Ash Princess (The Deviant Future #6) - Eve Langlais Page 0,75
us then. But that’s not why you look pissed. The dragon told you something.”
For a second, she wanted to shout that dragons couldn’t talk. But that would be a lie. It was long past time to admit that she had a gift, and now she knew the truth. “Zee is a traitor.”
“What? Isn’t that the guy we just saved?”
She nodded. “The dragon just…” She paused. How to explain?
Except she forgot he already understood better than she did. “He showed you something, didn’t he?”
“How do I know I can believe it?”
“What’s your gut say?”
Her head dipped. “It makes sense and doesn’t. Zee told me my father died fighting this dragon. But the truth is it was an ambush by Ruby soldiers who Zee appeared to have a deal with.”
“A deal that turned sour I’d bet, given he spent the time since in the Necropolis keeping to himself.”
“I just don’t understand why. How could he betray the people who trusted him?” She’d long ago cried her tears for her father, and yet they welled in her eyes.
“Ah, Kay.” Despite his distrust of the dragon, he got close enough to put a hand on her in reassurance. Luckily the drake allowed it. “There are only a few reasons why people betray their friends. Revenge and reward being the most common.”
The statement drew her gaze to the stairway. “In this case I’ll wager he was looking to escape. He tried to buy his way out by betraying my father, and I sent him back to Necropolis. We have to—”
“Keep a cool head and not rush in. Don’t forget. He’s been living for years without doing anything. Why would he start now?”
“I guess.” She tugged at the links again. “I don’t know how to break these chains.”
“You can’t. They are made of the toughest metal you can imagine.” Cam tread closer carefully, hands out to his sides. “We need a torch at the very least.”
“We can’t leave him tied up.”
“You do realize this thing will probably eat me the moment you release it.”
“It’s going to eat you now if you don’t help,” she replied sassily.
“If it eats us, I’m saying ‘told you so.’”
“Fine, but if it doesn’t”—she eyed him over her shoulder—“I’ll want another kiss.”
It was gratifying to see him tongue-tied.
“I’ll go see if I can find a torch.” He headed for the stairs.
“I’ll help.” She rapidly sent thoughts to the dragon.
The dragon lay back down, almost crushing her in its depression. It had apparently heard that excuse before.
She patted its snout. “I promise I’ll be back.”
“Actually, that might not be necessary. Look what I found.” Cam bypassed the stairs for what appeared to be an old metal crate that was actually some kind of utility shed with tools, probably for emergency fixes on the ship they’d seen.
A way out of here, and she’d never even suspected. She felt stupid for not realizing escape was so close.
Not that escape would be easy. Ruby had turned them away once and would probably do so again. As for the soldiers, would they shoot children?
She only had to remember they’d been using her people as dragon food to know that answer.
It didn’t take as long as expected for the white-hot flame of the torch to slice through the metal link. It clanged to the ground, and the dragon immediately sat on its hind quarters, towering over them both.
It uttered an ululating cry of joy.
“Be free,” Kayda whispered.
Chapter 17
The dragon stretched, and Cam narrowly missed being cuffed by the sweep of its wings. They crackled as they snapped open. The big drake let out a shriek.
He could only assume it was happy given Kayda beamed. Even better, the dragon ignored them.
It jumped and landed on the rim of the tower, its mighty hindquarters bunching as its claws gripped the broken concrete walls.
Kayda was quite smug as she said, “Told you it wouldn’t eat us.”
He was kind of glad he didn’t have to try and kill it. There was something kind of radioactive about seeing a creature of legend come to life. The big drake was nothing like the small dragons. And it was more than just size.
There was an intelligence in its gaze and a yearning for what they all wanted. Freedom.
It leaped, pushing with its legs, sending the precarious perch crumbling. Not that it mattered. The dragon flung itself into the air, wings snapping, and for a moment, it seemed impossible that such a thing would be able to fly. The drake caught an air current, and he