“Keira. Listen to me.” He glanced down at her hands, then back to her face. “You are freezing. Is there nothing in that cell of yours to keep you warm?” He peered through the bars, then pulled back in shock.
“I cannot believe Jack would be this cruel. Crouch down low and I will heat the room for you.” Keira glared at him for a moment, then did as he instructed, watching as flames swirled through the air above her then dissipated. Her clothes were steaming slightly, and the room felt a little warmer, but she knew it would not last. She rose back to her feet and looked at Max, still crouching outside the window.
“How could you, Max? How could you betray Aaron like that? He loves you!”
“Keira, I –” Max glanced around then rose to his feet. “Someone’s coming,” he hissed. “Here, take this.” In a quick movement he yanked his tunic over his head and thrust it through the bars. Before she could say another word, he launched himself into the air, his bronze wings opening wide and carrying him away from her and over the ocean. Keira pulled herself away from the window as two pairs of feet walked past.
“Look at that,” said one of the men. “Wish I had wings.”
“Wonder what he was doing here,” the other said.
“Don’t know. Think we should tell Jack?”
There was a moment of silence, and Keira peeked her head around the wall to see the men walking away.
“No, I’m sure it’s fine,” the man finally replied.
Keira slipped down onto the floor and pulled the tunic over her head. It still held Max’s body heat, and she wrapped her arms around her chest, eager to keep the warmth. The other tunic had slid to the floor, and she placed it over her legs, feeling warmer than she had in days. Max’s blast of heat had dried off some of the dampness and left it warm to touch. She leaned her head against the hard stone wall and closed her eyes, allowing her thoughts to drift.
The sound of a voice outside her prison door startled Keira, and it took her a moment to recognize Jack’s voice.
“Open the door,” he commanded, as someone scrambled to carry out his order. The door swung open and Jack stepped in with an expression of distaste. “This place is ghastly,” he said. He glanced at Keira huddled against the wall. “How do you stand it?” he asked. He turned back to the man who had opened the door. “Why is there no furniture in this room?”
“You told us to put her in an empty cell,” he mumbled.
Jack rolled his eyes. “Go find a mattress and a blanket. And a stool too,” he added as the man turned away. “I refuse to sit on the floor.” Keira heard the sound of footsteps fading down the passage as Jack turned to face her.
“Why are you doing this, Jack?” Keira asked wearily.
“Getting you a mattress? If you don’t want it –”
“You know what I mean.”
“Ah. You are wondering why I have you imprisoned on this pile of rock.” The sound of returning footsteps had him turning away. A man Keira recognized as Francis entered the room with a rolled mattress and blanket in one hand, and a stool in the other. He threw the mattress and blanket to the ground, then placed the stool next to Jack.
“Roll out the mattress for the lady,” Jack said. The man paused, his eyes downcast, then picking up the mattress, laid it carefully against the wall with the blanket on top. He glanced up at Jack, who nodded, and left the room. Hitching a foot around the stool, Jack pulled it towards him and sat down. He stared at Keira for a long moment, then turned towards the window.
“I was married once. Did you know that?” He glanced back at Keira as she pulled in a sharp breath. “Of course you didn’t. Aaron barely spared a thought for my wife before, so why would he think to tell you about her now?” Jack cocked his head, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at her. “You have her eyes, you know. Not the color – her eyes were blue – but the same look. Frank and honest.”
“Is that why you kissed me?” Keira asked dryly, instantly regretting the words as she waited for an angry response. Instead, Jack just laughed.
“Perhaps that was a small part of the reason, but it was mainly to annoy Aaron. I knew he would banish me when he heard what I had done. I wasn’t prepared for your response, however. Quite a little tiger, aren’t you.” He lifted his hand to his cheek and ran his fingers along the spot where she had scored him with her nails.
“Back a cat into a corner,” Keira said with a shrug.
Jack laughed. “Quite.”
“What happened to your wife?” Keira asked. Jack stared at her for a long moment.
“My father killed her,” he finally said.
“Your father? But … why?”
“Perhaps Aaron told you about my father. That he refused to eat human flesh?” Keira nodded. “Of course he would have,” Jack said dryly. “It drove my father crazy, denying himself, but I didn’t know that when Aaron called me away.”
“Aaron … called you away? Why?”
Jack rose to his feet and went over to the window, gripping the bars as he stared across the ocean.
“Aaron and I used to be friends, once. Not as close as he and Favian, but close enough. He had just become Master, and there were troubles at some of our borders.” He turned to face Keira, leaning against the wall. “You must know that dragon territory extends far beyond human territory, and our lands cross over many human kingdoms. There were skirmishes between our clan and the clan whose territory bordered ours, and Aaron went to deal with it. He called me and a few others to join him, but instructed us to leave all humans behind.” He walked back to the stool and sat down once more. “I wasn’t the only one with a human wife, but I had only been married for a few years. I loved her, and leaving her behind was the hardest thing I had ever done. But I knew Aaron was concerned about the safety of the humans if they came with us, so I left May with my father.”
“May?”
“Yes. That was her name.” Keira nodded. “Aaron should have known that it wasn’t safe to leave her with him, but he gave no word of warning, so I went away, thinking she was safe. But she was in more danger there, from my father, than if I had taken her with me.” He looked down at the floor, his voice softer as he continued. “My father loved May, but he was losing his mind. He hadn’t eaten human flesh in over two years, and it was driving him crazy.” Jack looked up at Keira with a wry expression. “Dragon lore says that there will be one who will break the dragon curse, but it didn’t come soon enough for my father. He was consumed with hunger, and he killed her. The funny thing is, he realized straight away what he had done, and refused to eat her remains. She died in vain. He threw her body down the well, covered it with a rock, and locked himself into a cell, throwing the key out the window. By the time I returned, he was already halfway dead, but he still kept calling her name.”
“What did you do?”
“What did I do? May’s remains had been preserved in the cold water of the well, so I retrieved them and ate them.” Jack looked at Keira in amusement as the color drained from her face. “That disgusts you, doesn’t it? But it was the only way I could keep her with me. She’s a part of me now, forever. Wouldn’t you want Aaron to do the same if something happened to you?”
Keira closed her eyes. “No,” she whispered. She opened them again, and stared at Jack, her voice loud and firm. “No, I would not.”
“Ah, well. I wouldn’t expect you to understand. I’m just a monster, after all.” Keira turned to look at the wall, swallowing the nausea that rose to her throat.
“I still don’t understand why you are going after Aaron.”
“May would be alive today if it wasn’t for Aaron.”
Keira narrowed her eyes in confusion. “How?”
“If Aaron had not called me away, had not made me leave her behind, my father would not have killed her.”
“But … you cannot blame Aaron for your father’s actions.”
“It was Aaron’s father, Zachary, who first insisted that humans were worth saving. That we should only eat
when absolutely necessary. And Aaron did nothing to change that.”
“But he didn’t stop your father from, uh, eating when he needed to.”
“Until Zachary came along with his absurd directive, my father had never even given humans the slightest consideration. He coupled with my mother, and after I was born, killed her and ate her. It was Zachary who made him think humans were more than just a meal.”
“Or maybe it was May?”
Jack rose to his feet in anger, his eyes narrowing as he glared at Keira. “May was not like other humans. She was different; special. And my father knew that. He never even considered her as human. But Zachary and Aaron whispered words that reached into his mind, making him crazy. And then he killed the one person he loved like a daughter – the woman I loved more than life. Aaron is going to know what it feels like to lose someone he loves. Not even death can break the bond a dragon makes with his mate, and when I kill you,” Jack’s lips curled into a cruel smile, “he will know the same anguish I felt when I found out May was dead. He will suffer, and then I will kill him.”
Keira stared at him in horror, fear making her press her back against the wall. Jack laughed.
“You have a few days yet to live. I will kill you while Aaron is forced to watch, and will feast on you before his eyes.” He smiled, then turned and left the room.
Chapter 37
Anna paced up and down the room, unable to keep still. A fire burned in the grate, courtesy of Max, and she scowled at it. As much as she enjoyed the warmth, she did not want to feel even the slightest sense of gratitude towards him. She wondered for the hundredth time where Keira was being held, and hoped she had a fire to keep her warm. She longed to ask Max for news of her sister, but that would mean speaking to Max, something else she did not want to do. A cold blast of air blew through the open window, bringing with it the smell of the ocean, which crashed relentlessly against the rocks far below.
Anna walked over and stared out the window, watching the birds that screeched as they flew between the cliffs. She wished she could fly as they did – then she could fly away from this prison. Being a dragon would be even better – then she would be able to kill Jack as well. But of course, she was neither a bird nor a dragon. She sighed loudly, cursing both Jack and Max for keeping her here. Far below she could see a small white strip of beach, with a boat pulled up onto the shore. Lying partly in the water, the boat rocked as the waves knocked against the stern. If she could only get to the boat, she would be able to row away. She turned and walked over to the bed, falling backwards onto the mattress. She had never tried to row a boat before, but how difficult could it be? Surely she would reach land somewhere. She had no idea how large the ocean was, but men traveled by ocean all the time, and always arrived somewhere. She lay on the bed for a while, pleasantly imagining herself rowing across the ocean into the arms of safety, before finally rising to her feet again. She paced around the room, then crossed over to the window once more, staring at the small craft placed so tantalizingly close, and yet so far.
If only there was a way to escape the room, but such thoughts were pointless. Unless … she had heard a story once about a princess who escaped a castle by tying together the quilts from the bed. But just one glance out the window had her shaking her head ruefully. She would need a mountain of quilts to make a rope long enough to scale these walls. If only Max didn’t keep the door barred, she would have a chance. She turned to look at the door once more, wondering if there was a way to shake the bar loose, when her eyes slowly widened. Max had left the room hurriedly that morning, called by one of Jack’s minions to attend him in the hall. She could not remember the sound of the bar dropping against the door when he left, but surely he would not have left it open?
She quickly walked across the room, stopping in front of the door with a raised hand. She placed it against the solid surface and gave a slight push. The door held, and she breathed out a sigh of disappointment. Of course Max would not have been that careless. Turning around, she leaned her back against the door – gasping when it suddenly gave way, then grabbing at the door frame to stop her fall. Pulling herself back to her feet, she stared at the door in disbelief, then shook her head as she started to smile. A quick glance down the passage assured her that no one had been roused by the noise, and she pulled herself back into the room and took a deep breath.
It could be a trap, and as soon as she left the room, Max – or even worse, Jack – would come and hunt her down. But just as quickly the thought crossed her mind that it was a chance, an opportunity to escape, that she could not afford to pass up. She glanced down the passage once more, and the silence that greeted her made up her mind. Running over to the bed, she dragged the quilt off the mattress and wrapped it around her shoulders. It would be cold on the open water, and she did not want to die of exposure.
She was back in the passage in a flash, and she glanced up and down, wondering which way to go. The passage was brighter to the right, so she chose that direction, walking as quietly as she could while still moving with some speed. She reached a spiral staircase cut into the stone, and steadying herself with her hand, cautiously made her way down the dark, narrow stairs. She was about halfway down when she heard voices, and she paused, pressing herself against the stone wall, but they passed and grew fainter. Leaning forward, she glanced down, and seeing no-one else, continued her descent. She had to pass a landing, but that too was empty, and she made it down to the bottom floor without being seen.
The staircase spilled into a dark passage, and Anna paused once more. In the one direction she could hear the banging of pots and pans, so she turned the other way, hopeful of finding a door that led outside. There were no candles in the passage, so she walked cautiously, running her fingers along the walls as she moved forward. Her head knocked against an unlit lamp that protruded from the wall, and she froze, groaning silently as she waited for footsteps to come chasing after her – but all was quiet. She moved forward again. There was a door ahead, and she fumbled with her hand until she found the latch, wincing when it squeaked. The door swung open, and she stepped outside, her heart pounding.
She glanced around, trying to get her bearings. The ground was bare and rocky, with a few scrubby plants that lay close to the ground. About twenty feet in front of where she stood, the ground suddenly dropped away, and beyond she could see the ocean. To the side, close to the castle wall, was a clump of large bushes. There was no cover where she stood, and after a moment’s hesitation, she headed towards the bushes, sidling her way along the wall. She needed to figure out where the beach with the boat was, but knew that she was far too exposed where she stood.
She made the bushes just in time. She could hear voices growing nearer as she huddled under the prickly branches, the cold of the ground seeping through her thin slippers. The voices passed by and she risked a quick look around to make sure they had gone. Anna breathed a sigh of relief. She waited a moment before crawling out of her hiding space, then holding the quilt around her shoulders, quickly dashed to the edge of the cliff and looked down. She could see the beach, but it was not right below her. She would need to scramble over some rocks to reach the path that led to it. She dropped her foot over the edge, wincing when she heard her gown rip up the side, but did not pause. She was at her most vulnerable now, and there was not a moment to lose. She scrambled over some rocks, ducking her head down low as she made her way in the direction of the path she had seen from the top. She was already halfway down, when the thought of Keira made her stop.
How could she escape this place and leave Keira behind? But if she could just reach Aaron and tell him where she was … Anna quickly continued moving forward. She had reached the path, and the going was easier now. She just had to make it to the beach, and she would be free.
The tide was coming in when Anna made it to the boat, and it bobbed and swayed in the water. The rope was wrapped around a rock, but Anna freed it easily. She threw the quilt into the boat and climbed in after it
, turning around to face the rocky cliff. Her heart sank when she saw Max standing on a rock where the beach met the cliff, his arms crossed over his bare chest in amusement.
“I’m quite impressed, Anna,” he said with a grin. “I wasn’t sure you would make it all the way down.”
“You were watching me?” She bit down on her lip to stop the tears of anger and frustration that threatened.
“I returned to the room moments after you left,” he explained. “You’ve forgotten that dragons can track someone by their scent, but I already had an idea of where you were heading. I gave you a few minutes’ head start and then followed you. I wanted to see how far you would get.”
“Argh!” Anna stamped her foot in frustration, making the boat rock beneath her. She turned to look out at the water, drawing in a deep breath.
“Please, Max,” she said, “let me go. You have no use for me here.” Max’s expression turned serious.
“I’m sorry, Anna, I cannot do that. Do you think Jack will just let you go? As soon as he knows you are gone, he will send his henchmen after you. No, you are much safer here with me.”
“But …” Anna’s words trailed off as she realized the futility of her argument.
“You were hoping to reach Aaron?” She nodded, refusing to meet his gaze. Max turned and looked out over the water for a long moment.
“Aaron already knows where we are,” he said softly. Anna looked at him in surprise.
“How do you know?”
“You will just have to trust me.”
“Trust you?” she said bitterly. “How can I possibly trust a traitor?”
She looked away when Max turned to look at her, but she could feel the weight of his gaze.
“Come,” he said, “grab the quilt and I will take you back to the room.” He held out his hand to help her from the boat, but she ignored it and jumped unsteadily to the ground. Max stepped closer and wrapped his arms around her stiff, unyielding body as his wings stretched out from his back. His chest was firm and warm, and despite her best intentions, Anna relaxed against him ever so slightly. She felt his hand on her back as their feet left the ground, and he pulled her closer, his lips in her hair. She heard him breathe in deeply, and drew back slightly to see his face, drawing in a sharp breath when she saw his eyes blazing as he looked down at her. He was flying up the side of the building towards the window of their chamber, and as she glanced away, she saw the gray stone-face of the wall and stiffened, her anger returning. She was locked in a prison, and it was Max who was keeping her from escaping. She heard Max sigh, and then he was pushing her through the window that opened to their chamber. He set her on her feet, and she walked away, holding herself erect. She heard him say her name, but she refused to turn and look at him.
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