Page 50 of Cruelly Fated
I stumbled back, clutching my chest, my legs turning to liquid. What did he mean, hide? Where?
Screeching rose from below. A massive shape shot upward with wings slicing the wind, and a fully formed dragon slammed onto the balcony. The decorative balustrade shattered.
He lowered his enormous emerald head—with spiked shorter horns between the eyes and longer, more pliable ones curled to the back—and peered inside. His glowing eyes narrowed at me. He huffed as if testing the air that was now filled with my fear and charged, crashing into the frame.
The floor shook under the impact, the chandelier above swinging like it might rip free. The balcony held, for now. But chunks of plaster and stone rained down from the ceiling. He reared back, then slammed into the opening again. Dust billowed. My heart thundered. And finally I woke from my paralysis and charged down the stairs.
The dragon roared with fury, unleashing a blast of fire that licked above my head and scorched a family portrait hanging above the staircase landing. That was when the realization struck—Kyon hadn’t been exaggerating. He truly had no control over his beast. One second slower and my head would’ve been ash.
I reached the ground floor and skidded to a halt, lungs heaving. Hugging the walls, I slipped into the dining room. A massive dragon tail swooshed past the windows. I flinched and flattened myself against wall paneling.
Shit. He was circling the house. Running outside wasn’t an option.
I crept through the kitchen and into a narrow hallway that ended at a wooden door with a rounded top. Hope sparked. This had to be a wine cellar. All fancy houses had them. At least, the ones on TV did.
I pressed the handle down and squinted into the darkness. As soon as my hand brushed the wall, motion-sensing lights flickered down stone steps to shelves filled with bottles.
A crash echoed from the dining room, followed by more glass shattering. I slammed the cellar door shut behind me. The house should hold against the dragon’s fury until Torian returned. I’d just have to wait it out.
A few bottles slid from their shelves and exploded on the pebble-stone floor. Overhead, the far wall groaned under an impact. I wandered deeper into the cellar and wedged myselfbetween tall sacks of beans and flour. When I leaned back, a click like a release mechanism sounded.
A slab of stone gave way behind me, and I tumbled backward with a yelp, rolling over my shoulder and down a slick ramp carved into the belly of the mountain. A scream rolled off my tongue.
Groaning, I pushed off the ground. My bare legs and arms burned with scrapes, and my cheek stung from a fresh cut. The hidden chute had dropped me into a cavernous chamber with a wide opening, large enough to hold both Kyon’s and Torian’s dragons with room to spare. Moonlight filtered in through fractured clouds above, the only source of light in here. I wobbled to my feet, peeled off my cracked heels, and tossed them aside.
I edged along the curved wall, scanning for exits or hiding spots tucked into the stone. There had to be a way out of here… I tripped on a pile of chain obscured by the darkness. It rattled with a loud clang, the sound directing my gaze to an object a few feet away. The moonlight had hit it just right for a beat and it glinted.
I tiptoed closer and the mysterious object turned into a circular band of metal, almost like a collar. A heavy chain, thick with wide links, snaked out from a hole in the wall and trailed toward it.
Kyon’s dragon slammed into the cavern with a bone-shaking thud. My body seized. His dark eyes locked on mine, nostrils flaring with shallow, smoky breaths. Flame flickered inside his maw, licking over jagged teeth that jutted past his scaled lips. With a low rumble, he lowered his head to my level, jaws beginning to part.
With a cry, I twisted and fell into a crouch by the wall, jarring the chain with my shoulder. It clinked loudly in the silence. Trembling, I braced for fire.How did I get here? From losing my mother to having my only remaining family imprisoned, and now, facing death at the jaws of a dragon I helped free…
A low whine rose behind me. I peered over my shoulder, startled to find the dragon’s gaze fixed on the collar. With a heavy exhale, it dropped its head to the ground and slumped onto its belly, wings falling limp on either side like broken sails.
What was happening? Was he…sick?
I got to my feet, my pulse pounding in my ears.
The dragon’s eyes flicked up to meet mine, their wildness dimming. There was something…soft there. A whimper escaped, almost like an apology, and then it swatted the collar aside with a single wing.
I tilted my head, my thoughts tumbling over one another.
“You don’t like it,” I said warily, gesturing to the metal ring. I tilted my head, examining the collar. It would fit a monstrous dragon like him. I gasped. Was it his?
Another smoky breath gusted from its nostrils. I grabbed the chain, dragging it all the way toward the wall, the clattering noise filling the cavern. I let it fall out of my hands and stepped away.
The dragon watched me, still splayed out on the stone floor, chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths.
I didn’t dare get closer again.
We stayed like this, staring at each other for several excruciating minutes longer. Then his breathing slowed and deepened. And his body began to shift, scales shrinking, limbs contracting, the beast’s form melting down into that of a man.
Twenty-One
KYON
Ilay on the cold stone floor of the cavern, writhing uncontrollably, every muscle recovering from the violence of the shift. Breath tore from my lungs in short, ragged bursts. I stared at my hand. No, not just a hand now, but a weapon reborn. Thick and steady. My veins pulsed with awakened power.
