Page 26 of The Fire Dragon's Mate
“No, shut up because I heard something.”
I held my breath. Had I moved? Sniffed? Breathed too loudly?
But no, he wasn’t looking my way. I watched him suddenly rush in the opposite direction from me. He bent and when he straightened, he had Melita caught by her hair. Oh, gods…
She didn’t make a sound as she jabbed at the man with her elbow, catching him in his chest or maybe his throat. He let her hair go as he coughed, and she ducked to draw her dagger from her boot. I was on my feet and running for the second man as Melita plunged the dagger into the first man’s ribs, right where Phineas had said to. He collapsed to the ground without a sound, his own body extinguishing the torch.
The other man was trying to get hiscrossbow off his back but then gave up and drew his sword. Melita saw him advancing on her and stepped back.
I wasn’t going to make it to them in time! Desperate, I threw my dagger at the man, hoping to distract him from her at the very least and gain more time.
My blade sank into his back, and he cried out as he dropped to his knees. I reached him then and tore the dagger free, grabbed him by the hair, and slit his throat.
It was the most gruesome and terrible thing I had ever done in my life, and I stepped back in horror at my actions as the man fell forward. He made gasping, wet sounds as he clawed at his open throat before he finally went still.
“Gods, Declan,” Melita whispered, “we’ve killed them.”
“We had to,” I said, my hands shaking. “Us or them.”
She reached for me, and I enveloped her in my arms. I tried to believe what I’d said.
“Can we go back?” she asked. “I’d like to go back.”
I nodded and let her go, and she caught my hand. Linked like that, we walked back up toward the main entrance since it was the easiest place to aim for.
“Do we have to tell them what happened?” Melita asked quietly.
“We should. If for no other reason than to not have to carry the burden alone.”
She squeezed my hand a moment before she gasped and stumbled. Thinking she’d tripped like we’d both done countless times by now, I made to help her straighten. She pulled free of my hold.
“Melita?”
“Declan, I think I found the bombs.”
She stood up with a lumpy sackcloth bag in her arms.
Eleven
TO THOSE WHO DIE TODAY
Everyone was thrilled to have the explosives and commiserated with Melita and I over what we’d had to do to the sailors who’d attacked us. That last part was reiterated several times by various people who could see that neither of us were okay with what we’d done. Though I did find a way to be more okay with it once Phineas explained what the others had discovered.
Cighyss was being held near the castle in Xanthous, caged like a trophy. How they’d caught him, what they’d done to him to keep him contained, none of us knew. Had he gone to them to negotiate for our safety? Had he attacked them, been injured, and captured? Regardless of how it had happened, we finally knew where he was.
We had to save him.
My hesitancy to fight was dissolving now that I knew Cighyss was hurt and captive. I’d grown to… I loved him. If it was in my power to help him, to bring him home, I would do whatever was necessary to make that happen. Even if it meant I had to kill.
Phineas continued to lead us, and I loved that he readilytook council from everyone else. Each voice was important to him. I’d never been prouder of my brother.
“I know you aren’t eager for this,” he said solemnly, “but in order to sail to Xanthous, we will have to commandeer a ship and that will, no doubt, require violence. I don’t want anyone to volunteer for this mission who isn’t ready to slit a throat.”
He said that with a nod to me, and I stood taller.
After letting everyone sit with that for a moment, Eglantine, Hagen, Bromley, Warfield, and Fatima decided to come with Phineas and I. There was some debate on whether Phineas should go since Gilda was so close to giving birth, but she demanded that he focus on Cighyss and not give a thought to her. Even I knew he wouldn’t be able to do that, but with her permission, he agreed to go.
The wait for another nightfall was a torture of the heart. I was ready. I wanted to leave. The delay, the wait for darkness, was damn near unbearable. I hated to wish time here away, but I needed to begin.
