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We don’t pass a single dragon, which is odd. After awakening the entirety of the cellar, I expected to see some of them walking around. I’m instantly on alert, momentarily forgetting my fatigue.
“Where is everyone?”
Mina shakes her head. “I don’t know. Safe, I hope. We will figure it out later. I think I hear Aracelia up ahead.”
“Thank god?—”
“Hey! You two! Get back here!”
Our heads whip around at the sound of Otis’s command. The man is midshift, but instead of freezing like me, Mina pushes me forward. “Run!” she screams.
“But—”
“Rose, go!” Her command rings throughout the hall and tears sting my eyes. I take a few steps back, just as Otis advances on Mina. Him, fully in his dragon form, and her, unable to shift due to whatever the hell Aeron put on her shackles.
“Now, Rose!” she screams again and I bolt as Otis leaps onto Mina. A scream rips out of my lungs and my feet move on their own accord. “Don’t look back, keep running!” I hear Mina scream before I hear nothing at all but a terrible ripping sound.
Oh gods.
Tears pour down my face and I nearly trip as I hurry down the hall. When I finally reach the door, my body collides with it, unable to stop my momentum. I fumble with the doorknob, while my body shakes with sobs.
I think I just killed my best friend.
The door opens a moment later and I stumble in, slamming it shut behind me as if a single door will protect me from a godsdamn dragon.
“Shit. Queen Rose?” A familiar voice says.
I’m not alone, but I hadn’t noticed anyone when I barged in unceremoniously.
I raise my gaze to see who else is in the room with me. Aracelia’s face is a mask of concern and confliction. She doesn’t quite know if she should go to me or see what I am running from.
My blood runs cold when I see who is standing next to her, his eyes narrow into tiny slits. I have never been more afraid of Aeron than I am at this moment.
“What has happened to you?” Aracelia asks, moving to my side.
I know she’s a friend. Or I think she is one anyway, but I don’t want to be touched. I jerk from her grasp and point at the man who has been running me ragged all week and may have just killed my friend. “Ask him!” The venom in my voice astounds even me.
Aracelia backs up. “You,” she murmurs softly, as if working out something in her mind. She turns to Aeron, her posture rigid. “You said the queen was sick but being looked after and cared for.”
For a man having been caught in a lie, Aeron doesn’t look the least bit ashamed. Instead, he appears agitated that this conversation is taking place.
“Aracelia.” Feigned patience laces Aeron’s voice. “You must understand that dire situations call for extreme action. Not many people are willing to do what needs to be done, so that burden must fall upon me.”
“What did you do, Aeron?” Aracelia crouches low, blocking me from the sinister dragon.
“What needed to be done. And now, our dragons are back and ready to defend our territory.”
“She could have died!”
“One death compared to hundreds seemed like the best scenario!” Aeron shouts. “And I would make that choice over and over again.”
“You defied your king.”
“No, my king defied me. He defied all of us. Now I’m here to fix the mess he has caused to fester for so long.” His cryptic statement lingers in the air before his attention is on me. “Now, give me the human so I can complete what needs to be done.”
Aracelia barks out a humorless laugh. “You’ll have to kill me before I let you harm our queen. She has a purpose here and it’s not death.”
I don’t deserve this loyalty from her, but I appreciate it all the same. Aracelia’s body begins to morph and her clothes rip to shreds, falling to the ground around where she once was.
