“Good fucking decision,” my captor proclaims, belching in the direction of the voice. He nudges his horse and we’re moving again.
But this touch of hope stays. I got lucky when I escaped the Nest before. I found a guard with a mind weak enough to manipulate. It was supposed to be impossible but I did it.
I escaped before. I’ll do it again.
Chapter twenty-two
Sifa
Trapped in My Cell
“Whatthefuckareyou doing here?”
This questioner is different, more familiar, than the last guard we found. The man behind me knows him.
“Fuck if I didn’t find the dragon and the female—a gods-damned female—who stole him.” These words are full of defiant pride. I’m quite the catch, it seems.
“Are you shitting me? Can I see her?”
The blindfold rips away, dragging a good chunk of my hair with it. But I hold back my yelp of pain. These males won’t get that satisfaction from me. Four soldiers on horses stare, different emotions on every face. One is amused; the others are varying degrees of curious and skeptical.
The Nest is behind them. I’ve only seen it from the outside a few times and never from the road we’re on now. But there’s no mistaking it—an enormous mountain cleaved by caverns large enough for dragons to pass. The range is remarkable for its size, but more remarkable for the desolation that surrounds these caves. Even the trees and grasses that blanket other peaks refuse to provide cover for the horrors that occur within this pile of rock.
Dread wraps around me as I acknowledge what I’ve known since I escaped a decade ago. It’s always been my destiny to return here for my death.
“Gods-damned looker, that one,” the new guard says, his gaze roaming up and down me before it rests on my chest. He’s a large man, but that’s not what catches my attention. It’s the undertone of yellow flesh peeking out from his uniform. When he finally looks up, I see his eyes are the same. I wonder how much longer he has to live. “Can I have a go at her before you take her into the Nest?”
And just like that, he’s joined the list of males I intend to kill. If he survives long enough for my vengeance.
“She’s tricky,” the guard behind me responds as one hand reaches out to grab my tit. Just because he can, the bastard. My skin crawls, and it’s all I can do to keep myself from flinging my head back. But I’m badly outnumbered, and they’d as soon kill as capture me. He tweaks a nipple before dropping both hands to rest high on my thighs.
He’s near the top of my list of males to kill. Fucker.
“What’s she gonna do? There’s five of us. It’s not like she could get away.”
“She killed a trainer and captured the dragon. And she seduced a gods-damned dragon rider who found her first, probably about to kill him. She’s fuckin’ tricky, and I’m not untying her until she’s in the Nest.” His voice is firm, threatening. He’s not taking any chances with me. “This is my capture,” he adds for good measure.
“Fine,” the other guard grumbles. “Let ‘em pass,” he adds as he tugs on his reins to back his horse out of the way. The others do the same, opening a path for us to follow. Everyone spouts off the obligatory “For the Dróttning” and we’re moving again in the wrong fucking direction.
I’m struggling to hold myself together as we approach the Nest. The dread that began when the guard took me from Astarot has grown into an invasive blight, roaming through my system to corrupt every part of me. Any hope I felt when we started is gone, forced out by the dread that I won’t survive this torture again. My only prayer is being sent to one of the elven prisons right away. Where I’ll wish I was dead.
“Maybe I should have fucked you when I had the chance,” the guard whispers into my ear.
His breath is laden with the stench of rotten teeth, and I have no idea how I didn’t notice it earlier. As I look around, though, I realize all my senses are more alert. The pommel under my hands is rougher, my fingers finding the ridges and grooves they’d missed this entire ride. The landscape around us is more defined, the hues richer, with emerald in the bushes and trees, and periwinkle and ruby in the flowers.
When I feel Tindera’s touch, I understand. My eyes water and I fight to hold back the tears that want to roll down my cheeks. Regardless of Fhord’s feelings, Tindera is here for me. Her bond to Astarot is strong, even from this distance, and his love for me radiates through her. She’s helping me in her own way, giving me the advantage of her dragon senses as I enter the Nest and examine the cage they’ll send me to.
The blindfold drops back into place as he ties it around my head. “Don’t try anything,” he snarls. “I’ve done my part and got you to the Nest alive. If you die here, it’s not on me.” He pauses a moment, his hands wrapping around my breasts again, my skin tightening everywhere he touches, trying to shrink away from him. “I just wish I could be the one to do it,” he adds as he drops his hands and lifts himself from the saddle before untying and yanking me down with him.
“This one took the dragon,” he declares, shoving me forward. “The beast was injured and needed to be sewn up. If he survives, they’ll bring him here.”
“The wound was deep,” a strange voice responds. “The dragon probably won’t live. You’re lucky you weren’t the one wielding the bolt. We’ve already dispatched of the man who took it upon himself to attack.”
I crumple to the ground as my knees give out. My chest is caving in, holding on to each breath like it’ll be my last. And maybe it will be. I’ve barely bonded with Astarot, but I know I won’t survive his death. I wouldn’t want to try. If my dragon goes, I’ll follow him.
Alive. Tindera drops that single word into my mind. Unlike with Astarot, it doesn’t carry a wealth of meaning with it. We don’t have the kind of bond necessary for that. But it’s something. I cling to it like a life raft. It may be the thing that salvages my sanity while I’m here.
“Take her below.” An unknown voice orders me to the dungeon. “Wait,” he adds after a moment. “Put the band on her first.”
