Page 144 of Deadly Maiden

Perhaps the soulmate bond is helping? Perhaps.

All I care is that I heal, fast.

We reach the tower stairs, and they drag me downward like a dog on a leash.

All I know is give me five, ten more minutes and I will rip these men in two and scatter their parts to the winds, preferably by throwing them out the tower windows.

We stagger downstairs, me groaning and clinging to my chain leash as if I’m ready to collapse, while really, I am plotting my revenge

When I reach the bottom, I am ten times stronger and the wound in my stomach is sealing over, the skin moving across.

My muscles brace against the chain tied about my wrists and the veins pop as I strain.

The magik within me builds and builds, nearing the crescendo I need it to reach before I can shift and destroy them all.

“Wait! You forgot this.”

The soldiers halt at the barked order. I swing to see who this is commanding them.

I bare my teeth as Kroll, the fae scarred by my dragonflame, moves into view.

He thrusts an iron spear through my guts.

Gasping, neck taut, I hiss as the shock barrels in. He twists the shaft and the spear burrows deeper. Teetering on my heels, I barely keep myself upright.

“This,” he purrs. “None of you thought to wonder about a dragonshifter being loosed without iron in him? Or on his neck?”

They all confess ignorance. I grin at Kroll, at where he grips the spear. “Do you like the pretty scars I gave you?”

His chuckle is punctuated by another twist of the spear. “Not really. Like the spear in your guts?”

I cough but keep smiling, aware my blood is spattering onto the walkway. I hope I distracted him because this new spear is smaller than the other, less damaging, easier to bend. If I get the chance, I will remove it and unleash my powers. I felt them simmering in that precious second before he stuck me again.

I might be stronger than ever.

Once I get this off me and out of me, I will get Wyntre free. I will.

“Bring him. You! Find some iron chain for his neck and hands, to replace that steel one.”

Fuck.He is becoming a problem, this Kroll.

Chapter 46

Wyntre

Pain dominates my head, and my mouth is so dry my tongue sticks to my gums.

I shiver and swim upward, surfacing, remembering…what happened.

I cannot see.

A hood covers my head and breathing makes it suck against my mouth.

Calm. I need to be calm. I can breathe.

An ice mage hit me with something non-lethal. I move my head, groan as my head thumps, my temples throb as if an alien thing is about to scrape out the top of my head.

My hands are locked behind me, and I’m on my side. Whatever I am lying on shifts. I’m being carried somewhere. When I try to stretch my arms, it pulls at the hooks that have been lodged in both sides.

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