Page 27 of Exquisite Monster (Dragons of Viria #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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ZOVAI

Z ovai .

The voice rang in my head. Familiar, but impossible.

I hadn’t hallucinated so far in our captivity, but at this point I was beyond surprise. Lena lived brightly in my chest, so much closer than she’d been before. She was riddled with nerves, steely resolve, and fear. But not fear for her life. She still felt safe, and I hoped it was true.

Zovai . The voice came again. It was real.

I blinked. Idroal?

Thank the Fallen. It is difficult to reach you with all the sand. You are the closest to me . Endre and Sirrus cannot hear me.

A laugh burst out of me. A guard immediately looked into my cell to check. I acted as if nothing had happened.

I thought I was hallucinating .

Not this time, Your Highness. We are here to get you out .

Now fear wrapped around my heart. We?

Myself, six other dragons, and Lena .

What—

I’m sorry to interrupt, Your Highness, but we need your help, and there is little time. We need information. We’ve barely been able to get inside. There is a distraction that will allow us to reach you, but we will need guidance. And a little help from you.

I sighed, flexing my hands inside the metal that held them. We can’t help you, Idroal. Aeghi bound us .

Try.

The simple, single word made chills rise on my skin. Idroal wouldn’t ask us to do that unless…

I called my fire and turned toward the chains that held me, allowing the fire to fly free. Just a brief flash—not enough to alert the guard. Nothing tried to hold me back or stop me from resisting.

It’s gone?

It’s gone .

How?

Laughter touched their voice. That, along with other things, are best discussed after you have been freed, are they not?

Right. You can’t speak to the others?

Not at the moment. The ground is not solid enough. If I were closer to the walls, I could.

Hold . I’ll tell them .

I pushed my thoughts toward Endre and Sirrus . This is going to be a lot of information all at once, and you need to not react. Give the guards no hint .

Endre spoke first. What are you talking about?

Idroal is here. They are here with Lena and six other dragons, and are planning a distraction and rescue. They need to be guided, but more importantly, the command not to resist is gone .

HOW? Sirrus would have shaken the walls if his voice had been out loud.

I don’t know . But this is happening now. I switched back to Idroal in my mind. I told the others. What do you need from us?

As much as you can give, they said. We will provide the distraction to draw as many guards away from you as possible. If you can get yourselves to the surface, we will retrieve you. If you can get over the walls, even better . If not… we’ll improvise.

When?

Soon . This is the only time we will be able to speak, Your Highness . Will you need us to come and get you, or do you think you can free yourselves and meet us?

Now that we’re not bound? I nearly laughed. We’ll get out. Where is Lena?

Idroal didn’t answer. Long enough that it felt like intentional hesitation.

Idroal, where is she?

Despite my objections, she is part of the distraction.

Terror rolled through my chest. What?

She is as protected as is possible. Your Highness, we need to move now. We will do our best to make the distraction obvious. Get yourselves above ground .

This time when there was silence, their presence no longer lingered.

They left. Apparently Lena is part of the distraction. This is happening right now .

She’s what? Endre’s voice held the same terror I felt. Our minds were drenched with it. But Lena’s emotions were calm. Nervous, but not fearful.

I don’t know. Idroal wouldn’t say. They did say we don’t have time. So let’s focus on what’s in front of us.

Sirrus spoke, low and grim. We are getting out, but I want to destroy as much as we can. And find the captive dragon.

Agreed . I nodded, though they couldn’t see me.

In the distance, there was a commotion. Shouts and yells that were barely distinguishable. The jangling of armor sounded from the hallway outside the cell as soldiers began running.

“ Dragons .” Someone shouted. “We’re under attack. ”

My guard looked at me through the window, like he thought I’d slipped past him. I made it look like I was still dazed and half-conscious, sagging against the wall and in the chains.

As soon as he saw me, he strode away, and a flurry of tinkling metal and scraping footsteps emptied toward whatever chaos Idroal had caused on the surface.

Are yours gone?

I’m already burning through the chains, Endre said.

The smile on my face couldn’t be stopped as I called my fire voluntarily for the first time since we’d been taken. My flames couldn’t hurt me. The melting metal could, but it didn’t take much to burn it now that we could .

A thought occurred to me. Do you think the command was part of the bargain? The only reason we were still here is because we couldn’t fight back. Andaros didn’t have enough to hold us otherwise.

Growls from my brothers. It would have been part of the bargain whether they told Andaros about it or not. They were trying to get rid of us, and there’s no one who could undo that command.

Or at least that’s what they had thought.

The last of my chains fell to the ground. I shook out my hands and moved the aches out of my shoulders and legs. In a twist of fate, I was grateful to Andaros for his plan to break our minds. It made him keep us healthy.

In front of me, the trough that collected our fire was empty, and the room below sounded empty as well.

Find the dragon , I said. I’m going to burn some things.