A movement out of the corner of my eye had me turning my attention to around me where five other soldiers all wearing Callahan’s color and sigil stepped out of the tree lining. All of a sudden my head was jerked back by my hair and I was staring up at a menacing face of a man I didn’t know.
I grunted but didn’t demand he let go of me. They didn’t want to talk and if they didn’t know who I was I had a better chance of getting away from them. Hopefully unharmed. Tat didn’t have much time and I couldn’t waste it with these idiots.
The man’s mouth moved and I made out the words. Talk. Bitch.
Classy.
Refusing to give into his demands, I stared hard at him.
His gaze flicked up for a moment to the others nearby before his mouth moved again. This time I caught it. This is her?
Shit.
My not responding had done the opposite of what I wanted. Well, if the jig was up then there was no point in being quiet about it.
“Let me go,” I snarled at the man, while my fingers searched the ground for the blade I’d used to cut my skirt. If I could just reach it.
“Ah, so she can talk.” The soldier sneered at me, jerking my head back even more when I tried to stretch my arm to grab the hilt of the dagger just out of my reach. “His highness will give us a big reward for returning you to him. He’s been missing his plaything so very much.”
I snarled at his words. “I’m not a plaything. I’m a person. And his highness can fuck off and die for all I care.”
The metal against my neck, traced along my jawline as he turned me more toward him. “Maybe I’ll punish you for him and blame it on the drakes. No one would believe you. Not after spending so much time with those monsters.”
Someone on the other side must have said something because the man’s brows furrowed and his face scrunched up in anger and annoyance. His mouth formed one word. “Fine.”
He let me go with a shove and then a sharp pain hit the back of my head before I could even try to get away and everything went black.
Chapter 24
Desmond
“Can we just give her back?” Desmond pointed out, leaning over the map of the five kingdoms.
Ryu and Ira snarled at him with such vengeance that Desmond worried they would bite his head off just for mentioning it.
This wasn’t going according to plan. Ryu was far too attached to the human princess and now surprisingly for the stoic drake, Ira was too. Desmond was determined not to be caught up in her web. Even if he teased her with it.