Page 33 of Dragon Unhinged

Why should I believe you’re a prisoner at all? Your clan exposed us all. Maybe this is your way of trying to destroy all the other clans, to become the only dragons left on Earth.

He’s scaling the wall, digging his claws in as he climbs.

One of his wings is crumpled, hanging limply behind him, as if he’s lost the ability to use it at all. Maybe he has. These fights, the magic that binds us, doesn’t guarantee healing, least of all damage to our animals.

Who crippled you?

He leaps off the wall, trying to collide with me midair, bellowing out a blast of fire as he attacks again.

Crippled?He scoffs inside my head.Even if I am crippled, I can still kill you.

I dodge his fire and swoop back up to slam into him from below, talons ripping into his softer underbelly as I drive us both up toward the high roof of the arena.

I’m not even sure it’s a roof at all. It looks like a blanket of stars, a sliver of moon.

Sights I haven’t seen in so long.

The amazonite tries to twist, snapping at me with furious jaws. Barely missing getting his teeth into my neck again.

I feel the crackle of magic just before we reach some invisible barrier above us, and I adjust, steering back toward the floor of the arena.

But not before the amazonite’s good wing clips the magical barrier.

The scent of burning flesh, melting scales, permeates my nose, and I release him from my talons, just to put some distance between me and that smell.

The amazonite isn’t as lucky, though, as he now has two wings he can’t use to brace himself against the nearly imperceptible air currents in the arena. He slams into the wall,contorting right and left to try to gain some purchase with his talons. Anything to help slow his descent.

Just before he smashes into the stone floor, I manage to catch him, rolling us both as we grapple together.

His teeth clamp down into my leg, causing even more rivulets of blood to fall from my scales.

I kick at him, sending him flying into the opposing wall. The sickening sound of bone crushing stone as his head hits the wall echoes around us.

You won’t win. You can’t.His voice is weaker, almost distant, and it looks like he’s having trouble focusing on me, his eyes shifting around erratically.I have to defend my clan.

Shit. I’ve never wanted to take another dragon’s life, and I really don’t want to do it now, even if it’s the only way to get back to Brianna.

What is your name? If I ever make it out of this hell, I’ll make sure your clan, your King, know that you fought valiantly. That you did not give in to defeat.

Even as I ask him, I stalk forward, ready to put an end to his suffering, to his pain.

Silas. I am the fourth prince of my clan. My father cannot know I died this way.

I jerk my head down once in a quick nod, just before I open up all the fire I can muster.

It rips at my gut, nearly destroying me as surely as it’s decimating Silas, but I don’t stop until there’s nothing more than a charred skeleton remaining.

Knowing this was the only outcome I could allow, knowing that Silas was already damaged beyond any repair even the most skilled witches could heal, does nothing to drown out the sounds of his screams echoing in my mind as he draws his last breaths.

My moment of freedom, my moment of being in dragon form, is cut short when a dart penetrates my softer scales just under my chin and the world around me goes sideways.

All I can think about as I collapse is Brianna.

I did this for her. For us. I just hope she doesn’t hate me for it.

Chapter

Fourteen

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