Zens guffawed. “He doesn’t need rescuing. He’s here of his own accord.” Zens flicked his finger. Roberto’s body twitched. “Roberto’s here to do my bidding.” Flashing his teeth in a manic grin, Zens flung Roberto into the air, holding him there, then slowly lowered him to the ground. “I can slam him so hard, I’ll break every bone in his body. So, tell me, who are you?”
Zens was lying. Roberto hadn’t come here willingly. She’d mistrusted him at his banishment, and he’d nearly died. She’d never make that mistake again.
Zens’ mind shuddered into hers, but she blocked him.
“Talented, are you?” Zens sneered. “We’ll see just how little talent you have.”
Searing heat rippled across Ezaara’s skin. A wave of nausea roiled over her. She clamped down, forcing it out. The tree. Breeze. Leaves rustling.
He hammered at her head, booming like a battle drum. Pounding her skull.
The tree slipped away. She needed something more tangible, immediate. Ezaara fixed on Roberto, bloodied, on the floor.
“So, he’s important to you? Why?”
It was useless to deny it. She had to give Zens something, or he’d never let up. But not the whole truth. “I’m his trainee dragon rider. I wanted to save him.” She sighed, making her lower lip tremble. “I’ve obviously failed.” Hopefully, he’d buy it, not realize her strength.
Zens just laughed. “You have a sense of humor, too.”
He’d seen right through her little act.
Zens sat in a chair, crossed his legs, and pounded her mind like a battering ram.
§
Ezaara woke as fists hammered on the door. Gods, not another day in this forsaken place. Her mouth was parched and she was weak from hunger.
Zens had left last night, but he was back in his chair. Roberto was clasping his head, sweat rolling down his forehead. No doubt, Zens doing. “Open that please, Triple,” Zens said.
000 strode over and opened the door. Two tharuks entered, holding a grubby, battered Adelina.
Ezaara instantly blocked her mind, fixating on the flickering torch. If Zens realized they knew Adelina, he’d torture her to get them to talk.
Zens’ sadistic smile was sickening. Pointing a finger at Adelina, he twitched it.
Eyes wide, her chin shot up.
“I recognize you from Amato’s memories,” he said. “You’re Roberto’s little sister.”
“Am not.” Adelina thrust her shoulders back, defiant.
A thin man entered the cavern, closing the door—Old Bill, Lovina’s former slave master.
Ezaara turned her face away so he wouldn’t recognize her.
“Beloved Commander Zens.” Bill rubbed his hands together. “Twice this week, I saw a flash in the night sky. Stinking winged lizards, I thought. I summoned 743 and 567 to help me catch this Naobian girl.” He licked his lips. “She’d make me a good slave. I lost my last one.” Bill paced around Adelina, looking her over.
Then he saw Ezaara. “My highly-esteemed commander, I must congratulate you for capturing the new Queen’s Rider.”
“Queen’s Rider?” Zens lifted an eyebrow. “Explain how you know her.” His disdain for Bill was barely veiled.
Bill gave a fawning, sickening smile. “Beloved Commander, I was traveling through Lush Valley, spying for you and 458, when she left with the stinking queen of lizards. Her parents were riders, hiding in Lush Valley.”
“000, reward him. Dismissed.” Zens waved Bill and the grunts away. With ice in his voice, he commanded, “Roberto, stand.”
Roberto hobbled to his feet. Ezaara’s chest squeezed. Gods, he looked so weak, favoring his shackled leg, and cradling an arm against his side.
“Since you’re proving so hard to break, we’ll have some fun,” Zens said. “Who would you prefer that I torture? The Queen’s Rider? Or your little sister?”
Weakness
By the dragon gods, what a choice: his lover or his sister? There was no guarantee Zens wouldn’t torture both. Or kill them, just to make him suffer. A chill spread through Roberto as Zens prowled toward his sister. Adelina’s body jerked and went rigid. Her face contorted in a silent scream. Her hands clutched at her throat, nails drawing blood. Suddenly, she crumpled in a heap on the stone, gasping.
Roberto’s gut tied itself in knots. No, not his sister. He’d spent his life protecting her.
Zens’ gaze flicked to Ezaara, his lips twisting in a sneer. “So, Roberto, let’s examine the Queen’s Rider.” The commander caressed her cheek with a fingertip. Roberto’s skin crawled, but Ezaara didn’t even flinch.
Roberto clamped down the rage seething inside him. If Zens suspected he loved Ezaara, he’d hurt her more to get to him. Zens wanted to break him, to prove to himself that he could master the only person who’d escaped his power.
If only Zens had a weakness he could exploit. He had to laugh at himself, looking for a weakness when he was chained, drugged and weak from torture.
Hang on, Zens’ nightmare had shown Roberto his biggest weakness. His eyes flitted around the room. Now, if only he could use it.
Adelina was lying there, as if she was asleep, the blood on her neck glistening in the torchlight.
“A pretty one, this time,” murmured Zens, eyes roving over Ezaara.
Shards, no. The hairs on Roberto’s neck prickled.
“No one told me how attractive you were,” Zens purred.
A keen mental energy hovered near Roberto’s mind. Zens was gauging him, sensing his reactions as he walked around Ezaara, assessing her like a prime head of beef at the market.
Roberto wanted to rip Zens’ head off, but he forced himself to breathe calmly and think of summer days, fishing off the coast of Naobia.
“Oh, Commander.” Ezaara laughed. “No one ever told me how handsome you are. How utterly devastating. They’d painted you as a monster, but now I see your true colors—your consummate
