Page 3 of Exquisite Monster (Dragons of Viria #2)

CHAPTER THREE

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KATALENA

I wrung my skirt out with my hands before we got too far, conscious of the dragon’s command not to drip too much. The dress…

My breath hitched. Not long ago I’d put this dress on for them, to celebrate. It was now damp, torn, and dirty. How long had I been falling into Evrítha? How long had it been since they took my mates away from me?

The sharp echo of the dragon’s staff kept moving ahead of us. Varí stayed on my shoulder, claws kneading into my skin like he needed the reassurance I was there just as much as I needed him with me.

“Who—” I swallowed, trying to make my voice more solid. “Who are you?”

“Does it matter?”

I shoved the nerves in my chest down. This was no different from that day when I stood in front of my mates and told them I was ready to die, because there was very little choice in the matter.

This was where I stood. I needed to face whatever was in front of me if I wanted to make it out of here and back to them. Fear didn’t serve me. Nerves didn’t serve me.

“Perhaps it doesn’t,” I said. “But I always prefer to know who I’m speaking with. My name is Katalena Isabel Arslan Savea. I was once Crown Princess of Gleira, and am now the bonded mate to the Heirs of the dragons.”

A low, snorting sound. “Quite the title, girl. Do you run out of breath when introducing yourself?”

I laughed under my breath. If only she knew how many times I’d fought for something simpler. The next words gave me an aching sense of repetition and longing for the three dragons who’d changed my life so quickly. “I prefer to be called Lena.”

We passed under an archway of dark stone, like it had simply crumbled that way and remained. Or perhaps it had been broken on purpose.

There was so little light I questioned whether I was really seeing anything until we passed through.

The violet glow I’d seen as I approached the bottom lived here too.

But everywhere . Beneath my feet, damp moss clung to the rocks and glowed, becoming brighter as we passed.

Trees and even flowers bloomed, alight with a glow that made it seem opposite of the world above.

The light now came from within everything.

Above us, the cavern disappeared into darkness, no ceiling in view. In front of us, this luminescent forest continued into inky darkness.

“What is this place?”

“A place no one was meant to see. Especially not a human.”

Gritting my teeth, I closed my eyes and took a breath. At this point, I was no stranger to the prejudice against humans that dragons seemed to hold. But this one could be the difference between my life and my death, and I wouldn’t simply take it in silence.

“I understand you do not want me here. In case my falling from the top of the world was any indication, I don’t want to be here either.

I also know your kind holds little love for mine.

I don’t blame you for it, nor do I care.

All I need to know is whether you’re going to help me get out of here so I can save my mates or if I’ll have to do it myself. ”

The old dragon turned, eyes glowing as she surveyed me.

“I know that means I might die,” I continued. “I’m not a stranger to that possibility either. But I will not simply fade away into the core of Viria while my mates have been taken and are suffering Fallen knows what because the Elders and human aggressors won’t see reason.”

The last of my words echoed off the stone. I hadn’t realized my voice had risen so loud. My chest heaved with the anger that had started to burn inside me. It was true. I wouldn’t sit here and do nothing. I wouldn’t merely rot.

I was human, and because I was, there were many things I couldn’t do.

But I was also a woman who’d vowed to do what she could, when she could, and promised herself to three men she hadn’t had nearly enough time with yet.

My entire life had been led under a cloud of danger, pressure, and hardship. This would be no different.

The corner of her mouth tipped up before her gaze moved to my neck and arm, where the marks of my mates visibly drifted across my skin. “Perhaps you aren’t as useless as most humans after all. If you’re the mate of the Heirs. You may call me Gleym. Follow me.”

Gleym. Like the word flame but darker and more guttural. There seemed to be impossible power in the single word.

I followed her across the mossy stones and around trees that weren’t like the trees above ground.

These were sharper and more angular, limbs branching as if they were more stone than wood.

Swiping my hand across one of the trunks, I realized it was stone.

And still, the violet glow followed my fingers, leaving a furrowed path of light behind.

Varí pushed his head against my chin with a tiny purr. I reached up and stroked my hand down his tail. “We might make it out of this,” I whispered.

No matter what, I would make sure Varí did.

Gleym led us to where a wall of rock rose out of the black, coming up so suddenly that it surprised me. Another arch of stone, and as soon as I passed the threshold I blinked against the brightness. Like stepping into the sun from pure shadow.

I recognized the light of the crystals around the space. Similar to the workshop where Mesene worked. These were warmer than the cool, bright space in Skalisméra, but my breath hitched in my chest all the same.

It was clear this was a living space. More jagged arches disappeared into the stone, revealing rooms beyond the one we stood in. Not nearly as much light shone from the deeper rooms, but I could see enough. Whoever Gleym was, she had been here a long time.

She disappeared through one of the arches, but I didn’t follow her yet, unsure of her intent. A moment later her head poked back around the archway. “Do you plan on standing there until you die of old age?”

I schooled my face away from laughter. “I wasn’t sure how long you wanted me to follow.”

She jerked her head, and I met her in the next room. A fire rose from a pit in the center of the space, though no smoke came from it. A pot hung over the flames and the scent of…

Fallen stars . I didn’t know what scent it was, but my stomach sprang to life like I’d been starved. In a way, I had been. I didn’t know how long I’d been falling, and even before then, the last thing I ate was breakfast with my mates and Idroal.

“Thought so. Shouldn’t be anything in there that will kill a human.

Serve yourself.” Gleym thrust a hand, pointing toward a shelf of dishes before walking over to a table and benches which seemed carved—or melted —from the rock.

“And while you eat, you can tell me why a human girl bears the marks of a dragon mating, and why that same human ended up at the bottom of the world where things are thrown to be forgotten.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

The words slipped out before I could stop them, and she glared. “Tell me your story and I’ll decide whether you’re the next thing in the pot. Then we shall see if I tell you why I’m down here.” Under her breath, she muttered, “Never break your own rules, Gleym. You know better. Too late now.”

I grabbed a bowl for myself and a smaller one for Varí and gave him some before serving myself.

Never in my life had I tasted something like this.

Savory with a depth of flavor I couldn’t quite describe.

The potion master in me wanted to ask exactly what was in it, and the other part of me was afraid to know.

While I was hungry and it tasted good, I decided not to worry about it. I could be potentially horrified later.

Varí tucked his tail around his feet as he began to drink the soup. Little sounds of happiness came from him and his scales turned a familiar, happy shade of green. I couldn’t help but smile.

My body wanted more food than I could eat, stomach rebelling before I’d even finished the bowl. Exhaustion crawled up my spine now that my body was content, but I had a story to tell.

“How much do you want to know?”

Leaning her staff against the edge of the table, Gleym settled back against the seat and stared at me. I tried not to stare back. “We have time, and I assume it won’t come as a surprise that I don’t get a lot of living visitors. Tell me the whole thing.”

Varí hopped down onto the bench next to me, not caring that my dress was still damp, and curled up next to my leg.

I told her everything, the moment my father had sold me off to Andaros, finding Varí , the wedding itself, and everything that came after. It took longer than I thought it might, but I stopped speaking when I’d been thrown from the edge by Andaros, thinking I was going to die.

The air seemed too still now. Too silent without the sound of my voice. I stroked my fingers down Varí’s spine, touching the damp golden pouch that held his coin. The one he’d worn to match my now ruined dress.

Gleym blew out a long, slow breath lined with smoke. “Should have known,” she muttered. “Leave them alone for a few centuries and they let everything fall apart.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Nothing. Well done for surviving all of that. I figured human mates hadn’t disappeared, but with your entire species trying to kill us, I doubted I’d ever see a real pairing again.”

“Who are you?”

No expression crossed her face as she studied me. “I told you my name.”

“We both know that your name and who you are can be very different things. I think the story I just told you proved that.”

All she did was stand, jerking her head once more to follow. I picked up Varí and cradled him in the crook of my arm as I did. The dark maze of rooms was too complex for me to follow at the speed she went, and sleep crept up on me like a mist encroaching on my vision.

The room we ended up in was simple. A pile of pillows and fabric that reminded me of Ellemar’s hoard was in the corner, along with other things. It seemed like a storage space, but I wasn’t going to complain. No doors filled the infinite stone arches, so I wouldn’t be locked in.

“You may sleep there.”

She turned to go, and I called her back. “You really won’t tell me who you are?”

Tilting her head in that very dragon way, she dragged her gaze down my body and upward once more. “Sleep first. Then we’ll talk.”

She disappeared before I could protest further, and I could no longer hold myself back. Setting Varí down on the pile of pillows, I barely managed to pull off my damp clothes before I collapsed into the giant nest of softness and succumbed to my exhaustion.