Page 27 of Exquisite Monster

The silence in the space between our minds was brutal.

Alive.

It was the only word he said.

What the fuck did he do to you?

My sense of time was warped from being underground, but it had been at least a day since he blocked it out. Two more painful sessions of spewing fire into the underground cavern beneath our cells.

I didn’t even want to consider how much scalefire could be made with the flames they took from us. How many weapons could be coated with it. Enough for an army.

Stars. It could be enough to arm every human soldier in Viria. Which was likely his plan.

Andaros had not been forthcoming about what he intended—neither for us, nor dragons at large—but it wasn’t too hard to guess. Andaros grew up in the faction of humans that viewed dragons as the enemy and only ever that. The offspring and legacy of the lies that had shattered the world in the first place.

With the human world slowly dying, they wanted space where food would grow and prosperity would reign. Things the dragons had. He’d thrown the woman he’d intended to marry over a cliff, so I didn’t imagine he’d hesitate to slaughter every dragon on the continent if it brought him closer to his goal.

Z’s voice came through my head.Endre,how bad is it? Are you mortally wounded?

Endre wasn’t in a state where he would hear it, but I heard the fear underlying Zovai’s words. Would we lose him too? What would happen to us and to Lena without him? Even with our history and everything we’d been through, this was the most vulnerable we’d ever been. If Andaros decided we were no longer useful and killed us, we couldn’t stop him.

We were still bound by Aeghi’s command.You will not resist them. A dragon had to be within reach of the power to be commanded, but it held no matter the distance. It could be released no matter the distance as well, but none of the Elders would do that. Not for us.

Our captors had a nearly infinite supply of scalefire, which wouldturn us to ash before we realized what was happening. Any of us could die any second, and that fear was more real now than it had ever been before.

No. Endre finally said.He wasn’t aiming to kill.

Z and I waited, sensing he had more to tell us but was finding what little strength he had.

His aim… his aim is to break us.

More than he already is?Zovai growled.How?

Endre’s voice was softer now.I’m not sure.And not… broken. That’s not right. It’s not?—

Rest. I told him.Regardless of his plan, we are not escaping this now. Take what rest you can find. We don’t know if he will move on to us or continue with you.

His pain was thankfully fading. At the very least, there was that.

I will.He said.I’m sorry.

There wasn’t time to assure him that there was nothing to be sorry for. He was unconscious. Over the time we’d been bound, we all knew what it felt like when the others slept.

Fucking stars, Zovai said.What was he doing?

As much as I want to know, I also don’t want to know, I said.

Footsteps sounded outside in the hallway, and the distinctive, rough sound of the lock turning.But I fear I might be about to find out.

Andaros strode in, followed by his usual group of guards, along with an older man I did not recognize. He looked more like a scholar than a soldier, with dark blue robes and a beard that could stand more upkeep. But aside from his obvious age, his eyes were clear as he assessed me.

“You said you killed their mate?”

The smile on Andaros’s face made me strain my shoulders against the chains for the simple reason of wanting to punch it off him.

“I threw her down Evrítha.”

He was way too fucking smug about that.