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I had no idea how long I stood with my legs wide and my arms pulled almost too tightly to the sides. My shoulders ached. My back still felt as though I had been doused in hot coals despite the shivers that the cold wind blowing through the caverns created. The pool of blood below me had all but dried, even though it still felt as if hot trails worked their way down my back and legs. It was maddening and I more than understood Zachary’s pain in the dungeon.
My eyelids felt as though rocks had been tied to them. I fought to keep them open, but I was losing the battle. The jerk of my head falling forward shocked me awake again, and I blinked the sleep from my eyes. But again, the darkness beckoned.
I coughed and tried to draw a breath or at the very least swallow, but that was getting difficult.
Coolness met my lower lip and I jerked away. My eyes widened at the young woman holding out a small tin cup.
“Water.” Her voice was as weak as I felt.
“You will be punished for giving her water,” a voice hissed from behind me.
The girl scoffed and held the cup to my lips. Cool liquid slid into my mouth, quenching the dryness. I swallowed it and drank the rest, letting it provide me with a small second wind. “Thank you,” I said, meeting her gaze.
“I have never seen anyone fight the dragons before,” she said with awe. “Usually they are blubbering fools who beg for mercy.”
I gave her as much of a shrug as I could muster in my position. Begging wouldn’t work with those men. And reasoning wouldn’t work either. Dropping Zachary’s name would have only done more harm to his crusade.
The woman started to go.
“How long have you been here?” I asked.
She bit her lip and glanced over my shoulder at the woman who I couldn’t see. “I don’t remember.” She met my gaze. “Too long,” she said under her breath and stepped away.
“And the prince knows about this?” I asked before she disappeared out of my range.
She pressed her lips together and nodded. “Anyone who falls into the prince’s favor dies a horrific death.” She scurried away leaving me with more questions than answers.
Time stalled and the aches in my body started to gain traction into blinding pain that brought black spots to the edges of my vision. My knees finally gave out, but the shackles around my wrists held me fast. My head lolled forward, and my hair hung over my face.
Wind whipped through the cave. It took my muddled mind a moment to realize it wasn’t wind, but the pounding of wings I heard. I wanted to raise my head, but I didn’t have the energy.
The scratch of several talons filled the space and then the sound of footsteps approached.
“This one needs breaking.” A man grabbed a handful of hair, pulling my head back enough for me to see shapes before me. “If you do not want the honors, I will gladly take that role.”
One figure stopped in the middle of the group of men. Someone held a torch out close enough to illuminate my face and blind me. I turned my head away from the heat.
“Let go of her.” Zachary’s voice was colder than the wind.
The hand holding me released my hair and my head dropped forward again. A hand cupped my cheek and raised my face. I tried to pull away, but I was too weak. I met Zachary’s gaze.
“Unchain her!” His voice barreled through the room and everyone froze in place, and then people shuffled around.
Both my arms released, and I collapsed forward. Zachary caught me and lifted me off my feet. I didn’t even realize my ankles had been freed until I was in Zachary’s grip.
“You fools,” he growled and turned away, carrying me out of the cave.
“Let the slaves go,” I whispered.
Zachary looked down at me. “We will discuss that when you are better.”
I found the last of my energy reserves and pushed against his chest and nearly tumbled to the ground. “Let them go. We are not at war. You should not keep humans enslaved.”
He glared at me. “We will discuss this later,” he said through gritted teeth.
Before I could wage another argument, he transformed and gripped me gently in his talons as he took off into the air.
“Damn it, Zach,” I whispered.
The beast huffed and glanced down at me with his green eyes blazing.
Soon after his shut-up glare, I faded into the black.
* * * *
WETNESS BATHED MY BACK, followed by acute agony that knocked me back into the darkness.
I woke with a gasp and sat up in a strange bed, disoriented. A hand landed on my back and I jumped.
“It’s okay.” Zachary’s tired voice came from next to me. “You’re safe.”
I glanced in the direction of his voice and reached out, cupping his cheeks. “Did you let them go?”
Silence followed and he pulled from my grip.
“Zachary?” I reached out and only found an empty bed. The curtains across the room pulled back, framing his form in moonlight. He glanced back at me.
“I had a difficult time pulling the dragons back into our kingdom after the thorn wall disappeared. They wanted revenge for the queen. I finally won that argument. You were another explanation that did not go over well.”
He left the curtain open and crossed the room. “You were more of a fight than pulling the troops back was.” He ran his hand through his hair and took a seat on the bed with his back to me. “They still don’t know you are the princess, but they do know you saved my life. They also know my mother saved both of us before she was killed.”
“But you are imprisoning innocents,” I said.
“Yes. And right now, they are safer where they are. With your disappearance, your father is bringing the fight to us.” He glanced over his shoulder. “I need to know if you will stand with me.”
I reached out and touched his back, running my fingers over his smooth skin. My heart squeezed. I had more of an alliance to this man than my own blood. I wished it was more of a struggle for me to choose a side, but as long as Zachary was fair and just, I would stand in his court.
“No one else dies.”
Zachary met my gaze and held it for a full breath before he nodded.
“And once a peace treaty is signed, you will release those prisoners.” I poked his back.
“Once we marry and peace is certain, I will release the humans.” He turned my way, pulling me into his arms. When his hand brushed the back of my shoulder, I winced.
“Sorry.” He kissed the top of my throbbing shoulder. “The brand didn’t heal.” He sighed. “I’m told it will take a while.”
Fantastic. I was branded as a slave. “What will this mean to your people?” I asked, remembering the degrading way the dragons had treated me. With this brand, I might never be treated as an equal.
“You are mine.”
I pulled out of his arms. “I am not something to own,” I snapped and turned to get up.
He grabbed my wrist.
I yanked my arm from his grip and got out of the bed. “But I do. That says you are mine in the eyes of the public. It means you will be safe.”
“You do not own me,” I snarled.
He moved fast, blocking my exit before he took me in his arms. “I’ve coveted you since that first day I laid eyes on you. I claimed you the day I saved you from the acid pool.” His eyes blazed with fire. “And I sealed that claim before I left your castle.”
“I am not your slave.”
He laughed and looked at the ceiling, as if asking it for some wisdom. “I never said you were, regardless of the branding on your back. When I couldn’t erase it from your skin, I embellished it. You have the mark of royal blood. So yes, they will recognize you as belonging to the king.”
I still wasn’t convinced. Especially after what the kind slave who had given me water had said. “Is that what you did with all your slaves?”
His smile faded and he stepped back, looking at the floor instead of me. His features held remorse. He shook his head. “Before you wandered into our kingdom, I was as brutal as my mother. I believed her lies. I believed your kingdom rejoiced in my father’s death, therefore I acted brutally and without mercy.”
“You... killed them for what? Sport?” He had told me he hadn’t killed for sport. “Because it was fun to kill the poor human slaves?”
He bit his lip and shook his head. “It wasn’t for sport. And it was far from fun. Taking a life never healed the wounds deep in my heart.”
“Then why? Why would you so callously take a life?”
“I thought I was avenging my father’s death by slaughtering the ones I found... attractive.” He wiped his face. “I thought I was betraying my father’s memory every time I had a physical reaction. So... I tore them to pieces.”
I stepped back, putting distance between us. “And what about those times you saw me in the woods hunting? Why wasn’t I included in your search for vengeance?”
He pressed his lips together and stared at me in silence.
“Well?” I snapped when he didn’t answer.
“I was going to kill you, and then you apologized to that rabbit and sent my entire world into chaos.”
I didn’t know how to feel. I blinked and opened my mouth to speak, but I couldn’t think of anything that resembled an appropriate response. “Those slaves were innocent.”
“I know that now. Why the fuck do you think I haven’t been anywhere near the mourning hall? I cannot pay my respects to a woman who made me into such a fucking monster.” His voice rose as he stalked toward me.
He grabbed me and planted a violent kiss on my lips.
“You showed me the truth. You allowed me to see the goodness in humankind. You, Rory. You also showed me just how wrong I had been and how unjust I behaved.” He looked around the room. “I do not deserve to be the head of a kingdom. But I have no choice, and I need you by me to keep me humble.”
I stared up at him, still unsure of what to say. I did not know whether I could be with someone so callous.
“You changed me, Rory. The times I saw you hunting, I did not understand that pure souls do exist, but I knew you were different, and I looked forward to getting a hint of your scent. When it didn’t come for so long, I thought the same as you. I thought you were a ghost. Something I created in my mind to temper my fury in some way.” He drew his hand through his hair. “I can’t lose you,” he said softly. His eyes held a deep anguish for everything he had done in his past.
If he could find it in his heart to forgive my father for what he had done, and no longer saw humans as the enemy, I had to give him the benefit of the doubt despite the fact my brain could not wrap around everything he just laid on me. “I’m not property,” I finally said.
“Then be my partner. Be my queen.”
Before I could answer, a knock sounded on the door.
“Come,” Zachary said, loud enough to be heard in the hall.
The door creaked open and I could only see the iridescent eyes of a dragon in human form in the hallway. “Sunrise is almost upon us, my lord,” he said. “And the general is waiting.”