Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 120974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 120974 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
I don’t have time to find out because a moment later I hear a voice shout,
“Who goes there? What’s going on in here? By order of Sir Horace, show yourself!”
Fuck—there’s no time. I can hear the sound of boots echoing on the flagstones and I know I’ve got to get Irena out of here before it’s too late. Luckily, the back door to this fucking dungeon is still open—I made sure to leave it swinging wide when I came in.
I scoop her into my arms and run for it, bare feet slapping on the flags as I cradle her to my chest, praying she’s all right.
We get through the door and out into the night and I’m racing down the grassy hill with my princess in my arms. I hear shouting behind me and the sound of a bowstring singing. An arrow flies past my ear, barely missing me. Another flies over my head.
Fuck—I need to get out of here! If I was alone, I’d shift and fly away, but Irena’s in no shape to ride on my Drake’s back.
Let’s Shift anyway, I hear him urging me. I can carry her in my claws!
You’d hurt her, I object.
Never! I can be careful. We have no choice! he sends, as another arrow flies so close it grazes my bare shoulder, leaving a line of fire behind as warm blood drips down my arm.
He’s right, I realize—we have no choice. But it’s going to have to be fast—the fastest Shift I’ve ever done in my life.
I am ready, my Drake urges me. Let me out!
Wait until we have some cover!
I duck into a copse of trees—the same one where I first drank from her…and where I let her go. I lay her safely down, trying not to see the way her head rolls on her neck, and get to a safe distance.
Then, just as the guards burst into the small clearing, I Shift.
82
VALEN
My Drake bursts out of me and is already breathing fire by the time he emerges.
The guards back up in a hurry, their eyes wide as the gout of white-hot flame shoots over their heads.
“MINE!” the Drake roars, his deep voice bellowing into the night sky. “SHE IS MINE!”
“Shit!” I hear one mutter as they begin to back away. “It’s a fucking dragon—a real fucking dragon!”
That’s right—most of them haven’t seen one of my kind before. Not in Shifted form, anyway. Now—when faced with the reality of a twenty-ton beast—they stare at my Drake in horror.
Horror turns to terror when he breaths flames again—this time much closer to their heads. Several get sparks in their hair and have to beat them out.
“Run! The Princess is lost—run!” one shouts.
And the lot of them turn and rush away—as though they could outrun my Drake’s fire if he decided to burn them.
Luckily for them, we’re both more concerned with Irena. Gently…so gently…my Drake scoops her up in one enormous foreclaw.
Be careful! I tell him and I can feel him promising he will.
Then we lift off into the air, flying high above the kingdom I’m never coming back to.
I just pray that I can find someplace safe where I can examine Irena…and that she’s all right.
83
VALEN
We don’t fly far—just long enough to get free of the castle and put some distance the guards won’t find it easy to cross between us. Then my Drake spies a large, placid lake, all silver in the moonlight. There’s no one near—not a single cottage nearby—and its miles from the castle.
Good enough.
He sets us down carefully and I’ve Shifted back almost before either of us can blink. There, by the banks of the vast silver lake, I cradle Irena to my chest.
“Princess? Sweetheart?” I ask, patting her cheek. “Baby, please be all right! Please don’t…don’t be dead.”
My voice seems to stick in my throat and my heart is pounding. I pat her cheek again and then put my hand over her heart. Is it still beating? I can’t tell. Is she still breathing? Why is she so still? What am I going to do if she’s really gone?
I crush her to me as burning tears like liquid flame rise in my eyes.
“Irena, please baby—come back to me!”
“Master Drake?”
The soft voice is so unexpected that it actually makes me jerk in surprise. I look all around me and see a familiar face reflected in the water. It is the Sorceress—the Lady of Thornmere—staring back at me from the lake.
“What…how…”
“She is dying,” she interrupts my muddled questions. “But you may still save her. You must give her your blood as she gave you hers. The power of your Drake’s blood should be enough to neutralize the poison in her body.”
I don’t question the magic. Before she’s finished talking, I’m already using my fangs to slice my wrist. I cradle her head and tilt her mouth open to let the rich hot blood pour in.