Page 76 of Dragon Unleashed
Soon, I tell myself.
Soon, I can return to Astronia where my biggest worry is the horde camped on our borders and not something sinister lurking in my mate’s private chambers. My thoughts drift back to Paige and her agreement to return home with me today. What will she think of Astronia? Will she appreciate the land as much as I do? The rolling hills and crystal rivers? Will she be comfortable in the castle?
I resolve right here and now to build her a library fit for a queen. My father’s library doesn’t exactly boast the kind of romance stories Paige seems to like. But I can fix that. I will scour our world until I have the type of books that will make her happy.
I shake away the thought and force myself to focus on my task. Work now; focus on what’s to come later. After all, we’ll have the rest of our lives to focus on our own happily ever after.
The passage smells musty; the opening is narrow enough to unsettle my dragon with the rough-hewn walls scraping at my shoulders as I walk, but I shove aside the discomfort as I feel my way along the tunnel. All that matters now is Paige’s safety. And while I intend to get her out of this place—today, if possible—I won’t leave Hoc or the others in danger. Not when I know they matter so much to my mate.
I’ll see this through, and then we’ll go. Together.
The passageway descends at an angle that steepens sharply then levels out again to offer a winding path downward. I have a sense of being below the library itself and wonder if this will lead to the basement where Paige and I slept the night before last. But the passageway continues on, descending farther down than I think is possible.
After what feels like way too long, the passage opens abruptly, and I step into a cavernous space with walls carved from the earth itself and a ceiling so high I’d need my wings to reach it. The scent of stale air hits me, but more than that, the smell of bodies has me tensing and peering more deeply into the quiet darkness.
My skin pricks with awareness. Somewhere in this room, something breathes.
My dragon’s sight works fast, but even that is not enough to make sense of the grainy figures littering the cavern. At least a dozen figures, maybe more, are scattered through the space, each one a different shape and size.
I inhale, trying to pick apart the different scents, but I recognize almost none of them.
Except for one.
I have smelled him before.
My lips pull back in a snarl, but before I can utter the sound aloud, he speaks. “It took you longer than I expected, dragon king.”
His voice is taunting, and I loose a growl that echoes deeply through the cavern.
Across the cavern, on a high ledge, a small fire springs to life, and my eyes zero in on the match light that now illuminates the familiar face of the speaker. He lights a candle and then blows the match out, letting it fall harmlessly to the dirt floor.
He looks up, and our eyes meet. Rage boils my blood.
Morris. The wizard.
“What is it you want?” I demand.
“Sshh.” He holds a finger to his lips, eyes gleaming with some secret joke. “You’ll wake the children.”
He gestures around us, and I tear my eyes off my enemy long enough to glance left and right. With the addition of the firelight, I can finally make them out, and horror slams into me.
“Gods,” I breathe.
Whatever I was expecting to find down here, it wasn’t this. Creatures of all forms slumber quietly in their respective spaces. Some are smaller, furry, almost docile in sleep. But some are enormous, grotesque, with sharp teeth that glow in the flickering light. Each one is chained to the floor, though, looking at them now, I can’t imagine those chains would hold long if they decided they wanted to be free.
“What is this?” I ask quietly.
Morris smiles, a cruel twist of his mouth that says far more than his words do. “My new friends. I’ve been waiting to introduce you.”
“You don’t even know me,” I say.
He laughs, and the sound grates on me. “I know more than you think, your highness. On the other hand, I’m afraid it is you who doesn’t know me.”
“You’re Morris. The wizard.”
Even across this distance, I can see that I’ve offended him. “I am Constantine. And I am so much more than a lowly wizard, beast.”
“From where I stand, you look like nothing more than a thief--of books and creatures.”
