Page 96 of Beautiful Beast

Dragons slammed into the ground in front of us. Soldiers and guards summoned by the Elders for this moment. They hauled a piece of wood that looked like it was merely the trunk of a tree to the center of the stone ring and stood it upright. One of the dragons moved, calling roots to bind it in place with his gift, the plants slithering through the stone like nothing.

And then the roots came toward us.

NO.

Cieso’s wings spread wide as he looked down at us in total victory. Katalena Isabel Arslan Savea. We thank you for your vow. There is every chance you are different from your ancestors, but the chance of your betrayal is not one we are willing to bear. Your kind’s treachery will never be permitted again. And so, it is decided.

Every Elder spoke as one. Even Eloith, with sadness in her gaze.

You will burn.

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

________

KATALENA

No.

No no no, this wasn’t supposed to happen. This couldn’t happen.

Sirrus looked down at me, and I knew. Because he wasn’t moving and I saw him struggling to do so. I looked at Endre, and then Zovai. They were frozen like statues, forms shaking with the effort to move.

My mind went blank with fear.

I knew.

I had known and yet I’d hoped and still the echo of damning words in my ears wouldn’t go away.

Honored ones, this isn’t right, Idroal said. The girl has done nothing. Even before you ordered her death by the Heirs’ hand, she had done nothing but be born into this world.

HOW MANY? Aeghi roared. How many dragons were murdered still in their eggs? Or stolen to be bred into those abominations they now use? Where was the clemency the innocent deserved then?

I couldn’t look at Varí. If I looked at Varí I would break apart, and if I was about to die…

My breath shuddered anyway.

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m sorry.”

Idroal argued more, but I didn’t hear it. I was too busy looking at them. “I love you,” I said. “Impossible that it is. Strange as it is, I love you. And whatever it was that called to your dragons, I hope that you find it again. I hope you don’t remain alone.”

My voice cracked, tears flooding my eyes. I couldn’t do this.

Lena. Endre’s voice, full of pain.

I turned away from them and looked at the dragons above me. All I felt was their malice and their anger, and I didn’t care that I was weak and frail and would look like exactly who they wanted. Facing death in the moment was different.

“Please.”

The dragons said nothing. None of them. Not the Elders and not the ones standing and watching.

For the first time, I saw the spire of wood they’d erected, rising into the sky. Oh, stars.

The roots writhing at the bottom of the tree reached for me and wrapped around my arms and legs, dragging me forward. I fought them as hard as I could, scratching and nearly biting.

Those vines belong to a dragon, human. You just vowed never to harm one on purpose. Would you break your vow so quickly?

Tears burst through what remained of my mask. I sobbed, pain sinking through my chest. That was the only reason they let me make the vow in the first place. So they could kill me without a fight.

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