Page 8 of Fear the Flames
I set my sword against the boulder to secure the thick leather reins around a tree before picking up my sword again and walking closer to the edge of the clearing. A dull ache has formed in my thighs from all the riding I’ve done in the past two days. The knuckles of my sword hand rest against the rough bark of a tree, and I kick my foot up behind me, pulling it into my lower back. The muscle pain is inevitable, but maybe I can attempt to do future me a favor by taking some time to stretch. Darkness now bathes the forest, with only the moon and stars left to illuminate the clearing. Finishing the stretch, my foot drifts toward the ground when a strong grip pulls me back, throwing my balance off. My sword catches in the moonlight as I flip it in my hand and aim it behind me, but a large hand wraps around my wrist, stopping my assault while twisting both of my arms behind me. My foot shoots backward and collides with an armor-covered shin.
“Relax, little shadow. It’s me,” a familiar voice drifts from behind me as a rope is secured around my wrists.
“Oh, lovely,” anger bubbles in my veins, “that makes being tied up in a dark forest all the more enjoyable.”
“You held a knife to my neck in our last meeting before running away,” he finishes off the knot and spins me to face him, “consider this a precautionary measure.”
My breathing catches in my throat when I tilt my chin up to take in his features. The hood of his black cloak is pulled down, and strands of chocolate brown hair brush against his forehead. His hair is shorter on the sides and longer on top. My eyes drift to the white scar that runs along the right side of his angular face, but not before I notice the hazel eyes that seem to glow in the moonlight as they dance across my features. He’s a harsh kind of handsome, something akin to jagged snow-covered mountain peaks.
“You didn’t seem to mind,” I bite out.
“I never said I did,” he says while taking a step to the side to wrap the rest of the rope around a tree, securing me in place like a rabid animal.
My wrists strain against the rough ropes, but like any skilled soldier, he knows how to secure a prisoner. Sweat gathers on the back of my neck at the feeling of something like shackles around my wrists. I take in long, drawn-out breaths to keep myself calm. If he wanted to kill me, then he wouldn’t waste time securing me to a tree. He said the Atarah heir could be useful, thatIcould be useful.
“Did you bring what I asked?” I demand.
He moves from behind the tree after securing my hands and saunters into my vision, stopping a few feet in front of me. “I am a man of my word,” he says while holding up a long clear vial filled with shimmering black liquid. “It’s an elixir to generate crop growth on infertile soil.”
I fist my hands behind me and bite the inside of my cheeks to keep from making a face. “How did you know I would want that?” It is something I want, but it’s unnerving how well he guessed.
“If you live anywhere around here,” he waves a hand through the air, gesturing around the general landscape, “you won’t be able to grow much.”
He takes a steady step forward, followed by another. My eyes stay glued to his with every inch he covers. My nails dig into the palms of my hands for a sense of crescent-shaped clarity as his domineering presence fully enters my space, standing toe to toe with me. The corner of his lips turns upward after I narrow my eyes at him, changing the shape of his scar. His fingers graze the top of my thigh in a whisper-light touch as he carefully tucks the vial into my thigh guard.
“Satisfactory?” he asks, tucking his thumbs into his pockets and treading a few steps backward, putting some much-needed space between the two of us. I purse my lips while my eyes rake over his body, taking their time to examine every inch of his impressive build. He’s wearing the same armor and weapons as last night, but he manages to look even more threatening while cloaked in moonlight as opposed to shadow.
“Average,” I say while flashing my eyes up to his once again. He snickers. “What do you want with the Atarah heir,Veles?”
He quirks a brow, “Done your research,Atarah?” My stomach twists and turns as shock tingles my nerves. If I dig my nails any further into my palms, I’ll draw blood; I may have already.
“How do you know who I am?”
“Call it a hunch,” he shrugs.
My anger only increases as the ropes dig into my skin. “You said I could be useful. Next time you open your mouth, say something useful.”
He lets out a low whistle while shifting on the balls of his feet, “You definitely have the prissy royal attitude mastered.”
“You tied me to a tree!”
“Because I don’t want you running away or pulling a knife on me mid-conversation,Elowen.”
“Don’t give me a reason to,Cayden,” I remark while pulling against the ropes again. “And don’t act innocent, you pinned me to a wall.”
He shrugs his broad shoulders as if to sayfair pointbefore moving on, “Have you ever thought about getting your dragons back?” His drastic subject change stampedes into me, and I would have stumbled if I wasn’t bound in place.
Every day.
I’ve thought about finding my way back to them every single day.
Guilt eats at my soul with every hour that goes by, knowing they’re still locked in the castle. Whenever I wake up with a sore throat, all I can remember is the night I escaped Imirath. I tried to throw myself off Ailliard’s horse while we rode away from the castle, screaming and crying until I couldn’t utter another noise. The castle should have been my home, but it was nothing more than a prison with pretty walls on the outside. I wanted to go back for them, no matter the cost. But I was a starved child fighting against the build of a soldier that knew turning around would have resulted in an inevitable death. It didn’t matter that Ailliard was my uncle. My father would have killed him slowly and painfully.
“You can’t bargain with madness,” I say. Attempting to bargain with Garrick is a fool’s errand.
“I don’t plan on it.” Cayden brushes a thumb over his bottom lip before clasping his hands behind his back. “Why would I bargain for something I can take?”
“A heist?” I tentatively ask while blinking through the confusion. “You want to partner up with me to free five dragons?”
