Page 33 of Beautiful Beast

He looked at me intentionally. Neither of us spoke, knowing Idroal would no doubt be listening to the whispers through the walls. Our chambers were protected against listening of any kind. We didn’t speak until we crossed the threshold and closed the door.

“There’s only so much time we’ll be able to delay a true answer this time,” I said. “The destruction of the alliance is of too much importance.”

“We’ll tell them to send someone else to Rensara to check on the state of things. For obvious reasons, we couldn’t merely stay to see how things fell out. Someone with the power of disguise.”

Like him.

It was a good plan and would buy us some time. “You think they’ll listen?”

“Depends on how desperate they are.”

“I would think they’re about as desperate as you right now.”

Endre fell onto the couch heavily. “I feel it pressing,” he said. “Against the bonds. Raging. She doesn’t make the feeling better. All of this. My dragon pushing and nearly believing we could dissolve it ourselves.”

“Better not to cling to wishful thinking,” I told him. “Go bathe. Try to master yourself. In spite of your… desire, we must not show too much of our hand.”

“Good luck getting Z to agree.”

I nodded. “I’ll make sure he does.”

He dragged himself off the couch and into the bathing chamber, and I blew out a breath. Apprehension moved through me in a ripple. Both of them had come face to face with this woman and found themselves and their dragons dangerously close to the edge.

The edge of what, I wasn’t sure. But if both of them had succumbed to whatever power she held, I didn’t know what hope I had.

I could only pray to the Fallen I could be stronger than them just this once, so we didn’t get ourselves killed along with her.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

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KATALENA

The food was excellent.

Again, more than I expected being a prisoner, but I appreciated it. If there had been no windows, I might have started to lose myself to boredom, but with the sea spread out like a glittering blanket across the landscape, it felt like there was no end of things to look at.

If I leaned out of the window ever so slightly, I could see the peaks of the Bowl rising to either side. Too far out and an enchantment shoved me backward into the room so forcefully I fell to the ground.

Varí coughed smoke—suspiciously like a laugh—when that happened.

But the sun still poured down, and the warmth on my skin and the salt of the wind off the sea made me feel free. Like those first moments of flight when I had only felt joy and ease.

Some day I wanted to stand on the dark sands I could see below and touch the water. It looked so infinite. Touching it seemed like madness.

A scraping of the door’s lock had Varí diving for my legs. He scrambled into his position as the door opened, revealing Erryn once more. She didn’t say anything this time, merely gesturing for me to follow.

Who were the leaders I was meeting? Was it the dragons who brought me here? Was it the man—dragon—from last night? Endre? Nerves jangled in my stomach as we walked up the curling central staircase. Higher and higher and higher.

As we rose, I caught a glimpse down a long hallway that ended in a window. A flash of wing blew past, and I realized with perfect clarity these stairs were the secondary mode of transport. No doubt there were avenues of flight that were much faster. Did their forms hold their clothes when they shifted? How fast was it? Was it painful?

I had so many questions, and I hoped I would have the chance to ask them before they threw me out one of the windows just to have it over and done with.

My legs burned when we reached the top, and one glance down the center of the spiral made me dizzy. Skalisméra was bigger than I ever imagined.

“Careful,” Erryn said.

She was right, of course. There were no railings to protect the wide open space. Why would there need to be when everyone living here had wings they could summon at a moment’s notice?

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