Page 39

‘To unlocketh the secrets and breaketh the beshrew, one will first breaketh the bindings with the key. Only then shall the words appear.

“What’s so funny?” Silas asks, and I can’t hold in my laughter. I hand him back the book.

“You need the key to break the binding and read the words,” I tell him tapping the front cover making him look at it. He growls, yet the smile on my face does not waiver. I see Dragus look at me nervously.

“Do you know where it is?” he asks. I knew exactly where it was, sitting beneath the floorboards of my bedroom in the house I lived in with my grandmother. That would explain why she refused to let me sell it for medicine.

“You do know where it is, don’t you?”

“Yes, and burn the city to the ground. I will never break that curse,” I tell him, challenging him. Silas growls, stepping closer, impossibly close, and I can feel his anger washing over me in waves.

“You didn’t really expect me to help you after what you just did? I never lied yesterday. A Fae’s magic manifests the exact time they were born. I didn’t lie. I didn’t have my magic yesterday. You knew that, didn’t you? Because you showed me the seer stones. You really are a monster,” I tell him, and he grabs my arm tightly, so tightly I can feel my arms bruising under his tight grip.

Silas drags me from the room, and I let him, not even caring where he is taking me. When he marches us past my bedroom, though, Dragus grabs my other arm.

“Where are you taking her?” he demands.

“The dungeons,” he says, ripping me away from Dragus.

“The dungeons? Silas she will freeze to death down there,” he growls at him, reaching for me. Silas just glares at him, pulling me back, and he starts walking again. He opens a door, and there are stairs leading underground. I shiver instantly as the freezing cold draft hits me. I almost stumble down the steps. Silas’s hand on my arm keeps me upright. Once downstairs, I see cells and snow-covered parts of the ground from the barred windows that look outside. They weren’t very big and I could only see the wheels of the cars that were above ground level. The snow comes down through the bars, making a pile under each little window. Silas opens up one of the steel cell doors and tosses me in closing it.

“Silas, she will fucking die,” Dragus says, ripping the cell door open. Silas grabs him, pinning him against the bars, and Matitus tries stopping him. Silas then opens the cell next to mine, chucking Dragus in it. “Stay down here with her, then.” Then he locks his cell, too.

“Silas, they are our mates; this is wrong. You are risking her life,” Matitus says as Silas pockets the key. Silas then stalks up the stone steps and Matitus steps closer to the bars before taking his cloak off. He passes it through the bars to me and I quickly put it on. It has his scent all over it and my body instantly relaxing as it fills my nose.

“I will get you out of here,” he says before trotting off in search of Silas.

Sitting down, I lean against the brick wall facing Dragus who does the same from his cell.

“Can’t you break the bars? Aren’t Dragons all strong and mighty?”

Dragus snorts and shakes his head.

“No, these bars are blessed and only the key Silas has will open them,” he says resting his head against the brickwork. I sigh and try to get comfortable. The concrete flooring is incredibly uncomfortable, and my ass is already starting to ache.

The day seems to drag out. Dragus falls asleep for a few hours while I try to do the same. Except it is much too cold. Snow under the barred windows is nearly three feet tall, and I feel like I have been thrown inside a freezer. My teeth are chattering, and my fingers have gone numb. I breathe on my fingers trying to warm them, my fingertips turning blue, but even my breath feels cold as I try to warm them. Tugging the cloak tighter around me, Dragus opens an eye to peek at me. The cold did not even bother him at all as he sat in just a shirt and jeans.

Dragus, seeing me shivering, called me over. “Come to the bars.” I am too cold to even move, and it seemed like too much effort just getting up. Dragus creeps over to the bars, sitting and placing his denim-clad legs through the bars on my side.

“Lora, come. I can help warm you,” he says again, and I force myself off the ground, going over to him. He tells me to sit between his legs and I do. Dragus hisses as he presses his body against the bars and wraps his arms around me. I glance at him and he looks pained. “What?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

“God, your skin is like ice,” he says. Dragus removes his shirt, and I lean against him on the bars. I hear him hiss in pain and flinch behind me.

“Why do you seem like you’re in pain?” I ask, leaning forward and looking back at him, and I see the burns running across his chest and arms.

“Like I said, the bars are blessed, they burn to touch,” he says, tugging me back against him. I shake my head and try to shift away from him, he just wraps his arms around me tighter, his warmth seeping into me.

“I’m fine. I heal quickly,” he says, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. Dragus being part Dragon definitely has its perks. His skin is toasty warm and after a while I stop shivering and eventually fall asleep against him.

When I wake though, it’s because I am overheating. I feel sweat running down my neck. Dragus has fallen back asleep against me. His heat is becoming unbearable as I try to untangle myself from his arms. Dragus stirs when his arms drop to my sides, he goes to put them back around me when I whimper in pain and shove myself away from him. Staring through the barred windows, it is pitch black outside and I can’t even see my hands in front me.

I groan as I lay myself on the concrete, its coldness not offering any relief.

“Shit,” I hear Dragus murmur, and I can hear him moving around. “I need to call Silas down here,” he says, and I know he is going to do their weird mind talking.

“No, not Silas,” I gasp between trying to breathe through the pain. My entire body is spasming as heat rushes through my veins and the familiar burning starts consuming me. It is the sort of pain you can never forget. I feel like I’m boiling. It’s like my blood is bubbling in my veins, making me scream as wave after wave washes over me.

“I have to, he has the key,” Dragus says. There’s worry in his voice as he watches me writhe in pain on the floor.