13. Vale

Chapter 13

Vale

A thickly muscled arm wrapped around my middle and yanked me off my feet, placing me behind a broad back I'd grown to know well. Xavier had been putting himself between me and danger for the last two days, taking arrows meant for me, healing me when I was dying. Why had I even considered he'd stop now?

"Run, Vale," he shouted over his shoulder as he shrugged out of his coat.

The thick leather slapped the slick stone ground as white scales bloomed up his neck. His body seemed to double, triple in size. Then I got the bright idea to actually heed his order, stumbling back several steps as his body just kept growing. His shirt and leather pants split at the seams as his bones snapped and cracked, a moan of pain erupting from his throat that quickly turned into a roar.

That roar shook me to my very bones, the ground vibrating beneath me as the stalactites hanging from the ceiling began to crumble, falling to the ground around us like giant arrows cleaving the stone ground in two. Blue fire exploded from his mouth as he stood his ground, but there was nowhere to run— not without being crushed from the falling debris. Xavier was enormous, nearly as big as the massive red dragon that hadn't once taken its eyes off me. Iridescent white scales shimmered against the light of my power. His thick tail flicked with irritation as he moved his body to block me from view.

The red dragon drew itself up, shifting its weight as that fire in its throat grew hotter, a deathly growl getting louder with each second that passed.

"Run, Vale," Xavier roared in my head, not realizing that I couldn't .

Then like the shadow he was, Kian in full dragon form darted forward. Just as big as Xavier, just as vicious, Kian launched himself at the red dragon, barreling his full weight into it.

They rolled, slashing with their great talons, ripping into each other's flesh with their razor-like teeth. The red dragon raked its claws into Kian's side, and I found myself running into the fray instead of out the tunnel and to safety.

" No ," I screamed, racing for the black dragon that had saved my life, that had pulled me from my own execution, that had given me a chance.

Then Xavier flew forward, his leathery wings knocking into the remaining stalactites as he used them as projectiles to fight the red dragon off of Kian.

I gathered my skirts and sprinted for Kian, getting in between him and the giant beast as Xavier fought for our lives. But the great scarlet dragon was too vicious, too big, too fast. Soon, Xavier's gullet was under his claws, squeezing the life out of him.

Power swelled from my skin, and I launched a bolt at the red dragon, spearing his shoulder with an arrow of light. Snarling, it whipped its head back to me, Xavier forgotten, as fire rose in its throat once more.

Holding my hands wide, I roared at it much like I'd done on that mountaintop.

Light bloomed around me, shoving from my skin in a crackling dome that expanded by the second. That dome stretched wide, scorching his scales, forcing him back. Then it closed its mouth as it lowered its body, its massive golden eyes studying me intently as the fire in its throat died.

"You leave them alone. You want to kill me, fine, but you leave them alone."

"No, Vale." Kian's voice rang in my mind, sounding so tired, so hurt as he crawled closer to me ready to do battle. "He'll kill you. He kills them all."

"I don't care," I shot back, accepting my fate. I'd already cheated Orrus more than once in the last twenty-four hours. Maybe it was just my time. But it wouldn't be theirs. "You're not dying for me. If this damn beast wants to kill me, then that's what it'll do."

An almost humanlike frown marred the red dragon's face.

"I do not want to kill you." His voice sounded much like Idris' but different. That gruff growl so different and so similar, I could see how I'd been confused. "I guided you here, my Queen."

That power surrounding me fizzled and died, falling in gossamer ribbons to the ground before fading away completely. "What?"

Its clawed hand shot out, surrounding me as it brought me to its chest, growling as Kian and Xavier rose to their feet.

"You will be my queen. My savior. I only wanted to keep you safe."

"Safe? Are you crazy? You nearly got me tossed down a damn mountain and almost killed my friends. You call that safe? Now put me down, or so help me, I'll figure out how to really hurt you."

A grumble of dissent vibrated its chest as it curved its gigantic neck to stare at me, its golden eyes narrowed.

"Are you threatening me, my Queen?"

"No," I seethed through gritted teeth, my power growing underneath my skin as my anger returned. "I'm warning you."

The faint snapping and cracking of bones drew my gaze to Xavier and Kian. Both naked and bloody, they exchanged a pensive expression I did not like one bit.

"Vale," Xavier called, his chest heaving as he stalked forward. "Are you speaking to that dragon?"

I blinked at him like he was a few turnips shy of a bushel. "Who the fuck else would I be talking to, Xavier? Do you think I'm yelling at this beast for my health?"

"No," he murmured, his voice pitched so low, I almost couldn't hear it. "I want to know if he's speaking to you . Inside your head. Like the way King Idris can, the way Kian can."

The way you can, too, dummy. But I didn't say that out loud. "Who do you think led me here? I didn't just stumble upon this place by accident."

Turning back to the dragon in question, I growled, "Put. Me. Down."

The sound rumbling from his throat was almost a purr, his big eyes softening. "No, I don't think so. I think I like you right where you are. Nice and close and protected."

His giant nostrils flared as he took in my scent. "Maybe if you stay with me long enough, you'll lose their scent that's all over you. You should tell them that you're my queen, not theirs."

Then the giant bastard curled his big body around mine, tucking me into the crook of his middle. Kian and Xavier started forward, but the dragon's spiked tail flicked in the space between us, discouraging their progress.

"For the last time, I am not your anything . I'm just here to break a stupid curse. Now, let me go."

He huffed an exasperated breath, almost rolling his big golden eyes. "You have no idea what you're here for. You'll see, my Queen."

"It's like talking to a wall," I grumbled, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Do you have any suggestions on how to get this big lug to release me?"

Naked, bloody, and breathing hard, Kian stared at me for a solid minute before his gaze moved past me as his mouth stretched into a wicked smile. "Remember when Xavier told you that there were trials you would need to pass before you could break the curse?"

Narrowing my eyes, I crossed my arms as much as the dragon scales banded around my middle would allow. "Vaguely. Though the jerk hasn't told me what they are," I growled, my eyes narrowed on the strapping man staring at the dragon, like he wanted to take a sword to him. "Please tell me I at least get to eat before I die a horrible death. I'd like to go out with a full stomach if you don't mind."

Xavier and Kian straightened, their nudity not even a consideration as a chuckle echoed from behind me. I tensed, but everyone else seemed to relax—even the dragon holding me. My feet touched the ground as his grip loosened, but he didn't exactly let me go.

Then Kian and Xavier dropped to one knee as a dark-headed man came into view, and when he turned to face me, I recognized him instantly. He was missing the crooked crown, but I would know those golden eyes and that sharp jawline anywhere.

Idris.

And still, my brain had not done him justice. Outside of my dreams he was harder, harsher, more brutal, and also so beautiful it hurt. My heart, which had just begun to slow, picked up speed, fluttering in my chest like a hummingbird's wings. A dark cloak covered his shoulders, a golden pendant swinging in the opening. Its center stone matched the color of his eyes, both illuminated with more magic than I'd ever felt.

"There will be no dying today, my brave one," he murmured, his gaze glowing with a rush of power that I could nearly reach out and touch.

His voice was exactly how he'd sounded in my dream, in my head on the mountain. It was different from the dragon holding me but so similar it was no wonder I'd been tricked down here.

"You've just passed the first trial. Vale, meet Rune. My dragon, the other half of my soul, and my curse."

His curse ?

And then I understood.

Kian and Xavier's dragon forms were under their flesh, under their skin. I wasn't sure how it worked because we hadn't discussed it, but the basic fundamentals were plain as day.

The other half of my soul .

Idris and Rune were separated, cleaved. And that was a very bad thing—especially if that had an effect on all the magic in the kingdom. If magic was dying, and this was why… My heart thundered in my chest for a completely different reason.

How would I even begin to fix something like this?

"I am not his curse," Rune rumbled, letting out a huff of irritation. "I am his punishment and his protection. I am his reminder he is only alive because I am stronger than he is. That I can endure when he cannot."

I chose not to disclose Rune's words, preferring to keep my head right where it was. The last thing I needed was to anger the one person who could help me get Nyrah back.

"Fantastic," I groused, feeling like more of a pawn in someone else's game the longer this went on. "Do you happen to have a tutorial on how to get him to let me go? He seems rather unwilling at this point."

"I am your protection, too, my Queen. It is not safe up there."

Personally, I thought anywhere else was a hell of a lot safer than being held hostage by a giant fire-breathing lizard, but what did I know? He was probably right. Not a single Luxa had survived until now, and my survival was in flux at best. There was probably more than one cause of death around here just lurking in the shadows.

"I suggest you simply ask nicely," Idris offered, his smile both incredibly sexy and the most irritating thing I think I'd ever seen. "Rune doesn't often like being told what to do."

Simply ask him. I fought off the urge to roll my eyes. Though, it couldn't hurt to give it a shot. "Rune? Will you please let me go?"

Did I say that with gritted teeth and a death glare? Yes, I did.

Did the giant lizard seem to almost smirk at me in an almost exact replica of his human's expression? Also, yes.

"If I am forced to let you go, you must stick with the dragons. They'll look out for you. Do not stray too far from them, my Queen." Then Rune slowly loosened his grip, his talon-tipped hand falling away as his head bumped into my side. "Remember what I said. Do not stray."

First, he wanted their scent off of me, then he wanted me to stick with them. Which one was it?

Idris moved close to me, offering his hand as I minced over the end of Rune's tail. "See?" he said, his grin now a forced mask seeming to hide what he was really thinking. "He isn't as tough as he pretends to be."

Tell that to the dead Luxa , I thought, wondering if the giant dragon had gobbled them up for supper. I also wondered if anyone thought their sacrifices were worth it. If they were honored or forgotten, nameless women off to meet Orrus just like so many miners under the mountain.

At my tight expression, Idris' mask fell away. "To you. He will not be tough to you. Rune doesn't like anyone, but he's curled around you like a protector. That, my brave one, is just as rare as you are."

Somehow, it didn't make me feel any better.

I tossed a glance over my shoulder as I pulled my elbow from the king's grip. Kian and Xavier weren't looking at me. They were staring at the ground, and I hated it more than I could say. I wanted their eyes, and they weren't giving them to me.

It pissed me off. My hand tightened on the hilt of the dagger that was still somehow in my hand before I yanked up my skirt to slam it into the sheath at my thigh.

"I want to know why I'm here—and don't say to break a curse because I already know that. What trials am I facing? What is expected of me? What am I getting out of this? I didn't survive a near execution to just get tied to the stake again. So please understand, if I don't like what you say, I will walk right back out that tunnel and disappear."

I had half a mind to do that, anyway. If facing down the dragon was the first trial, storming the guild would likely be a fuck of a lot easier.

Idris' mouth quirked up, something like pride in his assessing gaze. "The trials are secret, set that way to test the meddle of every Luxa vying to break the curse."

If that wasn't the dumbest thing I'd ever heard. I hadn't wanted the magic beneath my skin, and I sure as hell hadn't been vying for anything. I'd never been a volunteer, I'd been taken.

"You'd think after two centuries of utter failure, you'd bend that rule. Were you just going to toss me down here, and what? Hope Rune didn't eat me?"

Idris' eyes flared with power, his jaw set. "Something like that."

Unwanted betrayal hit me square in the chest. I shuffled backward toward the men I knew were a hell of a lot safer than the one before me. It wasn't until I felt the heat of their bodies pressing against my back, did I stop.

"And after so long without success, you thought there wasn't a better way? What's next? Tossing me off a cliff? Setting me on fire?"

Kian's arm banded around my middle as Xavier twined his fingers with mine. Rune took that opportunity to move his big body behind us, drawing up to his full height, surrounding the three of us in the space between his forelegs as he let out a growl that shook the very foundations of the castle. Their presence—their breath, their warmth—was a reassurance I needed more than anything.

"You want—no, you need —my help, and you show your thanks by trying to feed me to a fucking dragon? And I'm supposed to trust you enough for that sacrifice?"

Idris' gaze left mine to stare at the arm around my waist, the hand in mine. Then his golden eyes moved to glare at his dragon, his curse , before falling to me. His mask of geniality was long gone. Now all that was there was the searing truth.

"The trials are bound by secrecy because the curse that has plagued me for centuries demands it," he growled, moving closer to me as if I were a frightened animal that he was trying to trap rather than the woman with three dragons at her back. "If I could do it another way, I would. But this kingdom—this court—honors every sacrifice. We are not the Perder Lucem , Vale. We actually acknowledge our dead."

A tremble of fear nearly broke my composure. I hadn't so much as whispered about my grievances for the dead witches who came before me. The only time I'd said anything to that effect, was in my thoughts.

I had to remember he was inside my head. None of my thoughts were safe—not from him.

"I didn't say anything about honoring the dead, Your Majesty . I merely expressed my displeasure about potentially being one of them. And still, you have yet to answer any of my questions, so I'll simplify my query down to just the one. What's in it for me?"

Because other than ensuring Nyrah never had to walk this path, the benefits weren't obvious.

Idris nodded as his eyes and pendant glowed brighter, hotter, rising with a power that seemed to race over my skin. "When you break this curse—and I do mean when —there is not a thing I won't give you. For as long as I'm breathing, all you will have to do is ask. Money, jewels, status. It will all be yours."

My chuckle was mirthless. "You know I don't want any of that."

A single finger lifted my chin as he brought his face to mine. "And that, my brave one," he whispered, his tone just as threatening as it was seductive, "is exactly why Rune didn't kill you instantly."

Then his grip closed over my elbow, light but firm as if it was a shackle I couldn't break.

Rune was right.

It wasn't safe up there.

Not at all.