22. Chloe

TWENTY-TWO

Consciousness returned to Chloe in small doses, first with her sense of taste.

She grunted in confusion as her tongue pressed against the rag in her mouth. The smell was already unpleasant enough, but she couldn't spit it out. Her mouth was far too dry, stripped of moisture like a desert plain.

The pungent air was ridden with mold. Her body ached with stiffness, and it hurt to crane her neck upward and around. She couldn't see much of the room, but she saw enough to know she was in a basement of sorts with discarded boxes and barrels lining the walls.

The faint light source came from a singular ray shining in through a window placed just beneath the ceiling.

How did I get here?

The last thing she remembered was being intimidated by Gayle in the library, then some men arriving before things got hazy.

Images of the traumatic interaction came to her in bursts.

The bastards must have drugged me … Fuck, this isn't good.

She looked around again, part of her trying to formulate an escape plan while another part fought the urge to panic. She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath, trying her hardest to ignore the stench in the air.

She moved her wrists in any direction she could, but the expertly tightened rope was quickly creating an unbearable friction. The same happened to her ankles.

Like a fish in a barrel, she was flailing to the point where her chair began inching along the ground with a grating scratch.

Fuck! This is really bad …

She wondered if Adrian knew she was gone, but how could he have known? She stifled a cry and fought again, reeling back and pushing herself forward.

Her efforts didn't reward her with freed limbs, only a hard impact on the concrete floor. For a moment, her head was dizzy.

When her vision returned, she saw a pocket knife poking out of a box only feet away. She felt like a kid looking up at the cookie jar on the highest shelf, cursing the tease of escape just out of her reach.

There was nothing else she could do now but scream. Her yelling rang out like a muffled gurgle. Each screech slid along the dry walls of her mouth, and soon, she wouldn't be able to even mutter, but what else was there for her to do?

Her throat tingled with dehydration as she shrieked for what she guessed to be the twentieth time. Then, the sound of heavy footsteps came from the floor above.

She quickly stopped and craned her neck … achingly so. She looked at the bottommost step of a staircase. As she did, a singular tear found its way to her mouth.

Its salty taste was an odd but unwelcome comfort to her parched mouth.

The footsteps came closer, and her heart pounded when the door near the top swung open. New light found a way in, casting the large shadow of a figure making its way to the basement.

Is this it? she thought to herself as the figure drew closer.

She concealed another cry, thinking of Adrian as a last resort of comfort. But he wouldn't know how she truly felt about him, and that left her feeling empty.

Fear didn't give her the choice of whether she'd close her eyes. They zeroed right in on the man who appeared at the bottom of the stairs, looking right at her. He shook his head in disappointment before approaching.

"Look at what you've done to yourself," he said as if scolding a child. "Hold still."

Chloe screamed again as the man reached his hands out. He recoiled and winced. Even in the dim light, Chloe saw his face reddening.

"Will you shut the fuck up? I'm just uprighting your chair so you can sit properly."

He took the chair in his firm grip. Chloe felt weightless as she was repositioned. She watched cautiously as the man took a step back.

Her mind ran rampant with endless imaginary scenarios of what he might do to her. She knew there'd be nothing she could do against him.

She froze and closed her eyes when he came closer again, surprised when the rag was pulled out of her mouth.

"Can't you see I'm doing you a favor?" he grunted. "My name is Jimi. I heard you like dragon shifters."

Chloe smacked a dry mouth, trying to wet it with her tongue. Her exhales were raspy and drawn out. Jimi seemed to respond by reaching into his coat pocket, causing Chloe to squirm once more.

"For the love of … Will you chill out?" he spat. "It's just this," he snapped, pulling out a bottle of water.

Chloe's mouth watered. She was surprised there was any moisture left in her body.

She watched impatiently as Jimi fitted a disposable straw inside and approached, offering its tip to her.

"I'm not here to hurt you," he said. "In fact, I'm here to make sure you don't do any further damage to yourself. Do you want this or not?"

Chloe eyed the water suspiciously, caught perfectly in the palm of temptation's hands.

"It's not poisoned," he said. "Do you really think we'd kill a hostage? How dumb do you think we are?"

Swallowing her pride, she felt pathetic as she wrapped her lips around the straw's end. The water came as a delightful quench to her parched throat. She instantly felt rejuvenated as it slid down to her stomach.

She didn't stop drinking until the bottle was empty.

"Thanks," she forcibly muttered.

Jimi smiled and nodded. "Finally, some manners. I'm not a monster, you know."

"Yeah, it's really easy to see that when I'm tied to a chair with a gag in my mouth."

"I suppose you have a point," he said.

He brandished a napkin and dabbed Chloe's mouth. She had soaked herself with how eagerly she downed the water.

"Get your hands off me," she hissed.

"You try to help some people," he grumbled.

"Tell me what's going on, Jimi. Where am I? Where's Gayle? Why are you doing this?"

"One question at a time. I'm not a damn encyclopedia." Jimi pulled a chair closer and took a seat, sighing as he sat. "You're in a safe house far from where anyone will find you."

"Fuck …"

"Gayle makes a pretty good actress, does she not? Fooled you into thinking you two were tight."

"Don't have to tell me twice. Tell me what's going on. Why am I here?"

He cracked a twisted smile, and Chloe could see hints of the darkness that slipped through his veneer.

"Gayle was telling the truth about being a dragon shifter, but she's not like the others. She's got an ax to grind against the dragon king. We all kind of do."

"Why? Adrian is a good leader to you all."

He mused on the thought for a second as though trying to think of an explanation. "In Gayle's case, it's personal history. She has her reasons."

"You still haven't told me why I'm here."

He chuckled to himself. "I would think that was obvious. Your purpose in our mission is to be used as simple leverage against the king. Gayle is with him right now, presenting him with an important decision to make. It's in his and your best interest that he makes the correct choice."

Chloe shook her head. She was still operating blindly. If she wanted any chance of helping Adrian, she needed to find out what this man knew.

"So you've brought me here against my will, and you're not even going to give me the big picture? That's awfully unkind of you."

Jimi laughed and shrugged. "I suppose I may as well let you in on what's happening. Maybe you can be Adrian's voice of reason if he isn't grasping the situation. Gayle wants to marry him so she can be the rightful dragon queen."

Chloe's heart sank. "Why would he do that?"

"I have one for you," said Jimi, leaning forward on his elbows. "Why would the dragon king marry a human? Fated mate or not, making a human the dragon queen? It makes no damn sense."

"No," spat Chloe immediately. "He wouldn't choose Gayle over me."

"Are you sure about that?" Jimi chuckled, raising an eyebrow.

She went silent. After all, Adrian hadn't yet claimed her with his mark.

"That's what I thought," the henchman sneered. "You don't understand the power of tradition, I'm afraid."

"Say he does it, which he won't, by the way. What happens to me then?" asked Chloe.

"Absolutely nothing. Like I told you, you are merely leverage. If all goes according to plan, you might even get to stay in the castle as Adrian's lover. Assuming he doesn't simply come to his senses."

She felt a strange relief at his words. Okay. So she wasn't going to die.

But this was still very bad.

"No one will know of you. Gayle's not some evil psychopath."

"Are you sure about that?" Chloe hissed.

"Positive."

She lowered her head in sorrow, just trying to make sense of the situation.

"Oh, cheer up," the man said. "You like books, don't you?"

"No," retorted Chloe in a sarcastic tone. "I work in a library because I hate the damn things."

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Anyway, Gayle will probably let you roam freely around the castle, maybe tending to the libraries or something. By night, you'll spend your time with your lover. So if you ask me, it's not all that bad."

Chloe admitted internally to herself that it certainly could've been worse.

Then she realized she would be nothing more than a second-class citizen. At the anger that crossed her face, she could clearly see Jimi's disappointment.

"This isn't about what you want. It's about what's best for the dragons. I didn't expect a human to understand."

He shot a final look her way, then rose to his feet. As he left, Chloe wrestled with the possibility of Adrian potentially marrying Gayle.

Chloe knew making a human the queen would certainly stir some controversy. She thought of how Adrian might handle it, knowing a good king would normally do what was best for his people.

She had to consider the worst. If Adrian were to go through with Gayle's plan, would she be able to do it herself?