Chapter Twenty-Two
VESKOR
Idrifted in and out of an odd state of consciousness with no concept of time passing. Was I dead? Was this dying?
It wasn’t so bad.
But I was hot, too hot. Hadn’t I just been in the snow? I knew from the fighting pits that extreme heat in the cold was something that happened to other fighters right before they succumbed to the elements.
Not me!
I was wrapped in thick fur blankets, and a stone ceiling arched above me. A hearth crackled nearby, heat drifting over me in pleasant waves. An aroma of fresh bread wafted nearby. Someone had moved me. I was on my side, my wings carefully considered in the position I’d been put in.
No one ever cared about my wings. No one knew how sensitive they were. No one would know that except for drakens. Drakens had me.
No, saved me. No. Hadn’t they abandoned me in the snow?
My head hurt. I touched a hand to my temple, finding it wrapped in gauze.
Where was Perri?
My snarl ripped from me before I could help it. I surged to my feet, blankets falling away, wings flaring so wide they cracked against stone pillars.
Or tried to.
Fuck. Ow.
It hurt badly. My muscles strained from disuse and frostbite, but I ignored it all.
“WHERE IS SHE?” My roar shook the chamber. The flame in the hearth flickered.
Pounding feet raced toward the door and I tensed, crouching and growling instinctively, curling my wings around my body. Two figures tried to rush into the door and collided into each other, too big to fit at the same time.
The big, muscled drakens who fought me.
Stupid mistake. I hadn’t made sure there weren’t other threats before letting the world know I was awake. I bared my fangs and snarled at them anyway.
“Come any closer,” I warned, “and I’ll rip your spines out.”
The enormous one—silver and black-scaled, red dreads, and built like a mountain in draken form—looked down at me with bored interest. His name was Canavar.
“Cute,” he snorted. “It’s awake.”
The second, gold-scaled, crossed his arms and laughed at me. Nasi. “It also threatens.”
My wings flared, the back of my knees hitting the bed. I was trapped against it, with nowhere to go. I didn’t have the strength to fight them, but they didn’t know that.
“I will fight you for—”
Canavar moved deceptively fast for an opponent so large. He grabbed me by the back of the neck like I weighed nothing and slammed me down onto the stone floor so hard the walls rattled. “ENOUGH!”
I saw stars, stunned.
There was something comforting and familiar about the battle of strengths. I understood it and I respected it. Air blasted out of my lungs in a wheeze I couldn’t stop.
Nasi crouched at eye level, unimpressed as he frowned at me.
“You’ve been awake twelve seconds,” he said mildly, “and you’ve already earned a beating. This is what happens when an unmated male lives alone for too long.”
“I will kill both of you,” I rasped, furious at being talked about like I wasn’t right there in front of them.
Nasi raised a brow. “You can try. It would be a poor way to return Ronan’s favor of bringing you with us.”
“I SAID ENOUGH!” Canavar thundered, shaking me like a disobedient hatchling. My head rattled and my bones shook and in that instant, instincts overpowered me.
My body obeyed and I went still, shocked.
For the first time in years—maybe ever—I obeyed another, and not even from fear. It was a plain, simple shock. I had never met an opponent who could overpower me one-on-one. It was almost a relief.
My pulse pounded like a trapped animal’s. My fangs retracted and I forced my breathing to steady.
Calm. You must be calm.
“Stop being naughty.”
My ears pricked instantly as Perri’s voice floated to me, running into the room as the other two growled and stood between us, the big one tightening his grip on me. Her small voice cut through the room like sunlight splitting a glacier. “Canavar! That’s not nice! Put him down!”
Canavar made a gruff sound and reluctantly set me on my feet. My wings tucked protectively against my back and my ears flattened against my head.
Perri ran toward me, bundled in furs, hair mussed, cheeks pink from the warm air. She held a carved wooden toy in one hand and waved at me like we hadn’t nearly died in a blizzard together. Ronan ran in behind her, panting and in hot pursuit.
“Perri no! You need to eat—” Ronan shut up at seeing all of us.
“Veskor!” Perri chirped. “I’m glad you woke up!” She spun to Ronan. “He was wrestling with Canavar and Nasi! Are you all friends now?”
Her eyes were so big and hopeful and the notion so ridiculous that all I could do was blink at her. And at that moment, all the fight went out of me. My body sagged against the big draken and my knees nearly gave out. The gold one, Nasi, helped me sit back on the bed.
Ronan shot me a look that was half-irritated, half-pressed. “She’s been asking for you.”
I repressed the urge to snarl at him, and instead kept my nod neutral. Nasi had mentioned that Ronan was the one to have brought me here—wherever ‘here’ was.
Perri reached up and touched my hand. A small, warm, trusting hand. Whatever anger and venom I had left died. I cleared my throat.
“Um … why don’t we sit down and eat?” I asked her.
She beamed at me and hopped onto the bed, smoothing her hands down her legs and looking expectantly at everyone else to bring her food. Ronan rolled his eyes and went to a table, fetching a large tray with bread and cheese.
I tried not to drool.
“How … quaint.” My head shot up as a young man leaned against the door’s pillar watching the scene unfold, arms folded, grin massive and unhelpful.
He wore an iron crown inlaid with purple and red jewels, rough-looking but still rich.
He was dressed in simple breeches and a shirt made out of rough material, with a large fur coat over it, belted with more iron and jewels.
Someone important.
“You weren’t kidding,” he said to Ronan. “He only listens to the girl.”
Ronan shot him a flat look. “Georg, this isn’t funny. He kidnapped—”
“I think it’s hilarious,” Georg corrected cheerfully. “You drag home a half-dead draken rogue who thinks he’s Canavar, but looks like the runt of the litter, and the only thing keeping him from murdering my guards is a toddler. Yes, Ronan. I think it’s hysterical.”
I hissed at him.
The human winked at me.
I did not like him, because I did not understand him. What human was stupid enough to not be terrified of a draken? And why were these drakens acting so friendly toward him? Did these humans not know we could skewer them all in seconds?
Perri tugged on my claws. “Eat,” she commanded with all the imperiousness of a future queen. I took the hunk of cheese and took a large bite, chewing.
Canavar shook his head. “He’s not dangerous. Just stupid.”
I swallowed the cheese heavily. “I AM NOT STUPID,” I grit out. “I am the champion of—”
“Veskor! We don’t talk with our mouths full!”
My mouth snapped shut. They all turned away, snickering hard. Perri frowned and my face burned.
Ronan ran a tired hand over his face, recovering first. “OK. Enough. Veskor, this is King Georg, of Hoveria. He has graciously allowed us to wait out the rest of the storm and house us here before we head back.”
I tensed. “Head back where?”
One eyebrow raised at me. “To Lyoness, of course.”
Of course. I had committed a crime, and would have to be punished. It did not sound like I would die, however, because they would have just done it already. Or they were waiting for a grand trial for all their people to see.
That was fine. I would be fed in the meantime.
Ronan kept talking. “We need answers and we need a plan. When the storm breaks, we’re taking him back to Lyoness. Though we need something to present to Benedict so he doesn’t just immediately kill him.”
Canavar didn’t look thrilled at the prospect of saving my life. I wondered who this Benedict was. Was he more fearsome than Canavar?
“They’ll kill me,” I spat out, hating the thought of any hope at all.
“Only if you give them reason,” Nasi replied.
“You DID give them reason,” Canavar added. “Multiple, actually.” He cracked his knuckles at me and I flinched before I could help it.
Georg shrugged. “You manipulated vampyres into attacking Lyoness. You led to the death of at least one draken. You kidnapped a child.”
“I SAVED her,” I snarled, pointing at Perri. “She fell off a cliff; their wards are pathetic.”
Ronan stiffened, but it wasn’t anger this time. I knew that smell, at least. I’d scented it all the time in the pits; it was guilt.
“I know,” he said softly. “And we are thankful you were there, but you still took her. That was wrong, and what you did with Anar was wrong.”
I flinched.
“She—she chose me,” I protested.
Perri beamed. “Yep! He’s my friend!”
King Georg nodded wisely. “Well then. Good luck taking him back. I know how Benedict is.”
Ronan snorted. “I know how Wren is.”
The king beamed. “Ooh, you must write and give me all the details.”
Ronan stepped forward and I tensed. He’d been firm and fair so far, but he was also sneaky. I hated the sneaky fighters; they were harder to predict.
“You’re coming back with us,” he said, “because Perri is our child, not yours. She belongs with her family. And you—you’re the first rogue we’ve ever found, but you have some crimes to answer for.
And yet?” He paused, clearing his throat.
“You are still one of us and deserve a place. And you protected her. That means something.”
“Even if he fucked it up,” grumbled Canavar.
My breath stuttered.
No one had ever said something like that to me.
You are still one of us.
You deserve a place.
“But when we get back,” Ronan continued, “you will answer for Anar’s death. You will sit before our queen and Anar’s mother, and Peri’s parents. And you will tell them the truth, and ask forgiveness.
Truth.
Forgiveness.
The words landed like stones in my chest.
If they decided I needed to die …
Fine.
If they all killed me …
Fine.
I was tired of it all anyway.
Perri tugged at my hand again. “I wanna see your wings better, now that it isn’t cold,” she demanded.