Page 220 of What Lies Within Blood & Heirs

When Alora shivered again and curled her knees to her chest, Jade leaned forward and began unlacing her own boots. She watched as Jade removed them, gesturing for Alora’s foot before she slipped them on and laced them up.

For a moment, their surroundings and the weight of tomorrow vanished. When Jade’s arms stretched, adjusting her socks, Alora took in what looked like a tattoo up Jade’s left shoulder blade and extended partly down the back of her arm to her elbow. Symbols and lettering inlaid with night-blue ink that almost looked like … like a dragon’s wing.

Jade regarded her assessment and leaned against the cold stone before she explained, “It’s Torgalian.”

“It’s beautiful,” Alora remarked.

Jade shrugged as if it was some meaningless thing, and she half-wondered if the marking was something like Thalon’s tattoos. How for every beast he felled, he earned another marking, proudly wearing it on his skin.

“What does it mean?”

Again, cold silence.

Caught in something like a daze, Jade stated flatly, “It means I loved someone once.” No emotion on her face.

Shocked, Alora gaped. “Who?”

Jade’s foot scuffed the floor, as it had regularly since the guards had thrown in the cell, but this time, she traced a pattern. Swooping but simple lines. Some straight. Some curved.

Alora watched quietly, half paying attention.

Jade sighed once she had completed the mud-forged drawing of a pawn. A chess piece. And then her foot swiped it away, scattering the wet clods. “I don’t know.” Something unsettling flashed in those eyes, the amber flecks almost snuffed out entirely. “I don’t remember. All I know is he’s from Sylvera.” And then grinned like she’d won a bet.

Alora arched a brow. “What?”

Jade scoffed. “My father’s greatest enemy’s territory—Killian’s.” She shook her head, continuing, “In Torgal, you’re marked with the Flame’s color of your bonded’s birthplace. Flame Killian is a black dragon. His bloodline sires offspringwith night-blue flames. So, my bonded would’ve marked me in blue. I in return would’ve marked him on the opposite side of his back in mine—red from Alizarinthian. Dragons need two wings to fly. In a sense, the bonded cannot fly without the other. Or so the stories are told. I was never out of the pits to witness such a thing until I found it on my back.”

It sounded a lot likemates.

My mate.Tears welled in Alora’s eyes. Thankful for the darkness of the cell, she stroked the festering wounds and mark on her chest.Garrik.

Savoring his name, Alora damned herself that she’d waited so long to say it. By that small gleam of hope at the thought of him, Alora’s chest tightened. With painful effort, she swallowed the unbearable ache climbing from her soul and remained silent, listening.

Someone coughed as Jade’s foot squelched into the mud. She twisted it, digging a small crater there before murmuring, “I think … I think he died.” And fell silent.

When she finally spoke, Jade collected her necklace and lightly rubbed her thumb over the melted coin and ivory. “Before Aiden, I was injured in the Exalted City’s coliseum where my father ruled over Torgal. A blast destroyed most of the arena and killed countless spectators.” She didn’t blink, not once, as if locked in a trance. “I remember … a face … beside the explosion. Dark eyes like the blue of night. But oftentimes when I try to focus, he’s blurred. Unrecognizable.”

Jade shook her head, blinked, and turned those green irises to the floor. “My sisters-in-kind and I were horribly injured and made a fool of Flame Killian because of it. Our master, Kieran, punished us weeks later. They were all burned in front of me, and I was next.”

Alora’s attention flickered to the movement of Jade’s hand. To the necklace she ruthlessly squeezed. And Jade nodded.

“Garrik. Can he clarify the memories?” When they find him. Find Thalon and Aiden. When they are all together—because they allwouldbe together again.

“He doesn’t need to be bothered with such things. If the male was alive, he would’ve come for me in the weeks after. Dragons love fiercely. Unless bound by a life debt or dead, whoever he was would’ve come for me.”

Sapphires swept over each cell. Over every poor soul curled up, shivering. And she wasn’t ready for the quiet, so asked, “What is a life debt?”

Jade seemed just as inclined to fill that silence and wrapped her arm around Alora, laying her head on her shoulder. Her voice careful as if she were avoiding a curse. “In my realm, you’re owed a life debt if you prevent someone’s death. It is an unending sentence, forever bound to the one who saved your life. They can be broken by the one who holds the debt, but it’s very rare. Dragons not only love fiercely, they hordeeverything and anything. A life is more valuable than gold.”

“What happens if someone runs from a life debt? Maybe he hasn’t broken away.”

“Then he would be dead,” Jade snarled softly but quickly frowned, offering a quiet apology. “In the histories, two Flames refused to honor their life debts. If one is owed and the debtor is a Flame, hisentirekingdomperishes by an inferno created from the Everlasting Flames of the Evers. If of a lower bloodline, then all generations are annihilated. You don’t fuck around with a life debt. So, whoever he is … is better off dead. And I won’t go looking for him. I found my home. He means nothing to me.”

And that was the end of it.

Ladomyr’s general threw leathers and boots at their feet.

As if by some gift from the stars, Alora wouldn’t have to compete holding a thin robe together. Despite this, Ladomyr hadn’t ever displayed any inclination to offer them an advantage or show kindness.

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