Page 85 of Her Rabid Beasts

“How did you know I was here?” she demands.

“Tip off.”

Eugene squawks behind me, putting in his two cents worth. Although I should probably thank him for the opportunity.

I need to get away. I don’t bother untying her ropes and instead collect the torture instruments and obsidian shackles. “Scythe won’t like this. Not at all.”

“Why? Because he didn’t know about them?”

“A mundane assumption,” I snort, rising to my feet. She thinks I mean the torture instruments, but I knew exactly who Yuran Black was before I killed him.

Eugene, sensing it’s now safe, comes bumbling around the corner. He makes for the ball of blue fluff that is Henry, lying unconscious against the cavern wall.

I take the loose end of my thin fire lasso and proceed to drag the giant tapeworm that’s the cobra anima out with me. What have I become? A courier? An errand boy? By the Gods.

Aurelia, still bound to the chair with the rope, starts to blubber something again, so I cut her off. “You can get yourself out now that the vermin are gone.”

“W-Won’t you get in trouble for this?” she stammers, pretending she cares about me.

I throw her a smirk over my shoulder and stalk out.

How many dragons does it take to kill a den of vermin?

One, apparently.

Chapter 35

Aurelia

It takes me half an hour to telekinetically untie each of the ropes around my four limbs, swearing at that giant reptile under my breath the entire time. I’m not great at telekinesis yet because I’ve not had all that much practise. I’d been forbidden to use powers other than my shields for so long that I practically forgot that I had them until I got here and saw Minnie and the other felines use them frequently.

But that dragon-sized asshole Xander Drakos just left me here without a second glance, like I’m rubbish for disposal. And the way hekilledthose serpents with hate in his eyes… It was chilling. Until, of course, he all but lit the place on fire. Four mounds of licking flames are piled around me, and the heat from them is turning this cave into a kiln. My clothes are saturated with sweat by the time I get myself out.

As soon as I’m free, I rush to Henry, where Eugene is trying to rouse my baby’s tiny body. I scan Henry right away, checking for any injuries. He’s breathing and his little heart is beating normally under my index finger, so he looks like he’s been knocked out by something. Did they envenomate him? I panic, but I can’t find any fang marks and he’s not symptomatic. I send my healing into him, but my magic can’t sense anything to heal.

Cursing under my breath, I cast a look at the four mounds of dragon fire. Sure, they’d held me captive, but did they deserve to die for it? Bile rises in my throat, as I think of Natalia’s two mates, now dead and how Xander executed them without so much as a blink.

That was a bad turn of phrase because Xander doesn’t actually use his eyelids, but he executed these people like they were nothing.

Eugene squawks with urgency and I look down at him. “I suppose I have you to thank for this,” I murmur.

He bobs his head.

“Come on,” I say. He clucks in affirmation, ready to follow me. Cradling Henry to my chest, I race out of this blasted cavern, wondering how I’m going to explain this to anyone.

It’s best if no one knows, isn’t it? I don’t want people knowing I was stupid enough to get kidnapped and I don’t want my friends to flap out. But at the same time, they need to be on the lookout for murder attempts.

Fucking murder attempts! All because of me. I need to reconsider my shields. I need to consider the fact that my father’s threats are very real and that after he hears word of four of his own being murdered, he’ll have no qualms murdering for revenge.

And what Xander is going to do with Natalia, I have a terrible feeling about. But there are more snakes in the academy and all of them are loyal to my father.

I pant as I jog up a long set of stairs and eventually have to slow to a walk when I become lightheaded and shaky. Venom must still be in my system, and while it won’t kill me, it’s certainly compromising my body.

When I do finally come up to ground level, I find that I don’t know where I am. I have to wander around until I see a set of guards patrolling the corridor.

I raise a bloody hand. “Help, please.”

“What the hell, Aquinas?” One of them says, rushing towards me.

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