Page 128 of I Dream of Dragons

“The prophecy is in my favor. And my mark on you is unbreakable. So beg all you want. It changes nothing. It means nothing to me. I’ll get what I want in the end.”

“It means nothing.”I’d thought that when Jai had first kissed me, and I’d been wrong. It triggered an avalanche, it changed everything.

And this… this action will change everything once again. Every move in any direction changes the game.

“The time of waiting is over. Phaethon will open that gate.” Turning his back on me, he resumes walking, his guards falling into step by his sides. “I’ll break the sky open.”

The whipping post is standing in a closed courtyard that looks nothing like the king’s walled garden. It’s surrounded by balconies and covered passages supported by slender pillars. People are jostling under the arcades and lean out of the windows.

The news that the king is about to whip Athdara has spread through the palace like wildfire.

Arkin appears and grabs my arm, trying to haul me away from the post, but I dig my heels in and elbow him in the stomach. He lets out a grunt.

“Let go,” I hiss. “I’m not leaving him.”

“Lady Rae… You don’t want to be very close. You may get hurt.”

“I don’t care.” I yank my arm free of his grip and stumble back toward the post. “I don’t give a damn.”

The king is there with four of his guards, their faces unfamiliar, watching impassively as Jai is slammed against the post.

He stands there, eyes narrowed, shoulders back, wisps of his shadows twining around his legs. Furious. Defiant.

It’s killing me to see him take this stoically, knowing he is so strong, so powerful. That he could defeat the king in a duel but has to suffer this.

For me.

Because this mad king wants Jai gone and Phaethon as the permanent owner of Jai’s body and mind. Because he has decided his needs matter more than the lives of others.

Just because he has the power.

I may lose Jai.Mars.I may lose him the same day I got him back. I’m breaking into pieces and nobody can see it.

The king turns around to face the gathering crowd, the jostling, hungry-eyed fae and humans avidly watching. “You have waited a long time for this, have you not? My loyal subjects, wondering how I let this savage, this madman sit by my side, eat and drink and speak to me like an equal.”

The crowd falls silent.

“Well, for those of you not in the know, it’s not him I consider my equal but the Eosphor living inside his head!”

This elicits some murmuring and more jostling.

“And this man, this human, has crossed a line. He has committed hubris, the sin of pride. This human I collected from humble origins and elevated to the rank of general. To whom I offered a chance to be loyal to me and aid me in giving ourpeople a new life. Therefore I tell you, my equal, my ally is not this human vessel, but the brilliant creature he has imprisoned inside him. My goal is to set him free. Set Phaethon free.”

Set him free. Holy wights.The king has lost his mind. He is the one committing hubris, the one believing he can control fate.

I step closer to the post. To Jai. He shakes his head at me.

“We are gathered here to punish the man who defies us and celebrate the Eosphor who will join us in opening the gates and returning to our world. Let us proceed.”

The king lifts a hand and the post grows branches that twine and shiver. Vines burst out of the thin soil between the cobblestones and rip through Jai’s shirt, leaving it in shreds.

Before I have time to even gasp, they wrap around Jai’s arms and legs. They jerk him against the post, slamming him against the wood, parting his legs, tying his wrists together over his head.

Putting him off-balance.

It’s indeed a spectacle. A show the king is putting on to display his power and dominance. It makes me so angry on Jai’s behalf. So scared.

Jeering from the windows draws my attention for a split second. I see familiar faces.