Page 79 of Fated for his Flame

Then I could duck out and make my way to the marina. That was my only hope for escaping the Dragon Isles. I offered up silent thanks to Silas for showing me the boats.

“What the hell is this?” the one tying my hands asked as his hands brushed my back while finishing up.

The glani was roughly pulled to the side, and he pawed at me while pulling the dragon-scale knife from where it had been strapped to my back. Apparently, my captors were more thorough than the palace guards.

“Seth, look at this,” he called.

I listened as the leader came over. There was silence, but I could just imagine Seth looking the knife over.

The bag was abruptly yanked from my head, taking a clump of hair with it. I yelped at the unexpected pain, even as I blinked furiously against the sunlight streaming in through the half-dozen skylights high above us on the slanted rooftop.

I received a backhand across my face for my troubles.

“Silence!” Seth barked as he glared down at me, holding the knife in one hand. His long, black hair fell to either side of his face.

His hair was a mess, but the equally dark beady eyes were sharp and focused. The black button-up he wore was stained with blood along the left sleeve and ripped partway up the seam on the other side. Signs of the fight. He also had some patterned bruising along his jaw that might be from a fist.

Unfortunately, his nose was still intact. I longed to see it broken still. Anything to wipe the smug arrogance from his face.

“Where did you get this?” he snarled, holding up the knife.

I gazed back at him. He wouldn’t get an easy answer out of me. That was for sure. Then I would have no leverage left to preserve myself.

“Answer me!” he howled.

I let my head fall back slightly, staring down my nose at him. “You’ve never conducted an interrogation before, have you?”

His eyes nearly bulged out of his head. “You are a damn spy,” he hissed, the knife shaking as he waved it in front of me. “You stole this. You stole information. You were trying to expose everything to your bosses. They were right.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re just like the others.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he sneered. “I’m better than them. Look how I stole you out from under their noses. They can’t touch me.”

Seth was making it far too easy. It was like dealing with amateurs. I tried to not smile.

“It was a bold move, snatching me out from the prison,” I said, giving him the encouragement his ego so clearly needed. “I’m impressed you managed it so cleanly.”

“They never expected it,” he hissed. “Never saw us coming. Just like the rest won’t either.”

“The rest?”

Seth laughed. “You think we’re going to stop here? That this is the end? Of course not. My father is retiring. Stepping aside, really. I’m the head of my house, and I have assembled our people here. All of them. They are waiting.”

My brain worked to process all the information Seth was so freely pouring out.

“Waiting for what? Your coronation to begin? I’m flattered, but I don’t see how a human like me has any part to play in that.”

Seth laughed and tossed the knife onto a nearby table. I didn’t let my eyes follow it as much as I longed to. The goal was to distract him from it. Get him going on about himself.

“You won’t be around for that,” he said, pointing a finger. “But you are part of the gift I’m giving myself. A gift that will ensure my status is cemented as head of the strongest family. None will challenge me. Strange to think it’s all possible thanks to a pathetic human such as yourself, but these are strange times we live in.”

“How am I going to help? I don’t know anything.”

He snorted. “You’re not here to do anything besides be here,” he said. “A beacon.”

Then I got it.

“You’re luring Silas here,” I said slowly. “That’s why you brought all your people in from wherever they were. You’re laying an ambush for him.”

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