Chapter Fifty-Two Myla #2
“What animal would leave a scar like that?” I ask.
The question hadn’t exactly slipped out, but I have been curious to know what could leave such a jagged mark.
It was like a smaller version of the scars on my back.
Had she been subjected to a whip too? My hands involuntarily clench at the thought before I force myself to relax them.
“How about you tell me one thing about you, and I will answer your question?” she counters.
I smirk as I round her front, lifting her arms to put her guard back up in front of her. Her skin is warm beneath my fingers, in contrast to the chill in the air from our proximity to the ocean. “How about I challenge you for real and then force you to tell me when I win?”
She rolls her eyes as she distributes her weight between both feet.
“These will be long hours together if we don’t have anything other than fighting to talk about,” she urges, tilting her head.
“Would it be so bad to get to know each other? Tell me about your life in the palace, and I’ll share how your lessons actually helped m—”
Her words are silenced when my head snaps in her direction, my brows drawn low over my eyes. “Why would you assume I live in the palace?”
“I—” She drops her guard as she stumbles backwards, but I follow her retreat until she hits the cavern wall, one of my hands bracing near her head. “I was just guessing.”
“Don’t lie, Aria.” My eyes search hers, but there is only one way she could know. “Navin,” I growl.
“He didn’t mean to let it slip,” she whispers, showing me her palms in the space between our heaving chests. “He was helping me train and—”
“So what? You know one detail about me and now think you’re entitled to it all?
That we are somehow friends or equals? Because let’s get one thing straight, Little Siren.
I’m neither a friend nor someone you can trust. I’d sooner watch this oath between us fail and kill me then share anything personal with the likes of you. ”
Her fingers curl in towards her palms, but where her bravery when speaking with me before was nonexistent, something now sparks in her gaze. A brightly lit ember that backlights the hazel.
“I wish I had let you drown.” Her bottom lip trembles with the admission, my gaze drawn to it. This close to her, I can see the dark freckles that dust her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. I take note of the way her long lashes frame her eyes, their shape doe-like.
Air doesn’t quite meet my lungs on my next breath as I show her my canines in a snarl. “That makes two of us.”
Her mouth drops with a gasp, but I step away before she offers whatever apology is dangling on the tip of her tongue. Walking to the other side of the cavern, I give her my back as I close my eyes. Control. I need to gain control.
“Do you hear that?” she asks softly, her steps gentle as they pad in my direction.
“Hear wh—” A shadow passes over us, the distinct sound of beating wings drawing my gaze upward.
“He’s early,” I murmur as I walk to the edge of the platform, intent on letting Navin know exactly how I feel about him sharing details of me with Aria when my boots halt at the sight of the dragon I can see through one of the holes in the wall. Fuck.
Ducking back, I squat low and palm my dagger, inspecting our surroundings for a spot to hide should we need it.
“What is it?” Aria asks, joining me on the ground.
“I’m not sure, but the dragon out there is not Navin’s.” I push my own discomfort out of the way as I focus on identifying who is out there. Aria doesn’t move at my side, keeping still as she peers down to one of the openings carved into the rock.
The black dragon’s scales glisten as it lowers itself to the sand, its yellow eye visible in the cutout.
I tilt my head slowly and catch a glimpse of silver that makes me grow rigid, my teeth grinding together before I carefully take a step back.
“It’s a King’s Rider,” I murmur, returning to scan the platform.
But there is no crevice big enough to slip between, nothing but the beach in front of us and the pool of water behind us.
“I don’t know what that is,” she whispers back, panicked eyes meeting mine.
“No one good. We need to hide—” I blink as I remember who I’m talking to. What I’m talking to. “You can use your song.”
Her head draws back as her brows rise towards her hairline. “What?”
I look back out to the dragon and his rider, only seeing the former as I answer her. “You’re a fucking siren. Use your song to lure him in.”
When she doesn’t respond, I glance in her direction. Aria’s eyes are still blown wide, but it’s more than just fear of the guard and his dragon. She carries the same look as the males who meet the end of my blade.
“My song,” she starts, licking her lips and then swallowing. “I can’t— It doesn’t work.”
“What do you mean it doesn’t work?”
“It doesn’t work on males.”
I stare harshly at her, too many questions rising that we don’t have time to answer.
Especially as the dragon lets out a low growl, it’s eye clashing with both of mine when I turn to look for the guard.
“Shit,” I hiss, jolting backwards as the King’s Rider appears at one of the openings of the cavern.
We are sitting prey, and while taking on a single rider would not be an issue normally, in my current state, I’m not positive our fight would end without me in a worse position.
And that is before his bonded dragon is taken into account.
But the rules of the life debt demand I do something, and as the dragon lets out another rumbling growl, closer than before, I realize that we’ve officially run out of time.