Page 110 of Dragon Unleashed

Farrell.

His face is grim, unreadable, as he studies the small crowd in front of him. We’re screwed. Just when I got hopeful.

I throw myself on my knees, holding my hands up.

“Farrell, please, don’t call your father. Please. I’ll do anything.”

He frowns down at me. “What? Be quiet if you can’t be sensible, Lorelei.”

Turning toward the cell door, he hooks a key out from around his neck. My mouth drops open as I watch his lips move, speaking a spell. The lock clicks, and he steps inside, pulling me to my feet.

“You’rehelping?”

He gives my arm a shake. “Hey. You offered to marry me…I’d be a fool to turn that down.”

Chano growls from the ground, and Farrell rolls his eyes.

“Easy, tiger. I don’t want a wife who sees me as the only option she has.”

Chano staggers to his feet, eyes unfocused. He drags me from Farrell’s grip, shoving me roughly behind him. His tail whips out from his pants, shredding the fabric, lashing side to side. He grows in stature, dominating the cell. He’s not with it; his demon is taking over.

Farrell grunts in frustration. “We don’t have time for this. I want her safe. You want her safe. No matter what you’ve been telling yourself for months. Together we’re getting Lorelei out of here, now.”

Finally, after a long tense pause, Chano nods, and sags against the wall. His eyes clear and his tail retracts. He slowly shrinks to his normal size. The seat of his pants flaps open where his tail was. Any other time, any other place, it would be funny.

“Sorry, got a hit to the head,” Chano says.

“Okay, now I’m hearing things, did you just apologize? To Farrell?” Zephyr pipes up.

“Shut up, Z,” I snap. “Not helpful right now.”

He shrugs unapologetically.

“How do we get out of here?” I ask Farrell.

“Wedon’t,” Farrell says, eyeing Chano. “The only way out, without alerting my father and the army he has standing out front, is up a shaft. Chano can’t come.”

“Then I’m not going. I’ll fight my way out.” I cross my arms over my chest. I’ve got a chance at least, now we’re not locked up.

Chano grumbles deep in his chest. “I’m not much use in a fight right now, Lorelei.”

Zephyr grabs my arm. His normally languid movements are jerky, tense, as he shakes my shoulder.

“Listen to me, you stubborn idiot. It’s not going to work like that. I had a vision.” He passes a hand across his face like he can make whatever he saw leave him. “It keeps changing, but there is one thing that stays constant. You have to leave now. If you don’t get out now, you die.”

Chano’s grumble turns into a growl, and he pulls me out of Zephyr’s grip.

“Listen to him. You go, chica.”

“No.”

He presses his forehead to mine, then glances desperately at Farrell. Chano turns me around to face Farrell, wrapping his arms around my front, resting his chin on my head.

“Look at him, Lorelei, look at them all. They’ve risked everything to come for you. Zephyr said you die if you don’t leave now. He didn’t say I would die if I stayed. Right, Z?”

“I—I… It’s not set in stone,” Zephyr splutters. “The future keeps changing, each decision we take, each delay, narrows it down a little further. Therearefutures in which Chano dies—” I start to interrupt but he raises his voice, talking over me “—and ones that he doesn’t. But in every future where you do not leave now,youdie, Lorelei. He…might live. Maybe.”

“Again, not helpful, airhead,” Chano growls.

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