20. Aries
Aries
I wait until dawn has broken before slipping out of bed and dressing quietly.
Paige still sleeps soundly, curled against the space I just vacated, and I ignore the twinge of worry I feel at leaving her alone.
I won’t be gone long, though. With any luck, I’ll be back in time to wake her with my mouth between her legs.
The thought makes me move a little faster, impatient to finish this task.
Before I go, I make sure her front door is locked securely.
Then I let myself into the dark passageway carved into the back of Paige’s closet.
My roughly fashioned weapons are already stashed inside; a broom handle broken into two halves and sharpened into pointed ends.
It’s not the worst weapon I’ve fought with, but I also have no idea what I’ll find at the other end of this tunnel, and I find myself wishing for Leo’s company at my back.
He’d have a dozen jokes to distract and entertain, sure, but when it came time to fight, he’d be ready for that too.
Soon, I tell myself.
Soon, I can return to Astronia where my biggest worry is the horde camped on our borders and not something sinister lurking in my mate’s private chambers.
My thoughts drift back to Paige and her agreement to return home with me today.
What will she think of Astronia? Will she appreciate the land as much as I do?
The rolling hills and crystal rivers? Will she be comfortable in the castle?
I resolve right here and now to build her a library fit for a queen. My father’s library doesn’t exactly boast the kind of romance stories Paige seems to like. But I can fix that. I will scour our world until I have the type of books that will make her happy.
I shake away the thought and force myself to focus on my task. Work now; focus on what’s to come later. After all, we’ll have the rest of our lives to focus on our own happily ever after.
The passage smells musty; the opening is narrow enough to unsettle my dragon with the rough-hewn walls scraping at my shoulders as I walk, but I shove aside the discomfort as I feel my way along the tunnel.
All that matters now is Paige’s safety. And while I intend to get her out of this place—today, if possible—I won’t leave Hoc or the others in danger.
Not when I know they matter so much to my mate.
I’ll see this through, and then we’ll go. Together.
The passageway descends at an angle that steepens sharply then levels out again to offer a winding path downward.
I have a sense of being below the library itself and wonder if this will lead to the basement where Paige and I slept the night before last. But the passageway continues on, descending farther down than I think is possible.
After what feels like way too long, the passage opens abruptly, and I step into a cavernous space with walls carved from the earth itself and a ceiling so high I’d need my wings to reach it.
The scent of stale air hits me, but more than that, the smell of bodies has me tensing and peering more deeply into the quiet darkness.
My skin pricks with awareness. Somewhere in this room, something breathes.
My dragon’s sight works fast, but even that is not enough to make sense of the grainy figures littering the cavern. At least a dozen figures, maybe more, are scattered through the space, each one a different shape and size.
I inhale, trying to pick apart the different scents, but I recognize almost none of them.
Except for one.
I have smelled him before.
My lips pull back in a snarl, but before I can utter the sound aloud, he speaks. “It took you longer than I expected, dragon king.”
His voice is taunting, and I loose a growl that echoes deeply through the cavern.
Across the cavern, on a high ledge, a small fire springs to life, and my eyes zero in on the match light that now illuminates the familiar face of the speaker. He lights a candle and then blows the match out, letting it fall harmlessly to the dirt floor.
He looks up, and our eyes meet. Rage boils my blood.
Morris. The wizard.
“What is it you want?” I demand.
“Sshh.” He holds a finger to his lips, eyes gleaming with some secret joke. “You’ll wake the children.”
He gestures around us, and I tear my eyes off my enemy long enough to glance left and right. With the addition of the firelight, I can finally make them out, and horror slams into me.
“Gods,” I breathe.
Whatever I was expecting to find down here, it wasn’t this.
Creatures of all forms slumber quietly in their respective spaces.
Some are smaller, furry, almost docile in sleep.
But some are enormous, grotesque, with sharp teeth that glow in the flickering light.
Each one is chained to the floor, though, looking at them now, I can’t imagine those chains would hold long if they decided they wanted to be free.
“What is this?” I ask quietly.
Morris smiles, a cruel twist of his mouth that says far more than his words do. “My new friends. I’ve been waiting to introduce you.”
“You don’t even know me,” I say.
He laughs, and the sound grates on me. “I know more than you think, your highness. On the other hand, I’m afraid it is you who doesn’t know me.”
“You’re Morris. The wizard.”
Even across this distance, I can see that I’ve offended him. “I am Constantine. And I am so much more than a lowly wizard, beast.”
“From where I stand, you look like nothing more than a thief--of books and creatures.”
“Where you stand is a fragile place,” he warns, gesturing to the sleeping beasts surrounding me. “One word from me, and they’ll end you where you stand.”
My eyes catch on something propped against the rock wall behind him.
A book. It’s worn around the edges, though not ornate or important looking like the one Paige showed me earlier.
This one is plain and unsuspecting yet clearly important to him, or it wouldn’t be up on that ledge with him instead of down here with his pets.
My gaze snaps back to the man standing above us like some sort of ringmaster. Several things are clear even if I don’t fully understand his reasoning.
“These creatures all came from books.”
“Very good, your highness.” The derision doesn’t bother me. Nor does the fact that he knows who and what I am. His intentions where it involves Paige, however, do bother me.
“You are going to use them to attack the library. Why?”
“It is not your concern.”
Fury flashes through me. "You have carved a tunnel straight into the private chambers of my mate. That is absolutely my concern.”
“If I wanted to hurt Paige, I could have done so a thousand times already.” He tosses the words out so casually, but I have to bite back the urge to roar my rage across this cavern.
I take a step forward, and the creature closest to me stirs. I wait while it rolls away and settles into sleep again. Then I glare at Constantine.
“What do you want with her?”
“I want what we all want, dragon. Freedom.” He spits the word at me. Clearly, I’ve struck a chord. It reminds me of what he said to Paige yesterday. And then I realize what he means.
“You are trapped here. In the library.”
“We are all trapped here. In a world that could be ours for the taking if we could only find our way out of this damned library first. We could rule here. More than kings, we could be gods to these lowly fucking humans. If you weren’t so spellbound by the first pussy you came across in this world, you’d recognize the opportunity before you. ”
“Watch your mouth, old man.” I take another step, uncaring who or what I wake. The broom handles quiver beneath my tightening grip, but I don’t bother to ease my hold. Let them break. I won’t need them when I’ve shifted into my beast and scorched every last monster in this bloody cavern.
He sighs. “I grow tired of this interruption. Surgit .”
His command is punctuated by a sudden gasp. In the flickering light, something large rises from the cavern’s floor. Yellow, glowing eyes fasten on me and narrow. The creature is already angry.
Constantine smiles at me, satisfied with what he assumes will be my end.
“You might have been the top of the food chain in your world, dragon, but here, you are nothing. These creatures are the most formidable in all the realms. They will tear you apart for a snack. And then you will be nothing more than a figment of someone’s imagination once again.
” His eyes gleam as the creature on the floor below his feet lowers its head, ready to charge at me.
My skin turns to scales along my back and over my shoulders.
“You are nothing here,” Constantine calls out. “And when you are gone, her magic will be mine. Perhaps I will keep her when it’s done. Make her my queen. She is so damned powerful it’s delicious.” He presses the tips of his fingers to his lips and kisses them noisily.
Constantine’s words jolt me, but not for long. The creature charges. Its bellow is loud enough to ring in my ears—and to wake the others. Constantine doesn’t even move from his vantage point. Fucker. His confidence will be his downfall in the end.
For now, I focus on the glowing eyes as they charge at me and lose myself to the battle.
The creature is joined by two others. By the time they reach me, I’ve shifted, knocking them aside as I spread my massive wings. My feet turn to clawed talons, and I shove upward just as teeth lock against my ankle and drag me downward again.
The pain of my flesh giving between their teeth only makes me furious. Rage builds, hot as fire, and my dragon rises to the surface of my awareness. I give myself over to the beast inside me, happy to let it destroy my enemies.
As the three surround me, heat builds in my scaly throat. My dragon mouth opens, and fire pours out of me. All three creatures scream as they succumb to the flames and heat, some of them scrambling out of the way. They don’t get far.
But more have already woken. Now, they move toward me with murder in their eyes.
Something manages to sneak up behind me. I feel the prick of its claw or pointed weapon as it attempts to penetrate my scales.
Whirling, I find a snake larger than any land animal I’ve ever seen. Its fangs drip with poison, and I realize too late the prick I felt is much more dangerous than I’d assumed before.
My dragon falters even as I drive my claw across the snake’s throat, severing its head. It falls dead, and I whirl, wading through half a dozen other monsters, spilling blood and spitting fire before the venom finally stops me.
My dragon recedes, and I return to human form, falling to my knees and vomiting as the venom wreaks its havoc.
Gods.
If I die here...
I vomit again, and from above me, Constantine laughs.
The rage builds inside me again. My dragon stirs. Out of reach, thanks to the venom’s effects, but through blurry eyes, I spot the broom handles in the dirt nearby.
Fuck it.
I’ll fight until I can’t stand. And even then.
Not a single one of these fuckers will get their hands—or claws—on Paige. Even if it kills me, I will protect her.
Another creature comes for me. A three-headed dog complete with triple the teeth and more than enough speed to rip a small chunk from my arm.
I grab the handles just in time and shove the pointed end of the wood through two of its brains. The third head responds by howling and then falling dead at my feet.
I vomit again and go back to fighting.
By the time I look back at the ledge, Constantine’s expression has fallen from confident to concerned. He should be. Exhaustion clinging to the edges of my awareness, I continue fighting, pushing farther into the cavern toward the ledge where he waits.
I shove my stake through the heart of some creature who looks like a man but with fangs instead of teeth.
The other wounds I’ve inflicted seem to have no effect but this one—a stake through the heart—finally affects him.
He staggers and falls away, a viscous sort of blood oozing from the wound.
I don’t bother retrieving the stake and, instead, leave him impaled with it.
Hurrying forward, I leap onto a lower rock jutting from the cliff and grunt with the effort.
From above, Constantine snarls a curse. I keep climbing, trying like hell not to vomit since it’ll only slow me down.
Below me, the remaining creatures try to follow.
I pause to kick out against the closest one and then climb faster.
When I reach the ledge, there’s a sharp bird cry, and something winged dives at me from the air. I manage to shove my last remaining stake through its feather-covered breast, and the creature spirals away until I hear it hit the dirt below me.
Finally, I hoist myself onto the ledge, but Constantine is gone. I swing my gaze around to where I last spotted his book. Also gone.
With a groan, I pull myself to my feet and look for another exit. The rock is solid against the far wall, though, and I find no sign of a door or means of escape.
Turning back to the cavern, I spot a single figure moving slowly through the carnage toward the tunnel.
Forgetting the venom in my veins, I launch myself over the edge, arms spread wide as I call for my dragon. It stirs far too slowly for me to recover, and I manage to partially shift just as I slam into Constantine from behind.
Pain explodes in my body as we both go tumbling over bloodied corpses. Constantine cries out as we skid to a stop, each of us flung in opposite directions, and then, everything is silent.
I have no idea how long I lay there.
When I blink, I can’t even be sure I didn’t lose consciousness. The thought has me gasping and sitting up so fast my stomach swirls. Arms and legs. No scales. But I’m alive.
My ribs ache so badly that I grit my teeth against the pain of breathing. Forcing myself to stand, I scan the bodies littering the cavern floor.
Constantine is gone.
A sound draws my attention, and I look over to find the book lying open on the floor, its pages fluttering wildly. Suddenly, the cover swings shut with a snap , and everything is silent.
I make my way toward it, reading the title printed across the front: Constantine the Great.
Freedom, he’d said. That’s what he wanted. It’s what he gave all of these creatures by bringing them here. Escaped from their own stories, every single one. With the sole purpose of wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting world.
I have no idea how I managed to send him back, but all that matters is he’s gone. Paige is safe. Hissing through the pain, I scoop the book into my arms and hurry back through the passage to find my mate.