Total pages in book: 144
Estimated words: 136061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136061 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 680(@200wpm)___ 544(@250wpm)___ 454(@300wpm)
The key turned in the lock and the door swung open before rough hands grabbed me and yanked me backward. I stumbled, nearly falling, before more hands took hold and ripped me around to face the stairs. A shove had me nearly stumbling forward, but then the hands secured me between two demons a bit shorter than me.
Tamara’s deep hazel eyes zipped my way as she was pulled from her cell. She held my gaze for a tense beat, and I could feel the power swirling around her as my guards pushed me near her. She looked downward poignantly, her gaze stopping at my hip. When it came back up, holding mine, I didn’t need to be told what she was after.
I might not know how to use the sword, but she did.
Time to be naughty.
As I passed her, I let my will pulse outward, shoving the guards back. I spun and kicked, getting the new captain in the sternum.
Tamara’s power ballooned, and then she ripped her hands wide and forward, snapping the chains on the cuffs and propelling the guards off their feet.
Holy shit, my dragon thought.
Holy shit was right. Tamara was half starved and out of practice, yet when she had access to her dragon, she had some serious strength and power.
My guards rushed forward to grab me. Tamara got there first.
She grabbed the hilt of the sword, yanked it out, and pushed me out of the way. Then she slashed to the right before lunging forward, her pose absolute perfection. The strength and power wove into an intricate dance. This dragon absolutely did know how to use a sword.
The point of the sword dove into the middle of the new captain. She pulled it free and made quick work of the three guards near him, slashing and stabbing like a motherfucking master.
I have a girl crush, my dragon said.
We were on the same page.
Hands grabbed me from behind. I surged my power in an attempt to break the cuffs like Tamara had, but the blows started to fall, one hitting my head. Black spots appeared in my vision. I speared with my will, digging into a demon as I stepped to the side and turned. I drove my head forward, using my forehead to break a nose. I was already dizzy—what was a little more trauma for a good cause?
An extendable stick cracked down on my shoulder. Another swung from the side at my thigh.
“Give in,” Tamara said, downing another demon as a group of guards tackled her. I could barely hear her voice over the shouting and grunting. “They’ll stop if you do. They won’t if you won’t.”
Two demons piled onto me and shoved me to the ground. My cheek hit stone and their weight knocked the breath out of me.
My dragon’s rage fanned higher, but I stopped struggling. With my hands behind my back, there wasn’t much I could do. I could kill them with will, but more guards would just take their places. I didn’t want to waste the energy that I would surely need later on.
Someone pinned their knee in the center of my back. Others knelt around me, leaning over and bracing their hands on me to keep me still. I lay there, waiting.
“Fucking dragons,” one of them muttered, sitting back. “I wish we could just kill the lot of them.”
“We’d all be better off,” another replied, grabbing one of my upper arms. Another did the same with the other arm, and they dragged me up, their movements coarse.
“Leave that sword behind,” Govam commanded from a quarter of the way up the stairs, looking down. “Leave it in the cell. The sheath, too.”
The guards wasted no time in unstrapping the sheath from around my waist. They wrestled the blade away from Tamara. Without cleaning it, they unceremoniously tossed it into my cell and slammed the door. Rough hands shoved me forward as Tamara was hauled up, her eyes shining with smug excitement.
“Let’s go.” Govam continued up the stairs with Micah, who was looking our way with pride.
The dragons lived for these moments, that was clear. They were stuck in this hell, but they’d figured out how to start a few more fires.
The way into the upper part of the castle was the same, and the officers waited where they had the last time I was led this way. I barely heard Govam mentioning the fresh blood down in the lower dungeon that the officers might use for their creations. I didn’t miss the first officer’s response, though: “Another captain goes down, huh, Govam? And when might your turn be?”
Things slowed down at the baths. The other dungeons had been emptied as well, apparently, and the other prisoners were easier to handle. Which was why they were the first to bathe. When our turn came, we all stayed locked up as the attendants ripped off our clothes and scrubbed us down.