Page 65 of Of Blood and Banes (The Arterian #2)

DOWN BELOW

A fter realizing the dragons won’t fit down the winding staircase, we split up. Despite Daeja and the others’ grumbled protests; Bristol, Darian, Gavin, and Nolan stay back with A’nala, Daeja, and Nadja.

I pat Daeja’s muzzle as she curls up near the entrance to the stairs, her head flat on the stone floor looking up at me. “If they fight again…you have my permission to bite.”

She perks her head up. “Really?”

“Don’t draw blood though.”

“Well then where’s the fun in that?” She sinks back down.

Chuckling, I rub her snout a little firmer. “We’ll try to come back quickly. I’ll keep you updated if things are looking scary.”

She might as well have rolled her eyes. “You’re never scared.”

I sink to my heels to look her in the eyes. “I’m always scared when you’re not by my side.”

“Remember that next time you try to go somewhere without me.”

“You know I wouldn’t ever want to go somewhere I can’t take you. But this…” I motion to the stairs. “I have no choice. This isn’t just about me and what I want.”

“Fine…” she sighs. “Go do your chosen one thing.”

“I’m sorry. I don’t like this responsibility, but I have to live with it.” I kiss the tip of her nose. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“I better see you running up those steps when you come back! High knees and all!”

I laugh and follow Sethan and Melaina down the stairs.

We descend farther and farther into darkness, relying solely on the light leaking in from the throne room above us.

The lower we get, the colder and wetter the air becomes.

As the shadows grow larger and darker, I graze my fingertips against the side wall for extra balance.

The rest of the group slows our pace, and a smack pulls my attention behind me.

Marge waves Cole off with glaring independence and descends another step to put space between the two of them.

Cole watches her, rubbing the elbow still held out for her to grab onto.

Marge flicks her irritated gaze to me. No matter how hard she tries to mask her fatigue, her voice is heavy and breathy. “Don’t you get any ideas, either. I’m perfectly fine handling myself.”

I nod and allow her to pass before Cole slides in next to me, and I can’t fight my smile.

Stubborn thing. Half the time she’d rather push herself past exhaustion than ask for help.

I throw Cole a playful eye roll, and he snorts with a grin.

We continue our path down the circular staircase in silence.

His shoulder brushing mine all the way, comforting my nerves.

“Do you think we’re almost there?” Archie asks, his voice bouncing off the walls.

“Shh,” Sethan hushes.

“Do you think we’re almost there?” Archie asks again, this time whispering.

“I said silence,” Sethan grumbles. “We don’t know what will be at the bottom.”

After what feels like the thirtieth full turn, the staircase ends at a single archway. We all slip through it into a brighter room, and immediately a frosty chill wraps around me. Our group fans out to the sides, allowing me to step to the front of the line.

I gasp.

Dangling in front of us is a magnificent white dragon, its long tail disappearing into the depths of an endless black pit clouded with a still fog.

A bridge stretches from the rocky cliffside we are on out to another platform, blocked by the massive dragon suspended from the immeasurably high, cavernous ceiling.

“What…is this?” Archie murmurs, then peers over the edge of the cliff plunging into shadow.

Melaina snatches his forearm and pulls him back from the edge, then laces her fingers with his as if to assure herself.

“I’m not sure. But let’s agree to make sure we don’t try and find out,” Sethan responds, his voice carrying and echoing throughout the monstrous cave-like space.

My mouth stays open as I ghost toward the dragon, taking a few steps onto the bridge as I twist my head to survey the entire carcass.

Despite how long it’s been strung up here, it’s the only one I’ve seen so far who’s scales still shimmer and shine.

I reach a hand out to its sparkling white muzzle?—

Melaina smacks my hand down. “What are you doing?”

I turn my head toward her but place a hand on the scaled snout. Its body is a shock of cold against my palm, forcing my eyes closed, but beneath the wall of ice is a distant hum shifting in its depths.

It doesn’t call to me like the other ripples, yet, I can still sense it—a soft glow of light buried in a chasm of cold and shadow. My eyes flash open, and I catch Melaina’s bewildered gaze as she lowers her arm to her side.

Archie walks up behind her, awe and respect lifting his features as he notes every detail of the dragon. “Holy…shit.”

I follow his gaze, my heart sinking lower as I trace the ridge of the dragon’s back. Thick, barbed hooks bite into its skin and, judging by how deep they are—likely its bones . Its curved face emanates otherworldly beauty, hanging with the tip of its muzzle just out of reach from the bridge.

I brush stray hairs out of my face, gathering all my hair behind me and tying it back as I assess all of the hooks. “I’m going up. I’m going to free it.”

“You aren’t serious, right?” Archie laughs nervously, then looks at Melaina. “Tell me she’s not serious?”

“Absolutely not,” Sethan calls, stopping a few feet behind Archie.

Marge and Cole watch from the beginning of the bridge, standing side-by-side, both surprisingly quiet and watchfully still.

“It’s still alive,” I say, grabbing the closest chain hooked into the dragon’s shoulder blade and testing its strength as if it isn’t holding a several ton creature.

Melaina chimes in, “In that case, wouldn’t we not want to disturb it? It would likely turn its wrath on us?—”

“If you don’t want to be here when I do, that’s fine.

But you aren’t going to change my mind,” I mutter and seize the chain with my other hand before heaving myself up.

I curse under my breath as I try to gently find footholds on the dragon’s arms, missing with a few attempts as the dragon’s body begins to sway back and forth a few inches.

I spot a lift in the dragon’s scales and slap a hand over it to pull myself up and over its back.

As I straighten and find my balance, I discover the lift I used wasn’t a scale or part of the dragon’s body at all.

It’s a saddle.

Scanning the rest of the dragon’s body from this angle, I find a saddle as white as the dragon’s scales, wrapping around its torso.

“What? What is it?” Marge calls.

“It’s…a saddle. A bonded dragon,” I answer blankly, before turning my attention to the group. “Everyone get off the bridge.”

“Why?” Sethan asks, then follows the chains up until it disappears into the black ceiling, answering his own question and snapping his gaze to me. “You can’t.”

“I can .”

“Who do you think you are to deny direct orders?—”

“Remember what you told me the days before the blood pact? It could have been anyone else, but for some reason, it’s me. I’m the chosen one, whether or not you like it.” I turn my attention to the closest hook and inch over to it.

“Why is A’nala telling me you’re doing something stupid?” Daeja growls.

“Just trust me,” I whisper, then unsheathe my dagger with my right hand and grip the chain with my left hand.

“Hard to do that when she’s saying you’re putting yourself in danger.”

“Do you remember when we were flying for the first time here in the Dragon Lands and you asked me to trust you?” I grunt, apologizing under my breath as I saw the blade between the bottom of the hook and the dragon’s muscle.

“Yes?”

“And admittedly, I didn’t?”

“And you’re acknowledging this now…why?”

“Just reminding you that you’re better than me.” I grin, waiting for her to take the bait.

I swear I can envision her eyes narrowing. “You think you can so easily manipulate me by stroking my ego?”

I chuckle, and she interrupts, “Do go on. You must have more to say. Examples aplenty.”

“We can continue this conversation later once we’re together…

” I slice through the last inch of the dragon’s flesh, and the left side of the dragon’s body swings down limply.

I cling to the chain with both hands, waiting for the swaying to slow before moving to the next hook. “But thank you for trusting me.”

She grumbles, “Not like I have much of a choice right now anyway.”

Sethan whispers something where he’s gathered with everyone else, and Cole elbows him quiet, motioning to let me have complete silence.

I keep my eyes glued on the scales beneath me, slinking over from hook to hook and slicing them free.

Every hook I sever makes the next exponentially harder to release, until I stop with two left: one at the nape of its neck, and the other at the base of its tail.

I free the one at its tail first, and the back half of the dragon’s body drops to the bridge, shaking it violently beneath us.

I climb back up the dragon’s back to the last hook between its neck and head.

I saw through it until the dragon’s head drops free, and I cling to the horns on the back of its head, praying I don’t impale myself in the fall and tucking my head down into my chest.

We land. No horns through my torso, but then the next test starts.

The bridge jumps with a wooden shriek, shaking until it eventually mellows out. Releasing a breath, I drag my head off the cool scales and find everyone at the entrance of the staircase watching with a mix of awe, pride, and I-damn-near-shit-myself .

I hop off the dragon’s neck onto the bridge, take a few steps, and freeze when a gust of warm air brushes against the back of my legs.

I turn and backpedal in one swift motion, tripping over my own boots and falling back as the dragon’s eyelids slide open to reveal eyes as black as any moonless night.

Its shoulders rise in one solid breath, sucking strands of sweat-slicked hair forward off my head and blowing it back as it exhales.

A glimmer of light catches on one of the hooks hanging with chunks of the dragon’s flesh. A blue shine gleams across the metal as it spins…

Dragonblade.

I flick my gaze back to the dragon and scramble backward. The dragon lifts its head weakly off the bridge, eyes burrowing into every inch of my soul, before it begins to stretch toward me. I freeze, lost to its soulless black eyes.

“Wait! I didn’t do this to you! I only freed you,” I call toward it as I throw out a hand as if to stop the advance, recognizing I won’t be fast enough to run.

It proves me right, instantly closing the gap between us and pressing its warming nose to my palm. As if its name is wrung around me by an invisible bell, it’s clear as day, echoing in the shadows of my mind.

Vue. The sun dragon.

“Katerina Blackwind …” it murmurs, voice like a whisper of wind. “ Thank you.”

Two hands snatch my shoulders, pulling me back and away as Vue rears back.

A blinding light explodes from Vue, capturing every inch and crack of the cavernous expanse until we are drowning in an ear-ringing blast of white.

I throw a forearm over my face, squeezing my eyes shut as if it’ll stop the glaring brightness.

“Secrets never die, they’re just buried in a grave,” his voice melts from a whisper to silence.

The light fades as quick as it came, the energy and heat evaporating with it. When I open my eyes, Vue is gone. And the lingering veil of magic that hung in the air disappears, ushering in a sense of peaceful death.

“What was that?” Daeja’s voice is tight with panic.

“Vue…the sun dragon…” I stare up at the dangling hooked chains. “Are you alright? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know…I felt something snap in my chest. And now I just feel…cold? Out of place?”

My shoulders sag as I recall my father’s journal entries about the sun and moon dragons.

At once, the two became the very first dyad. Bonded and inseparable. Endless as a ring, with no beginning and no end.

“He’s dead. Isn’t he?”

“I’m so sorry, Daeja…”

“It’s…it’s okay. I never met him in this life. How can I be sad about someone I’ve never met?”

“You met him in your previous lives. You’re allowed to feel sad.”

“Then I will see him in the next one. And in this one, all that will matter is you.”

“Are you okay?” Cole’s gruff voice is in my ear as he helps me to my feet.

“I-I think so…” I glance down at the spot where Vue just was, his words ringing in my head.

Secrets never die, they’re just buried in a grave.

Marge claps me on the shoulder before hobbling forward to take the lead of our group. “Well done,” she says as she passes me.

Cole brushes dust out of my hair. “That was the sun dragon, wasn’t it?” When I nod, he turns his attention to Sethan who walks across the bridge toward us. “If that was Vue, and Vue was bonded to Queen Elara…is she still alive?”

“Not likely, now. Unless she broke their bond.” Sethan whisks past us. “Let’s keep moving. We need to check what lies on the other side of this bridge.”

My heart breaks at the thought of Queen Elara severing her bond to Vue. Though if she did, I’d hope it was for a good reason. I can never imagine having to cut myself off from Daeja.

We cross the bridge and find at the other end is another archway, with a dragon-like gargoyle perched and snarling at the entrance below. A flickering warm light bleeds from the hallway on the other side, with several lit torches lining the walls.

“We aren’t the only ones here?” Archie proposes.

“No, it’s dragonfire. Dragonfire will stay lit as long as it’s contained in some form of dragonblade. And those sconces are made from it.” Marge squints at a wall, doing a double-take.

By the time Cole and I join them in the hallway, my skin is crawling. Smeared across the walls in bright red blood, glittering with specks of gold, is a paragraph in a different language.