Page 128 of Courting the Dragon Prince

Onyx’s head lay on something soft and warm. Fingers caressed his hair. Luther’s fingers?

The rest of Onyx’s body lay on the cold stone.

But the stone felt … wrong. Distant. Onyx couldn’t connect to it.

Where were they? What had happened? Why couldn’t he channel? And why couldn’t Onyx open his eyes?

Onyx let those questions drift away as he floated, focusing on Luther’s voice and the feel of his fingers moving in Onyx’s hair. Gradually, Luther’s words became less garbled and took shape.

“—can’t say I saw this coming.” Luther sighed. “I guess you didn’t either. Otherwise, you’d have tried to stop your uncle’s plan and we wouldn’t be here in this dungeon.”

Uncle’s plan? What plan? What dungeon?

Then it all came rushing back. His uncle’s betrayal. The plan to kill Onyx and Luther. His thirst for war and total victory over the dragons.

Then even more memories came back to Onyx. The yelling. The screaming. The fighting with Luther.

Luther’s fingers caressed his cheek. “Not that I blame you for not realising. Your uncle seemed to have been planning this for a while. And he is your uncle. I imagine it’s hard to spot betrayal when it comes from someone so close.”

Dread settled in Onyx’s gut.

So Luther hadn’t gotten away, then. Now they would both die at his uncle’s hands.

I wish Luther had gotten away.Because no matter what he’d discovered, despite their fight, he couldn’t stand the thought of Luther dead.

“So now he is going to take the two of us out into some mountains,” Luther said. “He’ll hurl rocks at me until he kills me to make it look like it was you.”

Onyx’s throat tightened. He didn’t want that.

“Then he said he has some poison that will make it look like you just dropped dead because you murdered me and thus broke the term of our marriage contract.” Luther sighed. “He said some trainees from some mountain temple are scheduled to pass through those mountains in a few days’ time. They will find our bodies.”

So that is his plan to kill us.

For several moments, Luther didn’t speak. His fingers continued to stroke Onyx’s hair.

Onyx tried to open his eyes. He struggled to pry his eyelids open. Finally, after what felt like forever, he managed to open his eyes a crack.

Slowly, the dark room came into focus. They were in a cell in one of the castle’s dungeons. He couldn’t tell which one.

Then again, Onyx had never spent much time in the castle dungeons. But it seemed to be one of the smaller ones. Two soldiers stood on the other side of the bars. They spoke to each other in murmured tones, not paying Onyx and Luther any attention. A single torch hung in a sconce on the wall, providing the only light.

Onyx’s head rested in Luther’s lap. Luther’s hands rested in Onyx’s hair.

He turned his gaze as much as he could. He couldn’t move his neck or head. Just his eyes. He could see the bottom of Luther’s jaw. From here, it looked like Luther stared ahead through the bars. He had not noticed that Onyx had woken.

“You know, that day is what my nightmares are about,” Luther spoke so softly Onyx almost couldn’t hear him.

“I hear the beating of dragons’ wings. Then the crack and crashing of rock. I see the people I led buried beneath stone.” Luther’s voice sounded so empty. “Buried and dead. Buried and dead.” Luther spoke the words like a chant.

“My cousin Errol, he was just a fucking boy.” Luther let out a pained breath. “He was so excited when he joined my division. So pleased to be doing his duty for the kingdom. His father wrote to me, asking me to look after him. I wrote back promising I would.” His voice trembled.

“I remember Errol playing with his siblings as a boy. He was so quiet and shy. He always wanted to join in any games his older brother and sister were playing. He was always running after them. I remember him then.” A tear dripped from Luther’s chin. “And I remember him dying.

“No one blamed me. I think that made it worse. I returned from the battle. Everyone was celebrating our victory.” Luther shook his head. “They should have blamed me. Someone should have blamed me.” More tears fell.

Onyx wished he had the strength to wipe them away.

“Soldiers die in war, and I fought for my kingdom.” His voice twisted with bitterness. “But I led them to their death. That’s what I did. And I should be punished for it.