Chapter 22 #3
Daegan quirks a brow. “And what makes you think you’ll be able to pull that off? What do you have to go on?”
Gaethri and Rhydra glance at each other, a silent conversation passing between them. I look around us for a moment, making sure we are alone. There’s nothing but a long, dimly lit hallway behind us, and the next cell is very, very far down.
“You’re a dragon shifter, right?” Rhydra asks Daegan.
“What else?” he replies coolly.
“Okay. Well, I know your people are suffering too.”
“Everyone is,” Daegan snaps back.
“Not them,” Rhydra says, her head motioning toward me.
“What’s your point?”
“Why are you with an elf? Can we trust her? Do you trust her?”
“Yes.” A simple word spoken without hesitation. And yet the one word makes me feel such a sense of… acceptance. Belonging. I glance at him, but his gaze remains on her.
She narrows her eyes, then looks at Gaethri. He shrugs.
“We came here in search of a way to reverse the curse. The library here is ancient and rivaled by none.” Rhydra shifts and looks away. “Or so I’ve been told.”
“So you guys have nothing,” Daegan says more to himself than anyone. They might have missed it, but there’s a note of disappointment there.
“We have nothing to lose,” Gaethri corrects him, standing tall and proud with his chest protruding. “And all the determination of a wee Dothronite in a Bingman battle.”
I stare at him, perplexed.
“Never mind,” he huffs.
“And yet you’re locked in a cell…”
“For now,” Rhydra replies. She flicks her gaze between us, crossing her arms. “What are you two doing down here? A lovers’ rendezvous? It’s not the most romantic of spots… plus, I never thought I’d witness a dragon shifter and an elf mingling…”
I clear my throat. “That’s not what this is. And it’s not because he’s a dragon, it’s because he’s… him.”
Daegan huffs, as if a laugh is trying to escape him, his expression tinged with mild amusement. “We’re looking for something,” he says. “So, if you don’t mind, we really should be going now.”
My mouth opens as if to speak, but then I find myself not knowing what to say.
“Wait!” Rhydra says. “What about us?”
“What about you?” Daegan shoots back.
“You’re just going to leave us in here?”
“With all due respect, we don’t know you at all. We don’t know why you’re in there. You could have murdered children for all we know.”
“We did not murder children,” Rhydra seethes. “We simply tried to get access to the library, and then we were interrogated and thrown down here.”
“My—” I stop myself. “The king wouldn’t imprison someone for simply trying to read some books.”
Daegan looks at me now, eyebrow quirked like it is half the time he looks at me. Like I’m something that amuses yet perplexes him.
“He wouldn’t,” I assure myself, less sure this time, slowly folding under the weight of their doubt.
Gaethri sighs, then retreats and sits against the wall. My heart drops at the hope that visibly leaves his face. The defeat its left with.
“We’ll talk to him. To the guards,” I offer. “We just need to be sure. If you’ve been imprisoned for the simple crime of wanting to read, then that isn’t right.”
Rhydra’s eyebrows lift with doubt, her forehead creasing in several spots. I notice a few thin whisps of lighter gray hair among her wild red curls. “You’re going to talk to the king?”
“Yes.”
She looks me up and down then, not hiding her disdain. “Who are you?”
“No one of importance,” I reply.
I shift my gaze to Daegan, who I’m surprised to find already watching me. “Ready?”
He offers a quick tip of his chin.
“We won’t leave you here long,” I tell them. “A day at most.”
They don’t look hopeful as we say our goodbyes and continue down the looming dark hallway, Daegan trailing behind me. Even if I haven’t been down here in a while, I’m still far more familiar with our grounds.
We walk in silence for a long stretch of time, glancing at the walls, floors, and ceilings, looking for any etchings or markings or anything that seems irregular.
We pass by a lot more occupied cells and the inhabitants—who are both elves and other species alike—watch us with acute curiosity.
Most of them don’t bother speaking to us. They look rather hopeless.
I can’t help but wonder how many more prisoners are down here for crimes they didn’t commit.
“What are the cuffs a lot of them wear?”
“Magical cuffs crafted by terra and verdant wielders. They disable their magic.”
“That’s… terrible.”
I don’t argue as we stroll farther through the quiet, dark maze.
After a while, Daegan’s voice breaks the silence, echoing through the halls. “Are you really going to try to set them free?”
I stop, turn, and look at him. His eyes appear so dark down here in this lighting they’re almost onyx. The fiery quality within them is nearly extinguished, like a dying flame. “Yes. You think I was lying? I thought you said you trust me.”
“I do,” he says, his gaze unflinching. “I just don’t fully understand it still,” he answers.
“Understand what, exactly?” I’m proud of my even, challenging tone.
“Why you’re doing this. All of this.”
“Why is that so hard for you to understand?”
“You’re a princess. Of the elves. I’ve hated you my whole life without ever knowing you.
Your people rule over everyone in this land, practically unchallenged.
Your king sits back on his throne and enjoys it all, while never having actually done anything to earn it.
Why would you want to risk everything, risk the wrath of your father, risk the fall of your people, just to help save a world you don’t even know?
You don’t have to do any of this. You can keep living your life in peace. ”
I scowl at him, ignoring the minor flash of hurt I felt at his admission, my irritation taking over. “Would you give it up already?” I say, dropping my hands to my sides, my raised voice echoing loudly in the hollow hall.
His expression remains level.
“I’m so tired of you telling me how comfortable my life is.
How easy I have it. I did not seek this out, but somehow, it found me nonetheless, and now it feels…
like I’m meant to be here on this path. I don’t know why.
And you think I can hear of all this suffering and simply walk away. I cannot. I. HAVE. A. FUCKING. HEART.”
When I finish, my breathing is fast and uneven, tight with anger.
Daegan’s jaw ticks as he gazes down at me under his heavy lids. His eyes flick to my heaving chest, then back up.
I shove past him, barely shifting his arm as I mutter, “Find your own way out, asshole.”
I storm all the way back to the secret entrance in the wall. When I reach it, I don’t look at either Rhydra or Gaethri as I yank it open. But just before I close it, I hear a gravelly chuckle, and Gaethri muttering something about a failed rendezvous.
I slam the door behind me.
The sound of his footsteps never followed.