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Chapter Nineteen

CHAPTER

NINETEEN

_________

A RE WE CLOSE?" MY LEGS ACHE FROM RIDING THROUGH rough terrain all day to avoid main roads. But I can't deny the sense of freedom that burst inside me when our horses sprinted through an open field with nothing but mountains surrounding us. The feeling that enraptured me in those moments was pure euphoria, which has misted over me sporadically in the past, but now I want a churning ocean that doesn't relent.

We tied our horses off on the outskirts of a Vareveth fishing village that looks far too pleasant to be near Imirath's highest-security prison. Livestock mosey around the sprawling hills behind weathered houses. Seashells and seagrass line the paths to their brightly painted doors, adorned with wreaths made of colored glass.

"Tired already?" Cayden retorts.

"Tired of your company."

"I can carry you the rest of the way, considering I got my practice in last night. Climb up, angel." He extends his arms, and I resist the urge to shove him. Not because I'm above it. But he probably wouldn't budge, and I don't want to listen to him ramble on and on about his strength.

"There was glass on the ground. That's not happening again."

He makes a noise as if to say We'll see as he shoves open the entrance to a boathouse swollen from the salty air. "This is an insult to the art of thievery," he mutters, glaring at the unlocked door like it personally offends him.

"Well, I suppose you can't lock that." I jut my chin toward the open wall covered by a simple net that leads to the sea. Water laps against a rectangular cutout in the floor bordered with railings for ease of boarding and disembarking.

He rolls his eyes. "If stealing had been this easy when I was younger, I would've eaten like a king every night."

"Agreed." I laugh. "Do you—" He cuts off my offer of assistance by gripping a boat, lifting it over his head, and placing it in the water like it weighs no more than a feather. I do my best to ignore the way his muscles strain against his sleeves, but I'm only human.

"If you're scared of the water you can sit on my lap," he says while grabbing two oars off the wall.

I drag my eyes from his biceps. "I'll take my chances with the monsters swimming below."

I decline the hand he offers and climb in, taking a seat on one of two benches. The sea sprays my face, but the cold helps keep my anxiety under control. Cayden throws his bag in before sitting across from me and rowing us into the night.

My breath catches in my throat when I spot Kallistar Prison shrouded in fog in the distance. It becomes so much larger than I imagined as Cayden continues rowing. The black rock rises like a mountain, and the ocean churning and crashing against it makes it look like a symbol of pure, impenetrable power. It's no wonder this is where the dragon key and the worst criminals in Imirath are kept. I doubt you'd be able to see it from the shore during a storm, erasing it from existence, just as I'm sure Garrick wants.

"There's a small cove where I'll be able to dock the boat. We'll climb from there."

"You speak as if you've been here before," I note and recall our earlier conversation while he bandaged my hands. "It was you ! You were the person who made it inside, weren't you?"

The smile he gives me is wolfish. "Crime lords will pay a hefty sum when they find someone who can complete jobs deemed impossible. Members in their gangs died from failed attempts, and their desperation made my pockets heavy."

"You were an assassin?"

"Frightened of me yet, angel?"

I laugh at the idea. "You think I've never killed someone for money?" I remained anonymous for the jobs I sought out considering I was in hiding, but if I needed money, I wasn't morally righteous enough to overlook my skill with a blade. The criminals who hired me didn't care about who I was, only what I could do.

"I know you have," he says, and I regard him curiously. "The way you move through a room, little shadow. That kind of skill can't be taught, it's learned. Just like the way you fight."

His subtle praise stuns me to silence as he rows us closer to the prison, fitting us snugly in a small cove at the base of the mountain. The boat rocks lightly from the water filtering through the sharp rocks littered throughout the sea. Caves glow through the mountain, sporadically and unevenly.

"The prison is a labyrinth of tunnels, but I know how to navigate it. It was mentioned in one of the godly legends I read," Cayden says as he ties off the boat on a rock.

"Have you studied many of the legends?" I ask as he reaches back to help me onto the black sand beach. Tales of the gods are hard to come by. Most have been destroyed, and the stories still in existence are rarely complete.

"Enough to gain an advantage on my enemies."

I like his answer enough to give him another smile, but I'm cut off from saying anything further when my boot sinks into the sand and a sharp tugging sensation in my chest paralyzes me. I'd fall to my knees if Cayden didn't grip me by my elbows.

All traces of ease flee his expression. "El? What's wrong?"

I take in several steadying breaths to calm my racing heart. I feel different. It's like the ocean and sand are urging me to feel something, to remember. "It's the bond," I whisper.

"With your dragons?"

I step out of his hold and nod. "I haven't stepped foot in Imirath since I left. Being back here . . . it's unnerving. Anticipatory. I've never felt this before."

"You've never felt pain from the bond, but you do now?"

"I lived with the pain and emptiness for so long that I got used to it. But this is different. The emptiness is diminished. I feel like I'm being drawn somewhere." My eyes stray to the horizon, and I swear I can hear dragons roaring at the base of my skull.

Cayden's lips part as he scans my face. "Your eyes are flickering gold. You look . . ."

"What?"

He shakes his head, swallows, and turns away from me to mutter a word so low I don't hear it. Whatever it was, I can tell from his expression that he believes himself unworthy to view me in that way. When he speaks again, it's louder. "Will you be able to climb? I can carry you on my back."

"Tempting offer but entirely unnecessary." I pat his arm while taking two climbing picks from his bag.

He rolls his eyes and pulls a rope free, tying it around his waist before coming over to me and tying it around mine. His rich, masculine scent mingles with the salty air in an addictive way.

I turn away from him once the knot is secured and stare up at the mountain. I hope my dragons can sense me as I sense them. I hope they know I'll climb any mountain if it means getting back to them, freeing them. They will not suffer for much longer, but Imirath will suffer for the pain dealt to us. We will decimate their armies. We will make them get on their knees and bleed and beg.

I sink my pick into the rock and climb.

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