Paragon
Raven woke sore and thirsty on the stone floor of her cell. Her tongue felt like a dry slab of leather in her mouth, but there was no water to be had. The guards had not refilled the trough between her cell and the stranger’s that afternoon. The stranger had allowed her the last hot, sulfur-smelling cup, suggesting she needed it more as a human. That might have been true, but she suspected it was also a ploy to earn her trust. He’d gone quiet after that, and she wondered if he regretted his choice.
Two guards arrived at the door of her cell.
“Come with us now!” one yelled to her.
“I can’t,” she rasped. Her muscles were cramping, likely from dehydration. No way could she walk on her own.
The guards entered her cell and hauled her to her feet, then ushered her up the stairs and back to Gabriel’s room. When Gabriel saw her, he rushed to gather her into his arms. A moment later she was in his lap and cool water poured into her mouth. She sipped it. Turned her head to cough, then greedily drank the glass dry.
“What did they do to you?”
“The dungeon is hot. Too hot for a human without magic.”
He sat her in a comfortable chair and poured her another glass of water.
“There isn’t enough water for both of us, me and the dragon I told you about.”
“By the Mountain, I will kill her,” he murmured. “Did she even feed you?”
“No.” Raven tried not to cry. She wasn’t sure she could produce tears anyway.
Gabriel removed a cloth from his jacket and unfolded it. There was a pastry inside. Without a second thought, she snatched it from his hands and took a bite. The warm, savory flavors, similar to beef, garlic, and thyme, filled her mouth. She ate quickly, desperate to sate her hunger.
“I didn’t take any chances. I snuck this from the buffet.”
Buffet. A flicker of anger and jealousy sparked within her. While she was suffering in the dungeon, he was flirting with princesses from the five kingdoms at banquet after banquet. She ate what remained of the pastry, shaking her head.
“Raven, I wouldn’t play along with Eleanor if I didn’t know she would kill you if I didn’t.”
He reached for her hand, but she pulled it away, covering her face as she choked back tears. Her skin felt crusty where her sweat had dried.
“I’m tired,” she said.
“Do you want to go to bed?” he asked softly.
“I need a bath. I’m covered in sweat.” She ran her hand over her hair, which was now matted and caked.
Gabriel shook his head. “I won’t let her take you again.”
“How will you stop her, Gabriel? She has an army. She’s separated you and Tobias to weaken you. She’ll snap my neck at the first sign you aren’t compliant.”
“I’ll refuse unless she betters your conditions.”
“Don’t kid yourself. Eleanor is a master of lies and deception. The minute she’s appeased you, I will get more and worse. And if you push her too far, she will kill you, Gabriel, the same as Marius. And she’ll find a way to twist it in her favor. You broke the law when you mated a witch. She’s within her rights to call for your head. She’ll pretend she didn’t know.”
“I hate this.”
“I do too.”
He swept her out of the chair and carried her into the bath, started the water running.
While he was helping her get undressed, she made up her mind. “We have to find the box so I can bring it to the prisoner in the dungeon.”
“Raven, we talked about this. We can’t trust him.”
“He told me there’s a stone in it. I think it’s his ring.”
Gabriel poured bubbles into the water and stirred them in with his hand. “Impossible. Our rings cannot be removed.”
“He all but confirmed it. I think your mother figured out how to magically amputate it. He has no magic now. He says if I bring him the ring, he can bust us both out of the dungeon.”
Gabriel shook his head. “Now I know he’s a fraud. The dungeon is near the center of the mountain. There’s no way out but the way you went in. And you know as well as I do that the cells are impervious to dragon magic. We were in one with you the day we were brought here, remember?”
“I don’t think he’s a fraud. He knows about you. He said he was born here, and you know, Gabriel, I got the sense he meant here, like in the palace.”
Gabriel’s face fell. “Then why won’t he tell you his name?”
“I don’t know.”
She slipped into the cool water and washed herself quickly while he retrieved a fresh set of clothes for her. When he returned to her side, his expression was cold, somewhere between rage and calculated resolve. “You can’t do anything about this stranger’s ring, Raven. You need to rest.”
“But—”
“Trust me.” He lowered his chin and fixed her with a fiery stare. “I will find a way to make things better for you.”
She did trust him, but she wasn’t sure this was something he could fix. Could anyone? And as for the ring, even if she’d wanted to find the box, her body wasn’t strong enough to leave this room. Gabriel was right that there was nothing she could do.
He helped her out of the bath and into bed, but he didn’t crawl in beside her right away. From beneath the blankets, she watched him walk the periphery of the room, his emerald ring glowing as he muttered something and drew symbols in the air. He was warding their room, the same way dragons, for all of their existence, warded their treasure. She was his treasure and would always be.
She’d tasted Eleanor’s power and Aborella’s. She knew the ward wouldn’t hold once mommy dearest decided to take it down. The empress would drain the magic from the room or threaten her life or Tobias’s until her beloved removed it. But he was doing what he could. Gabriel knew this world. He knew his mother. And Raven trusted him.
She closed her eyes and allowed herself to sleep.