Page 12 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)

A sharp knock drew Kai’s attention away from the book he read. Jaw tight, he set it aside and strode to open the door, hoping it wasn’t another interview , but braced himself with the likelihood that it was.

Astred hadn’t come, nor had anyone other than the council guards, since they’d dumped him here.

Perhaps today was the day to transfer him to a prison cell. He’d had plenty of time to consider his escape options, which were slim, but not impossible.

Pulling the door open, Kolina faced him, expression tense.

Gut tight, he moved aside, closing the door as soon as she slipped past him.

“Any changes with the queen?”

She held his gaze, her entire body taut as she faced him. “You need to go home.”

Kai jerked his head, then lifted a brow. “This royal guest has finally worn out his welcome with the Council?”

Kolina’s lips compressed. “The queen hasn’t awakened yet. She welcomed you as her personal guest. That’s no small thing, Kai.” She drew a breath, steeling herself. “I’m not sorry I brought you here to see this part of who you are. I’m just sorry that this part can’t seem to loosen its grasp, and that has endangered you. And the timing… it isn’t safe for you to stay here.”

“Will the queen be alright?”

Will Astred?

In light of his recent discovery of her role on this island, his concern for her was well above his worry for himself.

He couldn’t shake the feeling that she might be in danger too, that some dark threat loomed over her.

I can’t leave her.

There was nothing he could do to help her.

The Astred he knew was both titanium strong, and exquisitely fragile when you looked beyond the rough veneer.

He’d felt it in the small silences between them.

Kai also knew she’d never accept his help if he offered it.

It didn’t matter what they’d felt for each other in the past. She’d rejected him, then disappeared from his life.

The night on the beach had been Kai’s goodbye to Astred.

There were never supposed to see each other again after the wedding. Not to mention this absurd situation where he was being held prisoner by her mother’s elders.

“The queen is strong. Her shamans are determined to bring her back to us, and I have faith in their ability. It may take some time.”

“Time that I don’t have.”

Kolina shook her head. “You’re the obvious scapegoat, given current circumstances.”

“That I knew nothing about until a week ago.” He growled, arms crossing his chest.

Her lips compressed.

Every time he thought about leaving, be it escape or merely flying away on his own, the image of Astred’s fear filled face loomed before him. She was just distraught over her mother, who was now in the right hands. He’d helped with that, what more could he realistically do?

Kai ignored the feeling that she needed him, chalking it up to male pride and protectionism.

Why would she need him? She was the fucking heir of this place with a fleet of guardians at her command.

“Alright, I assume now is as good a time as any.” He gathered the few items he’d removed from his travel bag, zipping it closed.

Kolina reached up to her nape, unfastened a thin chain and extracted the locket hidden beneath her shirt. Hesitating, her thumb caressed the winged shield etched into its surface. The Aeleftherian symbol of strength. “I’d really hoped things could finally be different.” She looked up, eyes glassy, as she grasped Kai’s hand. “I’m sorry.”

The locket was warm and light against his palm as it settled with the chain pooled around it.

Without a thought, Kai reached for his mother, pulling her into his embrace. Something he hadn’t done since before he was fourteen years old.

She gripped him, hard and fierce, whispering. “You’ve always been my precious little boy, Kai.”

His heart pounded, hearing words he never allowed himself to dream of hearing, knowing deep down that this might be the last time he had the chance to fix things between them.

I can’t leave…

Again, and do what?

“Come with me.”

She extracted herself from his arms. “I wish I could.”

He drew a deep breath.

Here it is.

“For reasons different from before.”

“Aeleftheria comes first.” His resentment spiked from the pits of his past, unable to stop the words.

But he also understood. Her queen’s life was at risk, and Kolina Steelscale was a member of her personal guard. His thoughts slid back to Astred, then away again.

She wants nothing to do with me.

Did she suspect him, too? Did Astred believe that he would harm her mother for some political plot, in the works long before their unexpected reunion? Maybe that was why she severed contact with him after their arrival.

Kolina was right.

I have to leave.

His fist tightened on the handle of his bag.

“This way,” she gestured toward the back corner of the room, beside the grand fireplace. Sliding her fingers along the intricate carvings surrounding the rich mantle piece, a soft click released a panel from the wall.

“Astred had you assigned to this room… just in case.” She resealed the passage behind them, casting them into darkness.

Tension licked through his body at Kolina’s admission that Astred had accounted for the possibility that Kai might need a covert way out.

With a few scuffing sounds, followed by the strike of flint and whoosh of flame, Kolina lit a lamp suspended from an iron hook on the wall, then led the way through the stone corridors deep within the citadel, ever downward.

As they descended, eerie ripples coated his body, causing goosebumps to rise as the scents of earth and stone and damp filled his nose.

“There’s magic down here.”

Kolina glanced back at him, her features softening as she searched his face. “Perhaps,” she said, pausing. “But what you’re feeling—a ripple? That’s your dragon reacting to the earth’s ores. The air dragons are sensitive to changes in the atmosphere. You are a metal dragon, and we’re connected to the ores in the earth’s core.” She resumed her lead. “In a different way from earth dragons. Similar but different.”

They turned yet another corner, descending more stone steps. At the bottom, Kai lost his breath, stumbling as an inner force dragged at him to turn right.

The tugging extended to his tiger magic.

Like a harpist’s plucking fingers traveling up and down the scale.

A melody of magic and shadow, intertwined and overlapping.

An intersection. A liminal space.

“This way,” Kolina said, jerking her head to the left.

Kai stood immobile for a full moment, catching his breath. Everything in him directed him to the right.

Her keen gaze observed every twitch, curious, though she said nothing, waiting for him to step toward her.

Gauging her expression, he knew she wouldn’t tell him what was in that direction. His escape home lay in the opposite pathway. With a shake of his head, they continued on until they reached a heavy door. There was no handle or keyhole to open it.

Instead, Kolina created a triangle with three fingers pointed at the wood. Her magic rippled as her claws extended from those fingers, then she inserted them into corresponding darkened marks on the thick wood.

From somewhere within the wood or stone, Kai couldn’t tell which, a latch released the door.

Dragging it open, sea air rushed into the corridor, scrubbing the stale underground passages. Kai dragged in a welcome deep breath. The door closed behind them without Kolina’s touch, as they continued toward the coast and Kai’s freedom from the chaos about to erupt within Aeleftheria.

The stone corridor opened into a cavern containing a wide pool fed by an underground river. Fissures in the stone allowed air and vegetation into the space, though there was no visible exit.

A lone figure waited by the flowing water.

The Aeleftherian guardian, Marli Fleetwing.

“Marli will guide you the rest of the way, Kai.” Her fingers twitched, as though she stopped herself from reaching for him. “Thank you for coming to Kymri’s wedding. It meant a lot to her.”

As he looked into his mother’s face, he sensed how much it had meant to her too, despite her stoic stance and controlled expression. It was in her eyes, though there were no words.

She was still the hardened Aeleftherian guardian he’d known from his youth, but the faint lines denoting her age and the softness in her gaze took the edge away from the memories.

His short time among the Aeleftherians gave him a sense of understanding their world—her world. And why she’d made the choices she had. He’d been shielded from most of the political dealings surrounding the wedding, but Kai was a tiger. He watched and listened.

“We’ll see each other again?” His voice had taken on an unexpected gruffness.

Her mask faltered as she nodded. “I hope so.” Her gaze slid over his face, memorizing the sight of him. “I hope so,” she whispered, then turned away, striding back toward the door to the underground warren.

“This way,” the Aeleftherian guardian’s voice pulled him back to the task once the door was secured. “Most of Aeleftheria’s guards have been assigned so that this particular exit point will be unguarded. I’m just leading you to a contact who will guide you the rest of the way out of Aeleftherian territory. Understood?”

Kai nodded.

Marli quickly shed her clothing, scales covering her human body as she stepped into the water.

Averting his gaze, Kai did likewise, stuffing his belongings into the bag as she sank below the water’s surface and disappeared.

Kai summoned his scales, as Marli had done, to enable greater speed while moving through the water. He slipped his arms through the straps so that he could swim unhindered. The water was unexpectedly warm after the chill of the cavern. Drawing a deep breath, he dipped below the surface, following Marli along the narrow stone channel, just wide enough for a humanoid form.

Little light filtered in, throwing them into darkness and forcing him to rely on his other senses beneath the water, hands skimming the stone as his feet propelled him forward. The eddies from Marli’s movement ahead of him sent ripples over his body, creating a guiding path in the darkness.

Just as he thought his lungs would implode, the sea lightened into an underwater world of brilliant corals and flickering fish. He followed Marli to the surface, dragging oxygen into his lungs.

They floated some distance offshore of several smaller islands. The main island with its citadel and string of coastal villages lay in the distance.

Treading water, Marli nodded toward the thick shadows among the island’s greenery. “She’s in there. Good luck, Kai.” She disappeared below the surface before he could respond.

He swam toward the island to meet his guide, not expecting Astred’s familiar form to be the one to greet him, expression grim.