Thirty Eight #2
I should be more careful. He could put a claw through and hurt me, drag me in there, but the person walking out from between the cages is far scarier than the dragon at my back.
“Darcia,” I say, determined to keep my shoulders straight, my gaze never once wavering, even though I want to crumble under the hatred in her eyes.
It doesn’t feel that long since that night in The Glade, but much has happened since then.
She walks forward, scowl in place.
“You ruined everything,” she spits.
“No,” I say softly, but firmly. “You did that all on your own.”
“I was exiled!”
“Rohan was going to kill you,” I remind her, taking a breath while nerves rattle through me as she comes closer.
Be brave, Alara.
“No, he wouldn’t have. I’d been a clan member for years, you clouded his mind.”
“I asked him to spare you.”
She laughs. “You think he would do that for you? He was just mad, that’s why he spared me, it has nothing to do with you. He would have let me back in eventually.”
That isn’t true.
He didn’t hesitate with Rhett, and he wasn’t going to hesitate with her. I saw it in his eyes.
She’s delusional.
Then I remember what I’d heard from Declan.
“You told the king about me.”
She smiles, her eyes lighting up with satisfaction.
“Of course I did. When that bitch of a Dragonbond gave me a beat down, I went straight for the city. Told them everything.”
She doesn’t even deny it.
“Why would you do that?”
“To get rid of you.”
I breathe deeply, shakily. “You hurt the clan just because you don’t like me?”
She takes her final step toward me. “You were in the way!” she hisses, and I stare at her in disbelief.
“You caused the clan to burn, for us all to be captured here, for others to die, just because you don’t like me?”
“Of course I did!” she snaps, and anger curls around me, outweighing the fear.
“You were too close to Rohan, too close to the dragons. The clan has nothing to do with you and everything that has happened is your fault. I was finally going to make a name for myself, everything was working until you came along! You should have died, you should have rotted in The Pit, been eaten by a dragon instead of poisoning Rohan’s mind! ”
“That is no excuse for what you did. People died. So many died. Garret died, Sparks died. Asseya died!”
“Who cares about the old hag!”
Whack.
I slap her, my hand moving without thought as my chest heaves with an anger I haven’t felt before.
“I care!” I shout, palm stinging as she looks at me with wide eyes, like she can’t believe I dared to do that.
I can’t either, but I won’t let her slander Asseya. She was kind to me, she helped me.
Grow a backbone.
Her words rattle around my head.
“They all cared for Asseya, especially Rohan, and because you told the king I was there, she died. Anyone else who has died is because you’re jealous that Rohan paid more attention to me than you, and that is pathetic, Darcia. You’re an adult, not a child.”
Her eyes narrow to slits, but before she can retort or hurt me, Karag’s voice hits me.
“What do you think you’re doing in my territory, elf?!” he growls, and I turn, moving backward as he advances toward me and Darcia, who stares at me with daggers in her eyes.
“I was… was just looking around.”
Vali shuffles further back as he comes closer. “Looking around my dragons? Why?” he demands, looking between me and Darcia with suspicion in his eyes.
He looms over me, ever threatening, and a part of me wants to cower. I’m outnumbered and outmatched, but when I look at Vali, feel his fear, I straighten my shoulders.
I’m scared, terrified really, but I do it anyway.
“I was just wandering around the area when Darcia approached me. I’ve done nothing wrong.”
“What’s wrong is that you have no place here, elf. You’re the reason all of my clan is here instead of only a few of us,” he shouts, dark eyes filled with anger as Darcia folds her arms, smirking.
He advances toward me, and an almighty roar sounds behind me, that causes him to stop.
Drogonah.
But then Karag smirks. “The dragons are caged, your Dragonbond missing, and no one else is here.”
“We should take her to the guards, let them have her for a bit once I’m done with her,” Darcia says, coming closer.
“Now, now. This isn’t fair at all. Two against one?”
We all turn to Sigrid as she leans up against one of her dragons, picking her nails with her knife. “I’m sure Rohan wouldn’t like this… intimidation.”
“Fuck off, Sigrid,” Karag snarls.
“See,” she says, straightening, landing him with a glare. “I can’t do that, and neither can you.”
“This is The Games,” he sneers, “we can kill whoever we want.”
“Really,” she drawls, taking a step closer, spinning her dagger so the blade runs parallel to her forearm. “Then let’s see who will win.”
Karag pauses, and Darcia looks between them as my throat tightens.
“I’ll go,” I say, swallowing and making my way over to Sigrid.
“This isn’t over,” Karag says, grabbing Darcia and leading her away.
I blow out a breath and put my hands on my shaky knees.
Oh Gods, I’m still alive.
“I don’t know if you are brave, or stupid,” Sigrid says, patting my head while I catch my breath.
“I thought that was it.”
“Impossible,” she says firmly. “Nice slap, by the way.”
My cheeks heat. “I didn’t mean to do that, but she didn’t care about the clans burning and I just… got angry.”
Sigrid scowls. “She is undeserving of the Dragorie name.”
I stand, eyeing her. “You were here all that time?” She nods. “Why didn’t you step in sooner?” I wonder.
She raises a brow. “We are Dragorie, Alara, we need that fight.” She looks me up and down. “It’s about time you started showing it.”
And then she walks away whistling as I stare after her.
I glance back at Vali again, seeing just the tip of his snout, and I know I have to come back when I can.
Because that dragon is scared of his Dragonbond, and scared of something else, no… he’s scared for something else, and I need to find out what.
I walk back to the Blackscale dragons, my mind whirling.
Not only do I need to get back to Vali to figure out what’s going on, we also need to figure out how we’re making it out of here alive.
I sit back against Blaise, stroking him before I rest my head on my knees.
We haven’t got long left, and we have no plan in place, no idea how to stop the Nighturn from hitting anyone, and we only have two games left.
I haven’t found the eggs, or who was stealing them out of The Glade, and now the king is also wanting to ride dragons.
Oh Elvanan, how are we going to get out of this mess?