Page 40 of Sass Me

She had the white hair and red dress, but there was no plump cheeks or cookies and milk to this woman. She had to be a thousand years old, and was in serious need of a hamburger, or two, or twelve. No wonder she was cranky.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at Fleur then down at the shard. She pointed a craggily finger at it.

“Two dragon’s souls are intermingled in that shard. It is powerful. Get it from her.”

Asshat scoffed. “Don’t be daft, you old hag.”

She waved that finger at him. “Stupid boy. Can’t you see it? Her father was a dragon.”

Whoa. What?

Asshat looked her up and down, a new interest in his eyes. “The daughter of a dragon. You are a rare breed.”

Nope. Nope. Nope. This old witch really was losing her mind. But, maybe that was her way out of here. If she could get the two of them to fight even more than they already were, then she could use the distraction to bolt to one of the tunnels.

If she didn’t die in a pool of lava in the process.

She could think about the implications of what the old lady had said later.

“Your anti-Mrs. Claus is wrong. My father was a soldier.” That much she knew. “I think I’d know if he was a dragon.”

No, she wouldn’t. Shh.

“And, if she’s so wrong about that, she’s probably been lying right to your face. What else has she been lying to you about? Hmm?”

“Nice try little witch. My hag of an aunt and I are after the same thing. It wouldn’t do her any good to lie to me. Now, be a good girl and give me the soul shard.”

Plan A was shot to hell, literally.

She folded her arms and cocked her hip to the side, trying to look bored with the two of them. Hopefully her not-scared-of-you façade distracted them enough while her brain went on into Miracle-Gro mode to find another way out of this. “No thanks, I’ll keep it. What else do you want?”

“This is not a negotiation.” He took her by the arm again and backed her toward one of the lava pools. “You will give me the shard.”

“I know you can’t kill me to get what you want. So, stop trying to scare me.” Fleur searched the cave for any sign of life. A tiny sprout, a branch, a leaf, anything she could grasp onto for help.

“If you don’t give me the shard, you’ll wish I had killed you here and now.” Black claws extended from his fingers, digging into her skin. He pushed her to her knees and kept the pressure on, shoving her face closer and closer to the hot bubbling liquid rock.

Fear and adrenaline spiked through her, sucking away her breath. One touch of the magma would burn through her skin all the way to the bone in milliseconds.

The scared small part of her that had controlled her actions most of her life begged her to cry out, give in, do exactly what they wanted her to do.

She couldn’t. Her life and soul were interwoven with Steele’s. She pulled on his strength, the warrior part of him that would never allow this horrible creature to win.

Black scales rippled across his arm, protecting his own skin from the heat. “Give me the shard and you won’t have to feel the unending pain of lava burning away at your face.”

She was so close now, she should already have third-degree burns. A ripple flashed across her own skin. The shard protecting her, or something more?

Either way, she had reprieve that allowed her mind to clear. That’s when she saw the one thing that could possibly save her life. She never would have seen it from any other angle, and now she had a plan, thanks to Steele.

The thread of a root pushed through the ceiling of the cavern, and it would save her life.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

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