by G. Bailey
“Why don’t we look through the books, so you have something to read tonight?” Dagan asks, and I smile up at him.
“We could pretend this is a date, and you, being all romantic, chose a library,” I say, and we both laugh.
“So, Isola, my soon-to-be mate, would you come on this date with me?” he asks, and I giggle out a “yes”. Dagan keeps his arm tightly around my waist as we walk to the bookcase. There are two other dragons in the room, two women with dark red hair, and their faces are locked into the books they are reading. They don’t even look our way. I move away from Dagan when we get to the bookcase and start looking through the books as he folds his arms and rests against the bookcase end, watching me. A lot of the books are history, geography and non-fiction, but when I get to the end near Dagan, I find the romance section. I pick up a book about a girl who gets sold at an auction to vampires. This sounds awesome. Dagan takes my hand and leads me to a sofa, sitting down first, and I sit next to him, resting on his shoulder as he wraps his arms around me. I start reading, engrossed in the story after page one.
“I love the way your eyes light up when you read. The way you seem to automatically relax with a book in your hands,” he whispers, putting his head next to my ear and kissing the tip.
“I like pretending I’m in another world sometimes. That I don’t have tons of pressure on my shoulders.”
“As long as you come back to me when the book is done, I’m happy,” Dagan whispers just for my ears, and I relax into his arms, letting him hold me tight as I drift off into the world this writer created.
Chapter Nine
Isola
“Hello?” I shout into the room of dark smoke. The smoke swirls around my feet, and when I hold out my hand, it twirls around my hand in an almost beautiful way. I turn around slowly, looking for anything in the room other than smoke, and wondering how exactly I got here. I was just with Dagan, reading a book…right? I pause when I see something in the corner of the room, then I walk towards it, the smoke moving out of the way for me with every step. I stop right in front of a man I would recognise anywhere, his dark hair covering his face as he looks at the ground. His hands are wrapped around his knees, and he doesn’t move as I kneel down.
“Eli?” I whisper, reaching to touch his hand. Just as I’m about to touch him, his hand shoots out, roughly grabbing my wrist. Elias slowly lifts his head, and instead of his dark blue eyes I expect to see, there is nothing but darkness in his gaze as he stares at me.
“Guys, it’s nearly four p.m., and the hunters are coming out to make sure everyone is back in their cages. We should all get back,” Korbin suggests in a quiet voice, but it still makes me jump because of the strange nightmare as I wake up on Dagan’s lap on the sofa, my book in my hands. Was that Elias or just a dream? Dagan kisses my forehead, making me push the strange dream away and wake up more. I stretch as I get up, wondering when I fell asleep in the first place. My heart hurts as I remember how much I miss Elias and how worried I am. That Elias in my dreams couldn’t have been my Eli, not with the way he looked at me. I must have been more tired than I thought. The drugs have probably worn me out and somehow made me have very realistic and scary dreams.
“Everyone back to your rooms. The boss wants an early night today,” a male voice shouts from behind us, and I look back to see two hunters come into the room, holding guns directed at the door to further their point. The hunters look around our age, but they don’t give us eye contact, instead looking around us like trained soldiers. Dagan and Kor stay close by my side as we walk to the door and go out where there are hunters in black uniforms walking dragons back to their cages. I briefly catch Jonas’s eyes, and he smiles at me before disappearing into the door where his room is.
“We will get him out,” Korbin whispers to me, and I smile at him, reaching over to grab his hand, and he links his fingers in mine, squeezing once. I search through all the hunters, looking for Hallie and not seeing her, which is damn annoying. It’s likely Graves will keep her away from me anyway, being that she is his daughter and he has been telling her a bunch of lies. I have to tell her the truth. We get to the door to the corridor of cages we have been given, and I look back once more, hoping to see her and feeling more annoyed that I don’t. Korbin tugs my hand, pulling me into the corridor after Dagan. We both look back as a hunter reaches in and shuts the door behind us, and we hear it being locked not long after.
“Thorne is staying in your cage tonight,” Korbin tells me, stepping in front of me and pushing some of my hair behind my ear. “You shouldn’t be alone, doll.”
“Is it safe to do that?” I ask, reaching a hand up and stroking his long fringe out of his eyes. Korbin needs a haircut, but it is kind of sexy like this. He grins at me, leaning down and briefly kissing my lips in a teasing way before stepping back. Dagan comes closer and answers my question when Korbin hasn’t said anything.
“We think it is safe,” Dagan shrugs, not really filling me with optimism as he leans down, kissing me on the lips gently before walking into his cage. Kor runs his finger across my bottom lip before letting me go and walking back to his own cell. I look over at Thorne, who watches me with a small tilt of his lips as he leans against the cage door.
“Are you sure you want to risk staying in the same cage with me?”
“I asked around, and it is perfectly safe to share cages. Everyone does it in here,” Thorne answers. “Besides, it is worth the risk.” I laugh and look down the row of cages to where Melody’s is still open, and the others are closed. Kor and Dagan are both eating snacks on the mattresses that are now in their cages, while I can’t see my sister from here. I sigh, knowing I should speak to her before going in the cage. We have time.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Thorne, who is still leaning against the door to the cage, and he nods once.
“Don’t be long,” he lightly warns, referring to the warning we had about being in the cages by five p.m.
“I won’t be. Just a quick chat,” I reply, and quickly jog down the cages to my sister’s. Melody is sat on the edge of the mattress someone has thrown into here. By the looks of it, all the cages have a mattress, thin white sheets and one pillow in each. Melody looks up, sensing me staring at her, and she sadly smiles.
“You want to know if I can see his future? Eli’s?” she asks, knowing what I’m going to ask before I say it. “You want to know if your dream is real?”
“Yes. Is he going to be okay?” I ask, getting straight to the point it seems. “I also wanted to check that you are alright,” I tell her. She looks up at me, and I focus on the black swirls on her face that match her dark hair. I try not to stare at her blue eyes for too long. They aren’t exactly like my fathers, but they are very similar.
“I won’t tell you those answers, but I will explain this. Elias knew his future…he knew he had to be caught by Tatarina to make sure you live. That Dragca has a future,” she tells me, her voice lacking any emotion until it cracks at the end when she sees the betrayal and heartache on my face. I don’t move, don’t think for a few moments as shock rips through me. Elias let himself be captured by her? Why would he do that?
“What?” I whisper, stepping into the cage a little further, as the need to know more overpowers my anger at my sister for keeping this from me.
“I saw something. Something both bad and good,” she starts off, not looking at me as she speaks. “If Elias came to Earth with you and the others, we would never return. Isola, we would all grow old here on Earth. We would be happy. But then you would have a child, and that is where the happiness ends.”
“I don’t understand, why would a child end our happiness?” I ask. I understand that future in a way. As much as I love Dragca and want to save my throne, if I had a chance for a long and happy life on Earth without losing anyone, I don’t know if I could walk away from that. Even if it did make me a coward instead of a queen.
“The deal with the fate you made said you had to bring that child back to
Dragca when she was older. To the memory cave. When you stepped back into Dragca, nothing but death waited for you, your dragons, me…and your child. No one would live…” she all but whispers, the vision clearly still horrifying her.
“So, he let himself be caught to make sure I would go back? To make sure any child we could have had a future?” I figure out and ask her. I need to hear her say it.
“Yes,” she replies.
“The self-sacrificing asshole! That was not his choice!” I shout at her, feeling frustrated. “He could die in her hands, and how would anyone be happy because of that?”
“It was his choice! Now we all have a chance of winning this war,” she replies. “That was Elias’s choice, that is why I told him.”
“Tatarina will kill him because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut!” I shout. “I love him, and she will destroy him!” I look away from her to the cages next to us where Dagan and Kor are stood, listening in with faces of stone that I can’t understand right now. They look a little shocked though, and it’s enough to let me know they didn’t know about this.
“Eli knew there was a chance she would kill him…or do worse. You are lucky to have someone love you that much, Isola. Now, go back to your cage and wait,” Melody says, clearly done with the conversation. When did she get so heartless?
“Wait for what Melody?” I spit out. “More secrets and lies? Is there anything else you want to admit to, sister?”
“Isola—”
“You are so much more of our father than I thought! He loved secrets, lies and being a heartless bastard!” I spit out, growling low. I don’t know if it’s more my dragon’s anger or mine, but I struggle to keep in control.
“I love you, Isola, but I also love Dragca. I want a good future for us all, so I am not like our father despite what you think. I know this isn’t easy, and I know what Eli means to you. I wouldn’t have told him anything if there were another way,” she says, clearly hurt by my words, but I won’t take them back. My sister reminds me of him right now.
“You best be right about this so called chance at a future. If Elias dies for nothing because of what you told him, I will never forgive you,” I state, my voice cold before I walk out of the cage, not able to look back at her. I catch Dagan’s and Kor’s eyes from their cages and shake my head at them as they look close to saying something. I don’t want to talk about it. I walk to my cage, and Thorne understands from one look, which makes me love him even more. Thorne simply holds the door open for me, wordlessly. I walk to the mattress, pulling the rough feeling sheet around me and lie down, curling up into a ball and closing my eyes. Even if I don’t sleep, I don’t want to see anything. I feel Thorne slide onto the mattress behind me and wrap an arm around my waist. We are both silent for a long time, just hearing his deep breathing and feeling his warm breath moving the hair on the top of my head. The simple comfort calms me down after a while, but it still feels too raw to talk.
How many more people do I need to lose before this is all over? I whisper to Thorne in my mind, never opening my eyes because I don’t want to let the tears fall.
I wish I knew what to tell you. I won’t lie to you and say no one else will be lost, but I know you’re strong enough to fight until the end. You’re Isola Dragice, my beautiful strong mate who is fated to be the best queen Dragca has ever had, he replies, kissing the back of my head. Fate be damned. I won’t lose anyone else to this goddamn war for Dragca.
Chapter Ten
Isola
I push my head further into Thorne’s shoulder, and he squeezes my hip where his hand is resting.
“How long have you been awake?” I ask him, and he smiles, rolling me over on the bed and leaning over me. “Not long. I just didn’t want to wake you. Are you feeling any better?”
“Sort of, but I’m still angry at her,” I whisper, leaning a hand up to trace my finger down his cheek, feeling the rough hairs that are growing out. Thorne’s blue eyes stare down at me with more longing than I’ve ever seen him look at me before, and I quite like it.
“You know, you haven’t kissed me. Like really kissed me,” I whisper, moving my finger from his cheek to his soft lips. Thorne smirks as he kisses the tip of my finger.
“Like this?” he asks, reaching a hand behind my neck as I lower my hand to his shoulder, and he pulls me into a scorching kiss. I moan as the kisses become deeper, and his tongue battles with my own. I gasp as he pulls away, leaning up and kissing my forehead as he catches his breath.
“You taste like forbidden fruit, and if we don’t stop, there won’t be anything keeping me from devouring you,” he tells me, his words followed by a light growl that sends pleasurable shivers down me. I almost grumble out loud as Thorne climbs out of the bed and stretches. “You might want to wake Dagan up. The doors will open soon, I bet.”
“Yeah—I mean, yes. Good idea,” I stumble over my words which only seems to amuse him. I climb out of the bed and stretch out my sore muscles from the hard mattress before walking over to the other side of the cage.
“Morning,” I say, reaching through the bars to gently touch Dagan’s shoulder to wake him up. He rolls over on the mattress, smiling up at me before stretching his muscular arms above his head.
“I wish I could just grab you and pull you into bed with me,” he teases, and I laugh as he sits up. The doors automatically open the way they did yesterday, and Thorne comes over to me.
“I think we should take turns showering,” Thorne suggests, and I sniff my shirt, knowing I smell, so Thorne has a point. At least he said it nicely. I look to the door as Kor and Melody walk past, and Kor comes into the cage while Melody stands just outside, looking awkward, with her arms crossed.
“I want to go and talk to someone,” she explains. “I need to talk to someone here today because we are running out of time.”
“Kor, could you go with her? I don’t want any of us to be alone in this place,” I say, and Melody’s face lights up.
“You don’t hate me?”
“Elias is still alive, so no, I don’t hate you. I was shocked last night, and I’m still upset, but as long as Eli lives…we can get past this. You are not like our father. I am sorry for saying that,” I reply, looking away from the hurt and understanding on my sister’s face and to Kor, who smiles, looking more awkward than the room is suddenly feeling.
“Of course, I will watch your sister,” he answers and walks to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and pressing me against him. “Though you’re sleeping in my bed—well, mattress—tonight. Have some relaxing time with Dagan and Thorne, doll.”
“Thank you, and I would love that,” I reply, leaning up and teasingly brushing my lips against his. “Can’t wait for tonight.”
“You’re going to be the end of me, doll,” he replies with a smirk before letting me go and walking out of the cage with Melody not far behind him, smiling back at me, but I can’t make myself smile back quite yet.
“Come on, we might as well go to the showers early, unless you want to get food first?” Dagan asks, and I think back to the bad, almost stale, food that was served yesterday morning and decide my stomach can wait.
“No. A shower sounds much better right now,” I admit, walking to the door. Thorne links his fingers with mine, and Dagan walks ahead of us in a protective manner as we leave. The other dragons in the room briefly pause to bow their heads when they see us, before going back to their food, their eyes still watching us closely. I see Jonas across the room, sitting with Melody, my uncle and Kor. He lifts his hand and waves at me, which I return with my own little wave. I will remember to ask Melody later about why she needed to talk to a child. Melody didn’t even know Jace.
We follow Dagan across the room to the doors with a shower sign on them. There are three doors, giving me hope that we might get a shower room alone. Dagan opens the door on the far right, and we go into the pretty, empty cave room. I was expecting white tiled rooms with shower curtains blocking the sections off like you see in
the movies, but this is nothing like that. If anything, it looks like a rich person’s bathroom from those TV shows where they buy expensive houses. Jules always watched those shows, and I ended up just as addicted to watching humans buy homes. I shake my head from the memories and look around.
The walls are all smooth rocks. Drilled into the walls are four shower heads with faucet handles underneath them. There is a wall in the middle of the room made of more rock, with more shower heads in them. There are drains on the floors where the water clearly goes into, piles of white towels, and a basket for them by the door. The lights are dim in here, little spotlights in the ceiling. I reach for my collar on instinct and know from the lack of cameras in here that the collars must have sensors in them to make sure we don’t use magic. I bet I could freeze the collar off otherwise, or one of the guys could burn it into nothing. I look back as Thorne shuts the door.
“We can’t shower in here, what if someone comes in?” I ask them both as Dagan smirks at me while he starts to pull his shirt off. I have to close my gaping mouth as I trace my eyes over his six pack and the V-dip into his trousers that he starts taking off too.
“Thorne is going to stand in front of the door and make sure no one comes in. Aren’t you?” Dagan asks, his alpha demand sending shivers through me as he finishes taking off his clothes. Dragons have no problem with nudity…and at this moment, with the view, I like it. I look up at Thorne who doesn’t hesitate as he bows his head in agreement and takes up his stance in front of the door, crossing his arms.
“You can undress now, Isola,” Dagan suggests, and I widen my eyes at him as he stands completely naked, proud, with an amused grin on his lips. I don’t know whether to chuckle or be nervous with this version of Dagan, but I do smile. Dagan turns around, slowly walking to the shower heads, and my eyes drift down his muscular back to his tight ass.
