Page 74 of Kingdom of Rot & Ruin
“So … where are the others, then? The ones who were saved?” the woman asked, looking around as if they would spring into being. Where would we be hiding them, Shava’s skirts?
Shava’s eyes bored into the side of my head.
“We are the first ones saved I know of. We have a plan in place to save as many people as we can. We’d like you to help us with that.”
I’d rather stick a spoon through my eye than add more people to my plot, but I thought it would be the polite thing to say.
Tears welled in her eyes as she finally put the pieces together. “Wait … so … that’s not right.” She turned and glared at the dragon. “You ate my brother?!” Her hand went to her hip and a shining dagger gleamed in the sunlight as she brought it down in a flashing arc. With barely a sound, Zariah shifted until he was curled into a ball in front of her, a small naked boy unable to strike back.
She jolted and cried out, her arm freezing in midair.
“But … I … the prince?” she finished weakly, looking as if the next strong breeze would topple her over.
Shava came up behind her and snatched the dagger out of her hand, tucking it away into her own pocket. She made a sound of disgust, turning her head towards me so it was clear it was directed at me.
“Come on, let’s go talk.” Shava reached out with theother to snag the woman’s wrist and dragged her back into the cave, D trailing behind them after shooting me a look.
I was left alone with the naked prince.
“We need to get you a loincloth or something,” I grumbled.
Zariah rolled his eyes.
Chapter
Eighteen
“If you wish to explore the tunnels, all you have to do isask. It will be easier if we do it together.”
It was unnerving to be chastised by someone younger than you, but Zariah’s points were valid. And it was preferable to being in the cave where the woman’s sobs loudly echoed through the cave opening as Shava explained to her (yet again) that Zariah had killed her brother on the queen’s orders.
“You didn’t eat him at least, did you?” I asked, half joking, half morbidly fascinated.
The girl gave a loud sob, and Shava glared.
Zariah gave me a stink eye. “Fire is usually easiest. Then I don’t have to look at the bones. Sometimes, though, when I’ve been out there for weeks without shifting back, I forget things. I smell the blood and terror, and I lose myself. When I come to, there are bones everywhere.”
Once again, the world reminded me of just how close I came to being dragon poop.
“Thank the gods you had your wits about you when we met.”
Zariah shook his head. “I’ve known who you are for a while, and I’ve watched you through the dome. Even my dragon senses our blood bond. I won’t ever hurt you. Well, as long as Mother doesn’t directly order it, then it’s harder to disobey. And I don’t think I can outright lie to her. If she isn’t specific, I can manage, though.”
I frowned. “Is it blood magick, of a sort?”
Zariah’s lips turned down, unhappy. “Must be.” He bent his legs and rested his chin on his knees.
A cursed prince who turned into a dragon and was forced to obey the queen’s whims.
We didn’t have a fucking chance.
That’s why I needed to get back to the palace and get back to my research. I had to build upon the magick inside of me, and become stronger. No, invincible.
“It would be easier to explore the tunnels with you,” I finally said, since the silence had stretched on long enough.
“I would like to stay away for a few weeks as it is. She cannot force me to do anything if I’m not physically there.” He sounded so much like a petulant child that it broke me out of my selfish thoughts of research and power.
Zariahwasa child, for all the death and fire he’d seen and wrought. I hardened my heart against such thoughts. I’d only been a child like him when my mother had died and I was reaped.
