Page 55 of Exquisite Monster (Dragons of Viria #2)

His skin gave beneath the dart, and I shuddered. It wasn’t enough to kill him, but I still felt the blood of the soldier I killed while I fought with Gleym.

I pushed him away so he didn’t take me down with him. Isaelle was already unlocking the door, but I couldn’t stop staring at the man. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t dead.

Closing my eyes, I hardened myself. He wasn’t dead, but I couldn’t grieve if he had to be. We were trying to save everything, and because of that, we could not save everyone.

Footsteps echoed, and I whirled to find Dalas there. Grinning. “That was fun. It’s been far too long.”

“Quickly,” Isaelle called.

“ Varí . The light.”

A glass vial slid into my hand. I stroked his head in thanks and hurled the contents onto the floor. The glow illuminated the dark space, bouncing back off every surface like tiny stars.

We ignored the pedestals with statues and what looked like several ornate crowns and pieces of jewelry.

There were other things too, but Isaelle strode straight to the back of the vault where there was a long table like an altar.

Shards of metallic stone lay on the surface, spread out evenly.

Some were as large as my arm and some as small as a coin.

“Not as many as I thought there’d be,” I said.

“It’s only half,” she reminded me.

“Right.”

Dalas stared at us from where he’d stayed near the door. “Do we just…”

Isaelle took the satchel she wore and started putting the pieces inside. We’d all agreed not to use my bag in case any of the potions shattered. Varí could keep things organized, but I still didn’t want to take the risk.

We lifted the last piece into the bag together. The material was dense and heavy. The last thing we needed to do was drop it and shatter it more.

“I should have known. I thought you looked familiar.”

My stomach dropped. One of the guards from the outer door held Dalas, a knife to his throat. I watched him swallow before he spoke. “If you know who I am, then you know you should remove your blade at once.”

“I know who you are, and therefore I think my king would thank me for killing a foreign royal from stealing from him. You think those of us who guard this place don’t know what we protect?”

“But his daughter would not thank you,” Isaelle said, stepping up beside me.

There was only one guard here. Where was the other one? If one had gotten free then the other couldn’t be far behind. Isaelle seemed to have the same thought. “Let him go, and we’ll lock you inside. You will be discovered quickly. I’m sure more guards are on their way?”

“All of them.”

Dalas struggled, but the guard held fast. His struggles gave me one advantage. I could see the guard’s throat.

I swallowed, my stomach bottoming out. Despite accepting the reality, this was the moment I had dreaded.

This man was not attacking me. He was not a threat to my life.

There was nowhere I could hit him with a dart laced with dormeo and not also hit Dalas.

There was no way for us to carry the prince out of here, so I couldn’t hit him.

The only place I could reasonably hit the guard was directly in the throat. Which would kill him no matter what potion the dart was coated in.

I chose this. I claimed this. But stars , I didn’t want to kill this man.

“What will allow you to let us go unharmed?”

He focused on me, and blinked, like he hadn’t truly noticed me. Suddenly, he stiffened. “You. You were the one in Caelora. The one who sided with the dragons.”

Disgust suddenly painted his features as he looked between the royals. Fuck.

I closed my eyes and fought the terror of what I already knew was true and had accepted. But the final step was harder than I imagined.

My mates had their beasts. Some called them monsters, but it was simply part of them. It may not have been my choice, but I was a monster now too, and it was simply part of me .

If he was going to die either way, the least I could do was make it quick.

“ Varí ,” I said, reaching into the bag. “ Niodaes .”

I palmed the dart he handed me. It all happened in a blink, and the guard sneered. “You chose them. You sided with the dragons. Anyone who sides with the dragons is a traitor. And you’ll die like one.”

He moved to slice Dalas’s throat, and I threw.

The blade never broke skin, but the dart did.

Dark eyes went wide with shock and fear, dart buried in his throat. Blood poured from the wound. He wouldn’t survive it. But the poison took him first. When he collapsed to the ground, I knew he would never rise.

Dalas was on Isaelle in a moment, kissing her like it meant he could breathe once more. I knew the feeling.

Slowly, I crossed the distance and crouched, carefully retrieving my dart from the man’s throat and cleaning it on his tunic. I would need to reapply the poison when I could.

The horror I’d felt the first time didn’t come. I thought I would feel more, but I didn’t. And I wasn’t sorry.

In the same way, I realized, that Endre wasn’t sorry for ending Pelbas’s life. And Sirrus wasn’t sorry for clipping Yrre and Soza’s wings. If this soldier had succeeded, he wouldn’t have mourned his actions.

Something deep settled inside me. I felt whole in a way I hadn’t before. I’d claimed the monster and chosen it, but still resisted. But in an instant I felt us merge.

There was nothing but relief.

I would mourn every life I took, but I would do it later. When this was over and I had time to grieve. Now? It was no different from being trapped at the center of the world. I would do what I had to in order to return to them. To protect them. Protect the hope of the life we wanted.

Nothing else mattered.

“He said there were more guards on the way. We need to leave.”

Dalas and Isaelle broke apart, breathing hard. They stared at each other for a breath before nodding. And we moved. All the way back up through the halls toward the roof.

“ STOP .”

One look told me a guard had found us. Another told me he wasn’t alone. Dalas gripped Isaelle’s hand. “Run.”

No more hiding. Shouts and clashing armor followed us, growing louder as our pursuers gained.

We crashed onto the roof and raced up the stairs. Belleo was already there waiting. Isaelle had the stones. She needed to get out. Dalas was next, and the guards were climbing the last set of stairs.

Zovai landed on the stone with so much force it cracked, roaring at the guards.

I didn’t look back. Even when I felt the heat of flames behind me and heard screams of fear, and Zovai’s nausea from expelling fire.

I sat between his shoulders and held on as we launched into the sky and dodged the arrows hurling upward.

Well done , Sirrus said.

Then, softer, Endre’s voice appeared just for me. We do what we can, Lena .

My grandmother was right. I gripped her necklace where it lay beneath my clothes. We all did what we could. But the thing she never told me was that it wasn’t always enough.

Sometimes you had to do what was necessary.

“No,” I said out loud, knowing he flew close enough to hear me. “We will do what is needed.”