Page 127 of I Dream of Dragons

So I nod, my teeth gritting.

“Good. And now,” he says, and I realize I’ve misjudged his madness, that his restraint with me has been stretched too thin given how easily it snapped now, “it’s time I taught both you a lesson in obedience. Pets should never be allowed free rein in one’s house. Right, Phaethon?” He claps his hands. “Let the show begin.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

RAE

The fury on the king’s face is chilling. Calling Athdara his pet is a calculated insult, obviously meant to call Phaethon to the fore. Jai’s dark eyes are narrowed on the king.

Waiting for more.

But the king doesn’t offer more answers or threats. He calls his guards to grab Jai.

And when the guards grab him, true to his word, he doesn’t fight them.

I want him to fight them, to raise his shadows and send them to swallow everyone. I can’t believe the king would do this.

And why can’t you? Because there were moments you thought you saw a kinder side of him? Is that enough to make you think he isn’t the monster you always thought he was?

You wanted to believe it. It wasn’t true.

The guards drag Jai out of the room, the king following, flanked by more guards, and I hurry after them. Just my luck that all the injuries I’ve received are on the same leg. Lucky in my unluck, I suppose, because at least I have one hale leg to depend upon as I hurry deeper into the palace.

“Please!” I shout. “Highness. Please, let him go.”

“He needs to be taught a lesson,” the king says without turning around, “and so do you. You and he have to learn that defying my commands comes at a price.”

I grab the hem of his tunic and he stops, turning his frown on me. “You don’t have to do this. He won’t?—”

“What did I command you to do? Deny him, I said. What did you do? Slept with him. I’m the one who controls the threads of fate, not you.”

“You can’t control fate,” I hiss. “And the prophecy isn’t about you.”

He laughs softly, the sound cold. “You thought you could set my plans back? That you found a way to stop me? I’ve been preparing for your arrival, for its effect on Athdara, and for the changes it would cause in my path. But my path is true, blessed by the telchin and sanctified by the augurs.”

“No.” I shake my head. “No…”

“I’m going to drag Phaethon back to the surface. Jai will succumb, give Phaethon the reins of his mind and transform into what he must become to lead me across the sky.”

“Please.” I slide down to my knees, wincing when my injured leg protests. “I beg of you. Don’t hurt Jai.” I swallow hard. “Please, Majesty.”

He is silent for the space of a few heartbeats. “Bow to me. Bow lower. Press your forehead to the ground and abase yourself.”

“Don’t,” Jai snarls, twisting in the guards’ hold. “Rae, don’t?—”

A force pushes me down. The mark on my wrist burns like ice and I hiss as I bow lower. Locking my spine, I try to stop and I grit my teeth as my forehead hovers over the pavement.

I manage not to touch it.

“Now you see,” the king says. “You see who owns you.”

“You don’t own me,” I snap. “And love isn’t about ownership.”

“For every time you defy me,” he says softly, “I will add ten lashes to his back. Consider that.”

Shit.

“You believe in fate and prophecy,” I say, laboriously, inch by inch straightening my spine. “Don’t you?”