Page 91 of Her Tortured Beasts

Selena jumps as if she’s remembered. “Oh yes, of course. I’ll send for some right away.” She rushes off to speak with one of the maids waiting nearby. I almost smile at the thought of real food.

“Lia!” Emmerson cries. The twins are crouched amongst a line of strawberry bushes, broad-brimmed hats covering their inky hair and in matching yellow overalls and gumboots. “Where have you been? Look at this massive strawberry!”

I all but jump over to the little boy and the basket of fruit he carries. He holds up the biggest one for my inspection, and I squint at it with great importance. “Can I have it?”

Emmerson giggles. “Yeah, but we have to wash it— Hey!”

I’ve snatched it from his gloved hand and shoved the entire thing into my mouth before he can finish his sentence.

“You might choke!” Delilah cries, rushing over and wiping her dirty hands on her overalls.

The hairs on the backs of my arms stand on end as I swallow the strawberry. I rub at my skin, glancing up at the sky.

“Have another!” Emmerson says, wiping off a second strawberry. “This time, chew carefully or you’ll choke.”

I take it from him with a forced smile, chomping on half of it and using my teeth like a normal person. “It tastes so good. Are you guys adding sugar to the soil or something?”

Emmerson makes a face, his cheeks a pink from the sun. “They’re sort of sour, actually. Mother is preparing cream for us to eat them with!”

Delilah licks her lips and nods, showing me her basket laden with crimson cherries.

As I lean in to inspect her haul, a chill runs down my spine and I straighten to glance around us again.

A barely perceptible boom, sort of like an aeroplane, rumbles over us.

“What’s that sound?” I say, wiping juice from my chin.

Eugene promptly keels over, falling flat on his face. Delilah and I lunge for him with a cry.

Emmerson frowns at the bird before looking around and scanning the sky. “Yeah, I heard it—” He quietens before he shouts, “Look!”

It happens so quickly.

I turn around to see a massive, fast-moving shadow in the sky.

Selena’s scream shoots across the grass. Both children set off running towards their mother. But the back lawn is so expansive, so huge, that when the mighty cloud-coloured dragon swoops down, none of us are close enough to stop it from snatching up Delilah in his car-sized claws.

The scream that tears out of Delilah’s throat is enough to curdle my blood.

And set it on fire.

My bare feet are pounding over the grass as I tear my dress off and shift into my favoured form. My wedge-tail eagle wings pump hard and with relish after so long cramped inside my body.

A dragon might be faster than an eagle in open air, but they’re also heavy, and the effort it takes him to heave himself up into the sky after such a low swoop is massive. He’s slow and I catch up within seconds.

In the back of my mind, I wonder why neither Lady Drakos nor Selena have shifted, but I don’t dwell on it. Lashing out with my telekinesis, I try to drag Delilah out from the dragon’s claws.

Delilah screams again, punching at the claws entrapping her. “Let me go!” But those claws only squeeze her small body tighter and she squeals in pain.

My mind scrambles. I’ve never been faced with a dragon before. Never thought of how I’d bring one down. But a phantom Savage’s voice appears in my head.Get him in the soft parts, regina.

But eagle claws are no match for a dragon’s hide. The dragon wheels around, heading out of Drakos Estate. I need to act fast.

I blast through his natural protections with a ferocious cry, seizing his heart in my mind like I’ve seen Scythe do. Those powerful chambers shudder under my grip and the dragon falters in mid-air. I squeeze tighter and his wings tremble.

I hold that massive heart with all my might, squeezing,squeezing.

And then he stops moving completely and his eyes close as he falls from the sky. His claw opens up and Delilah goes tumbling out of his hold.

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