Page 12 of Storm of Blood and Shadow

“I have gold,” I tell him. “I’ll give it to you if you take me home.”

“Everything in this cave is already mine,” he retorts. “What you carry is mine, and you are mine.”

Before I can object, he whirls around, soars out of the cave, and plunges downward. The night is cloudy, with only the faintest starlight filtering between the clouds, but I can make out the shapes of several other dragons flying beyond and below us.

“Rothkuri!” calls the black dragon.

“My prince?” One of the dragons circles back to fly beside us. Even in the dim light, his scales have a bluish tint. A plump girl is clasped in his claws, her red cloak fluttering in the wind.

“Where are you all headed?” asks my captor.

“To the cavern where we used to keep flocks,” replies Rothkuri. “Some of the others are putting the females in their caves, but I think the women will be more comfortable on the ground, with each other.”

“What about the fenwolves?” asks the black dragon.

“The wall around the pasture is still intact. They’ll be safe, and Gosrik has pledged to keep watch,” Rothkuri assures him.

The red-cloaked girl makes a faint sound of dismay. “I want to stay with you.”

“Do you, treasure?” croons the blue dragon. “Then so you shall.”

“We’ll come to your cave with you, Rothkuri,” replies my dragon. “Once your woman is safe, I need your help getting mine off my back.”

“Fuck you,” I snap at him. Raising my voice, I call to the girl in the red cloak. “Why on earth would you want to remain with these beasts?”

“To escape a worse beast,” she answers.

Her reply silences me, and I don’t object any further as we accompany Rothkuri to his cave. Once he has deposited his captive on the stone floor, Rothkuri plucks me off the prince’s back with his claws. The black dragon takes over, collecting me quickly and soaring out of the cave with me clutched in his forepaws. This time he holds me so tightly I can barely breathe, and when we reach his cave, he drops me onto the rock and nudges me toward the rear of the cave with his nose.

“Enough of this,” he says. “I am needed elsewhere. If you feel distressed about your family, take a few slow, deep breaths and focus on something pleasant instead. I will return as soon as I can.”

He leaps from the cave entrance and glides away into the night.

“A few deep breaths?” I seethe, incensed. “A few deep fucking breaths?” I unsling my bag and push it aside, furious that the items it contains, the ones which seemed so vital earlier today, are entirely useless now. The produce can’t help myfamily, and the dragon thinks the gold belongs to him anyway, so he won’t accept it as payment for my freedom.

I desperately want to pace the floor, but I can’t see much of the cave, and I’m terrified I’ll trip on a rock and make my ankle worse, or fall into a fissure. So I sit still, close my eyes, and try to make a plan.

Until recently, I never gave much thought to the dragons. They’ve kept to themselves ever since the end of the dragon hunts, and until several weeks ago, they seemed to have little interest in human affairs. Something must have driven them to war, prompted them to leave their archipelago and involve themselves in a war they didn’t start. If I can figure out their motive for allying with Vohrain, maybe I can use the knowledge against my captor. He’s far more intelligent than I expected a dragon to be—a beast, in a sense, yet not bestial. And he did rescue me from my would-be rapists. Then again, he only saved me to claim me for himself.

Something explodes into the darkness, blasting wind against my face, and I startle awake with a shrill scream. There’s cold rock beneath my hands and two orange lights floating in the shadows—two fiery eyes. I scream again, terrified by my own confusion. My mind scrambles for reality, for memory, for truth. I’m cold all over, my body hurts, and my ankle throbs.

“What’s happening?” My voice is a whimper in the dark.

“Be at ease, little one.” A smooth, deep voice emanates from the blackness, steady and sure. Something scrapes and slides across the stone floor, something huge and bulky.

Dragon.

The dragon, the invasion, the flight across the sea—everything rushes back into my brain, and I let out a low sob.

He curls around me in the dark. I can hear him moving and feel his presence closing in, his body blocking the wind, his heat suffusing the air.

“You will be alright,” he murmurs. “You are safe here, with me.”

“Liar,” I whisper.

“I may have secrets,” the dragon replies. “But I will not lie to you.”

I groan as I lay my head against the rock again. I didn’t plan to fall asleep, but my exhaustion makes sense, given that Lord Neran wouldn’t leave me alone last night. My ass still stings from what he did to me. I’m lucky he didn’t have a larger dick.

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