Page 83 of Hidden Fate

“Let me,” Saphira said as she bent next to me. “I watched Vlad do it when we came to rescue you.”

That hadn’t been long ago, but it felt like ages. So much had changed between now and then, yet we were back here, right where Thorn’s entire existence had started—at the royal château.

She dug her fingers into a small crack between the boulder and the one next to it and gritted her teeth. Something clicked, and when she removed her hand, her fingers were bleeding. She put them in her mouth before she dropped them. “There,” she mumbled.

Wyvern growled and lifted the lid a little too roughly, as if to make the entrance pay for injuring his mate. I mashed my lips together, trying not to smile. That would only aggravate him further.

“Go on down.” I gestured to the small makeshift ladder cut into the concrete. “I’ll get the others.”

Nodding, Saphira went down first, with Wyvern following right after.

I scanned the area to make sure no one else was approaching. Glancing at where Theron was standing, I saw the former magenta dragon in human form, lying very still on the ground.

The injuries he’d sustained had taken his life in human form.

Thorn’s face was etched in agony. He knew that taking the man’s dragon had led him to that fate, and his regret swirled into me.

We’ve got to go,I connected, afraid to speak out loud in case others in dragon form were close enough to hear us.

That was enough to snap Thorn out of his daze, and he waved Theron and Vlad toward me. They didn’t hesitate.

I kept watch as Theron went down the ladder, but then Vlad pointed to me, then Thorn and the hole. He wanted to go down last, and I wouldn’t argue. We’d already had the door open for far too long.

I lowered myself and jumped to the bottom. When I landed, my feet stung, but nothing like the burn still lingering from the dragon’s fire. Thorn followed suit, jumping down after me, and a shiver ran along my spine.

I hated being down here. The area was just big enough to walk into upright, about ten feet wide and twelve feet tall, but the cobwebs throughout had me wanting to get out of there. I could hear the rats scurrying away from our feet.

Lovely.

There was no light in the direction we were going, and it was already dark here since the sun had gone down. But that wasn’t a problem, as we were all dragons. None of us spoke until Vlad had climbed halfway down the ladder and shut the door. When it snapped closed, dirt trickled down into Vlad’s and Thorn’s hair.

Part of me relaxed, while another side tensed even more. This was the beginning of the end. We’d made it here, but the next stop was inside the château, where we had to face Drake.

It wasn’t that I feared him but more that I couldn’t stand the power he had over us. He was cruel, smart, and unpredictable, and he made me feel downright icky. The memory of his onion breath when he’d forced a kiss on me would haunt my nightmares forever, and I hated that he would always have that over me.

“How’s everything going with the others?” Saphira whispered as she leaned against Wyvern’s arm.

Vlad and Theron were the only two who could tell us, since their mates had stayed behind.

“They’re holding on, but only because more people showed up to fight.” Vlad’s jaw twitched. “We need to move quickly. The new dragons are mostly untrained, and there’ve been some deaths on our side.” He nodded toward the other end of the tunnel.

Theron ran a hand through his hair. “From what Hydra can guess, about fifty more showed up with weapons.”

Surprise filtered through Thorn. “Every person helps.”

How I wished we could’ve found more people and trained them, but we’d been on borrowed time. I was thankful more had come to fight alongside us. “That’s because they believe inyou.”

No, they believe in us.Thorn took my hand and tugged me to the front of the group, squeezing past Saphira and Wyvern.

We led the way toward the other end at a rigorous pace. The stagnant, dank air had us moving more slowly than normal, even though we were supernatural.

“This is creepy as hell but an effective secret weapon,” Wyvern mumbled.

“No one but the king knew about it, so it’s safe to assume we’ve used it more than anyone,” Thorn answered without breaking his stride.When we get there, I need you to promise you won’t run into danger if something happens to me.

My breath caught.Only if you make the same promise to me.I looked at him, slowing slightly, raising an eyebrow.As long as you make that promise, I might consider returning the favor.I smiled sweetly.

He scowled.That’s different. He wants to take you as his wife.

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