Page 26 of Cage Me

Fallyn was the first one to say anything.

“If you move an inch, I’ll push this blade in to your neck. The poison is not for you, but it will hurt in ways you don’t even understand.”

Cage’s eyes grew wide with Fallyn’s words, but not in fear, in realization of something important. “You’re the one who stabbed Match.”

Fallyn spat on the floor.

Yeah. That wasn’t the way to get her calmed down. What she needed was a distraction. For that matter, so did Azy. Her wounds were throbbing now. She glanced around the room hoping for inspiration anywhere. Whoop, there it is.

“Ooh. Fallyn, I don’t think I remember your ornaments being so, so, brilliant before. Did you do something special to them?”

Fallyn looked over her shoulder toward the display and lowered her sword a few inches.

“The mother gave me a spell to make everything shine like I want.”

Interesting, the sparkle around the ornaments echoed the force field. “They’re even prettier than before. Is it the same one you used on the entryway to your, uh, treasure cave?”

The sword dropped another few inches. “Ereshkigal doesn’t like shiny things. She can’t see in here anymore. She gets mad when I don’t talk to the mates and takes my things.”

Cage stepped away and shifted into his human form but didn’t move his gaze from Fallyn and her sword. His change from dragon to man seemed to calm Fallyn and she let the sword drop the rest of the way.

Phew.

He glanced around the room, nodding to Jett to follow suit. “This ward is a powerful spell.”

Jett shifted and glared at Fallyn. “Who is the mother?”

Didn’t these two know each other? They were both from hell, so Azy assumed they did. She’d kind of wondered if they weren’t related somehow since they were the only people down here and weren’t actively trying to kill her.

She pressed a hand against the wall to continue to hold herself up. Damn that demon dragon. She would have to ask Jett what the hell was up with it later, when she wasn’t so close to throwing up from the pain.

“I think she is mine, or Izzy’s. I’m not sure.” Fallyn tipped her head in that way that she did when she was thinking about something and glared over at Cage. “She’s his mother.”

Cage shook his head. “My mom was a human. A beautiful one, but nothing more. She had no powers.”

Fallyn looked at him like he was stupid or something. “No. Not that one.”

Jett circled Fallyn, clearly trying to intimidate her. “Who was this woman? What did she look like?”

Fallyn snarled at him. “She looked like the mother.”

“You’re not going to get a clearer answer from her than that.” Azy was feeling more than a little woozy and these two weren’t helping.

“When did she give you this spell?”

Jett was awfully interested in the mother and the spell. Couldn’t he give it a rest?

“When the afterlife took the blue dragon warrior.”

A giant pit filled with snapping crocodiles opened up in Azy’s stomach. “The blue…you mean Ky? Ky didn’t die, did he?”

Azy had assumed he’d gotten out with the other dragons. Maybe he hadn’t. One more thing she couldn’t forgive herself for. Ky Puru had tried to rescue her. Once when she’d been taken by the Black Dragon and his stupid minions in the water cavern and again when he’d been brought down to hell himself.

Cage came up to her and touched his knuckles to her cheek and neck. “No. I was just at his wedding a few weeks ago.”

His warmth felt good on her skin, she was cold. For the first time in weeks, she didn’t feel the incessant heat of the hellfires. She grabbed his hand and held it to her skin. She tingled everywhere he touched.

Fallyn seemed so far away now. The room had gotten bigger, and darker. “Why did you say he was dead?”

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