Page 17 of Exquisite Monster (Dragons of Viria #2)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

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ZOVAI

E ndre was barely conscious for days.

By the time Andaros dragged me out of the cell to the surface, I’d locked my mind down. Whatever it was they were going to do to try to break us, I was ready for.

I inhaled fresh air and closed my eyes, savoring the feel of moving air on my skin and the barest taste of sunlight. In my chest, I pressed hard into the space where my bond with Lena lay. Not even a flicker of emotion came through, and I knew it was better that way.

Still, it made my chest ache.

“Should have kept it below ground,” someone muttered behind me.

One glance told me it was the older man who’d become a fixture in our cells over the last few days. The self-proclaimed dragon expert who knew more than most, but not even close to everything, and a good deal of his knowledge was flawed.

The walls surrounding this vast expanse were tall and solid. And far away. The space I stood in was easily the size of a town. From the outside, I imagined you wouldn’t be able to see any greenery. But Endre hadn’t lied. The lush, verdant landscape here would rival Doro Eche.

In the distance beyond those same walls, I saw the buildings and towers of what must be Caelora. A cloud of dust rose too, moving as if a crowd approached. But things happening outside the walls didn’t matter. If anything could help us, it would be here.

Everywhere there were people harvesting food and loading it into carts. It seemed far too fast.

Not far from me a man peeled ears of corn off a stalk and tossed them into a basket.

I blinked. And blinked again. As soon as he finished clearing the stalk, the corn began to regrow.

He’d moved on, but by the time he reached the end of his row and had a full basket, that first plant was fully grown again.

I shifted in place, turning to see more.

They wouldn’t allow me much time, and there was more here than met the eye.

Then again, that was to be expected. Craisos had been preparing for a war against dragons for three hundred years.

I didn’t want to think about the resources they had.

It likely wouldn’t be enough to accomplish their goal, but just like the first war, it would be bloody on both sides.

The grain I saw along the far wall behaved in the same way. As did the fruit dripping off of trees. Every manner of growing thing stood here within these walls and grew. Of all seasons. And at a speed that could only be magic.

Something different is at work here , I told the others, repeating what I saw.

Before they could answer, I turned to Andaros where he watched me. “How do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Grow things in a land that is dying.”

A flicker of a smirk appeared and disappeared in a moment. “Dragons have never had any trouble growing things, no matter the terrain. It’s your arrogance that makes you think humans cannot do the same.”

It wasn’t arrogance. Just knowing that the sheyten ’s magic draining the land would make it impossible with natural means. And as far as I knew, there were no human magics that could make things grow this quickly. Unless?—

“You have another dragon.”

To anyone else not looking, they might not have seen the quickly covered shock. I saw it.

“That’s enough of the sky,” he said, nodding to the guards who forced me back to the stairs.

He has another dragon . I don’t know how and I don’t know where, but he has one. It’s how they’re growing all the food.

They didn’t take me back to my cell, instead pushing me down a further set of steps. So I was right. Pain was coming. But Andaros would have to do more than attack my body for me to break.

No dragon I know of would simply grow an infinite amount of food for humans, even if they did not hate their species. And especially not the royalty of fucking Craisos.

I didn’t disagree, but it didn’t change the facts.

Unless they’ve already broken them, Endre said. And that’s why they think they can break us .

A pit hollowed out in the bottom of my stomach. I wouldn’t put it past Andaros. Let’s hope not, I said. But regardless, it’s different. And they’re about to try with me.

Sirrus growled. Can you get out of it?

The old man stood near the door, observing me. “Perhaps I was wrong,” he said. “This one seems almost too docile. Maybe he is struck by grief.”

“A little late to change your mind, Nelis,” Andaros said. “They’re already on their way.”

He picked up a blade from a nearby rack of weapons and returned as the guards bound me to the table. I didn’t fight because I couldn’t. The command not to resist still bound me like a poison rope, forcing my limbs to remain relaxed and boneless like I wasn’t about to be tortured.

You know I can’t , I answered Sirrus, and I locked both of them out of my mind as soon as the blade touched my skin.

My knees landed on hard-packed dirt. A familiar position. Chains wrapped around my hands, pulled, and made sure I was going nowhere. Not that I could. My eyelids drooped with exhaustion and the need to heal.

Zovai?

I raised my head like they’d spoken to me out loud, but I was alone. I’ll live .

Good .

Yes. I would live. But they needed to know what Andaros had said to me, all while taking weapons to my body. That Lena was dead, and we both knew it, but to satisfy his advisor’s whim, he was going to get either her or her body. And if he found her, he would drag her back and use her to break us.

That wasn’t something we could survive.

Fallen, don’t let them find her .

Taking a deep breath, I steadied myself and kept myself from sinking into sleep. We have bigger problems than Andaros and his knives .

What’s that? Endre asked.

He’s going after Lena .