Page 41 of Fae Exile

“I see a bolt there,” Hiroshi said, pointing with his chin, “and there. You get that one, I’ll get this one.”

Before I could decide how hypocritical I was willing to be, Hiroshi hedged around the dragon. When he crouched beside its front leg, I joined the others in holding my breath.

But all that happened was Hiroshi unhooked several unwieldy chains.

“Right,” I muttered, then dipped beneath the dragon’s other haunch and released the bindings.

“We’ve gotta throw the chains across its back,” Hiroshi said.

“Don’t—” West started, but Ryder was the one to stop him this time.

“Just let them do it. But fucking hurry it up, will ya, guys? I’m gonna have the runs for a week after this.”

“You out of the way?” Hiroshi asked me.

I shuffled to stand in front of the dragon, where it could keep an eye on me—an advantage I hoped would keep it at ease.

The first chain sailed across the creature’s back and landed with a thunk. I sauntered over, grabbed it, and slid it beneath its massive belly toward Hiroshi. While ducked low, I couldn’t help but notice how blood oozed from several wounds, and how scars were carved into its softer flesh.

I was going to kill the queen an extra time for this. Murderous or not, whether the stories about the dragons were truth or lies, no animal deserved this kind of abuse.

Over and again, Hiroshi and I looped the chains around the creature until, finally, I yanked on the last one and dragged it under its belly, before tossing it a few feet to the side. It was too heavy to throw farther without real effort.

The very moment it was free, the dragon rose from its squat and pushed open its wings. They stretched wide above and far beyond me, where my lumoon snagged on how their membranes might be destroyed beyond even the legendary healing skills of the fae.

“Get out of the way,” West warned unnecessarily.

Hiroshi and I cleared its wingspan and jogged back to the front, where we all moved within fleeing range.

The dragon wagged its neck this way and that as if stretching, attempted to do the same with its legs but only whined as I imagined it tugged on the many awful cuts along them, then breathed in roughly.

“Run,” Ryder yelled.

All of us were already in motion. We barreled into the tunnel, and nearly just as fast, whipped back around to peek beyond the edge of the protective stone wall.

The dragon was pointing its fire away from us and toward the shadowed depths of the pit.

There, the furious twin streams of flame illuminated what the gloom hid: like the prison for fae, cell after barred cell contained dragons—so many dragons.

“We need Elowyn,” I uttered before I realized I would. “Theyneed her.”

In truth, in that moment, it was I more than anything and anyone else who needed the comfort of my mate to soften the knowledge that this world could be such a horribly cruel place.

16.HE WASN’T THE BEST OF MEN, BUT NEITHER WAS HE THE WORST

~ ELOWYN ~

Disoriented, I woke with a jolt and a snort, quickly remembered I was surely in danger even if I hadn’t yet recalled exactly from which source, and bolted upright.

“Oh, by blazing dragonfire,” I groaned, eyes pinching shut against the brutal crick in my neck while I got my bearings. Discreetly wiping at the trail of drool along my cheek and rubbing at my neck, catching on several scabs, I wondered if I’d slept on a damn rock.

My eyes widened. “Xeno!” My friend sat on a log slightly behind me, his dragon gone for the moment. His legs outstretched in front of him, he appeared ... okay.

Still bruised and sliced up all over, but after the night before,okaywas excellent.

It was daylight, which meant I’d fallen asleep sometime during the night with vicious predators circling us. That wasn’t at all like me. When I was safe, I slept as soundly as a baby dragon. But when I wasn’t? I’d hear a branch fall across the forest—normally. Maybe it had been a lingering effect of the umbrac poison?

“Are you all right?” I asked him while scanning the clearing I found myself in. Finnian and Roan were deep in animatedconversation, as far away as they could be while still remaining close enough to intervene should we be attacked again. Pru sat cross-legged on a log with Saffron beside her, on the other side of the extinguished fire. The goblin was playing peekaboo with the dragonling, who appeared to be considering a giggle. A weight I didn’t realize I’d been carrying dissipated.

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