Page 19 of Jay's Silence

Although Og’s frown deepened, it did prove my point, and we booked it down the hall. In three steps, our black-and-white world suddenly burst with color as the quartz star ripped through Og’s invisibility spell.

I let out a frustrated grunt while the red blinking light on a security camera mocked our planning.

Og missed a step as his eyes flew wide. “The Quartz can steal raw magic as well?”

A shiver ran down my back. The diversity of supernatural energy required to make that shouldn’t be possible on this island. Yet it existed. Someone with more skill than even the earth dragon’s strongest warlock worked against us.

“We can’t use any magic, go go,” I yelled, increasing my speed.

The two copied me. In moments, we skidded to a stop in front of a heavy metal door. With just his dragon strength, Tyson pummeled it into a bent lump.

A single light bulb lit the room beyond. My stomach twisted as my assumptions and fears about Lux’s dad were confirmed.

Lux sat in a pool of dried blood. His arms were shackled to the wall, and one of his shoulders was dislocated. He managed to look up at us with hazy, bloodshot eyes. The scales under his skin shifted, trying to call on his dragon, but nothing changed. I doubted he had the strength to stand.

Hatred for his father boiled my blood.

“Mine,” Lux stated, though there was no power to the word.

“Shit, he’s lost in a rut.” Ogden brushed my side. “He could have done all this damage to himself.”

“He didn’t,” I stated, knowing it in my heart. I memorized his injuries, promising to give the Air King at least double what he’d done to his son.

“A rut makes a dragon single-minded.” Og reached out to Lux.

The air prince snapped at him with his human teeth.

Og pulled back and looked at me with wide, hurt puppy-dog eyes. “We can’t rescue him like this. He’ll fight us to get us away from you, Jay.”

I took a deep breath and let it out. “I got this.”

Footsteps and shouting bounced down the hall behind us.

Shit. And Og couldn’t use his magic to sprint.

I rushed to Lux’s side and lifted his chin, pressing our lips together. Immediately, he kissed me back. His tongue tangled with my own with more passion than his broken, bleeding body should be capable of. Power surged from me, shocking his already pain-wracked body, and he instantly slumped.

“What the feck?” Tyson demanded.

“He can’t hurt himself unconscious.” I picked up the chains around his wrists. “Help me get these off him.”

We were lucky the quartz star was as short-ranged as the one in the oubliette. Or maybe not lucky. It meant Lux’s dad probably used his magic to help torture his son. My anger burned. Tyson and I used his fire to melt the links of the chain holding Lux to the wall.

The sounds of running feet filled the hall we came from.

“Hurry,” Og whispered.

I bit back a sarcastic response and hurried. The two links melted. Og ducked down and picked up Lux like the delicateprincess I called him. Despite everything, a small smile pulled at my lips.

Tyson opened his mouth to speak, and I smacked my hand against his firm chest. “Don’t start. We need to fly, literally. Even if a hundred dragons are on our tail, if we can make it back to Lux tower, all four of us, I can get us out of this shit.”

This isn’t going to be a romantic orgy, is it?

I pointed dramatically back the way we came. “Tyson, ramming speed!”

Tyson flashed me a grin before covering himself in scales and charging down the hall. A group of air guards stood with their backs to us. We didn’t stop to ponder why they weren’t running toward us; we just used Tyson as the wrecking ball he was.

I came in like a…

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