Page 59 of Cage Me

She waved him off and dove back down into the water, heading for one tunnel in particular.

“Be careful.”

His words didn’t feel oppressive this time. She knew he was genuinely worried about her and at the same time, giving her room to fly, or swim as the case may be.

She swooped through the tunnels until she found the cave she was looking for. The water held everything in the room in suspended animation for her. Not a sword or Christmas ornament was out of place.

Azy opened the bag she’d drug along and began placing some of the treasures inside. She’d take away Fallyn’s right to choose her life. The least she could do was provide her with what little comforts she’d had down here.

She wouldn’t be able to get them all, but a handful were better than none. The last one she grabbed was the mirrored one Fallyn had gifted her to find Cage. She reached for it, but it shattered in front of her eyes. Hit by a spear.

“The water may have protected you once, dragon’s whore. I won’t miss again.”

Azy spun and was not so surprised to see douchie dude blocking the exit to the cave.

“For fuck’s sake. What is your problem?”

“You are.”

“Get the fuck out of here. We’re not fighting each other. We’ve got Kur-Jara to worry about.”

“Oh, he’s long gone. You don’t think we’d let our greatest ally—”

Azy didn’t let him finish that sentence. She grabbed one of Fallyn’s shiny sharp swords and shot it through the water at his head. “You have betrayed your own people.”

“You’re the one who has betrayed your people. It’s disgusting how you have become the whore of a dragon.”

“Are you fucking kidding me with this right now? Who died and made you the king? Oh, that’s right nobody. You’re just a scumbag who doesn’t know his ass from his face.”

Okay. That pissed him off.

He exploded across the water and grabbed her by the throat and hair.

“You’re an abomination. But, we don’t punish the child. Only the sinner. Your mother paid the price. Don’t make me kill you too.”

This merman was a total bag of dicks.

“You, you, you killed my mother because she had me?”

“She sullied the bloodline. We can’t allow that to happen again.”

The rock above them opened up and some big ass sharp talons grabbed the merman by the shoulders and slammed him into the newly formed side of the crevasse.

“Sorry, babe. Just wanted to help. I’ll hold him down for you and you kick his ass.”

Cage hovered an inch over the water and held the merman against the stone wall with a talon through his shoulder.

“How did you know?”

“We’re connected. Always. Now show this asshole whose boss, huh?”

Adorable. No one had ever held someone down for her to beat up before. Offered to beat an asshole up for her, sure. But, hold him down while she did it herself? How sweet.

Azy propelled herself up through the water and into the air. She popped up just far enough to kiss her dragon on the cheek before she dove back down into the water.

The water sloshed and swirled around her and she used its energy to pick up Fallyn’s collection of swords and aimed them all at the merman.

“Go ahead. Kill me. There are plenty more who feel like I do and we will never let you and your kind—”