Page 54 of Prison Moon
The wyvern shook his head while grabbing the cuffs on his arms. “The collar remains. It’s one of the conditions of your release.”
Toren watched him cautiously as he held out his arms. A small disk like the one they’d used to unlock his collar unlocked the cuffs as well. When the metal snicked open, the wyvern grabbed the cuffs and pulled them down over his hands. Before they slipped off completely, something cold hit his palm. The wyvern pulled the cuff off and reached up, curling Toren’s fingers over whatever it was he placed in his hand, met his gaze briefly, then stepped away.
* * *
“You have been instructed to stay away from the arena or you risk recapture. If that happens, no other bargains will be made. Nothing is being provided for you. Provisions may be procured by any means possible.” The wyvern turned and walked away.
Sara watched him until he disappeared back inside the doors leading to the tunnels under the arena. Many of the girls in the cages were watching them, the dark-haired girl with the pixie cut among them.
Toren tugged on her hand. “Let us leave this place, Sarra.”
She let him lead her out the double doors. Once outside, someone called her name. She looked, scanning the cages, but so many of the girls were looking at her she had no idea who had yelled.
“We cannot linger.” Toren cupped her chin in his hand and turned her head so she’d look at him. “There is nothing we can do for them. With this collar on—“
“—I know,” she interrupted. “I just hate leaving them.” She knew Toren was right but leaving all those girls behind felt like she was betraying them but, they couldn’t help them. Not now. She’d bartered the ability to help the humans here away for Toren’s life and regardless of how bad she felt because of it, she would do it all over again.
Reluctantly, she followed him and looked back once when she heard her name again before the gates closed behind them, then put the girls out of her mind. Dwelling on what would happen to them would only drive her crazy and she had enough problems now.
The small village outside the arena was mostly deserted. Toren grabbed her hand and led her past the small slanted shanties at a fast clip, ducking between two of them near the end of the row. He led her a few yards away and stopped behind a line of tall shrubs.
“Why are we stopping?”
“Because our luck has changed.” Toren lifted his arm and uncurled his fingers to reveal a small metal disk sitting on his palm.
“What is that?”
“This,” he said, picking it up, “I believe is the key to unlock the collar.”
Sara’s eyes widened as he reached up and ran his fingers around the collar.
“Can you see where it might be latched?”
She searched the collar, running her fingers along the edge as he had been doing and smiled when she felt a small indention cut into the bottom edge. “Here. There’s a small groove here.”
Toren handed her the disk. “See if this will unlock it.”
Sara raised the disk to the indention and hadn’t even touched the two pieces of metal together when she heard a loud click. The collar parted a moment later. “It worked! Where did you find the key?”
Toren removed the collar and smiled. “I didn’t. The wyvern gave it to me when he took off my cuffs.”
Sara raised an eyebrow. “He did?” When he nodded, Sara remembered the information he’d given her during Toren’s fight with the others. That information had ultimately saved his life. Now, that same wyvern had given them the key to Toren’s chains. “He told me the wyvern can’t produce fire. Not all of them, anyway. Only the highest ranking among them do now.” And now he couldn’t. Guilt made her queasy as she looked at him. “I did something you’re probably going to hate me for, Toren.”
His brows lowered as he took a step toward her. “It would not be possible.” He cupped the side of her face. “Nothing you could do would ever—”
“—They took your fire.” Sara held her breath after she blurted the words and waited for Toren to react. He did nothing for long moments but stand there and stare at her, then he inhaled, his chest puffing up a bit and she knew the moment he realized it. His eyes lost a bit of their luster. He glanced away, took several long breaths and turned back to face her.
“That is why they let us go.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t—” She sighed. “They were going to kill you, Toren.”
He stared at her so long she wasn’t sure he was ever going to speak again. When he leaned in and kissed her, the knot in her throat eased.
“They took my fire and kept me collared. That is the only reason they let us go, isn’t it?”
“Yes.” He sighed and her heart ached at the look on his face. “I’m so sorry. I just—“ she swallowed and blinked to ease her burning eyes. “I love you. I would have promised them anything to keep you.”
One corner of his mouth turned up. It wasn’t a smile but she figured it was as close to one as he could give her in that moment. “As long as we are together and I can protect you, I will learn to live without the fire.” When he smiled this time, it reached his eyes. “To be able to hear your words, I would have given it myself.”