Page 83 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
“I don’t think so.” The voice coming from under the hood sounded very much like Andrik. I’d only heard him speak a time or two, though, so I couldn’t be sure. “You’ve seen too much. You’re going to go with these men now.”
I shied away from him as he stepped closer, reaching for me with one hand.
At the last second, I moved, ducking swiftly under his fingers and lashing out at his stomach with every ounce of my new dragon strength.
The blow landed, and the figure doubled over with awhoofas air was expelled from his lungs.
I started to dash past, for freedom, but at the last second I reached out, clawing for the hood and trying to tear it free.
A hand came up to block me. Cursing, I backed away, driving an elbow into the sternum of the Hunter behind me. Something cracked, and he fell away with a cry of pain. I took off, disappointed I couldn’t reveal who had been under the hood. Freedom was more important, though.
One moment I was rounding the corner into the bigger alley and headed for freedom, and the next I was stopped cold, snapping forward painfully at the waist as my feet froze solid to the ground.
“Enough of this. Take her away now, before the other one finds out I gave him the slip. Make sure to leave a trail he can follow.”
The hooded figure swept past but not before I reached out and yanked at the cloth covering the package under his arm. It tugged free, revealing the shine of a heart scale.
Arubyheart scale, taken from the chest of a dead fire dragon.
Just like the dragons who ambushed Caz when he rescued Milly!
Mirko’s mate, Bryna, used wolves with fire dragon heart scales on them to try to kill Caz. Ithasto be Andrik. It has to.
But I couldn’t prove it. The figure snarled and pulled the cloth back into place. Then he backhanded me across the face. I couldn’t move, my feet stuck in place as pain exploded where the blow split my top lip open.
Then I was grabbed by too many sets of hands to fight and dragged off into the darkness of the alleys of Kylma.
Thirty-Nine
Dirk
The doors ledto an internal courtyard, the ceiling of Hollow Earth obscured far overhead by the clouds slowly rolling in. I followed the path of footprints to the far side, through another set of doors, and down a staircase.
Underground. They were always underground. The tunnels that ran beneath Kylma were numerous and unmapped. They went levels deep, dug out over the millennia that the city had served as the capital of the Ice Kingdom and the seat of one of the ice clans before the Unification Wars.
Multiple attempts had been made to catalogue them, but it was pointless.
I followed the sounds of noise and smells of dragon and other beings until I emerged in the market itself, a large cavern that might have once been multiple parallel tunnels. Keeping my head and my hood down, I wandered the market swiftly, looking for my quarry, well aware that the search was likely fruitless by this point.
Simply too many little rooms and tunnels branched off for me to search everywhere. I’d lost him and with him the chance for proof of Mirko’s treachery.
I held back a snarl of frustration as my hands balled into fists, my nails digging into my palm.
Finally, with the sight of Grounded caged up and mistreated starting to erode my restraint, I headed for the exit. Ella was up there waiting for me. I would get her and return her to the citadel safely.
Then Florian and as many guards as I could gather would descend with me on this place and everyone in it to shut it down.
I wouldn’t be merciful then.
Breathing slowly to keep my fury and my alpha power contained, I retraced my steps back to the courtyard and the exit.
Maybe if we were lucky, Florian and I would sweep up Andrik or whoever it had been when we returned, if he was dumb enough to linger in the market. It was the only shot I had left of catching him, so I had to keep that hope.
Pushing open the door, I came to a halt, my nose twitching. Ella’s scent was right out front, but it wasn’t rich and inviting. It was sour. Acrid.
Fearful.
The alleyway brightened as I welcomed my dragon to the fore, pairing our senses.
