Page 41 of Claimed By the Sinful Dragon
I dismissed the idea as quickly as it came. Probably just some he’d found lying around from one of his many Tributes past, that happened not to have been worn. Either way, I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I kicked off my leather shoes,which already had a small crack in one sole, and tugged on the boots. They were padded and soft, and luxury on my feet after the long trek. I shoved the shoes into the bag—might need those later—and my hand caught on something. Pushing the bundled clothes aside, I spotted lettering staring up at me. Abook.And not just any book. The one I’d been reading in his garden. He’d…he’dgivenit to me. From his personal hoard.
I stared at it for a long moment, my chest squeezing uncomfortably. Was I doing the right thing? Maybe Rook deserved the benefit of the doubt. A chance to show the side of him I hadn’t seen before now. Because the man I thought I knew, he’d never have done something like this. He liked to torment me, to make me feel less. To give, only to take away. But maybe…maybe that wasn’t right. Maybe when he’d given me the book in the library, he hadn’t done it planning to take it away again. Maybe he was…trying. Because that man? That man might be someone I wanted to get to know.
And then I shook my head. That man was a dream. That man wasn’t Rook. One good deed, one moment of consideration and generosity, was not enough to undo all the bad shit he’d done up to that point—and hell, after it, too. It didn’t undo him forcing me to his home against my will, and it didn’t undo locking me in my room like a kid…or a prisoner. I deserved better. I deserved somewhere I could be free. Equal. And that was never going to happen as long as I was in Rook’s territory. But I’d heard him on his phone before. He’d said something about rebels in the east. Rebels meant someone was fighting back against this bullshit world. And maybe I wanted to be in that fight. I’d spent my whole life sitting on the sidelines, on the outskirts, but I was sick of that. I was sick of being nothing. Ofmeaningnothing.
I set my jaw and slung the bag over my shoulders again as I rose swiftly to my feet. I’d spent enough time in the woods that I’d learned to navigate by the trees and plants during the day, and by the stars at night. And now I had a direction.
I was going east.
I followed the game paths through the woods, grateful for each step that took me further away from Rook and, hopefully, the insanity that seemed to creep over me every time I was near the man. It was like since that night he’d come to my room and I’d tried to climb him like a tree—and been rejected—every time I was in the same room as him my body couldn’t decide whether to fight or fuck him, despite the fact that clearly they were both shit ideas, likely to lead to my untimely death. I’d spent nineteen years working my ass off to stay alive, but a few weeks around Rook was enough to obliterate my sense of self preservation. I’d just run away from a freakingdragonwho thought he owned me, and where was I heading? Towards rebels who wanted to fight with dragons. There was definitely something wrong with my head. I was so going to get myself killed.
Maybe it wasn’t too late to go back to R—
I cut the thought off. The next time I laid eyes on that man, I was going to wind up in a ditch or in his bed, and despite what my body seemed to think, I didn’t want either of those things.
…and if I kept telling myself that, I might actually start to believe it.
I shook my head as I pressed on, slowing my pace to work through a particularly dense section of the woods, studded with thick roots that’d break an ankle if I wasn’t paying attention. Turned out I was paying attention to the wrong thing.
The hand clamped over my mouth before I could shout, and he yanked me backwards against him, keeping me off balance. His head ducked low to my ear.
“Well, well, fancy meeting you out here, Kaylee.”
Chapter 21
Rook
Morning had becomeafternoon, and most of that had been spent by the time I left Gaheris with enough to consider that I knew I’d be awake to watch dawn break. He was talking about treason, and whilst I held no particular allegiance to Uther, that didn’t mean I had an interest in putting a target on my back.
We do not back down from a fight,my dragon griped as we flew.
We don’t go looking for one, either,I pointed out, not for the first time on our way home. We’d gone back and forth on this more than I enjoyed, but the truth was both arguments had merit, and I doubted we’d come to an agreement today—but we would have to decide soon. Gaheris was right about one thing: sooner or later, we’d have to choose sides.
First though, I needed to eat. Assuming my little wolfless Tribute didn’t attempt to poison me again, that was.
We should not have locked her in her room. She will be displeased.
Yeah, well, better displeased than attacked by Gaheris’s enemies.Ourenemies.
And if we went through with this fight, then she was going to have to get used to staying inside, and out of sight. She was much too vulnerable to risk her being taken unawares by someone hunting for me. Uther’s men wouldn’t care who got caught in the crossfire so long as they eventually found their mark. He’d sooner burn my land to the ground and rule overthe ashes than let anyone think I’d slighted him, or sided with someone who had. There was no mistaking it: taking Gaheris’s side endangered my territory, and everyone in it.
My dragon gave no response, and we flew the final half mile in silence. I’d have savored the silence if not for the tumult of my own thoughts. They didn’t quiet until my feet touched soil in my own home, and I shifted back into my human form.
Something is wrong,my dragon said at once.
Yeah, I get it.So much for my silence.You don’t like the new world order. You already said.
No. Something is wronghere.
I paused for all of a heartbeat, letting my dragon’s sense ofwrongflood my entire body, and then I slammed open the front door, hurtling along the corridors and racing up the stairs for Kaylee’s room. Wrong. Something was very wrong.
There was no sound other than the thud of my feet against the floor, and as I reached her door, the only heart I heard beating was mine.Fuck.I groped for the key in my pocket but I couldn’t find the damn thing.
Find her. Now!
With a grunt, I slammed my foot into the door, shattering the lock. It hadn’t been made to holdmykind.
It took three heartbeats to scan the room.One.She wasn’t standing beyond the door.Two.The bed was made, and empty.Three.The window was open.
