Page 36 of Ava’s Legacy of the Dragons (Of Dragons, Love, and Destiny #1)

Her head throbbed as she came to. Holding a hand to her pounding skull, she opened her eyes and looked around. Where was she? It was dark, the floor she sat on was hard. Opposite her, a faint light shone through a small grate in the door, reaching her outstretched legs.

With effort, she got up and staggered to the door as her memories returned piece by piece. Someone had overpowered her from behind, even though she had stayed close to her friends, and locked her in this cell. She felt the back of her head and found a bump that hurt at the slightest touch.

Placing her hands around the grate, she shook it. "Hello?"

No one answered.

Who had locked her up here? The followers of the evil sorceress or the king's soldiers? Did whoever it was intend to kill her?

Her breathing became shallow. Stop. She couldn't panic. She had to stay calm. And first, she needed to find out who was holding her captive. She tried to peer into the hallway outside the cell, but the light was too far away. It wasn't enough to illuminate outlines or give her any clues.

She listened inwardly and tried to concentrate on the connection to the dragon child. But where in recent days there had been a constant warmth and familiar pulsing, there now gaped a hole that threatened to pull her into the abyss.

"Can you hear me?"

The young dragon didn't answer. That could only mean one thing: She was so far away from him that their connection had been severed.

Had the hooded figures caught him too? Or had the king's soldiers gotten their hands on him? They shouldn't have stayed in the theater square any longer. They should have left immediately. It had been clear that the fight wouldn't go unnoticed.

Damn it all!

Fear for him, for Lilly, for Marcus and—as she reluctantly admitted—for Kilian made it difficult to breathe. She constantly reminded herself not to lose her composure. If she had a panic attack, it wouldn't get her out of here. Especially since there was no one to help her calm down again.

Although all these deep feelings for the little dragon and her friends were new to her, she pushed them behind her inner wall and forced herself to engage her mind. That would help her stay calm. Numbers, facts, rationality. There was no room for emotions!

Elora's men or the king's had caught her and put her in some prison. Probably remote, maybe near the old forest, maybe under Talus. She didn't know how long she had been unconscious, but probably not more than a few hours. It must still have been night.

Kilian and the others must have noticed her absence by now.

The question was: How many men in the shadows had just been waiting to attack, one after the other?

But Kilian and his dragon had been in the theater square and surely protected both the dragon child and Lilly.

Marcus would know how to get by somehow.

What could she do? Scream until someone came and told her why she had been captured? Or wait until someone showed up voluntarily and explained it to her?

Her throat was burning with thirst, which was why she made her decision immediately.

"HELLOOOOOO?"

She pounded on the wooden door and rattled the grate, but no one responded.

She kicked the wood with full force, rammed her shoulder against it, and tried to break open the exit, but the lock held firm, as did the door's hinges.

At least this gave her something to do. Something that prevented her from giving in to her thoughts or—even worse—losing hope.

Sweat appeared on her forehead, but she didn't give up.

What if the sorceress wanted to get her out of the way and let her rot in this cell?

Or if the king had already signed the execution order?

She wouldn't allow either. Although her shoulder burned and the pain shot up her neck and spread across both her back and arms, she rammed against the entrance without pause.

Finally, footsteps sounded.

Ava heard them immediately, paused, and peered through the grate to the outside. "Hello? Who's there? Why am I locked up?"

A man who was slightly older than her appeared. His black hair stood out from his head in short curls, and his light eyes formed a stark contrast to his dark clothing. He wasn't wearing armor like the soldiers, but that still didn't tell her conclusively who had captured her.

"Quiet!" His voice sounded harsh and rough.

"Where am I? Who's holding me captive, and for what reason am I being held in this cell? Where—"

"I said, quiet!"

"Then tell me what I want to know!"

"Or else what?"

She jutted out her chin. "Or else I won't stop screaming."

He snorted derisively. "Weaken yourself unnecessarily, Guardian, I don't care. When She's ready to receive you, I'll come get you. Until then, you stay here." He turned on his heel without giving her another glance.

She...

That could only mean that she was in the power of the evil sorceress. Elora. How many deaths was she responsible for, according to Marcus? Goosebumps crept up her back, but she couldn't yield to fear.

"Wait! I'm thirsty! At least give me something to drink!"

He hesitated, but then simply continued on his way. "If you stay quiet, I'll bring you a cup of water for breakfast."

Ava cursed and slammed her fist against the door.

Her dry throat begged her to stay quiet, so she turned around, leaned against the door, and slid down to the floor.

She sat there, listening to the darkness, forced to wait.

Automatically, thoughts rained down on her like fat drops on a rainy day, paired with memories of the experiences of the past few days.

The first thing that came to mind brought tears to her eyes. Kilian had said he had to marry the princess. A relationship between the two of them was out of the question.

Now there was a tightness in her throat that overshadowed her thirst. Her chest constricted.

How could she have scrapped her resolution not to let any man get close to her in such a short period of time?

She barely knew him, and yet her heart was in such a sorry state just because she couldn't have a relationship with him. She wasn't allowed to.

Inevitably, she remembered how she had flown through the starry sky with him.

How he had sat behind her and placed a hand on her side.

How she had felt his warmth as well as his muscular chest against her back.

The desire to lean back and snuggle against him.

His scent had enveloped her as if he had been using the strongest perfume ever concocted.

She rummaged in her pocket and found two stones: the milky one she had collected in the theater square, and the white one from the entrance to the dragon's cave, when she had looked at the stars with Kilian.

She ran her fingers over the cold surface and in her mind she was sitting again next to Kilian on the rocky ground, feeling his arm, which he had propped up behind her, and sensing the warmth, the closeness he radiated.

She shouldn't be thinking about him, but at this moment, when she didn't know what Elora had in store for her and her life was hanging by a thread, she imagined how his lips would feel on hers. If only they could have kissed just once. Just to know what it was like. Just to... have experienced it.

Tears gathered in her eyes. She let a single one fall. Just one. This one tear should be a symbol that she was closing the matter. Putting a check mark next to it. And so she did.

Exhaling loudly, she stretched out her legs and pushed aside the thought of the dragon fighter.

Instead, she thought about the good things that had happened to her in this magical world.

About Lilly, about the little dragon, and about Marcus, who was a friend.

She would return to them. She would not die in this dungeon, but find a way out.

Even though she didn't know how to escape a sorceress, she would get away. She swore it to herself!