Page 25 of Beautiful Beast

Still, I crowded myself back against the wall, unsure of what he intended. I still had the knife, and he still hadn’t told me how he knew my name. “Why do you know me?”

Endre looked at me then. “Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”

“Do you answer every question with another infuriating question?” I snapped. “If you can’t puzzle out why you, a stranger, shouldn’t know my name, then I can only assume your intelligence leaves much to be desired, and I’ll ask that you send someone else to speak to me.”

My heart pounded in my chest and I tried to control my breath and the fear spiking through me. He wasn’t armed, and he’d made no move that threatened me. But I knew well enough a man didn’t need to bear a weapon to do harm.

He smirked at me from across the cell. “You are very different from what I expected.”

I threw my arms out in a mockery of a bow, my exhaustion and annoyance getting the better of me. “My apologies, my lord. Please, tell me what you were expecting.”

Casually, he took a step forward. “I expected to leave your ashes behind in Rensara, Princess.”

His eyes flashed gold and reptilian in the dimness, and the entire room spun. “You’re—” I heaved in breath. “That’s not possible.”

“Your grandmother, who taught you so much about dragons, did not teach you about our human forms?”

I shook my head. Not once had she ever mentioned the possibility. Looking away, he sighed once. “No, I suppose she wouldn’t have. Even before the divide between our kinds, we were very selective in who we gifted the knowledge to. Most humans never knew, and the ones that did were trusted beyond all doubt.”

“And you trust me?”

Another smirk. “I trust that no one will believe you. A princess carried off by dragons, out of her mind with terror? Surely she imagined the dragons she saw as men to make her torment easier.”

Sadly, what he said was true. And Prince Andaros would be first in line to believe such a story.

“That, and though you may be alive for the moment, whether you remain so is yet to be decided.”

I lifted my chin up, trying to tell him I wasn’t afraid even though my hands shook where they were twisted in the folds of my shift. His eyes were human right now, and dark. But I’d seen the eyes of a dragon so clearly…

A deep inhale made his chest rise and fall. “You’re afraid. That’s good. But you’re not nearly afraid as you should be.”

Could he scent my fear? “And why is that?”

I’d always had a good sense for danger. When to run and when to fight. Even with people, and somehow, in the place that led me beyond my conscious mind, I knew the man—the dragon—in front of me didn’t pose a threat. Not yet, anyway.

“Because you are here alone. In a place where no one cares for you. In a cell. I could take your life and no one would blink. In fact, many would thank me for the service.”

Forcing my hands behind my back, I straightened my spine. “If you’re going to kill me, stop toying and do it. All I ask is that you make it quick. But you had better do it as a dragon.”

I’d barely noticed that he’d inched closer because he’d been doing it so slowly. He was well within reach of me now. But my words stopped him in his tracks, the stillness bringing attention to his closeness. “Why?”

“Because I’m not as easy to kill as you think.”

He tilted his head again, and in spite of the breathless tension, I nearly laughed. I’d seen Varí make the exact same movement, as if it transferred from one form to another.

“I seem to remember you fleeing for your life.”

“Against a dragon. Against a man, I might hold my own. Even you.”

There was a flare of interest and curiosity in those dark eyes, once again telling me he wasn’t here to kill me. Not yet. This was all a test. Or he was a predator toying with prey with bait on a string. Either way, I could make it out of this alive.

I knew it.

“What would your prince think of you? A princess challenging a man to battle.”

“He wouldn’t be surprised. I held a knife to his throat when he tried to take more than I wanted to give.”

Endre took the final step in front of me, looking down at me from his full height. From across the room he hadn’t seemed so tall. But I had to crane my neck to meet his gaze. It was full of anger that wasn’t aimed at me. “Is that so?”

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