Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
THORNE
My brother was free. Just thinking the words had my heart soaring. He’d spent a lifetime trapped as a beast. While I had spent a lifetime chained to his side. I’d begun to think he would never shift again. That he would die as a dragon. And then—a miracle happened.
Serafina happened.
In more ways than one.
And I was humbled. Unworthy. Last night I’d shared parts of myself I’d never revealed to another and been accepted. Not judged. Not shamed. And I felt lighter for it. As if I’d been blessed by the goddess herself.
Alaric claimed she had broken his curse, though Serafina had some doubts. Regardless, my brother was finally free. As was I.
Almost.
Flarking Alaric. Up to his old tricks. When he’d emerged from that pile of ash, I’d never been so happy to see my brother’s face. A stolen kiss later, I wanted to smash it in.
Hardly on two legs for a day, and already he was ordering me about, making demands. All I’d needed was a moment to tell Serafina I would return in a couple of days. Instead, he’d ordered me out of the castle with a push of his damn alpha power.
Now here I was, flying into the night to meet some king I’d never laid eyes on to warn him about The Dark One.
It wasn’t like Alaric to care so much for anyone outside of his own kingdom.
Several times, I’d caught him staring into shadows as if they whispered secrets only he could hear.
The strange cast to his eyes had left me unsettled.
The cool breeze gusted beneath my wings. Moonlight kissed my scales. Normally, I’d stretch out my neck, revel in the freedom of flight. But tonight, my body was taut, my muscles locked. Every mile I put between myself and Sera felt like a hundred.
I’d never known anyone like her. While forced into the worst circumstances, she’d emerged stronger for the experience. I wasn’t sure I could say the same for Alaric and me. Serafina was more courageous than both of us combined.
Despite all she’d been through, she was fierce, brave, and loyal to the ones she loved. Not once did she surrender in her quest to save Speck. That devotion was something I’d never experienced myself.
Flark me—I’d grown attached.
I’d judged her harshly, treated her worse.
Tied to Alaric, I didn’t dare to want more. To dream of a future. Now that the curse was broken, I finally had a chance to claim something that was mine. Have a life of my own. A life I wanted to share. With Serafina.
The two of us needed to talk. To figure out tomorrow. I just prayed she felt the same. A lifetime enslaved by Alaric’s mistakes had taught me what mattered. When I returned, she would know how much she meant to me.
Shadows shifted on the rolling hills below. A metallic gleam snared my attention, out of place in uninhabited land.
The twang of a thick bowstring rang out, along with a high-pitched whistle. From the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a speeding arrow. Flark! I twisted, dodging the first. The second slammed into my shoulder. Pain ripped through me, my roar splitting the night.
“Direct hit!” voices shouted from below.
Hunters.
I pumped my wings, desperate to climb higher. My muscles shrieked, my body faltered. Yellow fletching jutted from my chest, poison burning my veins. Dizziness made my head swim. I need to fly out of range.
“Get the grappler!”
Rage boiled. My throat heated, my dragonflame sparking to life.
“Shields up,” the leader barked. “He’s ignited his torch.”
Orange light illuminated my chest, my dragonflame blazing. Pressure built, and I launched a stream of liquid fire at the scrambling shadows on the ground.
Over the hunters, a protective dome took shape. My flames rained down on the metallic surface, causing it to glow red. Shouts rang out. Mmm. Roasted meat.
My fire guttered, and the shields snapped down. The frame of a cart loaded with a massive crossbow rolled forward.
Organized bastards.
“Fire!”
I banked hard. My injured shoulder lagged, the turn sluggish.
The grappling hook screamed through the air. Metal claws sank into my neck, pierced my scales, shredding flesh. Agony detonated, white-hot.
“Take up the slack! Set the hooks!”
I slammed into an invisible wall. The rope yanked tight, and the barbs tore deeper. Pain threatened to cripple me. Spots danced before my eyes.
“That’s it, boys. Reel him in.”
The shortened rope tore through muscle. I thrashed, wings floundering.
“Ready the net.”
Did they think they reeled in a flarking fish? I was done with flopping around like one.
Rather than resist the pull, I spun and dove. Dragons were not prey to be hunted, but predators. Scaled monsters designed to burn, to destroy.
“Incoming!” screamed a high-pitched voice.
“Watch out!”
“Shoot the bastard!”
Closer. Pain lanced my opposite shoulder. Another arrow. Still, my claws closed on a writhing figure. Got him. My talons pierced the hunter’s meaty flesh. Bones snapped between my toes. His agonized gurgle was music to my ears.
Weakness turned my frame to lead.
“He’s going down!”
“Launch the net!”
Weighted ropes ensnared my body, and my wings smashed against my heaving flanks. No control! I crashed into a cove of trees. Trunks splintered, battering my abused frame. Rocks and soil scraped against my sliding scales. Oxygen punched from my lungs, and the world stilled.
Cheering exploded into the night.
Darkness rushed in, and I struggled to stay conscious.
“We got ‘em.” Boots hammered the ground, and the hunters raced to surround me.
Shift. I needed to shift. As a man, I could slip free.
I tapped the dragonflame at my center, and it responded with a dull flicker. Not much, but it would do. I waited for the change to wash over me.
Nothing.
Again, I called on my magic.
Nothing.
I couldn’t transform. What madness was this?
Flark. The arrows. They must have been enchanted as well as poisoned. Lucky me.
Men circled, swords glinting. “Big one, isn’t he?”
“Just like that fellow said he would be.”
“Right on schedule, too.”
What was this? The pounding in my skull clouded my thoughts. They knew I was coming. But how? Who? The only person who was aware of my mission was…
No, it couldn’t be.
Ice razored my insides.
Alaric.
My own flesh and blood had set me up. He’d sent me on a fool’s errand. Insisted I go in my dragon form. Told the hunters exactly where to find me. But why?
Serafina.
My vision bled red with fury. Over my dead body would he lay a single hand on her.
Alaric must have found out about us. Now that he was a man again, he wanted me out of his way. To pursue her for himself.
One of the men drew closer to my head, and I snapped my teeth.
“Whoa ho,” he chortled. “Still got a bit of fight in him.” Over his shoulders, he wore a tunic made of dragon scales, a dagger-like tooth around his neck. He gestured to the other men. “Stake him down nice and tight, boys. The butcher arrives tomorrow to carve him up.”
He slipped the blade he’d unsheathed beneath a scale on my shoulder. I growled my discomfort, writhing against the rope as he ripped it from my flesh.
Prize in hand, he raised it to the light. “Good quality. He’ll bring a hefty price.”
He peered into my one eyeball, and for a moment, I feared he planned to pluck it from the socket. Instead, he jeered, “If you behave yourself, maybe we’ll kill you before they carve the meat from your bones.”
I snarled in response.
The fall of a heavy hammer pummeled my skull. My last thought wasn’t of pain.
It was of her.
Serafina.
And then—blackness.
SERAFINA
“Damn you, Alaric.” I paced the length of Speck’s prison. I’d given up shouting at the bastard king when it only served to agitate the ghoul. The trogg had tossed me in with my friend since it was the only cell sturdy enough to hold a prisoner.
I pressed my palm against my burning chest. Thorne’s flame throbbed like a toothache. The thought of him in pain made me want to pull my hair and scream like a madwoman. Alaric had cut a deal and betrayed both me and his brother. In the present as well as the past.
How could he have sacrificed his people, his family, to one of the most evil forces in the realm?
I punched the stony wall, then winced at the sting.
Did he destroy an entire kingdom merely to spite Hathor and kill the sacred arbor?
Yaga was right. Alaric deserved his punishment. A thousand years wasn’t long enough.
Regardless, I didn’t have time to ponder it all. Not with The Dark One’s general due any minute.
Come on, Serafina. Thorne needs you.
While I’d been hesitant to harm the trogg, it was time to flex my magical muscles. I scooted Speck’s cot to the far wall, stood in front of him like a shield, and aimed my palms at the door of my cell.
Imagining Alaric’s face where the bars rested, I tapped into my magic and launched a ball of white energy against the door. Light exploded, shattered embers sparking before me. I coughed mold and dust from my lungs. Finally, the haze cleared.
The bars remained.
Wracked with despair, I slumped against Speck’s cot, sitting on the edge. Stupid warding. I’d have to find a different way.
“You.” Speck’s gravelly voice was startling in the quiet. He peered at me with unseeing eyes. The straps restraining his wrists and ankles were intact, though his sedative had worn off. Without access to my herbs, I couldn’t give him another dose.
He looked so small, resting on his cot. Since his transformation, he’d grown pale, his cheeks hollow, eyes bruised and sunken. And his hands…
I smoothed the back of his hand, and his fingers twitched. Like the other ghouls, his nails were now thick and blackened, tools the creatures used to burrow through the earth.
“What shall I do, Speck? In a short time, I’ve gone from slave to handmaiden to prisoner. And through it all, I’ve been a fool. And who do you think is to blame?”
“You,” he groaned.
“That’s right. Me. I allowed Alaric to play upon my sympathies, growing complacent in my captivity here.
What with the warm bed, endless food, and false sense of security.
” Hadn’t I done the same at Rottbarry, trading freedom for safety?
Afraid of what would happen should I succeed in my plans to escape.
Once again, I found myself in similar circumstances. I should have known better. Fought harder. “Now I truly am the dragon’s captive. And Thorne is—” My voice broke, hot tears burning my eyes.
Stop it. I cursed at myself, grinding my knuckles into my eyeballs. Crying would achieve nothing.
There had to be a way out of here. Time to take stock of my surroundings. Work with what I had at my disposal. Cot, chair, bedding, my clothes? All useless. At least I was allowed to change out of that absurd dress and into the clothing Thorne gifted me. Otherwise, I would likely freeze to death.
I glanced at the remains of the breakfast Myrna had brought me earlier when I’d sat with Speck.
The dishes had yet to be cleared. Nibbling on a crust of bread were a pair of rats.
I shivered and drew my feet up on the cot.
An image of Speck holding a rat in The Dark One’s prison flashed in my mind.
How he’d gobbled it up like one of Cookie’s honey cakes.
My stomach churned, my mind twisting as well.
I really didn’t want to consider this, but what other option did I have?
After spending the last few days in the dungeon, Speck had to be starving. It was a long shot and risky. Speck could easily turn on me instead. Still, it was a chance I had to take.
Quick whack of my boot, and I dispatched both of my uninvited guests.
“Sorry, guys. I promise your lives won’t be wasted.”
Speck’s head turned sharply, and his nostrils twitched. Black drool glistened at the corner of his mouth. Goddess, forgive me.
I unbuckled his ankles, then held one limp rat by the tail, forcing my voice steady. “Look what I’ve got for you, buddy.”
He lurched upright with startling speed and ripped it from my hand. I gagged as his teeth crunched down, bones splintering. Don’t puke, Sera. Not now.
While he devoured the first, I freed his wrist and dangled the second rat near the door. His head snapped toward me, black eyes locked. He sniffed, low and feral. My heart pounded so hard I was sure he heard it.
“Here, boy,” I coaxed, voice trembling. “Come get the tasty rodent.”
He staggered forward, drawn by scent and hunger. At the last moment, I tossed the rat through the bars. It landed just beyond the threshold.
I held my breath. Speck dropped to his knees and clawed at the dirt. Earth sprayed, the muscles in his shoulders moving efficiently. My palms itched with the urge to clap and cheer, but I bit it back.
Moments later, he wriggled out the other side, snatched his reward, and tore into it with greedy abandon.
Relief flooded me so hard my knees weakened. There was no time to waste. I crawled into the tunnel and slipped free of the cell. “Thank you, friend,” I whispered. “I’ll come back for you—I swear it. Just hang on.”
At a safe distance, I whirled and raced for the exit, shutting the door behind me. With any luck, Speck would remain confined to the dungeon, far away from Alaric and the trogg until I returned. Long enough for me to find Thorne—before it was too late.