Page 42 of Exquisite Monster

“How did you keep her alive?” His voice was low and deadly.

My stomach twisted. He knew now. Fuck.

“What are you talking about? You killed her.” I let my grief at the fact that he touched her at all seep into my tone. “You murdered my mate.”

He shoved me, making my body strain against the chains. “If I murdered her, then why is one of my soldiers here, telling me that Katalena is very much alive? What did you do to her? Turn her into some kind of filthy hybrid?”

He knows. I told them.Andaros knows Lena is alive. He confirmed it.

The others swore.

Pain rocketed through my skull, my neck aching from the force of the blow I’d just taken. “You will speak to me when I ask questions.”

“Or what?” I glared at him. “You’ll imprison me? I’m locked in this cell. You’ll torture me? You’re already doing that.”

His blade was at my throat again. “I could kill you now.”

“Do it. If you think I fear death, you are mistaken.”

But he wouldn’t kill me. Not yet, anyway. Until he was truly desperate enough to break us that he no longer cared about us as a unit. One dragon could still hold command at our level of power. Three was better. Three could cover more ground if you were planning an assault that would take over a continent.

“I will bring her back,” Andaros said. “And this time I will kill her in front of you.”

“When every threat is dire, they lose effectiveness. Something you might want to learn if you plan on ruling an entire continent.”

Andaros dragged the tip of the knife over my traitor’s scar. “What wound is this that it would heal such?”

I didn’t answer.

He didn’t slide the blade into my heart, instead stepping back and sheathing it. The injuries from the many weapons he’d used on me were gone. Their human mage had healed them. Of course Andaros had collected one of the few humans that could harness magic. And who claimed to know the ways of dragons.

“Maybe this is a good thing. There is one question that has plagued me since I dropped Katalena off the edge of the world, and it keeps coming back to me.” Stopping, his gaze took me in from head to toe. “Why you?”

I had the same question, but not in the same way. Why us? Why would the Fallen choose to gift us a mate when we were shackled to Elders who hated everything we wanted? Why give us the most precious gift this world could offer and then separate us? What had we done to deserve a mate when everything good we’d tried to do had failed?

“What magic did you perform on Katalena that she would bed not one butthreedragons?” He chuckled. “My men were shocked that you all have human forms.”

I snarled out of reflex. “Nothing.”

He scoffed.

“What reason would I have to lie to you? Magic had nothing to do with Lena’s choice.” It was the truth. Mating was far deeper than magic.

“Then what did you offer her?” He crouched down, close enough that I could smell the fish he’d eaten on his breath. “What was it that made her not wait to be rescued and become a queen?”

I didn’t answer. Pain erupted from the other side of my face, and I spat blood onto stone.

“Answer me.”

Letting my head hang, I took a slow breath. The three of us had plenty of time to talk. Andaros was erratic and emotional. He was, like Nelis called him, a fucking fool. Andaros acted on impulse and instinct. He did what made him feel good and powerful, even if it wasn’t the right strategic choice.

That impulsivity saved Lena’s life.

If he’d really wanted to break us he would have brought her here when we left Doro Eche. But he hadn’t.

We all agreed that if we could get him angry, he was more likely to make some kind of mistake. Something we could take advantage of. Because Lena was alive, and we had a promise to keep: that we would find her.

“I didn’t have to do anything. She asked.”