Page 45 of The Soul of the Dragon

My gut twisted. If I was rational I might understand the space she needed, but I wasn’t and I wouldn’t be as long as I had to look at the marks around her neck and the bruise already forming on her face.

“I have to do something. I can’t just let this go.”

“We aren’t going to let anything go. But we have to be smart about going after the King. He has a lot of support in his kingdom and the others.”

“How did he find you?”

“The seer. She must have seen I would come to her, and used it to gain some favor from her King.”

“Then I’ll kill her.” My dragon perked up and stretched, ready for another hunt.

“You can’t go around killing everyone in the kingdom. He is their King and they know of no reason to not follow him. Besides, she couldn’t help us anyways. She doesn’t know where the amulet is. Although she did profess to know of it, and that it must be close.”

I snorted.“That’s assuming we can trust anything she said. She probably lied for her King too.”

My Princess shook her head. “I don’t think so. When I first arrived she wouldn’t even talk to me. But when I told her some of my story, something changed in her. She allowed me in and I think told me what little she truly knew.”

I stomped my feet as I paced back and forth without getting any closer to her. I wasn’t sure I could put my faith in someone who blindly followed her King and held at least some of the responsibility for what had happened and what would have happened if I’d not made it there.

“So we are no closer to finding the amulet.” It wasn’t really a question and I wasn’t expecting an answer.

“I can help you with that.” I whirled around to find the sprite had come up behind us without any sound or scent.

“I really don’t like that you can sneak up on me.” I glared at her, but with a lot less menace than I’d felt for her before.

“That’s your problem, dragon, not mine.” She stomped her tiny body towards Kitra and I waited for her to get pushed away too. “Ungrateful,” she mumbled as she passed by me.

My shoulders sagged. “Thank you for helping me.” Both she and Kitra stared at me, shock on both their faces. “Don’t look at me like that. I am thankful. But those fucking poison darts are evil. Your fellow sprites are going to bring down my wrath if they come near me again.”

“You got shot? Are you okay?” My little beast took a few steps in my direction before she stopped herself, a small reminder that there was still something between us. “And Magnus?”

I growled and then nodded. “Him too. He’s probably still out there in the forest. Hopefully getting his ass eaten by all the wild creatures in this realm.”

The sprite shook her head. “The king’s guard gathered him and took him away.”

“That’s convenient.Almost as if they’d planned this all along.”

“You think the Imps are working with the King?” Kitra asked, her expression more shocked than surprised.

“It’s incredibly coincidental and I don’t believe in coincidences. I’m sure if the sprite hadn’t come along when she did, I’d be in a pit somewhere by now.”

“Ensley. And I’m not a sprite.”

Kitra gasped at the female. “That’s your real name? I can’t believe you said it.”

The little sprite shrugged, but I remembered how Kitra had mentioned that there was power in knowing a fae’s true name.

“I like sprite better.”

The little creature glared at me when I said it and I made a mental note to continue calling her that every chance I got.She hissed at me, but without any true menace. It was almost enough to make me laugh.

“We underestimated the lengths they would go to get to me, and now we know they’re after the amulet too. The seer told me.”

Another growl rumbled through my chest.“I assumed the old bastard had lied to me about having it, but knowing it takes that to an entirely different level.”

“So what do we do to be the ones to find it first?” We both turned back to the sprite and waited for an answer.

She paced a few steps away and then back again, taking forever to answer the question. By the time she looked up we were both waiting with bated breath.

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