“Let her go or I’ll make you sorry.” Saint’s voice was flat and cold—utterly without emotion.
“I don’t fear you or your Blood Drake, cabron,” the man holding me said. “Your Drake’s too big to fit here so you can’t shift. And you don’t dare chance a partial shift either—if you’re even strong enough to do one. You try to flame us and you’ll kill the girl too. Not that the fucking murder-Drake you carry inside you would give a damn about that. I hear he likes killing innocent girls.”
For a moment Saint’s eyes went blood-red—I could see them glowing in the darkness like live coals. Then, without another word, he turned and launched himself from the window. I got a blurry glimpse of his changing in mid-air into a creature as black as midnight and then huge wings unfurled and beat the sky, driving him upwards and away.
I couldn’t help the wash of terror and disbelief that came over me. Was that it? I’d thought that I could trust Saint—was he really just leaving me to my fate?
Apparently so because the two men who had grabbed me laughed harshly and hauled me towards the door. I wanted to fight again, but the cold steel blade was still at my throat and I was so frightened I could barely breathe.
What was happening? Where were they taking me? My mind filled with questions I had no answers for and my heart filled with fear. Was I going to die? Would I ever live to see my Coven-mates again? And where was Ari? Did he know what was happening to me? Was he safe? Could he help me? I knew he and his Drake would rescue me if they could—but what if they didn’t even know what was going on?
Or what if they’re already dead? an insidious little voice whispered in my brain. What if Ari died thinking you don’t love him? What if those last, mean words you said to him are the last thing you’ll ever get to say?
I tried to push that awful little voice away, but it didn’t want to go. It kept tormenting me as my captors dragged me down the long marble hallway, taking me who-knew-where for who-knew-what purposes.
I had never been more terrified in my life—except for the night of The Fire. And even then, there had been people with me who loved me. Now I was all alone and I had no idea what to do or what would become of me.
I was trapped with no way out.
94
Kaitlyn
I had no idea where we were going until I saw a familiar arching doorway up ahead. My captors were dragging me back to where I’d been earlier that night—back to the Feasting Hall, for some reason.
They opened the door and pushed me into the vast, echoing space ahead of them. The tall stone Drake tables were still set up, lining the four walls of the room, and chained to the furthest one was Ari. His mother and father were chained to another table and even little Jalli was there, also chained up. I could see by the tear-tracks on her pale cheeks that she’d been crying but she was quiet now—they all were—until Ari saw me.
“L’lorna!” he cried and strained against his bonds to no avail. I wondered why he didn’t simply turn into his Drake—for that matter, why didn’t his father do the same? Was there something stopping them? Some magical spell or maybe just the thick metal manacles they wore around their wrists?
Had the people who had captured me decided to chain Ari and his family up and hold a kind of intervention to talk about what a bad queen I would make? If so, there was no better way to force them to listen than to take away their ability to shift into their Drakes.
The answers came soon enough when the man who was holding me came around so I could see his face. It was Chamberlain Sanchez and beside him was his son, Pedro.
I hadn’t seen Pedro since he’d been expelled from Nocturne Academy for hurting me by hitting me in the face with a football but the blue outline of Megan’s handprint on his cheek was unmistakable.
“Pedro?” I looked at him uncertainly and he glared back, baring his teeth at me.
“Hello, puta,” he said and slapped me hard, across the face.
I heard Ari’s angry roar as my head rocked back and stars exploded in my field of vision.
“That’s for getting me marked,” Pedro snarled and slapped me again, across the other cheek. “And that’s for getting me expelled.” Another slap which almost didn’t hurt because I was so numb from the first one. “And that’s one just because I feel like it.” He laughed and spit on the marble floor at my feet.
I felt cold now—cold and sick inside. On the other side of the vast room, Ari was still fighting the heavy metal manacles and roaring that he would kill Sanchez for daring to strike his L’lorna. Ari’s father raised his voice as well.
“How dare you do this to your Alpha and his family, Sanchez?” he thundered. “Knowing that the punishment for such disrespect is death?”
“I dare because you’re not going to be the Alpha for long.” The Senior Sanchez gave Ari’s father a cruel smile. “You and your family have ruled the Sky Lands for long enough—it’s time for fresh blood. I and the rest of the Chamberlains agree.”
He nodded at the group of men standing with him and I recognized them as the same ones I had seen when Ari’s Drake had first brought me into the palace.
Understanding dawned on me. This wasn’t just a kidnapping or an intervention—it was a coup. Sanchez had convinced some of the other Drakes to back him and he planned to murder the entire Reyes
