Page 107 of The Breeding Cave
YEOSIN
I stared through the opening at the end of my prison at the dark sky, my eyes becoming heavy. Even if I could get out of these shackles, I wouldn’t be able to leap off this cliff and survive, and I wanted to survive for Luciano and our baby.
Alvin was gone, for now, leaving me alone in my chains. My wrists were raw from the metal sinking into my skin. But this pain was nothing compared to what Alvin could do to me, nothing compared to what Luciano would do for me.
Pine drifted through my nose, teasing—no, testing—me. I needed to get out of here.
But I couldn’t escape as a human. If Alvin was being honest about me being a phoenix, then that must’ve meant that I had powers, right? Maybe I could use magic. Would that work? Though Alvin wouldn’t leave me alone if he thought I could use it to escape …
My eyes slowly shut, and I thought back to all those times that Gideon had burned me in my dreams, in my nightmares. Phoenixes burned alive, didn’t they? Did Gideon know that I had been a phoenix all this time? Was he one too?
I snapped my eyes open. Maybe he was onto something.
Do I have to burn myself alive to gain my powers?
In the hallway, a lantern flickered against the stone. I stood up from Alvin’s filthy nest and moved toward the door, being careful not to make too much noise with my shackles. I didn’t want to alert Alvin.
The farther I walked, the more the chains pulled on my wrists and ankles. The lantern was feet away—feet away from my freedom, feet away from me burning alive and burning down this dungeon, freeing all the people Alvin had said he captured, seeing my mate again.
Three feet away, and the chains tugged at my ankles.
Fuck.
No. No. No. No. No. No. Come on! I’m so close.
I strained against my chains, stretching as far as I could, every which way. Nothing. I pulled harder, my muscles screaming at me to stop, but I couldn’t. I needed to get out of here before Alvin came back. I had no other choice.
Suddenly, something moved in my peripheral vision. I snapped my gaze to the room across the circular stone hallway and spotted two figures in the shadows. I squinted to make them out. Two young girls—one with eyes that glowed a haunting orange, the other larger in stature with an almost-innocent, youthful face.
The first had to be a dragon; the second looked similar to a Colossal.
“Hey,” I whispered, bringing my body back to its normal position. “Can you help me?”
Dragon Girl hesitated, orange eyes widening and pointing toward Colossal. Colossal peered back at her, both not saying a single word. I crouched down and softened my gaze in an attempt not to look like a threat.
“Please,” I said. “I won’t hurt you. I just need to get out of here.”
“We don’t have a key,” Colossal said. “He keeps them on him.”
“I don’t need a key. I just need the lantern.”
Dragon Girl stepped into the light. “Why do you need the lantern?”
“To escape.”
The other girl stepped into the light, next to the dragon, and I noticed they were also bound by chains, but theirs stretched further. Alvin said that all the other prisoners were in a dungeon. Why were their two young girls in the bedrooms?
My stomach twisted, and bile rose in my throat. I don’t want to know.
“Why should we trust you?” Dragon Girl asked, an unreadable expression on her face.
She didn’t trust me, and I understood why if they were prisoners up here too.
I raised my arms to show them that I wasn’t someone who wanted to hurt them. “I’m not your enemy. Alvin is keeping me here against my will too. If I escape, I’ll free you too. All I need is the lantern.”
After sharing another look, they moved toward the lantern, their chains barely brushing against the ground. They must’ve been here for a long time to perfect walking through the bedroom and hallway without making a sound.
Colossal grabbed the lantern from the hallway and handed it to me.
