Page 24 of Her Tortured Beasts

“Oh, we have a new rooster,” Selena laughs under her breath. “I wonder if he has an eyesight problem. The twins will love him.”

My heart suddenly rockets in its rhythm. I want to cry. I want to jump in there and pull Eugene into my arms and kiss him.

A friend. I’m not alone.

How the hell did Eugene get here? He must’ve snuck into the convoy somehow, because at the academy, I’d left him in Minnie’s room after we left for the ball.

As if he knows he’s undercover, Eugene casually looks away, pecking at the dirt for no reason. I clutch at my stomach, swallowing hard before my tears betray us completely. I wonder if Xander knows he’s here.

“Birds,” Selena muses. “The ultimate survivors. The only dinosaurs to make it out of that meteor’s destruction alive. It was all down to their beaks. When there was no flora and fauna left, they learned to burrow for seeds with their sharp points. That single thing kept their entire species alive.”

Eugene pecks the ground again and I blink hard. Selena turns to me and under her gaze I don’t feel so much like an insect.

“There they are!” a shrill voice tunnels across the lawn from where a group of dragons observes us. “Bring the Boneweaver back at once, Selena!”

Xander’s sister makes an annoyed noise in her throat. “It seems our tryst has ended.”

As she leads me back the way we came, I curiously observe this dragoness, who seems to live by such strict rules. Then I think of her mother. Such powerful creatures who are forced to live according to such rules. The Drakos family adheres to theOld Laws in the worst possible way, and of course, the animas take the brunt of the negative aspects.

It’s Damien Agnis who bounces excitedly on the balls of his white loafers right at the front of the group of interlopers. They tower over Selena and me, mythical, golden eyes gleaming with curiosity and something more sinister.

“She’s quite pretty,” remarks a dark-haired older male with golden eyes, casually smoking a cigar. He’s striking, with a salt and pepper beard, and distinctly familiar.

“We don’t require her for prettiness,” says another male quite rudely. “Just for her womb.”

“Sure, but it’ll make the process easier.”

Multiple males in the group chuckle.

I glare at them. Disgusting brutes.

Damien beams, barely containing his excitement. “Human women can have, what, up to ten children before pregnancy becomes truly life threatening? A Boneweaver could have many more than that. My bet is on thirty.”

Nausea churns through my gut. My eyes flick down to the cage in Damien’s hand where the nimpins sleep all piled on top of each other as if to seek comfort. Henry sits at the top of them, like a mother hen. But his eyes are open.

I can’t kill these bastards with my powers but… “Imagine talking about another animalia like they’re cattle,” I say breezily. “The mark of highly uncivilised creatures.”

Selena makes a sound of amusement so tiny, I’m sure I’m the only one who hears it.

But my words have left no mark on the others because Damien sneers down at me like I’ve ruined his golden moment. “You’ll be passed around each time you are ripe. Ready for the next mythic shifter’s cum with the most money, funding Serpent Court’s militia as you go.”

“Oh,” chuckles a dragoness in a very real-looking tiger’s pelt covering her broad shoulders. “You are quiteruthless, Lord Agnis.”

As I fight the urge to sucker punch him, Damien waves a flirtatious hand. “She surrendered herself willingly. She knew exactly what she was getting into.” He smirks at me. “Wants it, some would say.”

“Surrendered?” Selena says, glancing at me with surprise. “That wasn’t the story we were told.”

The older dragon with the cigar narrows his eyes at her. “Unless you’re going to do your duty and have more hatchlings, Selena, I suggest you keep your mouth shut.”

Suddenly, I remember where I know this old dragon from. Unbidden, my power flares out, raging, rising up within me?—

“Uh, uh, uh!” Damien raises the nimpins’ cage threateningly.

I take a conscious step away from them all, averting my gaze to the ground as I clench my jaw. I’ve never felt a murderous urge this strong. Never felt the need to tear and rip and shred andruina person.

“Did you feel that?” the dragoness with the tiger pelt says. “Remarkable!”

“Oh, we knew she had power,” drawls Damien. “That’s why I?—”

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