useless. I didn’t even draw blood when I scratched him.
“What was your plan, anyway?” He drags me backwards into the cave with no effort at all. “You realize no one ventures into these woods, not when the DragonKin have claimed these lands for themselves.”
“Then what are you doing here?” I turn my head to get a look at him, but all I see is golden skin and a sharp jawline. He’s huge, towering above me. I can’t even see his face, not when he isn’t looking down at me. “The dragons will kill you!”
“Plenty have tried.” He drags me to one of the dark chasms that mar the cavern floor, this one wide and yawning.
Fear has me trying to scrabble back, my now-bare feet pushing ineffectually against the stone. “What are you doing? Don’t! Please don’t!” I scream when he leaps into the darkness, me in his arms. I clench my eyes shut as my stomach drops, my throat raw as I scream again and wait for the impact.
It doesn’t come. Instead, I’m pulled upward, lofted by something unseen.
Opening my eyes, I can’t see anything, but I’m not crushed into a thousand pieces on the cave floor.
We turn and seem to glide through the air, wind pushing against my face as my legs dangle, my back still crushed against the man’s warm chest.
What is happening? Am I already dead?
A soft glow ahead catches my gaze, and I stare at it.
Disbelief settles in my gut as we move toward it.
We’re flying. Just like when I was in the dragon’s talons.
But different, because this time a man has me in his clutches.
I turn to the side and catch a glimpse of wings.
My heart dips and stutters forward in its beat.
This isn’t the dragon. This is something else. But what?
I hold my breath as we approach a flat area of cave, the width of it reminiscent of the Widow’s Tower. The man lands with soft footfalls, then gently puts me on my feet.
I spin, staring at the wings that are retracting to his back.
Stepping away, I take him in—all of him.
Shirtless, broad chest, golden skin—no, not just golden, scaly—bony protrusions on his shoulders, above his eyebrows, and along his arms. He’s heavily muscled, far more than any man I’ve ever seen.
And when I meet his eyes, goose bumps rise along my skin.
They’re green with flecks of gold. The left one has a scar cutting through it.
The white line traces from his hairline, down through his golden eyebrow, and across his eyelid.
“What are you?” My voice is barely a whisper. I step back again and again, trying to get some distance between me and whatever monster stands before me.
“Mortal manners always take some getting used to.” He sighs and steps toward me, his gait easily overtaking mine.
“No!” I squeak when he grabs my elbow, his grip firm but not painfully so.
“Come.” He pulls me along beside him with ease. “Careful you don’t make a misstep.” He juts his chin toward the looming abyss that only hints at the darkness even farther below.
Ahead is a wide set of wooden double doors, torches on either side.
“What is this place?”
“Your home. This is the Bargain you struck.” He pushes through the doors as if they’re feathers, though they must weigh quite a bit given their size.
“No, I—” The words freeze on my tongue as I look around.
“Wh-what is this?” We’ve entered a wide room with golden floors and walls of the dark gray cavern rock.
A round stone hangs overhead sending out light that reaches even the farthest corners of the space.
Windows line one of the walls, though all I can see out of them is sky and jagged mountains in the distance, the sun barely highlighting them in gloom.
“Welcome to the DragonKeep.” He continues pulling me along, past rich tapestries, paintings, and a roaring fire. A pair of stone dragons stand on either side of the fireplace, their eyes inlaid with red gems bigger than my head.
I’m too stunned to ask anything more. We’re in a castle built into a mountainside somewhere in Oblivion. I suppose I don’t need to know much more than that—and given the man’s demeanor, I won’t get more information easily.
We pass through another set of doors that leads into a wide hall.
The golden floors shine with more light from the glowing orbs overhead.
“This way to our chambers.” He leads me up a spiral stair and then onto a short landing before turning into another hallway.
I follow dumbly, my bare feet quiet against the stone.
A set of thick double doors ahead of us is inlaid with what has to be hundreds of priceless gems, all of them sparkling and coalescing into the shape of a grand golden dragon.
He pushes through the doors and leads me into a bedroom. It’s huge. Larger than the house I grew up in. Perhaps even larger than the Grand Chamber.
“Wait—” I try to dig in my heels. It doesn’t work.
He pulls me a few more steps then lets go, crossing his arms over his wide chest, his muscles bulging as he stares down at me with his inhuman eyes.
I take a deep breath and step away from him. “What is this?”
“I told you. This is our bedroom.” A muscle jumps along his sharp jawline, the golden scales flowing up his neck and ending just beneath it. The scales form something of a shawl across his shoulders, dissipating into golden skin lower on his chest.
“What do you mean ‘ours’?” I take another step back.
“Do you not speak the common tongue adequately?” He cants his head to the side. “Or perhaps they’ve offered me a halfwit for this sacrifice?”
“What?” I say a bit sharply. “I understand just fine. But I’m not sharing a bed with a complete stranger, especially not in Oblivion, especially not one like—like, like—”
“Like me?” he sneers.
I go silent, my bluster fading under the heat of his scowl.
“You will share this bed with me, mortal. You will share everything with me.” His tone leaves no room for misunderstanding.
I shrink back until I hit the wall behind me.
He looks up, the scales along his throat rippling in the light, then he sighs.
Some of the tension in his shoulders seems to relax, and he drops his arms. A shudder races through me at the sheer power in him, in the easy way he commands the room, the air, my entire world.
The easy way he could hurt me, kill me. He’s easily the largest man I’ve ever seen, head and shoulders taller than the tallest man in my village.
And broad, so broad and muscled that I know it wouldn’t take any effort for him to end my life with nothing but his bare hands.
I wrap my arms around myself at the thought, my stomach dropping and my mouth going dry.
“In time. You’ll understand, and …” His voice has gentled the tiniest bit.
“All that in time.” He turns and walks away, the bony spikes along his shoulders making him an even more imposing figure.
I see no trace of the wings he’d had earlier.
Pushing through another set of doors, he gestures.
“This is the bathing chamber. I’ve already had a bath drawn for you. ”
“A bath?” I’m still plastered to the wall.
“Yes, I assume you had baths in your dim little village?” He turns back to me, and though his words are sharp, his tone is even, as if he’s not trying to be insulting. He still is, of course. “Though I admit you smell as if you’ve drowned yourself in perfume rather than cleaning properly.”
I gape at him. The prioress rubbed me down with cloying oils and heavy perfumes, perhaps to make me a tastier snack for the dragon coming to claim me.
But the way I smell is the last thing on my mind right now.
Escape is the most pressing need, one that I’m still foolish enough to entertain.
I glance at the windows along the side of the room, all of them giving me the same view of snowy mountains.
“The drop is breathtaking.” He’s followed my gaze and stalks over to me, his long legs eating up the distance as I cringe against the wall once again. “However, when you hit the bottom, I suspect you might not like it as much. Nothing but death lies out that window for you, little mortal.”
I crane my head back to meet his eyes. The pupils change from round to slitted as he stares down at me.
A gasp catches in my chest.
He blinks, and the pupils have returned to normal, but I know what I saw.
“Bathe,” he snaps. “Then dress. When you’re done, we will eat.
” Walking to a separate, smaller door, he opens it and disappears inside.
I hold my breath. When he reappears, he’s wearing a smart white tunic with green embroidery along the collar.
He doesn’t give me another look as he brushes past and out the heavy doors, closing them behind him with a loud thud.
I sink to the floor, my body shaking and covered in goose bumps. My hands have gone cold, my ears on fire, and tears sting in my eyes.
The prioress said nothing about this. In fact, all the tales I’ve ever heard about the DragonKin have never mentioned them living with other immortals, especially not ones covered in scales and spikes.
Not ones with wings. I’m dazed—both from the journey and from what just happened.
I’m in a strange place, and I still don’t know what the DragonKin intend to do with me.
I have more questions now than ever before.
I glance at the luxurious bed then look toward the windows again. Forcing myself back to my feet, I set my resolve. I won’t let that creature, whatever he is, force me. I’d rather jump to my death than submit to being abused by an immortal.
My end of the Bargain is done. I’ve allowed the DragonKin to steal me away to Oblivion. My mother is safe and will be well cared for.
What happens now is up to me and me alone.