4. Chapter

Zade

Her wrist was thin, almost fragile in my grip, yet the tension radiating from her felt like a drawn bowstring. As I led her deeper into the belly of the palace, the corridors grew narrower and the walls glistened with dampness in the torchlight.

Something was wrong.

This was not the defiant struggling she had shown in the square. Her steps became uncertain and her breathing quickened into short, broken gasps that echoed through the tight stone passage.

"Are you bringing her yet?" Noctis's voice thundered impatiently in my mind. "I can smell her. Like spring rain on burned earth. Bring her closer."

"Calm down, Noctis," I muttered to myself.

We stopped before the massive iron bound gate that led to my dragon's nest. I glanced at the girl.

The face that had burned with fury before was now ash gray. Her green eyes were wide, but they were not looking at me. They were fixed on the ceiling and the walls, as if the stone itself were trying to swallow her.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked roughly. "Do not tell me you are just now starting to fear me."

She did not answer. Her gaze looked distant.

I grabbed the heavy iron handle and pulled the gate open.

The cavern beyond was enormous, but the entrance led through a narrow arched tunnel. As we stepped inside the heat struck us immediately. The air was thick with sulfur and the ancient scent of a beast.

The girl stopped.

The hand that had been clenched into a fist now grabbed the sleeve of my coat desperately.

"Too... too small," she whispered so quietly I almost did not hear it. "The walls... they are moving."

"Do not talk nonsense," I said with a shrug. "This is the largest cavern in the empire."

I led her into the inner chamber where Noctis waited.

The massive black dragon crouched beside a stream of lava. When he saw us he lifted his gigantic head. His amber eyes glowed in the darkness like two lanterns.

Noctis stood and his scales clattered against the stone. Every step shook the cavern.

"Let me see," my dragon's mind pulsed with excitement.

I saw the girl's knees buckle. Her gasping breaths turned into choking. She grabbed her throat as if invisible hands were strangling her.

"Hey."

I caught her around the waist before she collapsed.

"Look at me. Noctis will not harm you while I am here."

But she was not afraid of Noctis.

At least it did not seem that way.

Her gaze darted wildly across the dark rock walls as if the stone itself were slowly crushing us together. She looked like a bird trapped in a cage beating itself against the bars until it died.

Noctis sensed the confusion as well. Dragons do not understand human weakness, but my beast tried to show a kind of empathy in his own way. He lowered his head and released a deep vibrating sound from his throat. Among dragons this was a sign of calm, a mental impulse meant to suppress fear.

"Do not fear, little flesh," Noctis sent the thought.

But he did not realize that the mental force of a dragon was like a hammer blow to an untrained human mind.

The girl screamed. It was short and strangled.

Her hand went limp on my coat.

"Noctis, enough!" I shouted at the dragon, but it was already too late.

Her body became heavy in my arms. Her head fell back and her beautiful white hair spread across her dark clothing like a web.

She had fainted.

I stood in the middle of the cavern holding the unconscious fragile girl while my enormous dragon blinked at us with confused guilt.

"Perfect," I muttered angrily. "I choose the toughest fighter from the streets and what happens? She sees you and faints from fear."

I looked down at her motionless face. In this deep sleep the hatred was gone, leaving only vulnerability. The scar on her cheek stood out sharply against her pale skin.

For a moment a strange unfamiliar feeling stirred inside me.

It was not pity. Dark princes do not feel pity.

It was more like irritation mixed with a possessive instinct.

She looked like a porcelain doll that had broken in my hands before I even had the chance to play with it.

"She is not weak, Zade," Noctis murmured, gently nudging the girl's dangling hand with his nose. "Her soul was screaming. The walls hurt her, not me."

"It does not matter what hurt her, Noctis. If this is enough to break her then she will never become a dragon rider's guard. Just another burden."

I straightened and lifted her into my arms. She was surprisingly light, almost weightless compared to my armor and weapons. I carried her toward the exit of the cavern.

"She will wake up in her room," I said to the dragon. "Next time stay where you are before you kill her along with her mind."

As I carried her up the stairs her head rested against my shoulder. Her skin was cold.

I could not explain why, but instead of handing her over to the guards I pulled her a little closer.

It seemed this girl was going to cause more trouble than she was worth.

And the worst part was that I was already waiting for her to open her eyes again and throw that deadly green fire at me.

Because this silence, this stillness, did not suit her at all.