“Well...” I craned my head to look up at the ceiling. “I’d say we’re underground, though I have no idea where. Could be in a city, could be out in the wilderness, but deep enough that no one outside of Talon knows we’re here. The organization likes to do their dirty business where no one can see it.”
St. George glanced at the barred door and the guards flanking either side. “Why haven’t they killed us yet?” he muttered, his eyes dark. “If they can’t get what they want from us, why are they keeping us alive? We know too much. We’ve seen that dragon army.” He turned, frowning in my direction. “They don’t need us. Talon has been hunting you for years, and I’m still a soldier of St. George in their eyes. Dante would’ve killed us if Ember hadn’t stepped in. What are they waiting for?”
“That’s easy,” I said. “It’s not about us, St. George. We’re leverage. To get Ember to do what they want. You saw what happened with that twin of hers.” His eyes widened, then hardened in fury. I gave a tired nod. “Our lives aren’t important. For some reason, it’s always been about her. As long as we’re alive, she’s not going to do anything that will put us in danger. If she doesn’t cooperate with them, they’ll threaten to kill us, or torture us, or something equally awful and blackmail-ish. That’s how Talon works. And of course Ember, being Ember, will do whatever they say, to save our lives.”
St. George clenched his fists. “We have to get out of here,” he said in a low voice. “You’ve escaped Talon before, right?”
“Yeah, but I wasn’t exactly in the middle of an armed Talon facility,” I answered. “They know who we are, and they’re not taking any chances. Maybe if I could somehow get to a computer and contact Wes...but I wouldn’t expect him to storm this place to rescue us. And I sure as hell wouldn’t want any of the hatchlings to try it. Best I could do is warn him about Talon’s new clone minions and tell him to keep the underground as safe as he can.” I sighed, shaking my head. “There’s also another reason for Talon to keep us alive. One that’s probably not going to be pleasant for either of us.”
“They want information,” St. George muttered.
I nodded. “Yeah. And you can guess how they’re going to try to extract it. From both of us.”
“I’ve been trained to withstand torture,” the soldier said in a calm voice. He glanced at me again, his expression grim. “I won’t betray your network.”
“Appreciate it, St. George,” I said, more grateful than I’d realized. “But I don’t think we’re going to have much of a choice, in the end. Not if we’re stuck here for a while. Talon always gets what they want, eventually.”
The creak of the door interrupted us. St. George stood quickly, but I stayed where I was, watching as the heavy iron barrier groaned and swung back, revealing four emotionless, identical humans with large guns. I smirked at them from against the wall.
“Hey, guys. I’d get up, but, uh...my head kinda hurts. You understand, right?”
The clones didn’t answer. As one, they stepped aside, parting like elevator doors, and a smaller figure walked through the gap to stand in the frame. St. George tensed, and I stiffened as two bright, crystal-blue eyes met mine across the room.
“Hello, Cobalt,” Mist said, smiling. “Ready for round two?”
EMBER
I paced the floor of my room, unable to sit still. It was a fairly standard bedroom, with a twin bed in the corner, a desk and a bookshelf, a separate bathroom, even a television on the wall. Nicely furnished, for a prison cell. There were no windows, of course, and I knew the heavy metal door would be locked, even without turning the handle. And the large, two-way mirror on the wall wasn’t fooling anyone. At least the cuffs were gone, and it had been a few hours, so the Dractylpromazine might’ve worn off.
The door beeped, making me jerk my head toward it, and a few seconds later a human clone opened it and stepped aside as Dante came into the room. I clenched my fists, fighting the urge to fly across the floor and grab my twin by his two-timing neck. His clone bodyguards made that impossible, however, even if I was able to turn into a dragon. Besides, I had bigger questions I wanted answers to.
“Where are Garret and Riley?” I demanded as soon as Dante stepped through the frame. His brow furrowed before smoothing out again.
“Alive,” was the cool, infuriating answer. “And they’ll remain that way...as long as you cooperate.”
“You’re a real piece of work, Dante,” I snarled. “Do you even hear yourself? What kind of soulless bastard makes threats like that?”
Dante stared at me, expressionless, before turning to his guards. “Leave us,” he ordered quietly. “Lock the door and stand guard, but don’t return until I call for you. Go.”
Without hesitation, the clones turned and left the room. The door clicked shut, and my brother turned back to me. “All right, Ember,” Dante said, walking forward with his arms slightly raised. “Here I am. No guards, no one to stop you. Do your worst—”
I punched him in the jaw as hard as I could, landing a solid right hook across his chin. He staggered back and nearly fell, one hand going to his face. For a few seconds, he stood braced against the wall, cradling his jaw in stunned silence. Finally, he straightened and pulled his hand down to gaze at the blood on his fingertips before turning to me.
“Feel better?”
“No,” I whispered as my eyes started to burn. “Damn you, Dante! How could you turn on me like this? You were my best friend—we used to do everything together. And now look at you.” I stepped back, shaking my head. “You’re one of them.”
“I turned on you?” Dante sounded genuinely shocked. “You’re the one who left. Ran off with that traitor and went rogue. You walked out, not me. I’ve done nothing but try to bring you back to Talon.”
“Against my will.”
“If I didn’t bring you home, they were going to kill you.”
“Hello, doesn’t that bother you?” I cried, throwing up my arms. “If I didn’t do what they wanted, they would kill me. If dragons don’t conform to Talon, they get Vipers sent after them. How is that freedom? How is that for the good of our race?”
“It’s for our survival,” Dante answered stonily. “We can’t have everything we want, not if we’re going to exist in this world. If you haven’t noticed, there’s a war out there. We’re being pushed toward extinction, Ember. Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made. Dragons who break away from Talon are a danger to us all.”