Chapter 14

14

T he manacles around Pine's wrists rubbed his skin raw. His teeth chattered against the cold, and when he'd tried to summon flame to warm himself up, nothing had happened.

There was something in the metal that interfered with his powers.

He'd heard of such a thing but had never expected to experience it for himself. He still wasn't sure what was going on or how he'd ended up in this situation. He wasn't in a cell, not technically. If he had to guess, someone had stripped guest quarters bare so there was nothing he could work with except for a chair, and then he'd been locked in. He was still a lord, after all; they didn't throw lords in the dungeons.

Not immediately.

Was Neve alright? What would happen to her if he was executed for a treason he hadn't committed?

The door opened, and Pine surged to his feet as if he might be able to rush the guards and escape. Instead, Lord Toro walked in. The man was a few years older than him, and they'd never gotten along. There'd always been something … off about Toro. He'd been a schemer and a social climber, and Pine wanted nothing to do with it.

"I always knew you'd end up in cage." Toro smirked at him as he leaned against the wall. He summoned a ball of flame and tossed it from hand to hand. "Never thought I'd be the one to put you there."

"What are you doing? Why?" Pine watched the fire dance back and forth and tried not to think about how he was cut off from his own.

"I'm framing you for treason and stealing your lands." Toro's smirk turned into a broad smile. "You made it easy for me. Inviting that human to stay and flaunting her around, not paying attention to anything else. It's an awfully disruptive time when a lord ascends to his title, and you haven't done a thing to secure your position."

Pine's heart sank, and his stomach churned. Neve had become a pawn in Toro's twisted game. The memory of her laughter and warmth clashed violently with the coldness surrounding him now. "She has nothing to do with this," he growled, struggling against the chains that bound him.

Toro laughed, a mocking sound that echoed in the empty room. "Of course she does. It's her words that sealed your fate." He edged closer, eyes glinting with malice. "And I intend to use her against you, every way I can."

"Touch her," Pine said, his voice low and dangerous, "and die."

Toro's eyes flicked up and down, taking him in. "You know, I might actually believe you. A shame, really. You could have been useful. I?—"

Someone banged on the door, and Toro gritted his teeth. "What?" he demanded.

Two guards came in, dragging a bedraggled Neve behind them. "We found this one wandering the halls. You said to be on the lookout, my lord."

"I didn't say to bring her here ." He scowled. "You may as well leave her with him. Find the sister; we need to take care of her."

They shoved Neve inside, and Toro left with the guards. Neve fell to the floor, and Pine surged forward to grab her, but the manacles made it impossible to do much to help.

She pushed herself up from off the ground, eyes wild. "Are you alright?"

He nodded. "It will be alright, I promise," he lied. "Did you find Briar? What's going on out there?" He wanted to punch Toro—or do something worse—but that wasn't an option right now. He had to get Neve out of this mess, then he could worry about himself.

"They caught me before I could," she said. "How can they think you're a traitor?"

"Toro came to gloat. By the laws of Vemion, he'll have rights to my lands if I'm found guilty. I don't understand how he can do this. There's no evidence." Pine curled his hands into fists.

"He wants you to sign a confession." Neve stood like a queen, her shoulders pulled back and chin held high. The sapphire necklace still hung on her neck, the unspoken declaration of his affection. Her dress was a bit rumpled, but not torn.

Some pair they made.

"I'm not signing anything." Pine stood. His hand might have been bound, but at least he wasn't chained to the wall. "Please, sit. We may be here for awhile."

Neve spun around and approached the door, testing the handle and finding it locked. "We can't just wait around for Toro to hatch his plan. We have to …" She faltered. "I'm really not sure what we have to do. Talk to a lawyer? The king? Is there anyone who can intercede for us?"

Us.

Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Pine almost smiled. Neve could have walked away. Instead, she'd chosen to stay with him, to fight with him.

He wouldn't let her die with him.

"Can you breathe fire or something and get us out of here? This door is made of wood." She ran her fingers over it, and if she'd had claws, they would have left gouges. She was clearly ready to fight.

Pine held up his manacled hands. "There's something in the metal that blocks my abilities. I can't summon my fire or shift." Not that shifting would have done him much good. He would destroy the room and crush Neve in the process, and the window was far too small for him to fit through as a man, let alone a dragon.

Neve took several deep breaths, and Pine could have sworn he smelled smoke. Perhaps the manacles couldn't fully block his nature, but letting off smoke wouldn't get them very far.

Neve smacked her hand against the wall once, then twice, then a third time.

She tilted her head back and let out a frustrated scream before hitting the wall again.

When she pulled her hand back, there were dark scorch marks on the whitewashed stone.

Pine froze.

Neve didn't seem to notice. She kept beating at the stone as if she could pummel it to bits, but all she would do was beat her hands bloody. He watched for a moment and noticed wisps of smoke coming from her fingers.

He wasn't the one letting off smoke. She was.

But Neve was human. She was from Earth. And while he was no expert on humans, he was fairly confident they couldn't create fire like dragons could.

The only way a human could do that was if she were his mate.

The world seemed to shift under Pine's feet, and he thought of their ride together. There were moments where he was almost certain he'd heard her speaking in his mind, but he'd convinced himself it was impossible. He was either imagining it, or she'd spoken out loud. She couldn't be his mate.

But she was on the verge of summoning fire.

Neve lowered her hands and stepped away from the wall. "You're looking at me like that because I'm going crazy, aren't you?"

He crossed the room and took her hands in his, the manacles around his wrists clanking and making him strain a bit against the weight. Now was not the time for declarations of love or explanations, but he had to make Neve understand. "I think you can get us out of here."

Neve was skeptical. "Me?"

Pine nodded to the scorch marks. "You did that."

Neve followed his gaze and pursed her lips before turning from him and raising a hand to trace over the marks. A bit of soot came away on her finger. She looked at her palm. "My hands are clean. It's not dirt."

"No, it's not." Pine still felt unsteady and couldn't quite believe it. But he had to talk her through this, had to get them out of here. "You summoned some of my fire."

"What?"

"There's a bond between us. It's rare, but it's the only explanation—unless you've been hiding the fact that one of your parents is a dragon." He offered a small smile.

She laughed at that. "My parents are definitely human. One hundred percent." She was still looking at her hands. "How do I do it?"

How could he explain something that was as easy as clenching his fist to someone who'd never consciously done it before? He'd never discussed the mating bond with anyone who had a human mate. He knew Prince Crux had his human mate, Courtney, but asking the details of their bond would have been far too personal.

Now Pine wished he'd been nosy.

He had to say something. "Reach for the power within you, or within me, I guess, and imagine it in your hand. It can't hurt you. A dragon's fire can't harm his mate."

"Mate?" Her eyes widened, and she blinked a few times, her mouth silently forming the word. "You … me …" She took a deep breath. "We're going to have a discussion when this all is over."

She closed her eyes and held her palm up, flexing her fingers so they looked like they were holding something large. She strained, face contorted and hand vibrating with the effort to summon his flame. Smoke rose from her fingertips, and Pine held his breath. She could do this. She could get them out of this.

Neve sighed and lowered her hand. "Nothing."

"Not nothing; you were so close." He wanted to take her hand and guide her through this, but he feared the manacles would block whatever power she had. "Try again."

She opened her mouth to say something, possibly to argue, but closed it and held her hand back out. She strained so hard she looked like she might hurt herself.

Nothing happened.

"Toro could come back here any minute," Pine warned. "He's going to drag me before the king and accuse me of treason. It's a capital offense."

"I know that!" Neve scowled. But smoke started to rise from her palm.

Pine kept going. "He'll come for Briar too. And you. He's a thorough bastard. If we don't get out of here before he's ready, we're as good as?—"

Neve let out a cry, and fire appeared on her palm. She flexed her fingers and almost closed her hand but flattened it out at the last moment. "Holy shit."

Indeed.

Neve held her arm out in front of her like the flame might engulf her if she brought it too close. "Holy shit. I made fire. What the hell am I supposed to do with it?"

Pine smiled. "Get us out of here."