Page 88 of The Princesses of Ruin
Kazimir
The wind is my only ally. It carries me forward with pure violence aligning our goals. To whip and slice and cut.
Alyse’s voice bounces off my mask. I can’t spare her pleas a thought. I must get the scale.
I slash through the air, my scythe singing just in front of the child. His face contorts and his body expands into that of a dragon once more. He flaps his wings, but I pull the very air out from under them. The dragon’s eyes go wide and it hunkers under my next attack.
A zap of blue heat arcs from the end of my scythe up to my elbow. My arm goes numb at the spot and the weapon clatters to the floor. I curse, shaking out my hand as if it’ll return feeling to it.
I cut the air with an overhead strike aimed at the dragon’s neck. Another bolt of bright electricity hits the end of my weapon. I release it and roll, grabbing the scythe from the ground. I swirl and sweep low. The dragon leaps straight up. He’s so agile, like a cat.
He flaps his wings again, trying to get distance between us. I hammer him from above with compressed atmosphere. He thumps to the ground with a yelp. I don’t hesitate, swinging hard for the beast’s neck once more.
The dragon retracts its head until its scales overlap thickly. My blade hits and tangles in his horns with a loud clank. Sparks fly as a sliver of the scaly bone flakes off.
Electricity travels up my arm to my neck. I can’t let go of the handle. My face burns, the silver urictsa mask heating beyond pain into sheer agony. My throat aches as lightning connects from weapon to collar to mask.
The anguish ends abruptly and I collapse.
The dragon’s eyes are focused on something behind me. I grab the blade at my thigh and throw myself forward. The ground erupts beneath me. I slam into a stony wall and crumple, the blade slicing through my hand as I go down again.
The wall morphs in grumbling, stuttered movements until I’m in a prison with bars and no escape. I summon the air and cut at the cage, but the rock withstands every slice.
“Be still, you irrelevant imbecile!” the elder dragon roars.
I gasp for air I haven’t been breathing and scream at my jailer.
The rocky prison turns, shifting me to face—
“Alyse.” I gasp her name through my raw throat.
She’s holding a blade to her belly, tears streaming down her red cheeks.
“What are you doing?” I try to say, but my voice is all used up.
The blue dragon shifts back to the boy shape, his hands raised.
“Don’t hurt her, please,” he says.
“Then don’t hurt him. I cannot raise this child without him. I cannot live without him. So please, don’t make me do something we will all regret.” She stares into my soul as the magic in her eyes diminishes. “That goes for you, too.”
“How could you sell her?” I ask. “Our baby?”
Alyse stands tall and squares her shoulders. “There will be nosale. She is not a thing to be traded for a purpose.”
My eyes burn and tears collect in the crevasses of the silver mask.
“Then your people will die,” the blue dragon says.
“I propose a deal. A chance for a chance. There is no guarantee that with your scale we will survive, and just so, there should be no guarantee that you will have our daughter as your mate.”
“Mate!” I roar, my voice cracking.
The boy sneers at me. “What did you think I wanted her for, a meal?”
I throw myself at the bars of my cage. It tightens around me until I can’t move.
“Your proposal, princess,” the green dragon says as it comes to sit next to me. His clawed hand comes over the top of my cage, and he slides a talon around my throat, making the message clear.
