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Apparently, both his upper and lower jaws had been broken, but no one was sure how. I need to question the guards.
“You’d have to do a little gobbling of said dragon to convince him. What does dragon cum taste like anyway, Lia?”
“Probably spicier than a jalapeno,” I darkly mutter back. “But he’d definitely charcoal chicken my ass for trying.” “You think I can’t fucking hear you?” comes a volcanic breath into my mind.
“I’m not in the business of buying flesh,” Marduk says matter-of-factly, clasping his hands in front of him. “There are different types of monsters in the long grasses of the world, shark-friend, and I am the one who eats them.”
Marduk waits for me, keenly searching my face. “I long for a connection such as this,” he murmurs. “What ails your pack?”
Trying to ignore the fact that Aurelia just showed every male in the warehouse her bare naked be-thonged ass, and kicked her fire-engine red thong at Scythe, who caught it on pure reflex, then pocketed it, I turn a critical eye to her shift.
It’s no wonder dragons think so much of themselves. Being a bird is brilliant enough, but to be this beastly of a creature and yet so graceful in the sky? Magical.
“You won’t get fucked until you beg for it, regina.”
“I’ll get what I want, daddy shark.” Something sparks in those navy-blue eyes. Arousal? Anger? I can’t tell. “Learn your place, regina, or you’ll get punished.”
“They were working for the Clawsons? Did they help in her rescue? Is that how they got her out?” Lyle takes a deep breath and smiles sadly. “They tried to help her escape, but they didn’t make it. They gave their lives to help Yeti, Marduk and Minnie get her out.” An involuntary sob escapes my mouth. “Oh my God!”
mouth. “I am so sorry, Aurelia.” She doesn’t know that I mean that in two ways. And I’ve never in my life been afraid to reveal something to someone. Because though I’ve already hurt her, what is coming will hurt her tenfold. It will cut her so deeply that the mark will leave an immortal scar.
“Would you like to begin, Scythe?” Celeste says softly. Scythe, to my surprise, pulls his chair around to sit between me and Celeste. He leans forward and speaks in a new, gentle rasp. “I need to tell you something, Aurelia. And it’s going to be very difficult for you to hear.”
And then four words from the Great White shark turn my world upside down. “Your mother is alive.”
“Leaving us to get into the mansion,” I say. “But there’ll be worse than serpent generals protecting my mother.”
“There is also the matter of the monster who guards the entrance of the innermost segment,” Marduk says. “It is best to time our entry so that he will not be there.”
years. I won’t have to wear that one for my safety ever again. But pulling all the other shields around so many people is new to me.
That thing that just chased us. That just tried to kill us. The fact that Lyle, Savage, and Scythe were not running away from it to save themselves, but to save me. I think I’ve known, always known— It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t fucking matter because all of it means that we are now in an unknown part of the underground system that is holding my mum.
I’m so proud of her for sending our boogeyman running back there. He’s a giant asshole, and if I have any say about it, will pay for what he’s done.
I absently notice a shadow of movement on a poisoned wind that tells me the fifth part of my soul is with me, carried through the ether by the grief of his regina.
Six serpents and two eagles stand before the king and his full court, their faces downcast, trembling, their very souls quaking. Their primal fear calls to the dark, predatorial god in me, like rotting meat calls to vultures. Like a carcass calls to crows. It lights up my spirit. It makes me giddy.
And, standing by the king’s throne in line with the six other generals, I watch them all.
“All hail the king cobra,” I call. “All hail the king cobra,” they chorus. My king smiles at me, his lips cutting upwards in pleasure—a motion reserved for his most favoured serpent general. “You always serve me well, Lord Basilisk.”
Three Years Ago “He’s a terrible beast. Evil as they come.” Beak spits on the grass, off to the side to show his contempt. “Executed my regina and brothers just because she refused to remove the organs out of a very alive and healthy beast.”
I decide then that I will find Beak a new regina. A bird of prey who is missing her flock that he could learn to love and cherish like he did his real regina. A woman worthy of him and his strength.
Scythe does not look at me. He stares out the windscreen, his hands loose in his lap. “However…” I hang onto his every word. “I have a replacement planned. Beak’s nest is dead. His regina died a very long time ago, and he’s been looking for a home ever since. He’s a powerful eagle and…you’re missing an avian in your pack.”
“But there is word on the moonbeams. A whisper of an eagle with blood on his hands.” She squeezes my face to urge me. “Chains that bind you are the key. A great longing you will know. Suffer the torment of the dark. Then forever freedom you shall sow.”
“You can’t be serious,” Xander scoffs, after we return to him and I relay what we must do. “It sounds like fun,” Savage says, wiggling his toes in the sand. “I’ve never played prisoner before. I hope Beak will tie us up!”
I address my father, eye to eye. My own voice sounds distant but strong. Because I am. I am stronger than before. More ruthless than before. “I did what you asked of me. I tore my soul in two. Now I am free of her.”
