Page 53 of Hearts on Fire

“I need to go.” I gave Elex a kiss on the cheek, just above the row of short horns that decorated his jawline in this form.

I found my robe. Of all the clothes I was wearing when I got to this room earlier, it was the most practical one. I put it on and tied the laces at my neck.

In the room full of statues, I felt their unmoving eyes follow my every step. It was unnerving. The awareness of their stares prickled with unease along my spine.

I yanked a sheet off the king’s perch, then came up to the red dragon.

“You’ve seen enough.” I threw the sheet over his head, then tied it around his eyes.

It finally fully registered with me what it meant to be the only one capable of moving around right now. The only one in the whole of the Bozyr Peak. In the whole of Dakath. And I had time, not enough to waste it, but enough to use it to my full advantage.

Looking around, I took in the scene in the room. As large as it was, the two dragons took up most of the space. The guards spilling through the open doors were still men, not dragons. But there were a lot of them. And they were armed. Come morning, all of them would attack Elex. I had to tip the scales in his favor as much as I could.

Unfortunately, the guards’ weapons turned to stone with them. I couldn’t take them away or break them off. I wished I could toss all the statues out of the window. But they proved too heavy for me to even move, not to mention lift.

The sunset had caught them in motion, however, as they had rushed in to aid their king. The first guard had his right foot off the ground, as he’d been running. His statue was now balanced only on the left. Pressing a shoulder under his ribs, I gave him a firm shove. He tipped over, then crashed to the floor with a loud thud.

Sadly, nothing broke. Even the sword in his hand remained without a crack. It must take a much harder impact to damage a gargoyle. But he was lying on the floor now. It would take him a second or two to get up in the morning. A second or two before he’d gather his bearings to attack Elex. A second or two for Elex to act first.

Next, I shoved every guard I could down on top of the first one. It would create a pile of bodies and weapons in the morning that would take some time to untangle.

I didn’t stop there. Yanking some furs and blankets off the king’s bed, I spread them all over the pile, tying the corners around the guards’ eyes, to their swords, or to their ankles. I grabbed as many cushions as I could and stuffed them everywhere into the pile—anything to add to the future confusion.

“This will be a nice knot of gargoyles for you to unravel at sunrise, assholes,” I muttered under my breath, stepping back to admire my work.

Satisfied with the contraption I’d created from the guards and the bedding, I moved on to the king.

He looked so ridiculous with the sheet wrapped around his head, I snorted a laugh, picking up the chain with the collar he’d tried to force on me.

“This is the only crown that suits the type of king that you are,” I said, wrapping the chain around the red dragon’s neck.

The chain looked thick enough to hold a gargoyle. Maybe it wouldn’t hold a dragon for long. But when he came back to life, the king would have to deal with it first before he could deal with Elex. Every second I could give Elex might mean a lot to him at sunrise.

“There you go.” I threaded the chain through the collar, then snapped it closed. “A king. Leashed.”

I didn’t think he’d be sleeping yet, either. He must be furious at his favorite who dared going against him. And now his “little human pet” humiliated him.

I wished to make him even more furious. So that the rage would burn through him, keeping him awake through the entire night. I wanted him to have not a moment of rest until the morning, for the rage and fury to consume all of his energy, so he’d have little to spend when it came to fighting Elex again.

Stepping closer, I crossed my arms over my chest.

“Look at you, the mighty King of Dakath,” I mocked. “You’re at my mercy now. How does it feel to be weaker than a wretched, lowly human? You know I can do anything I want to you right now. I can use a knife to chip off one of your scales to keep it as a souvenir. I can find some paint and color you pink, head to toe. Or I could pull my underwear over your stupid head to have you wear it as a crown all night.” I leaned closer. “Guess what, I’m not going to do any of that. My time is better spent elsewhere. But youknowthat I could. I, a human and a woman, have the power to do anything I wish to the King of the Dakath Mountains right now. You’re my bitch, buddy.”

I slapped his cheek with my hand. Not hard. I knew I couldn’t hurt him physically even if I tried. But I hoped the indignity from the slap and the humiliation from my words would burn hot enough to last him until morning.

Tonight, I gained a powerful enemy in the King of Dakath. But after what he had done to me and the others, it couldn’t be any other way.

I went back to Elex one last time. His black eyes remained unmoving, but I sensed his ever-present concern for me deepen.

The elegant curves of his eyebrow ridges ended in a pair of short horns on each side of his head. A second pair, thicker and much longer than the first, was growing on top of his head. Below them was the slit of his ear. I leaned to it, hugging his head tightly.

“Don’t fight them,” I whispered, hopefully for only him to hear. “There are more guards in the hallway outside of this bedroom. Too many for you to win this fight. Fly away. Leave the castle. I won’t be here, either. I’m leaving now for the valley. Find me. I know you can because you found me here tonight somehow.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, afraid to think about what would’ve happened had he not come to my rescue just in time.

“God, I’m so glad you found me, Elex. Please, find me again.”

I stroked the smooth scales on the side of his face, then ran my fingers along his jawline, tracing the base of the short horns there. I kissed him in the corner of his scowling mouth.