Page 8 of Dark Fire Kiss

“How? We have nothing they want. They care for nothing except gold and females.”

A beat passed.

Slowly, they turned and looked at me.

My throat went dry. No. They couldn’t be thinking of…what? Sacrificing me to a pair of dragons? My heart started to pound.

Red rolled over Grigory’s eyes. “We have something they want. The dragons aren’t picky about females. They’ll rut with any woman they find, if only to determine whether she’s theirs.”

I shook my head. “No. You can’t ask me to do this.”

He channeled to me and gripped my arm before I’d even registered he moved. “We’re not asking.”

“They’ll kill me.” I looked at Aleksander over his shoulder. “Please, Brother, don’t do this.” Maybe reminding him of our common parentage would tug at his heartstrings. He couldn’t send his own sister to be mauled and mounted by a pair of beasts.

Beasts who believed vampires were responsible for annihilating their women.

“They won’t kill you,” he said, his gaze dispassionate as he moved to Grigory’s side. “Their king signed a treaty that prohibits such things.” He kept his eyes on me as he addressed Grigory. “The chances of her being fated for a pair of those creatures is slim to the point of absurdity. You’re basically offering them a night or two of diversion. What if it’s not enough for them to hand over the tears?”

My chest tightened, my hope for him feeling any kind of kinship fading to dust. He didn’t care how I fared in this trade Grigory proposed. He considered my pain and humiliation a “diversion” that might tempt the dragons into helping him.

Grigory met his gaze. “She doesn’t have to succeed. The Blood only requires that you try.”

I held my breath as some unspoken exchange seemed to pass between them. After a moment, Aleksander nodded.

Grigory hauled me onto my toes and bared his fangs. “You do this, or I’ll rip out your throat.”

Nausea rose swift and hot. He didn’t make idle threats. If I refused to go to the dragons, he’d kill me. My vampire half allowed me to heal some injuries, but I couldn’t survive massive blood loss. If he ripped my throat out, I’d die—but I’d live long enough to watch all the blood in my body spread over the flagstones before I drew my last breath.

So my choices were sacrifice or certain death.

“All right,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

* * *

Ten minutes later, I stood alone in the castle courtyard with the distant sound of thralls’ screams drifting around me. The warriors had confined them to the Great Hall so they could ferret out any other would-be assassins. If the agonized shrieks were any indication, Krovnosta was going to need new thralls come morning.

The Hall’s double doors swung open, and the wails swelled as Aleksander strode down the steps with a warrior at his side.

I clenched my jaw so my teeth wouldn’t chatter. The air was warm, but a chill had seeped beneath my skin and now clung to my bones.

I shoved my discomfort aside as my brother and the other male reached me. “Aleks,” I said, opting for the nickname I’d sometimes used as a child. “I’m begging you to reconsider. You know what the dragons will do to me. And I’m a—” I dropped my gaze as embarrassment flooded me. My inexperience was a favorite topic of mockery around the court.

Aleksander heaved an impatient sigh. “Relax, Halina. The dragons can’t detain you indefinitely. It’s baked into the treaty their Mad King signed to end the War of the Firstborn. Kidnapping and magic are off limits when it comes to obtaining females. Once they realize you’re incompatible, they have to let you go.”

My head spun with all the new information he was throwing at me. The war had happened a thousand years ago. I knew nothing of mad kings or treaties, only that dragons were deadly and unstoppable.

And I most definitely didn’t want to end up between two of them.

My chest constricted with fresh fear. “Aleks—”

“Where is your sense of loyalty?” he snapped. “You’re doing this for Father.”

“I’m doing it because Grigory threatened to rip my throat out.”

His gaze was steady as the screams of the thralls echoed around us.

I waited, my stomach twisting with nerves. We were hardly close, but he’d saved my life once. Surely, he harbored some affection for me—enough, at least, to change his mind about throwing me to a pair of dragons.

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