Dragon Trial: Dragon Guard Series book 1

by Cassidy, Debbie

  “You don’t know how she died? Can you be sure she’s actually dead?”

  “Yes. Although she refused to take a mate, she did blood bind to the three Dreki lords, and that connection was painfully severed at the moment of her passing. It was an impact that resonated within their very souls.”

  There was so much to learn about the Dreki. “You have lords?”

  “Yes, I—”

  “Anya?” Helgi rolled over in her sleep.

  Dante’s tone grew urgent. “Come with me, and you will see the truth with your own eyes. We could use you, Anya. There is so little time left, and we must do everything within our power to protect this world from the Jotunn.”

  My mouth was suddenly dry. A better person would be worried about humanity, about everyone who stood to be hurt by the Jotunn if the Dreki failed, but my mind went to Dad and the kids. My family. It was them I’d fight to protect. The cell was suddenly too small, the air too thin. If death claimed me in here, then what would happen to the twins? What would happen to June and the toddlers? The resistance had to come through for us, because if they didn’t, then I would be forced to make an unthinkable decision—one that would haunt me for the rest of my days.

  Dante’s eyes were closed, and his breathing had evened out. Asleep, just like that. Lying back on the mattress next to his, I forced my body to relax. I’d need my wits and my strength for what was to come, and thankfully sleep agreed with my assessment.

  Alone and trapped. How could this have happened after everything I taught you? Vigilance. A growl of exasperation.

  That voice....

  ... have to find a way out. Need to fight ... not our story ... Damn him and his vow. Damn him to the pits of oblivion ...

  Something cold brushed my cheek, yanking me from the warm place between waking and dreaming. Beady red eyes glared into my soul, a scream locked in my throat, and then the rat hobbled away, its battered, impossibly alive body squeezing through the bars and into the thick shadows beyond.

  A rat.

  A fucking dead rat.

  “Anya?” Dante’s voice was thick with sleep.

  “I’m fine. Just a bad dream.” No way was I telling him I’d just seen a dead rat. That was my psychosis to bear.

  “Sleep now, Anya,” Dante said, more alert now. “I will watch over you.”

  I wasn’t used to being watched over, but it felt good to let go, to close my eyes and relax my weary muscles and forget about dead things, forget about the voice and its chiding. If it was back, if I was indeed going crazy, then I’d deal with it once we were out of here. One problem at a time. Right now there could only be one focus for my energies.

  Tomorrow and the resistance.

  Chapter Ten

  “How much longer before they take us out to play?” Helgi wondered.

  I adjusted the daggers in my boot, my back to the camera. It was surprising they hadn’t taken the blades off me after our stint in the arena. But I guess everyone had been too shocked by the whole kid-falling-into-the-ring thing, and Jezebel, the huge axe, had been the more obvious weapon to confiscate.

  The events of the night before burned in my mind. They hovered on the tip of my tongue, wanting to be aired. Surely, the others deserved to know there was hope, that there was a resistance. My gaze slid to Dante, and my heart missed a beat. He was watching me from beneath hooded lids, arms tucked behind his head, all lazy and uncaring, but man, he was anything but that. He’d put on a great show, though. Making the others think that he didn’t give a shit, when, in fact, this was all he cared about.

  “Anya, did you hear a word I said?” Helgi huffed. She lowered her voice. “Fucking hell, woman, just fuck him if you want. I doubt anyone in here will give a shit.”

  I tore my gaze away from Dante. “What?” The word came out louder than intended, and I quickly dropped my tone. “No. I was just thinking.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, thinking what his cock would feel like inside you.”

  I glanced at Dante, and his lip curled in an amused smile. Of course he could hear her. He was a fucking Dreki.

  Damn, now my neck was all hot. “Actually, I was thinking that we should do some exercise—keep sharp and pass the time until they make their next move.”

  It was totally off the top of my head, but now I’d said it, it was a pretty good idea. We’d be fighting our way out of here soon. We needed to be ready.

  “Good cover, chick.” She winked. “But I’ll roll with it.” Helgi clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “How about some sparring, eh? Get the blood flowing, keep those muscles in good form, eh? Make sure we’re up to kicking some Blood arse when the opportunity arises.”

  She had no idea how close to the truth she was.

  Bran pulled himself to his feet. “I’m in. Who wants to go first?”

  Helgi’s mouth split in a wicked grin. “I’ve been itching for a rematch since we rumbled at the Tap.”

  Bran rubbed his chest. “Yeah, you got a heavy punch, woman.”

  “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

  I laughed. “Just remember, it’s sparring, so try not to injure your opponent too much.”

  Dante hadn’t moved from his spot on his mattress, but around us the other Skins in their cages were on the move. Probably glad to have something to do, even if it was beating each other up.

  I strolled over and stood above Dante. He’d overheard Helgi’s and my conversation, but it didn’t matter, because when it came to sex, I was no shrinking violet.

  I nudged his hip with my boot. “You want to spar?”

  He opened his eyes. “Do you?”

  Was that a hint of suggestion in his tone? “I’m not in the habit of asking for things I don’t want.”

  He propped himself up on his elbows; his hair had come loose from its cue and tumbled down his back in silken, crimson waves. “Are you in the habit of asking for things you do want?”

  I offered him a seductive smile. “No. I usually just take them.”

  His pupils dilated, and he let out a bark of laughter. “Let’s spar, sexy scales.”

  Sexy scales? What the ... But he was already on his feet and ready for some action. We ducked and punched and spun for the better part of an hour, switching partners then doing a tag team and then working two against two. Helgi and I faced off against Bran and Dante and managed to hold our own against the bigger dudes, largely due to the fact that Dante was most definitely holding back and Helgi and I worked like a well-oiled machine. We’d smacked down enough to know instinctively what the other was going to do. For the guys, it was like fighting a singular super-efficient opponent.

  We rounded off back in our original pairings. As Helgi pinned Bran up against the bars with a wild cackle, I somehow lost my footing and ended up on the mattress with Dante straddling me.

  His thighs bracketed my hips, and his hands pinned my wrists to the mattress above my head. Something dark and primal flashed across his face. His fingers bit into my flesh a little more and lust spiked, sudden and violent, shooting through me like an electric charge. It settled at the throb between my legs, sending tingles across my thighs. My lips parted involuntarily, and I flicked my tongue out to moisten them. He latched on to the movement, and his thighs flexed. Oh, fuck. I was wet for him. His nostrils flared and panic seized me. Could he smell my arousal? My ankle flared in pain where the chain lay, and the sting cleared my mind. I raised my leg, twisted my hips, and rolled, taking him with me. He lost his grip, stunned by the move, and then I was the one straddling him and that was bad. Really bad in a way too good way, because damn, he was big and hard, and shit—

  I leapt off him and turned away, hands on hips. My breath was coming faster than necessary for the level of exertion. Helgi and Bran had finished up, and she caught my eye with an arched, knowing brow.

  Dante rose to his feet in the periphery of my vision, but before I was forced to deal with our little moment, the door at the far end of the room opened and Sophia trun
dled in with the meal cart. She tucked in her chin, but not before I noted the sickly pallor of her face, or the red, puffy skin around her dark eyes. My scalp prickled in foreboding. And then Dante was at my side.

  “Something is wrong,” he said.

  Helgi and Bran joined us at the bars, their eyes tracking the Skin as she made her drops.

  Dante was the first to move away and station himself on his mattress. “Casual. Remember the cameras.”

  Bran moved away, but Helgi and I hovered. Sophia finished with the cell next to us and then it was our turn.

  “Power cut at 12:47,” she said. “Check your tray. Most of the collars will unlock once the power is cut. The implement will remove those that don’t. Don’t use the implement until the power goes off.”

  My pulse kicked up. “What time is it now?”

  “Eleven twenty-three.”

  We had just over an hour to wait, and then we could ... Wait. “Weapons.”

  She shook her head. “Sorry. They never ... they didn’t have time.” She turned away with a strangled sob. “I have to go. I’m getting out of here.” She ducked her head and wiped at her eyes.

  “Why are you crying?” Helgi asked.

  She pressed her lips together. “Because—”

  The door opened again and another Skin came striding in. Sophia pushed the cart away from us and dropped off unit seven’s tray. The guy at the door kept his eyes on her as she walked away from us and toward him.

  “You’re wanted by the commander’s wife,” he said to her.

  She nodded and then ducked out of the room. He followed, closing the door firmly behind him.

  “What did she say?” Bran asked.

  Helgi picked up the tray, and we both turned away from the camera. “It’s in the tray,” Helgi said. “Huddle.”

  I locked eyes with Dante. “At 12:47 the power goes out.”

  He nodded.

  “I don’t understand,” Bran said. “Is this some kind of trick?”

  Helgi shook her head. “I think this is the work of some kind of Draco resistance. You remember what Sophia said the other day? About many Bloods being unhappy with Gustov. This makes sense. What better way to strike back at him than by setting us free?”

  She was smart, and she almost had the whole story. I couldn’t wait to tell her the rest. Once we were out of here, once we were free, we’d head to the Furtherlands and join the Dreki cause. Dad would be pleased to know he’d been right all along and the kids would be safe.

  “We need weapons,” Dante said, but his attention was on me.

  The resistance had promised weapons. They’d said they had shit under control, but Sophia hadn’t looked too happy. In fact, she’d looked like she was grieving. Ice trickled into my veins. Oh, God. Had something happened to Buddy and his friend? The impotence of not being able to discuss my suspicions with Dante in front of the others grated on my already frazzled nerves.

  Instead, I straightened my spine, injecting confidence into my voice. “We’re going to have to make do without. She was upset. I think there’s stuff she wasn’t telling us, but we can do this. We survived three berserker Wyverns, for God’s sake; knocking out a few Bloods should be no problem.”

  Helgi’s eyes lit up. “We can use the trays. The plastic the plates are made from is thick. We can snap it and use those as blades.”

  “And I have my blades.” I tapped my boot.

  Dante nodded. “We can do this.”

  Could we? A shiver of doubt skirted across my mind, but I dismissed it in favor of the pleasant option of victory. Optimism at all costs. Optimism had carried me through the darkest night. It had buoyed me up when the world had been bleak and cruel. Optimism had brought the voice to me. Turning my back on it now wasn’t an option.

  “We need to pass the message on to the others,” Bran said.

  “They’ll know soon enough,” Helgi said. “Best to keep things normal for the cameras until the power outage. Once the doors open, we can fill them in while we make a break for it.”

  Smart. Always thinking ahead, and man, she’d be pissed when I revealed Dante’s true nature and told her about our little excursion. Yeah, she’d be mad for about a minute, but then we’d laugh about it over a cold brew, and possibly knock a few heads together on our journey to the Furtherlands. It would be a tale we’d tell our children.

  We had less than an hour to wait and then we would be free. My muscles began to unknot, relaxing under my brain’s command that we had some time. Helgi walked across the cell and sat on the edge of our mattress. Even Bran took a pew. Dante leaned back against the bars, his attention fixed on me and on the tray with the implement to remove the collars hidden inside it.

  Minutes ticked by, inching toward the power cut time. How long left now? Half an hour? Twenty minutes?

  I traded glances with Helgi to see the light of hope blazing in her eyes. We were getting out of here. In a few minutes we would be free.

  And then the intercom buzzed to life and the dreaded monotone voice filled the room.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Unit eight, stand back and prepare for two-man extraction. Unit eight, stand back and prepare for two-man extraction.”

  “What does that mean?” Bran asked.

  “I think it means not all of us are going,” Dante said, jaw tight.

  “No. We need to stall,” Helgi insisted, her voice tight with panic. “We all need to be here when the power goes out.”

  She was right. If we were in the arena when the power cut happened, how the heck would we escape with all those eyes on us?

  “There’s nothing we can do,” Bran said. “If we kick up a fuss, then we risk jeopardizing escape for everyone.”

  Helgi’s gaze tangled with mine and we were thinking the same thing—this isn’t how our story goes. We can’t be the ones in the arena when the power goes down. But then how could I wish that fate on Bran and Dante in our place? Two of us were going to be trapped when the time came to run, and in a moment we were going to find out who.

  Helgi and I gravitated toward each other, standing side by side. She lifted her chin, her expression screaming that we do this together or not at all. My stomach quivered in premonition.

  The doors behind unit seven’s cell opened and four guards toting weapons strode in. They stopped outside our cell and waited. A buzz and a click and the doors slid open.

  “You.” The nearest guard pointed his gun at Dante.

  My heart sank.

  Helgi gripped my wrist, her nails digging into my skin.

  The guard swung his gun my way. “And you.”

  A pit opened up inside me, all hope sinking into the chasm. There would be no escape for me. Shake it off, Anya. Do not lose it.

  Helgi’s grip tightened. “No. Take me instead. Please.”

  The guard ignored her. “Out. Now,” he said to me.

  Dante stepped out of our prison, and I made to follow, but Helgi tugged me back and pulled me into a hug.

  “I’m not leaving without you,” she hissed in my ear.

  “Yes, you are. Promise me you’ll get out and find my dad. Promise me you’ll take care of him and the kids. You need to keep them safe and get them to the Furtherlands. Promise me.”

  She squeezed me tight. “How can I just ... I can’t ...”

  I pulled back and smoothed my expression into something hard and unforgiving. “If you don’t, then I’ll never fucking forgive you.”

  Her brows snapped into a frown, and she pressed her lips together and nodded.

  “Move it!” The guard was getting impatient.

  Blinking back the burn of tears, I stepped out of the cell. It was time to go play in the arena.

  * * *

  Gustov’s voice filled the stairwell as we made our way up. It blasted through speakers hidden in the walls and assaulted my ears with its sickly, honeyed tones.

  “Today we begin a purge. We begin to root out and remove a taint,” he said. “This resistance wil
l not be allowed to flourish. These traitors will be shown no mercy.”

  An inhuman scream pierced past Gustov’s smooth, smarmy voice.

  What had just happened? What was he talking about? Dante’s step faltered and our guards urged us forward. This time we were fielded into separate cages. These were smaller cells stationed side by side, made of vertical bars and not the usual grill. Plastic was draped over the front of the cages so we couldn’t see out. This game would be different. They wanted to separate us. What was in store? Panic hovered on the edges of my consciousness, held back only by the knowledge that whatever happened to us, the others would escape. Helgi would get to Dad and the kids. He’d know the truth.

  “It will be okay,” Dante said. “We just need to stay focused and alert to any opportunity.”

  He was referring to escape. And I thought I was the optimistic fool. The power would go off soon, and we would be in the arena, watched by hundreds of Bloods, watched by Gustov himself. How the hell was escape possible? But my mind was already latching on to the conviction in his tone, wondering if the doors leading out of the arena would suddenly spring open when the power went out. Wondering if we’d be able to get past the Wyverns to escape?

  The cages began to move forward, but there was no way to see where we were being taken. The floor was solid, and the outside was covered in some kind of barrier. But it didn’t block out sound and the crowd’s chant was audible through the thin plastic.

  The cages came to a halt.

  “Get ready,” Dante said.

  Weapons? Where were our weapons? My stomach lurched as my cage broke away from Dante’s and dropped. A yelp tore from my lips, and I latched on to the bars as I hurtled down. The impact with the ground jarred my bones. The plastic was still on. I couldn’t see anything, but I heard it—the most horrific, bone-chilling roar. This was no Wyvern, this was something else. The plastic dropped away from my cell, falling to the ground, and through the cloud of dust I caught my first glimpse of the Dreki. Obsidian black, twice as large as a Wyvern, with ivory claws as long as my arm. The Dreki had its attention on the crowd, its enraged roars crushing their excited cheers.