Page 34 of Exquisite Monster (Dragons of Viria #2)

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

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KATALENA

T he sun hung low on the horizon when I opened my eyes. Warm wind off the sea blew through the open windows, teasing my skin. And I was tangled with Zovai.

One leg covered mine, an arm slung around me to keep me close. My hand stretched across the blanket, held by Endre. All three of them were still asleep. It still clung to me, threatening to pull me back down, and I let it.

I had slept while I was underground, but now I could admit that sleep had been fitful at best, waking at every sound that echoed through the caves. The only thing I could allow myself to focus on was getting them back.

They cradled me as I sank back down beneath comforting waves of sleep.

Moonlight illuminated the room and nothing more.

I felt better .

True, deep sleep healed many things. Not everything, but there was almost nothing that was not better on the other side of a good night’s sleep.

Endre and Sirrus still slept, but I felt Zovai was awake. Slowly, I turned over to face him.

Hello , he said.

“Hello,” I whispered back. “I wish I could speak to you with my mind. I don’t want to wake them.”

You won’t . One hand rose and brushed my hair back off my face, stroking it all the way over my head and down my spine. May I kiss you, mate?

I nodded.

He didn’t crash his mouth to mine or move fast. At first, he just stared at me, his hand cradling the back of my head. The dim moonlight barely showed me his face, but I felt the intensity of his gaze.

Slowly, he lowered his mouth to mine, kissing me softly. We both shuddered. I felt how much he was holding back, but it wasn’t a hardship, because he also wanted to savor this. Take it slow and enjoy every second.

I twisted my arms up around his neck, pulling him closer. The luxury of being able to touch him wasn’t lost on me. He broke the kiss, keeping our faces close. “Forgive me, Lena.”

“Why?”

He took a slow breath, hands shaking where he held me. “I know we didn’t have a choice once we were at the celebration, but we should have known better. We should have left the city with you right then and put you out of reach. We should have protected you.”

“You tried.”

“Not enough.”

I slid my hands behind his back and held him.

Felt his breath. He was here and mine and I couldn’t wait anymore.

“I have to know what happened,” I said. “And so do you. I want us to be with each other and heal and figure this out, but I don’t think any of us will be able to without knowing everything. ”

“You’re right.”

A humorless laugh. “I wish I wasn’t.”

Zovai looked toward my other mates, and they woke quickly, turning for the invisible enemy. That alone told me more than they could ever say. Their minds still believed they were in danger, and none of us knew how long it would last.

“It’s time,” Zovai said. No other words were needed to understand what he meant.

I pushed up and Zovai moved, allowing me to sit back against the wall next to the bed. Sirrus came to sit next to me, and Endre’s fingers grazed my ankle. They all touched me, and I needed it as much as they did.

Endre passed me a blanket. I hadn’t realized how chilly the air was. Along with the things we were about to talk about, I was cold. “How do we do this?”

Taking my hand beneath the blanket, Sirrus wove our fingers together. “Just tell us, Princess. There’s nothing that’s going to make it easier.”

I leaned my head back against the wall. “They knocked me out too. When I woke up, I was at Evrítha with Andaros. He threw me over the edge and… I fell. For a long time. Varí was still under my skirt, and he wouldn’t leave and fly even though I begged. But in the end, he saved me.

“There was magic at the bottom. It slowed our fall. But it wasn’t merely magic. It was a dragon.”

I felt their shock.

“Who?” Endre asked.

“Her name is Gleym.”

Sirrus swore and Zovai blew out a breath. “Fuck. She’s alive.” Then he glanced at the others. “I guess we know how the command was lifted. ”

“She threatened to either drown or eat me. But Varí said something that made her listen. She didn’t agree to help me right away, but she listened, and clearly didn’t drown me.”

I outlined the rest of my stay, and though I didn’t want to cause them any pain, I tried to remember everything and not leave anything out, though I was sure I would miss something.

I even told them about my grief and using the sheyten to try to make our bond stronger.

Their own sadness poured through the bond, and I didn’t make it far before the tears came.

Gleym’s training and her reluctance to let me leave. The attack, and finally being brought back to the surface by Idroal.

“I think they told you the rest.”

Endre nodded slowly. “Idroal told us what happened from their perspective. I’m sure there are things they missed.”

I slid down the wall a bit, curling into the blanket. Whatever subtle differences there were between Idroal’s story and mine, they didn’t seem large enough for me to care at the moment. “Your turn.”

Barely disturbing the bed, Endre moved up beside me and pulled me into his arms like he couldn’t bear to speak without touching me. “Andaros’s first goal was to harvest us for our fire, as you heard. Scalefire can be made without it?—”

“But it’s easier with it,” I said. “Gleym said as much. But she still wouldn’t teach me. She was the one who gave it to humans in the first place.” That small detail had escaped my memory during my story.

“I’m glad you don’t know,” Zovai said. “One less target on your back.”

I laughed in spite of myself. “There are still plenty of targets all over me.”

Sirrus bent and lifted the blanket so he could brush his lips against the end of the pale blue mark on my leg. “Yes. There are.”

The pulse of rage and grief in his chest matched the others. That anyone might dare to touch me…

“But,” Endre said, “scalefire wasn’t the only reason he wanted us. He wants to command us so he can command the rest of the dragons.”

A frown grew as I thought that through. “How will that help if the Elders still live?”

Endre hummed a soft laugh into my neck. “We aren’t sure either. But what we know for sure is that their knowledge of dragons is skewed and inaccurate. They brought us out of our cells and up to the sky because they thought not seeing the sky would eventually drive us mad.”

“And how did he mean to control you?”

All three bonds in my chest tightened. Like they were holding something back. Dread pooled, low and cold. I swallowed. “What did he do that would make you react like that?”

Suddenly all three of them were touching me in one way or another. Sirrus cleared his throat. “I don’t think any of us want you to listen to those details, mate.”

Fear wrapped icy fingers around my ribs. “You don’t have to tell me what a monster Andaros is. I already know. But like you, I’m going to imagine the worst if I don’t know. Please.”

“The sickness you felt,” Sirrus said. “That was while we were being forced to breathe fire. They used potion. It was foul, and I hope I never taste it again.”

“How many times?”

Zovai smoothed a hand over the blanket at my hip, like he could spare me the knowledge by soothing my body. “I don’t know. I didn’t count.”

I shoved down the knowledge that meant it was a lot more than they wanted to tell me.

“But,” Zovai grinned. “I might have burned as much of their scalefire as I could before we left.”

There had been an explosion as we flew away, but I hadn’t realized what.

“Between that and the crops, Andaros will be scrambling for a while. Which is why we believe we have some time. Even if Andaros wanted to tell the Elders, it would take days for the humans to travel, even with draygs. You saw that the Elders do not respect anything but power. A human king admitting he is unable to keep three dragons in check will only prove to them he is not worthy. Admitting to our escape is more likely to end with him run through by their claws than get their assistance.”

That was all true, but they still hadn’t told me what Andaros had done to them.

“Tell me,” I begged. They didn’t need me to explain further when they could feel why.

“Something Gleym taught you,” Endre whispered. “The potion that can heal almost anything, as long as it still breathes.”

“Yes?”

He cleared his throat. “That was used after he finished with us. Aided by their human mage.” Slowly, he pulled me even closer, until our bodies were nearly flush. Pain flowed through our bond. Sharp. White-hot. Brutal. Different sensations. Tearing and stabbing. Friction. A low, deep, impact.

It cut off so suddenly, I gasped because I could suddenly breathe again.

“What—”

Endre’s arms tightened. “His intent wasn’t to kill us, but to break us.

That’s how he meant to gain control. Break us so thoroughly that we would simply obey like the draygs.

But he thought he had killed you, and he’d banked on our broken bond doing the work for him.

His advisor was the one who figured out the bond wasn’t broken, though we tried to pretend. ”

“He tortured you,” I whispered.

Sirrus brushed his mouth over my skin again. “Yes.”

Tears flooded my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

They eased me down onto the bed, Zovai taking his turn to wrap me in his arms. Endre kept speaking quietly, telling the rest. The dragon Andaros already had captive. Their side of the escape. Their own longing for me and how thinking of me had helped carry them through that torture.

“As much as I wish we could have felt you,” Sirrus said, “I’m glad you couldn’t. Your feeling my sickness was more than enough. Having to feel our pain, and it ringing back and forth between all of us, would have been…”

Catastrophic.

We all rested in silence, and sleep began to make me drift.

Terror hit me all at once. The same terror that had plagued me underground.

Reliving the fear that I wouldn’t make it in time.

The fear of them being taken from me again.

It jerked me back awake, and I wrapped myself around Z, not stopping until all four limbs clung to him.

A soft purr began in his chest, and the soothing sound relaxed my muscles slowly. They were here. I was here. I could hear his heart beating. It didn’t erase that fear. I wasn’t sure what would.

I didn’t know how to move on and return to something easier when all I could do was hold on to them just to reassure my soul they were with me.

It made a different worry spring to life.

“I want you,” I said softly. “But I don’t know how to breathe yet.

It still feels like you’re going to disappear. ”

“I love you,” Zovai said just as softly. “And we understand. I don’t speak for them, but I’m merely happy to feel your skin on mine.”

This time, when I sank back into sleep, I still felt that fear. But I felt them too. Their love. “I love you too.”