Kachka had curled her lip. “I bet they are slimy. Like snake.”
“Snakes are not slimy and I am definitely not slimy.”
“I did not say you. I said your scales.”
“I am my scales.”
“You should stay human all the time. You look much better as human.”
“Now you’re trying to make me angry.”
She’d smiled at that. “Whatever gave you that idea?”
That had been last night, though. When she’d had more hope. Now . . . now he wheezed as he sat upon the horse Kachka had chosen for him. His body was so weak in the saddle, the only thing keeping him up was Zoya riding beside him, one hand gripping her own reins, the other gripping his shoulder.
They stopped outside the back entrance to the cave that Kachka sometimes saw in her nightmares and stared at it.
“You want us to go in there?” Tatyana had asked. Questioning, she called it. Always afraid, Kachka called it.
“Yes. We’re going in here.”
They dismounted and lit torches, making their way into the vast darkness.
They traveled for quite a bit in silence. Kachka could hear the sounds of small animals moving around in the dark but nothing else.
So it wasn’t a sound that alerted her to another’s presence. It was the way the air around them abruptly changed.
Kachka had always been fast with a weapon, but she didn’t even have it pulled from her scabbard when she felt a blade press the flesh under her chin.
“Ah-ah-ahhh. Let’s not be hasty,” a voice ordered.
Kachka released the hilt of her weapon and lifted her hand.
“What are Riders doing in this cave?”
“I am here to see—”
“She’s fine,” a male voice called out from the darkness.
A word she did not recognize was whispered and torches lining both sides of the cave walls burst to life, revealing that their small group was surrounded. And probably had been for quite some time.
Something that was not lost on her fellow tribeswomen.
Moving around a boulder, sliding his blade back into its sheath, a male walked to Kachka and smiled at her.
“Kachka Shestakova.” Bold eyes moved over her. “I have to admit, I never really thought I’d see you again.”
“Abomination,” she replied, recognizing the only son of Annwyl the Bloody, Talan. “I see death has found you quite well.”
“Why are you here? And stop calling me Abomination.”
“Apologies, Abomination. I do not mean to upset. I need help.”
“For the dragon?” he asked, nodding at the lizard slumped over his saddle.
“Yes.”
The Abomination moved closer. “You do not seem like the kind of Rider who would have many dragon friends, no matter who your sister is fucking. So who is this one?” he asked, gesturing with a gloved hand.
“Gauis Lucius Domitus. Friend of your mother, I—”
“Gods!” The boy immediately stepped to the dragon’s side. He reached for him, touching his shoulder and pulling him up. That’s when he saw the torc around the dragon’s neck and stepped back as quickly as he’d originally stepped forward.
“What the battle-fuck is that thing?”
“Some kind of evil dragon magick.”
“Dragon magick is neither good nor evil. It just is,” the boy murmured as he studied the torc.
“Whatever it is, Abomination, it kills him. He needs help. Help only—”
“Yes. You’ll need to carry him, though.”
“I will carry,” Zoya volunteered.
Tossing the now unnecessary torch aside, Zoya walked over to the dragon and lifted his human body up and over her shoulder.
“Show me way, freaks of nature!” Zoya happily bellowed.
The other Abominations looked to their leader and, with a sigh, Talan motioned them forward. “Show her. Quickly.”
There was a nod and three of the soldiers moved off with Zoya.
“You have giantess friends, too, I see,” the Abomination noted.
“No. She is not giant. Just one of the Kolesova Tribe. Is that not right, Zoya?”
Zoya laughed as she walked away. “Giant? My older sisters give me nickname Pee-Wee.”
Eyes wide, the Abomination stared at Kachka.
With a shrug, she replied. “She tells truth. They do call her Pee-Wee. And Tiny Toy. And Baby Bear.”
The Abomination shook his head. “That’s . . . terrifying.”
Kachka followed behind Zoya and the others. “Only to the weak and small.”
“Well, I’m not weak. . . .”
Princess Talwyn, only daughter of Annwyl the Bloody, sucked the marrow out of the cold ribs left from last night’s meal and thought about how bloody bored she was.
Gods, she was bored!
How long was she supposed to stay here in this cave? Bored.
So very bored!
There was a whole world out there, and Talwyn was chomping at the bit to meet that world head-on with her blade out and her fists ready. But instead, she stayed here with most of the other offspring of human and dragon pairings and Brigida the Most Foul.
“Stop it.”
Talwyn looked over at her cousin by doing no more than moving her eyes. “What?” she asked around the rib still in her mouth.
“Stop complaining.”