Page 53 of Terragnata and the Heir of the Earth

I took a gulp and sat on the couch, the fiery liquid burning my throat.

“Terra, I’m sorry for the spectacle, truly, but I had to put some rumors to bed, for your sake. Prying eyes are never friendly here, which you may remember.”

I chewed my lip, and he took my hands in his, turning them over as if to remember their lines and curves. “Terra,mi karus, are you okay?” he asked, genuine concern in his voice.

I shook my head. I could barely distinguish true memory from lie, which left me utterly confused about how I should feel—towards Ezren, Jana, or the situation as a whole. What I did know, was that I didn’t feel okay.

“I don’t know, Cas.” It felt so good to say my friend’s name once again, and it undid me. I wept, and he pulled me onto his lap, pressing my head against his chest, calming my heaves by tracing letters on my back. He kissed the top of my head numerous times. Finally, when I quieted, he said, “I willkillthebastard for laying a hand on you. That was never part of the deal, Terra. You have to know?—”

I jumped back. “Deal? What deal? Are you talking about Ezren?” I asked, now on the defensive.

“Yes, I’m talking about the deserting Dragon filth that raped you!”

I gaped at him. “Raped me? What gave you that impression?”

“I could scent him all over you when you arrived. And not in the way of two lovers, in a claiming way. And you looked so ill, so abused, you keeled over almost immediately!”

I sighed, exasperated at the territorial bullshit he spewed. “Cas, that’s because my memories were swarming my head like bees. And for what it’s worth, Ezren was barely willing to touch me.”

He quieted for a moment. “My sense of scent has never been false. It is unparalleled. Theonlyother possibility is if you did something called the binding—” He stopped, his eyes widening.

I just looked at him, guilty and confused. I still didn’t know what the binding meant—only that the coupling we’d done to kill the Crona had accidentally led to it. Cas’s gathered, prince-like expression turned to pure rage as he read my face.

He shot to his feet and walked with such intensity it wouldn’t have surprised me to see steam pumping from his ears. I gripped my chiffon skirts, running to keep up with him, grateful I had shed those ridiculous shoes earlier.

“Cas, wait, please, can you just stop for a second!” But he kept moving, and I kept on following him through more twisting halls. Finally, he stopped at an iron door guarded by two Viri warriors. I caught up to him and grabbed his arm.

“We did it to save human lives, to prevent these horrible creatures Fayzien created from breaking into the human realm. I didn’t even remember who you were then. And I don’t even know what a dammed bindingis!”

Hurt flashed in his eyes. “But he did. And he does.” He turned to face the guards. “Keep her up here.” And just like that, he disappeared down the stairs, the iron door clanging behind him.

Whatever anger I had felt towards Ezren paled in comparison to pure fear for his life. He was a formidable warrior, but he was likely chained and helpless in a cell. Cas would injure him severely at best and kill him at worst.

I turned from the door that Cas had slammed in my face. I whipped around, drawing one of the guard’s swords. As expected, they were unprepared for my wild action. I sent my knee into the groin of the one whose blade I stole, while jamming the hilt of the sword into the other’s temple. Before they had time to react, I slammed the other into the stone wall, hard enough to knock him out. They both slumped to the ground in front of me. Less than fifteen seconds after Cas had descended the stairs, I again ran after him.

The dungeon dripped with a cold and dreadful aura, but I didn’t let my bare feet dwell on it as I flew down the hall. It came to a T shape, but I heard a jingling off the right side. I veered towards the noise. Sure enough, a guard was fumbling with a ring of keys, Cas behind him. In a moment, the door swung open, and I darted into the cell, whipping around to slam the bars shut after me. The guard and Cas gaped at me as I stormed in silently thanks to my unadorned feet. Ezren stood almost naked, wearing only a small cloth covering his manhood and a collection of chains. They circled his neck, wrists, and ankles. I noticed a smattering of unhealed bruises and cuts that danced over his muscled body.

“Terra,” Cas bit out, “what do you think you’re doing?”

“I will not let you kill him, Cas,” I breathed.

He rolled his eyes. “Oh, for the gods’ sake, I wasn’t going to kill him. Even before I knew you two were bound! He’s a Dragonshifter. There’s no way my father would condone him being wasted. But Terra, he has to pay for what he did. If not in body, then at least in mind.”

“And what exactly did he do?” I shot back.

Cas looked at me, evaluating. “You really don’t know what the binding means, do you?” he whispered.

My blank expression offered answer enough. “Ah,nowthis all makes sense. You don’t know what he took from you.” Cas shook his head in disbelief.

Ezren cut in, his voice strained and dry. “She took from me, too, Princeling. And if you’re too young to remember, one does notknowwhen a binding will happen. It just does.”

“Well, you still chose to couple with her! How did that make you feel, warrior? To know you were claiming an untouched female betrothed to another? Did that excite you?” Cas growled at Ezren. “Or did you just want a second chance, with any poor unsuspecting female, to redeem yourself after your last attempt?”

I turned around to face Ezren, pressing my back to the cell door. His eyes were blazing with a rage directed at Cas, doing his best to see if looks could truly kill. I searched them, looking for some ulterior motive, an answer towhyhe’d chosen to couple with me. He’d certainly been resistant at first, but Cas’s vague accusations fell flat. No words could shatter what we’d experienced. It had been etched on my body, and his.

But, no matter the connection we’d shared—it did not change the fact he’d lied to me.

“Look at me.”

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