Chapter Fifteen
Valora
The next few days were awkward. Dracul and I did not address what had happened, preferring to keep to ourselves. We did not talk like we had been, that growing closeness suddenly froze. Part of me missed our conversations, but the rest of me was glad for the distance.
There were also rising tensions amongst the Dragon Maidens, I assumed due to the nighttime excursion, and Vimery was more volatile than ever. Rather than keeping a silent hatred of me, she purposely tried to get a reaction from me. I constantly found my things missing, and she was always there with a smirk and snarky comment.
Finally, the night of my escape arrived. I stayed awake, waiting until the other Maidens fell asleep. When the cave filled with the sounds of slow breathing, I slipped out of bed. I grabbed my satchel, filled with my family treasures and a few pieces of jewelry as payment for Henrick. Quietly, I padded through the familiar corridors, my heart pounding, until I reached an unfamiliar passage. My fingers went to Dracul’s necklace and I felt a pang of guilt as I touched the stone. Silently, I repeated Henrick’s instructions to myself, clenching my fists before moving forward, my final decision made. I did not have time to second-guess myself. I needed to find Ronan. After a few minutes, I reached another fork, and without hesitating, I took a right. Soon after that was a left. Every so often, I paused, checking to see if anyone followed me, but I heard no other footsteps.
After a few more turns, I could finally feel a breeze on my face, my pace quickening immediately. A few more yards and I could see the night sky out of the entrance. To the left, a small pack waited for me, filled with food and other rations, along with a rope ladder leading down the cliffside. I breathed a sigh of relief that Henrick had kept his word, grabbing the pack and leaving the pieces of jewelry behind before stepping on the ladder.
I had quite the distance to climb down the mountain, glad that it was too dark to see how far up I was. It felt like ages before I finally reached the ground, and I let out a shaky breath. My steps quickened as I walked through the surrounding forest, trying to put as much distance as possible between myself and the dragon-filled cavern behind me. There was a slight feeling of hesitation, a knot in my stomach tightening the further I moved away from the mountain. My heart beat furiously that this plan had even worked, knowing that I had Henrick to thank for it. I desperately hoped he would not be found out and remained safe.
I had done it—I was free.
A scream escaped me as I felt a claw grab my arm, jerking me into the air. My head shot up, looking to see who had caught me. One of the guards stared at me, his claw digging hard enough into my arm that it drew blood.
“Thought you could escape, hmm?” he sneered. “Ever since your little stunt when you first came here, Lord Verhorn has the guards randomly check in on you every night. Tonight, when your bed was empty, we knew you were going to try and run for it.”
“How?” I asked as we flew around the mountain, approaching the entrance I had first arrived through. The guard tossed me on the ground as he landed and I knew that there would be a bruise from the force of slamming into the floor. Though, I knew that was the least of my worries. He landed next to me, transforming into his human form before roughly picking me up and pulling me down the hall. His strength was definitely superior to that of a regular human and I knew this was another benefit of being a dragon.
“Lord Dracul can answer that. If he decides to let you live.” He set a merciless pace, and I could barely keep up as he dragged me down the hall. I recognized the corridors we passed through, knowing that we headed directly to Dracul’s chambers. He pulled me through the halls, treating me like a rag doll, before throwing me at Dracul’s feet, leaving me in a sprawled heap of limbs.
I could not even bear to look at the High Dragon Lord. I could only imagine how angry and disappointed he must be. For some reason, I could not figure out which of those thoughts bothered me more. The guard left the room, leaving the two of us alone. There were no witnesses for this, and fear began to stir in my heart.
“Valora, look at me,” he said. I could tell by the tightness of his voice that he was livid.
I bit my lip and closed my eyes for a moment before lifting my head to look at him. He was in his dragon form, his silver eyes stormy, and I fought the impulse to look away.
“Why would you try to escape?” Dracul demanded, smoke escaping his flared nostrils in his fury.
“I—” His anger frightened me and I could barely speak. Though he had always said he would not hurt me, right now, I was not so sure that he would not kill me on the spot.
“ Why? ” he roared. “Why did you try to escape?” I could see the betrayal in his eyes and a spike went through my heart.
“I need to find my brother and talk to him,” I said hoarsely. “I’ve wasted enough time here. If I don’t go, I’ll possibly miss my chance of finding answers forever.”
“What answers do you seek from him?” His voice grew louder and angrier the more he spoke.
“To find out what he did that I deserved to get these!” Venom laced my voice as I drew up my sleeves to reveal the numerous scars lining the entirety of my arms. I grew tired of his anger. If he was going to punish me, I would rather he do it sooner than later. “And these!” I pulled at the back of my dress, revealing more of the jagged scars, the fabric ripping at my ferocity.
Dracul paused in shock upon seeing the scars, his silver eyes widening. After realizing what I had done, I hastily pulled my sleeves back down, covering the scars once more. I fiddled with the back of my dress, trying to fix it, but I quickly gave up as there was no way to close it. It was too late anyway—he had seen almost everything.
“What happened?” he asked quietly, his anger subsiding. Based on his expression, he was thinking back to those weeks ago when I had cried.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said, knowing that I had already given away too much. Previously, he had only seen a fraction of my scars, and now, he had seen almost all of them.
His face turned soft for a moment, before returning into a fierce scowl. “I don’t know what to do with you,” he said. “Time and time again, you try my patience. And with this recent turn of events… I don’t know how I’m going to convince the other Lords to let you stay.”
“Then just roast me!” I threw my hands up in the air as I shouted. Even though I wanted answers, I was so tired of feeling like a burden to everyone. Too many times, I had been so close, yet was still so far from answers. Not to mention the swirling wheel of shame, switching from feeling guilty about leaving to wanting to stay. “Just roast me and make it easier on everyone!”
From the look on Dracul’s face, I knew he was not expecting that answer. “No, I will not be roasting you, Valora.”
I turned away from him, unable to stare at the tenderness that entered his eyes, but he reached out, using a single claw to gently turn me back towards him, his gaze serious once more.
“I just need you to understand the severity of what you’ve done.”
I stared at him. “I do know what I’ve done,” I said. “But the risk was worth the opportunity to see my brother again.”
Dracul shook his head. “How long has it been since you last saw him?”
Once more, I could not meet his eyes, knowing that my answer would not be sufficient. “I haven’t seen in him a long, long time. It’s been over three years,” I admitted. It had been almost two years since my parents had been killed, and Ronan had left home a year before that. The question I had asked the guard earlier came back to me. “How did you know I was going to escape tonight?”
He sighed heavily, as if he did not want to answer the question. After a few moments, I was certain he would not answer, but he surprised me. “We intercepted the note you gave to Henrick,” he said.
My heart skipped a beat as I suddenly worried for his safety.
“He was not punished, don’t worry,” Dracul said, seeing the look that crossed my face. “But he has been reassigned and you will no longer be able to see him.”
“How long have you known about this?” I asked, my mouth suddenly dry.
“About a week, as soon as you gave the note to Henrick. You were not as sneaky as you thought—a few of the other workers raised their concerns to us,” Dracul said. He looked very tired all of a sudden, and I realized how much of a burden this must have placed on him this past week.
The other night came to mind and I wondered if that was somehow his way of trying to convince me to stay, to prove that there was something there for me. It made me wonder if it had just been a ruse or if he really felt the way he had acted. An unexpected tenderness had grown between us, and now my mind spun, wondering if any of that had been real.
“Go back to the other Maidens. I will figure out how to deal with you in the morning.”
I nodded, turning to go. Right now, I would not think about what was going on between us. I had bigger problems at the moment.
“And Valora,” he said, making me pause. “If you are ever caught outside your chambers again at night, you will be killed. That, I can tell you for certain.”
I remained silent, only bowing before returning to the chamber.
The other Maidens were awake and stared at me in shock, having expected Lord Dracul to kill me, or at least punish me in some way. Not that I blamed them—I had expected the same.