Page 136 of Of Blood and Banes
I laugh and follow Sethan and Melaina down the stairs.We descend farther and farther into darkness, relying solely on the light leaking in from the throne room above us. The lower we get, the colder and wetter the air becomes. As the shadows grow larger and darker, I graze my fingertips against the side wall for extra balance. The rest of the group slows our pace, and a smack pulls my attention behind me. Marge waves Cole off with glaring independence and descends another step to put space between the two of them. Cole watches her, rubbing the elbow still held out for her to grab onto.
Marge flicks her irritated gaze to me. No matter how hard she tries to mask her fatigue, her voice is heavy and breathy. “Don’t you get any ideas, either. I’m perfectly fine handling myself.”
I nod and allow her to pass before Cole slides in next to me, and I can’t fight my smile. Stubborn thing. Half the time she’d rather push herself past exhaustion than ask for help. I throw Cole a playful eye roll, and he snorts with a grin. We continue our path down the circular staircase in silence. His shoulder brushing mine all the way, comforting my nerves.
“Do you think we’re almost there?” Archie asks, his voice bouncing off the walls.
“Shh,” Sethan hushes.
“Do you think we’re almost there?” Archie asks again, this time whispering.
“I said silence,” Sethan grumbles. “We don’t know what will be at the bottom.”
After what feels like the thirtieth full turn, the staircase ends at a single archway. We all slip through it into a brighter room, and immediately a frosty chill wraps around me. Our group fans out to the sides, allowing me to step to the front of the line.
I gasp.
Dangling in front of us is a magnificent white dragon, its long tail disappearing into the depths of an endless black pit clouded with a still fog. A bridge stretches from the rocky cliffside we are on out to another platform, blocked by the massive dragon suspended from the immeasurably high, cavernous ceiling.
“What…is this?” Archie murmurs, then peers over the edge of the cliff plunging into shadow.
Melaina snatches his forearm and pulls him back from the edge, then laces her fingers with his as if to assure herself.
“I’m not sure. But let’s agree to make sure we don’t try and find out,” Sethan responds, his voice carrying and echoing throughout the monstrous cave-like space.
My mouth stays open as I ghost toward the dragon, taking a few steps onto the bridge as I twist my head to survey the entire carcass. Despite how long it’s been strung up here, it’s the only one I’ve seen so far who’s scales still shimmer and shine. I reach a hand out to its sparkling white muzzle?—
Melaina smacks my hand down. “What are you doing?”
I turn my head toward her but place a hand on the scaled snout. Its body is a shock of cold against my palm, forcing my eyes closed, but beneath the wall of ice is a distant hum shifting in its depths.
It doesn’t call to me like the other ripples, yet, I can still sense it—a soft glow of light buried in a chasm of cold and shadow. My eyes flash open, and I catch Melaina’s bewildered gaze as she lowers her arm to her side.
Archie walks up behind her, awe and respect lifting his features as he notes every detail of the dragon. “Holy…shit.”
I follow his gaze, my heart sinking lower as I trace the ridge of the dragon’s back. Thick, barbed hooks bite into its skin and, judging by how deep they are—likely itsbones. Its curved face emanates otherworldly beauty, hanging with the tip of its muzzle just out of reach from the bridge.
I brush stray hairs out of my face, gathering all my hair behind me and tying it back as I assess all of the hooks. “I’m going up. I’m going to free it.”
“You aren’t serious, right?” Archie laughs nervously, then looks at Melaina. “Tell me she’s not serious?”
“Absolutely not,” Sethan calls, stopping a few feet behind Archie.
Marge and Cole watch from the beginning of the bridge, standing side-by-side, both surprisingly quiet and watchfully still.
“It’s still alive,” I say, grabbing the closest chain hooked into the dragon’s shoulder blade and testing its strength as if it isn’t holding a several ton creature.
Melaina chimes in, “In that case, wouldn’t we not want to disturb it? It would likely turn its wrath on us?—”
“If you don’t want to be here when I do, that’s fine. But you aren’t going to change my mind,” I mutter and seize the chain with my other hand before heaving myself up. I curse under my breath as I try to gently find footholds on the dragon’s arms, missing with a few attempts as the dragon’s body begins to sway back and forth a few inches. I spot a lift in the dragon’s scales and slap a hand over it to pull myself up and over its back. As I straighten and find my balance, I discover the lift I used wasn’t a scale or part of the dragon’s body at all.
It’s a saddle.
Scanning the rest of the dragon’s body from this angle, I find a saddle as white as the dragon’s scales, wrapping around its torso.
“What? What is it?” Marge calls.
“It’s…a saddle. A bonded dragon,” I answer blankly, before turning my attention to the group. “Everyone get off the bridge.”
