the floor.
She opened one eye slowly.
Jacinda lay sprawled on the floor, the ripper next to her. “Why did you do that?” she screamed at Miranda.
The old woman scurried to Jacinda’s side, whispering in her ear.
“She’s what?” Jacinda roared. Her head swung, and she looked Tressa straight in the eyes. “You’re pregnant.” She spat out the words as if they were chunks of vomit left in her mouth after purging.
Tressa forced herself to appear defeated. Wounded. Fearful. Despite the joy rising in her chest, she bit her lip and cried.
Pregnant. After all this time she was finally pregnant. Love filled her heart. Hope. A new determination to fight her way free.
"So that's why he's marrying you." Jacinda laughed manically, her head falling backward. "He doesn't love you. He probably doesn't even like you." She poked Tressa on the arm with the ripper's fangs. Blood dripped, fresh and coppery. "Are you a whore? Did he pay you for one night, and you tricked him by poking a hole in the linen sheath meant to hold his seed?" Jacinda took a swipe at Tressa's other shoulder.
Pain seared though her veins. It mingled with her joy. Pregnant. And with Bastian's baby! They'd tried so hard back in Hutton's Bridge, but she had never been able to conceive. Now they could have everything they wanted. Tressa hardened. She had another life to protect. The most precious life in Dragonlands. Which meant she had to give Jacinda exactly what she wanted.
"Jarrett loves me!" she insisted. "I am no whore. He will marry me as soon as he arrives and it will be for love. He does not even know I'm pregnant."
Jacinda dropped the ripper. It clattered on the floor. "He does not know? Truly?" She stepped closer and closer until her nose was just a breath away from Tressa's.
Tressa pulled on the ropes, wanting to wrap her fingers around Jacinda's throat. Still, she was strung too tightly and couldn't do more than flick her wrists. “He doesn’t. I didn’t even know.”
"You will not tell him," Jacinda said with a snarl.
"I won't. I swear," Tressa answered, desperate. Anything to get free.
"You will not tell him because you will not remember." Jacinda spun on her heel, stalking away. "Miranda, call the royal mage. Ask him to erase this girl's memory from the moment she arrived here."
"No!" Tressa screamed. "Don't take this away from me! Please! I swear I won't tell, just don't make me forget!"
Miranda cackled, following Jacinda out of the room, leaving Tressa alone.
"I won't forget you," she promised her baby. "I swear. No matter what they do to me, I will not forget."
Tears spilled from Tressa's eyes as she gasped for breath. "I will not forget," she repeated over and over again until a man entered the room.
His head was buried deep within a royal blue robe, decorated with the stars of night. His large, thin hands rose, resting on her face. "It will not hurt. Do not fight me." His voice sounded like glass breaking.
Tressa tried to appear brave. She tried to hold back the tears as the wisps of memories flew from her consciousness.
Chapter Seventeen
For days Elinor and Bastian helped Connor care for Fotia. After he’d changed back into a human, no one uttered a word about it, as if they were used to humans turning into dragons all the time.
Elinor spent as much time with Fotia as Connor did. She cooed at the dragon, let Fotia sit on her lap, and even fed Fotia food from her hand. Bastian couldn’t quite convince himself to try. He liked his fingers too much. One small slip and he’d lose a digit. At night, they all snuggled together, draping the two cloaks across them to stay warm. Fotia slept at their feet.
“I think I should head back to town and get more food. We’re almost out.” Elinor motioned toward the mouth of the cave. “It would take me nearly a day to walk there and back, but I can make it if I start now.”
“Alone?” Bastian asked. “Are you sure?”
“There’s plenty of food here,” Connor said. “The fish are tasty.”
Elinor laughed, and Bastian joined in, though it was a nervous reaction. He still hadn’t gotten used to the idea that his friend, who had always been as human as Bastian, was now also a dragon. But he was determined to protect him until Connor could get his memory back. Once they understood how he’d changed, Bastian hoped they could change him back to the way he