Page 23 of Pierce

When Pierce turned to look down at me, I could’ve sworn his eyes were about to burn holes in my head. “I thought you didn’t care,” he said, still speaking to Smoke.

“I told you I don’t. I meant it. I thought I might do something decent on your behalf.”

“You don’t have to do me any favors.”

I held his gaze, as much as I wanted to give it up and die then and there. To close my eyes and let things happen as they would.

For some reason, he made me want to hold on. Not to give him what he wanted, though. Almost to spite him. He was so nasty, and there was so much venom in his stare.

I gathered all my strength. “Promise me something.”

“What is it?”

“That none of you will harm my clan if I tell you where to find them.”

His jaw clenched and his nostrils flared. “You’re going to tell me?”

“Swear, first. Swear no harm will come to them. You’ll leave them alone and only take the healer. You’ll bring her here with your blindfold, but nothing else—I mean, nothing to subdue her, nothing to make her sleep. Nothing to hurt her. Understand? You have to swear it.”

He nodded. “I swear. You have my vow.”

I shifted my eyes to look at Smoke. “You, too. Swear it.”

“I swear.”

“And you’ll never go back there, unless it’s to return the healer. And when you do, again, you’ll cause them no harm, and you’ll never, ever tell where you found them. Swear it.”

“We swear.”

I couldn’t believe what was about to come out of my mouth. But it was the only way I would live through the day. “My sister. Alina. She’s the healer. She lives with my clan outside Roanoke, as I told you before. I can give you the location. It’s a big house, an old one, deep in the woods. There are no other homes for miles around it, and humans tend to pass it by thanks to the charms we placed on it when we settled there. But you’ll be able to see it. I think.”

“You think?” Pierce asked.

“I wouldn’t exactly know for sure, would I? You’re the first dragons I’ve ever known.” He had a way of bringing out the worst in me without trying. At least, it didn’t seem like he tried.

“We’ll do our best.” Smoke pulled Pierce’s arm, leading him out of the cell. “How will we know her when we find her?”

“She looks like me, but her hair is blonde. There’s a tower at all four corners of the house, and her room is in the west wing, facing the lake. It’s where she keeps her potions and herbs, too, and she spends most of her time there.”

The discussion exhausted me. I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, so I let them close. The pain was still there, still as strong as ever. Sleeping would make it better…

“We’ll be as fast as we can, Jasmine.”

I decided I liked Smoke a little more than I liked Pierce right then, if only because he seemed concerned.

Pierce, on the other hand, seemed irritated. Put out. Like it was my fault we ended up in this mess.

But didn’t Smoke say he only cared because Pierce cared so much,I asked myself as I slid into unconsciousness.

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