Page 103 of MidKnight
“Show me,” he commanded.
I held Blue in my left hand and lifted my right. It was a shredded mess. Ryan exhaled through his teeth, his square jaw clenched in fury.
My heart melted a little at that. My wounds brought out the protector in him. The giant ready to smash trees and destroy the world in order to keep me safe.
He carefully put one of his hands near my arm and pink light glimmered softly. My skin healed over in seconds.
“You’re getting faster at that.”
“You give me too much sarding practice. Give me the other one.”
I transferred Blue again and let Ryan heal my arm and then my legs. By the time I was healed, he was breathing hard.
“I’m sorry. Was that too much?” I caressed Ryan’s neck.
His chocolate eyes smoldered down at me. “No. I’m pissed. Gods, I hope there’s a fight when we get there. I hope she’s not just taking Declan to some wayward cabin in the woods.” His fingers clenched slightly as he held me, but he didn’t hurt me. He’d never hurt me.
In the distance, near the shore, was a volcano, belching into the night sky. Three tiny specks descended toward it.
I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. But the rebellion was prepared. We weren’t. “I love you, Ryan,” I whispered.
“Don’t you sarding talk some goodbye shite to me! None of that!” he snapped. The general came out. “Look ahead, I think we’ll get our fight.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked.
“Where there’s smoke, there’s usually a dragon,” Ryan’s smile wasn’t kind. It was the smile a warrior got when the bloodlust took over.
We flew closer, and I realized I was wrong. There was no volcano. There was a mountain with steep sides that dropped straight into the sea. As we flew closer, the sides became easier to see. Black basalt columns lined with moss and mold rose up out of the water. There had once been a volcano here and its flows had cooled into hexagonal columns, making the mountain look more like a fortress or a towering cathedral than a regular mountain. A cave opening gaped, creating a path for the frothing ocean water to snake into the mountain’s heart. Smoke drifted out of the cave opening. The smoke I’d mistaken for a volcano’s was dragon smoke.
“Freeze the dragon, hit the bears with peace,” I repeated to myself.
“Quinn, you tell Dec we’re behind him?” Ryan asked. “Let him know we’ll move in on his signal. Get us a damned good mental map of the place, okay?”
Up ahead, Quinn’s black head of hair dipped in a nod.
Quinn shared Declan’s thoughts in a direct feed with all of us.
Once they dismounted from the winged bear, Countess Malia grabbed Declan and dragged him to the mouth of the cave.
Our group landed in the wooded hills to the east of the cave. We set down amongst tall pine trees and I released Blue so he could stretch his wings. He fluttered up to a pine branch just above me. All of us kept eyeing the entrance even as we watched Declan’s thoughts inside our minds.
He entered the cave. Inside, the front cavern was gigantic. It looked as though the entire center of the mountain had been hollowed out. There were smooth black slabs of volcanic rock along the floor. The columns along the wall formed a rough geometric pattern of edges and corners, like children’s blocks lined up corner to corner. There was no smooth wall, only edged columns that stretched toward the moss-covered ceiling.
At the back of the cave, the blue dragon was chained to the wall, smoke curling up from his nostrils and scenting the cave. The chain explained why he’d never come to us when summoned.
His orange-red eyes flashed. He did not look happy to be there. Neither did the soldiers that paced nervously through the place, giving the dragon wide berth. They were a mix of Rasle and Cheryn’s soldiers.
“That’s good,” Ryan muttered, “They won’t be well equipped to fight together. Confusion will help us out. And the dragon might throw fire, but he’ll have limited range.”
I did not point out that the sheer numbers they had might overcome any advantage that confusion gave us.
Malia dragged Declan past the soldiers, past the dragon, down a tunnel to a smaller chamber. They rounded a gigantic hexagonal column.
I wasn’t prepared for who they saw. I’d known she’d turned. But seeing Ember in the cave still felt like a blow to the head. The fairy that I’d considered my childhood Raslen friend was part of this rebellion.
Ember was naked, her black wings stretched wide. Her breasts dangled like ripe fruit as a man pumped her from behind, his face hidden by her wings. Ember moaned as she leaned forward over a broken column, her pale skin the brightest thing in the cave. Her fingers gripped the stone tightly, a black ring on her finger pinging as she scratched at the boulder.
My eyes zeroed in on that ring. That ring either controlled the dragon or Abbas. I’d have bet my life on it.
