Page 32

I came to in the middle of a conversation. Not one involving me, although it concerned me.

“—had to wait until he was alone.”

“Yes, you're lucky it didn't take longer.”

“Are you sure no one saw you?”

“Yes. I made sure none of the castle guards were looking up when I left. Once I was beyond the grounds, I was certain that we hadn't been seen.”

Listening to them, I wondered if it would be best to play possum for as long as possible. I'd been abducted—that much was clear—but why? They must want something from Kaspian. I didn't feel injured. So, beyond that punch, they hadn't hurt me. That meant it wasn't an assassination. I was valuable.

“Is he secure?”

“He's human.”

“He's also mated to a Dragon.”

“That cell could hold a Dragon.”

“Could it? I'm not so sure.”

A new voice broke into the conversation. “He knows! The King knows his mate has been taken. The castle is locked up and the soldiers are scrambling.”

Someone chuckled. “They think he's still on the grounds.”

“They'll have to make sure that he's not. But I doubt the King is sitting idle, waiting for news. He'll already have teams searching the city, and I wouldn't be surprised if he joined them.”

“He won't find us.”

“What if the spell didn't work? Dragons can track their mates. Even through air. If he tracks the human here, we're dead. He won't give us a trial. This is his mate. He will kill us.”

“The spell worked. I tested it.”

“How?”

“I shifted in the garden while they were asleep. Walked around for a bit. When they came down this morning, the King didn't smell me. None of his guards did either.”

Someone grunted.

“It held,” another man said. “Those Dragons would have been all aflutter at the scent of a Tyasmoran in the King's private garden.”

“So, we don't have to worry about the King tracking his mate. But if he gets close enough, he'll still scent him.”

“Under three feet of stone? I don't think so.”

“We should be prepared for any possibility.”

“He'll tear apart the city to find his mate. We should have moved him when we had the chance. The plan had been to leave the city.”

“That wasn't possible in daylight.”

“That's why you were supposed to take him at night.”

“Oh, certainly. I should have just slipped him out of the King's arms while they slept and leapt off the balcony.”

“Yes, well, why did we plan it if it wasn't possible?”

“Because we thought it would be. We didn't know what we were dealing with until he went in.”

“It won't matter where we are once he teaches us about his magic. Then we'll have the strength to stand up to the Dragons.”

“At last,” someone muttered.

So, this was a rebellion. But wait. What were they talking about? Who was going to teach them magic? Surely, they didn't mean me?

“Hey!” A loud metal clanging came. “Human! Wake up!”

I guess that's all the reprieve I was gonna get. I pretended to wake up—groaning as I opened my eyes. I was on a narrow bed in a room with a dirt floor. A toilet sat in the corner with a stone sink nearby. The walls and ceiling were stone as well, but the walls weren't smooth like the sink and ceiling. Big rocks, piled on top of each other, formed them. One of the walls of my guest room was your standard metal prison cell bars. Through those bars, I saw the rest of the room. Most of the furniture was out there, including several work tables crowded with stuff that looked more ominous than the last tabletop collection I woke to, back on Earth. A group of Tyasmoran men stood just outside my jail cell. One of them was the man who I thought was a cat.

That fucking furry traitor.

I sat up and stared at him. “No one told me you guys could shapeshift.”

“No one knows,” he shot back. “And we like to keep it that way.”

“That sounded like a death threat.”

He shrugged.

“Stop that, Enor!” One of the others pointed at the ex-cat. “He is not our enemy. There's no need to scare him.”

“Oh, wow.” I chuckled. “I guess 'Good Cop, Bad Cop' is universal.”

The nicer guy frowned but stepped forward, folding his wings behind him to make himself smaller. “We don't understand what you just said, but that is precisely why we took you, Duke Demetrius. We're not going to hurt you.”

“Not unless we have to,” Enor added.

“Shut up, Enor!” another man said. He looked at the others to ask, “Why the fuck did we send him?”

“Because he volunteered.”

“My name is Valen.” Good Cop extended his hand through the bars.

Normally, I would offer the name I preferred. But I wasn't about to let my kidnappers call me Met. “I'm Demetrius.” I got up and shook his hand. “I'd say it was nice to meet you, but it's obviously not.”

Valen chuckled. “I apologize for treating you so terribly, Your Grace. But when we heard tales of the wondrous things on your planet, all created by humans, we knew you were our chance.”

Shit. Someone must have overheard me bragging about Earth. Kas was right. I should have kept my damn mouth shut.

“Your chance for what?” I asked.

“To balance power on Serai. The Dragons have ruled for as long as history has been recorded. They believe themselves to be the elite race, born to rule all.”

“Yeah, I got that. It's very Nazi of them, but at least they're not into genocide. Or are they? Has King Kaspian hurt your people in some way?”

“No. And we're not against him personally. We're simply tired of being seen as lesser.”

I snorted. “I feel you, man. Those Dragons can be elitist pricks. Even Kas says some dumb shit to me. Shit that makes me want to smack him. But it sounds as if they've been raised to believe that shit.”

“Exactly!” Valen pointed at me. “They have. They believe that being the most powerful makes them the best.”

“Might makes right.”

He blinked. “That's an interesting saying.”

“Dude, you think this problem is limited to your world? Even on Earth, where there are only humans, people believe the strongest should rule. And we split ourselves up into races too. Some races believe they're better than others. Wars have been fought over it.”

“But you are all humans?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you are one race. What is there to fight about?”

“Oh, so very much. But I think it all comes down to the fact that people like to form groups. They want to feel superior. It doesn't matter if you're human, Dragon, or Tyasmoran. We're all the same in that respect.”

“But your people—the humans of Earth—have found ways to empower themselves beyond what they're born with.”

I stared at him.

“We've heard stories,” one of the others said. “They say that humans on your planet have weapons that make them as powerful as Dragons. Some of them even imprisoned you and the King.”

“Very briefly.” I crossed my arms.

“We don't want to overthrow the Dragon Kings.” Valen held up his hands. “We just want them to see us as equals.”

Shivers ran over my arms as I thought of how far humans had gone to do that very thing. “I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds.”

“What did you say?” Valen whispered, his expression going horrified.

“It's a quote from a scientist who the made greatest weapon on Earth.” I frowned. “Actually, he quoted a religious text, but that doesn't apply here.”

“A religious text about destroying worlds?”

“Oh, most human religions have something about the end of the world in them.”

“Humans of Earth are rather grim.”

I chuckled. “We certainly can be.”

“Tell me more about this weapon—the greatest weapon on Earth.”

“Dude, that was supposed to be a warning.” I shook my head. “My people were like you. They wanted to feel equal. Safe. Their enemies had big weapons, so they had to make something bigger. It went on and on until the weapon was so large, so powerful, that using it would destroy entire continents, possibly even the entire world.”

“Why create a weapon like that?”

“It shouldn't have been created. That's what I'm saying. With the creation of that weapon, all the other humans got scared. They had to have one too. Now, every superpower on Earth has one. But no one can use them. If they did, their enemy would immediately fire off theirs in retaliation. It's called mutually assured destruction. You kill me, and I'm killing you before I die.”

“Great Gods,” one of the other men whispered.

“We don't need that weapon,” Valen said. “Just one that makes us as strong as the Dragons.”

“And you think that waving a weapon in their faces will make Dragons respect you?”

“Yes,” Enor growled. “And you know we're right.”

I sighed and shook my head. “Look, I sympathize with you. I do. No one likes being looked down upon. But even if I wanted to help you, I can't. Only a few people on Earth know how to construct weapons of the sort you're after. It's a specialized field. One I know nothing about. It would be like one of you going to Earth and some humans demanding that you tell them how to perform Metal Magic.”

“We are not Ricarri.” Enor crossed his arms.

“Exactly!” I pointed at Enor. “And I'm not a weapons maker. All I know is how they function. I can't tell you how to build them.”

“Learning about the way something functions is the first step in understanding it,” Valen said. “And understanding is a step toward creation.”

“All right. So, you want me to tell you about the weapons of Earth?”

“Yes.”

“And say I do. You're just going to let me go afterward?”

“Yes.”

“Bullshit!” I pointed at Valen. “You can't do that. I would lead King Kaspian right back to you. So, I'm dead. Either way, I'm dead. So, fuck you.” I flipped them off with both hands. “You ain't getting shit from me, you bat-winged assholes!”

The men looked at each other.

“Duke Demetrius, we are not your usual Tyasmorans. We are magic users. We can enchant you so that you remember none of this.”

“Oh.” I went back to the bed and sat down. “That changes things a bit. The thing is—I don't know if I can believe you. You could have said that just to make me think I'll live through this.”

“We don't want you dead, Duke Demetrius,” one of the other men said. “If you died, King Kaspian would go into a rage, hunt us down, and kill us.”

“Then he would die,” Enor muttered.

“And we'd have to take our chances with the next king,” Valen added. “As much as we don't like the way Dragons look down on us, King Kaspian is not as bad as others. He treats people fairly. The next king may not.”

“That thing about him dying if I do is real?” I believed Kas when he said it. I did. But I didn't want to believe it.

“Oh, yes.” Valen cocked his head. “Has the King not informed you about all the intricacies of matehood?”

“Uh, I wouldn't know if he hasn't told me everything, but he did mention the dying thing. I hoped he was exaggerating.”

“There have been rare instances when a Dragon survives the death of their mate. But that usually involves some magical assistance.”

“Shit,” I whispered.

“So, will you help us?” Valen straightened his shoulders. “I swear to you that we will not hurt you.”

“Dude, I don't know you people. Why would I help you?”

“Because it's the right thing to do. We heard you were a hero to your people. You must have morals.”

“I was a firefighter. I put out fires before they could hurt anyone.”

Enor burst out laughing.

Valen glared at him.

“What? Don't you see the humor in that? The Dragon King not only mated a human—he mated a human that puts out fires. An enemy of his magic.”

“I'm not an enemy of his magic.” I rolled my eyes. “He puts out fires too. That's how we met. I was working a job, and he appeared. Then he put out the fire we'd been battling for over a week.”

“Yes, but that's different. He controls the fire. He doesn't fight it. He simply tells it to stop.”

“Whatever, man. He doesn't have a problem with what I did. And I don't have a problem with his magic. I know fire and so does he. That makes us compatible. The Dragon Goddess herself thinks so.”

“It's still funny.”

“Enor, enough.” Valen waved him back. “Antagonizing the Duke will not help us.”

“He's not going to help us willingly. I say we use a more aggressive type of coercion.”

“No!”

“Been done already.” I laid down and crossed my hands over my belly. “Torture doesn't work on me. Once you go that route, I'll be set against helping you. It will be a moral imperative.” I looked over at Valen and grinned. “I'm not helping people who resort to torture. Period.”

“You see?” Valen waved a hand at Enor. “Now you've made things worse.”

Another of the men came closer. “Your Grace, I am Bregar. I assure you, we don't want to hurt you. Please, just describe these weapons to us. That's all. And then we will release you. Your mate is turning more and more savage with every passing minute. He cannot track you under the spells we've cast. Don't you want to end his torment?”

I clenched my teeth. Kaspian had been scared that morning. Had he sensed that I was in danger? And now, all of his fears had come true. He had to be going insane. The only evidence of my capture would be a broken teacup. No one had seen Enor fly off with me. I was supposed to be secure there. But we had let the enemy in through the front door. Even worse, Kas and I brought him in.

My first pet and he ended up being a bat man with a grudge against my man.

“I've seen Kaspian react to people threatening me.” I turned my head on the pillow to look at the winged men. “It wasn't pretty. I don't care what you've done to hide us. He will find me, and you will die. Screaming. Although, the screams are generally short.”

That got to them. Even Enor looked spooked. I was bluffing. I didn't know if Kas would be able to break through their spells. Hell, I didn't even know he could track me before they mentioned it. Was it a magical link that he followed, or did he follow my scent trail like a bloodhound? I had no idea. But they knew. And whatever Dragons did to find their mates, it must have been impressive. Because they were worried.

“What will happen when the spells wear off?” Enor asked.

Valen drew him away from the cell. “What do you mean?”

They dropped their voices to a whisper, but I could still hear them. I pretended that I couldn't.

“When the magic runs its course, will the scent trail return? Could he follow it from the castle?”

Several of the men hissed.

Guess they hadn't thought things through. I wasn't all that surprised after they argued about when to take me. These guys had gumption and magic, but not much in the way of brains.

“Fuck!” Enor growled. “We've got to get him talking now! We have days at best. And Dragons can follow trails that are weeks old.”

“A week,” Valen corrected. “I believe their limit is a week.” He looked around.

The others shrugged.

Maybe they didn't know as much about Dragons as I thought.

“That's not very long,” one of them said.

“How do we get him to talk?”

They turned to look at me.

I sighed and closed my eyes. No more good cop. And the bad cops were gonna call my bluff on withstanding torture.