His eyes narrowed. “Army? What army?”
“You’ll know more when Wren arrives in the throne room. If she doesn’t, then you don’t get the intel.”
He growled. She felt the air vibrate from his chest. The man actually sounded like a wild animal. “Keep walking straight. Don’t make any turns, and this will lead to the main cavern. From there, we’ll go to the king’s room.”
With that, he was gone in a blink. Not vanishing into thin air, but moving so quickly, her eyes couldn’t track him in the torchlight.
“You got a plan?” Daphne asked, sounding hopeful.
“I’m not sure. First, we need to keep these guys from attacking. Then we need to figure out how to get out of here. If they find out who Zee is, they might kill him and Wren.”
Daph gasped. “Shit, he’s the alph—”
“Yes, don’t say it. Anyone could be listening.” They passed the tunnel from the kitchen and continued straight. She knew she should’ve turned left instead of right. Dammit.
When they reached the cavern, Lilah debated whether she wanted to cause a big scene right now. She was getting tired and hungry. God, this was so stupid.
In the main cavern, Wren and Zee stood waiting. A small army surrounded them. The girls greeted each other with hugs, and Lilah spared a touch for Zee.
When hugging him, she whispered into his ear, “Don’t tell them who you are.” She pulled away. “Glad to see you’re awake now.” She caught Ferrus’s eyes glowering at her. His hands were around the hilt of his sword strapped to his back. What was his problem?
“Snap to it.” She snapped her finger at the red fae. “To the throne room.” Was it her imagination, or did the big guy’s face become redder? She smiled to herself. He deserved that just for the toxic culture they had. Again, she wondered if she could be the instigator the women needed to bring attention to their unfair treatment. Of the boys in the mines , and the girl who couldn’t talk. How many more were there who suffered injustice in this place?
When they reached the outer doors with the dragon etched into the metal, Ferrus told them to wait there for him to speak to the king first; then he would get them. After the doors closed behind the fae, Lilah ran her fingers over the design. The dragon was fierce-looking but weren’t they all.
“Too bad you can’t add that to your collection,” Wren said. “It’s really cool.”
All her life, she’d loved anything to do with dragons. She watched Game of Thrones just to get a glimpse of their overgrown lizards. Something about this dragon was different. She’d noticed earlier that the monster didn’t have wings. It was a mix of Godzilla and a T-Rex. More toward the Rex side, though.
One of the doors opened, and she stepped back, snatching her hand to her chest.
“All right,” Ferrus said, “the King is ready.” He zeroed in on her. “You talk through me.”
“That’s BS. There’s no reason—” He lifted a finger, halting her tirade. “Fine. Just go.” They followed him into the room where the king sat exactly as he was a few hours ago. Didn’t look like he even moved.
“What is this I hear about an army?”
Lilah turned to Wren. “They let you out so you can tell Ferrus, here, about the guy you saw in the forest the day we abandoned the old village.”
“Sure,” Wren said, looking around Ferrus at the king.
“Wren, tell Ferrus, not the King,” Lilah said with slight disgust in her voice.
“But the king asked—”
“I know,” she said, lifting her hands, “I’ll explain later.” They all listened to Wren’s story about meeting with the strange man. She left out the part about the gemstones. Right call on that. She didn’t know if it would be advantageous to share that info or keep it to themselves for now.
Both Ferrus and the king sat thinking over what they had heard. The King asked, “So what creature or creatures make up the fighters.”
Oh damn.
When Wren said kappies, the room exploded into laughter. Even the guards were laughing.
“Just because they are three feet tall doesn’t mean they can’t be dangerous. What if they have some super weapon you don’t know about?” Suddenly, Lilah had all the attention on her. She swallowed hard. “I’m just sayin’.”
Her stomach growled, and she was sure nobody had given Wren and her mate anything to eat or drink either. So when nobody said anything, she asked, “Can we go up to the kitchen to get something to eat?” She glowered at Ferrus. “Since I was occupied, we didn’t get to eat.” She wanted to check on the woman who was hit also. Make sure she was okay.
“Guards,” the king hollered, “take the prisoners back to the holding cell.”
“What?” Lilah yelled back. Ferrus started pushing her out of the room. Before he got the one door closed, Lilah had wrapped her fingers around the edge of the other door and pulled her head back in. “You have no right to imprison us. This is inhumane treatment.”
Ferrus carefully pried at her fingers from around the door. Jerk. She saw the smile he was holding back.
“Ferrus,” the king said, “stay.” She didn’t like the way that sounded. Almost threatening. Ferrus stiffened, hardening his face.
Fear zipped through her. “Why do you have to stay? You’re not in trouble, are you?” Through her mind scenes from movies where the hero was tied to a chair and had the living snot beat out of him until he was unconscious. That couldn’t happen to Ferrus. “Tell him it was my fault.”
The doors clanged closed.
Damn.
Chapter Ten
Tell him it was my fault.
Ferrus closed the doors to the throne room and smiled to himself. She was worried about him. She cared, though he bet she would not admit it to anyone, including herself. A warm flow filled his body in the chill of the room. His mate. What was he going to do with her?
“Ferrus,” the king said. Ferrus turned to him from the entrance.
“Yes, My King.”
His father stared at him with narrowed eyes. Dragon dicks, he showed too much happiness. His father knew him well enough to know when his moods were off. He kept his head bowed to hide his face.
“Ferrus, I do not have to remind you of the law against mates, do I?”
Though he did not want to, his animal took it as a direct threat to the one born just for them. His dragon wanted to eat the royal in one bite. No, make it two, so he would not wiggle going down its throat. Ferrus told his other side to stand down. They were not hurting the man who raised him.
“No My King.” The long pause after his response unnerved him. He remained where he was before the ruler, with his head bowed. He knew what was expected of him. As the future leader of the clan, he had to do what was best for his people. And according to his father, mates were the destruction of a male’s soul.
“Good, now what have you found out about our visitors.” The king glanced to the side. “Come out of hiding, Ferra. I want to know what you have seen.”
“Yes Father.” His sister hurried from her usual perch in the darkest corner of the room, where she liked to eavesdrop when the king allowed. She was still too young to understand what the world was about. In a few peaks, she would be mating age, if such a thing had been allowed. He wanted her to be happy and thought many times about sending her away if she found her mate among the clan so she could live a normal life with him. But that put a knife through his heart just thinking about her gone.