Waking the Dragon (28 page)

I couldn’t make out whether the buildings were made of stone or steel in the dark, but the shapes were pyramid-like with flat rooftops. For landing, of course. Some of them had full-pointed peaks. Others were a jagged construction, mimicking a natural mountain, but the squares of yellow light proved they housed Morgons inside. I peered down, finding only darkness and shadows below. No cars zipped along streets. No cars. No streets. No humans. The city was an artificial mountain region, built for beings who never needed to set foot on earth, lifting themselves closer to the sky where they belonged.

“Wow,” I whispered.

Gaius skirted the city, banking away from its center. A river wound a sinuous path far below. Fewer buildings in the same pyramid structure, but with more space in between, lined the far side of the riverbank—private residences. We veered parallel to the river, arcing toward a white-stone building, gleaming under the moonlight. This building was different than the others. From above, it was shaped like a giant crescent, the tips reaching toward the river. On the flat roof was a clan crest in tiles, similar to what Morgons did on their top terrace in Gladium homes.

The crest was nothing but a full moon on a midnight-blue background, a paler shade of tiles ringing the moon. Though I’d never seen it, I knew this could be the crest of only one clan—the Moonring clan.

We landed with a rough jolt. I lost sight through the mesh opening as the bag shifted.

“Stay quiet till we’re inside.”

Gaius unbelted the bag from his vest harness and lifted me in his arms. I couldn’t see where we were going but heard a door slide open.

“Quick,” commanded a familiar voice.

We were inside. A door shut. An alarm pad beeped. We were airborne. I gasped, not expecting flight indoors, then just as quickly we were on solid ground. I was set upright, and the bag unzipped. Inhaling a deep breath, I took in my surroundings.

My heart skipped a beat when I thought Kol stood before me. Kieren’s brow pursed into a frown so similar to his brother’s. He wore the same high-fashion attire I’d seen him wear on the day we’d met. “Are you all right, Moira?” Sincerity in every word.

I nodded, needing a minute to process where I was and who was here.

“Kieren, do you know about my sister? My nephew? Are they—”

He held up a calming hand. “They’re fine. All of them. The cook had quite a knock on the head, but she’ll recover. However, the Night Security guards were all killed.”

I winced, my heart dropping for those men who were only trying to protect us.

“Come on in.” He ushered me farther into the room.

Another Morgon, on guard, stood looking out a curved wall of glass. The room was a breathtaking open space with a domed ceiling thirty feet above our heads. A platform jutted out near the ceiling, the door leading to the rooftop we’d just entered. It was more than a little disconcerting to stare at the exit so far above my head, unable to escape if I needed to. A white marble fireplace stretched the entire length of the wall, a stark pillar against the warmer-hued stone. Low flames emitted the only light in the room.

“I’ve double-checked the security alarms downstairs. All good,” said a Morgon woman in dark combat gear, appearing right out of the floor.

There was a giant hole dropping straight into the room below. No stairs. Of course. Why would they need them?

The Morgon woman crossed in front of the fire, the light casting a warm glow on her blue-black wings, shining a halo on her white-blonde hair, falling like silk over her shoulders and down her back. She drew closer to me.

“Whoa. You reek of him!” I froze, afraid the monster had marked me, despite my unwillingness. “Kol sure got under your skin.” She grinned.

I sighed relief. She stepped forward and offered her hand, meeting me eye to eye. “I’m Valla Moonring.”

I shook her hand. “I’m Moira Cade.”

“I know.” She smiled, revealing how truly beautiful she was. “You’ve met Kieren already, and that’s Bowen.” She gestured to the one silhouetted against the window, her flaxen hair shimmering in the orange firelight. The twins had inherited darker looks, though they all shared the same midnight-blue eyes with a pale halo around the center.

“No time for chit-chat,” snapped Gaius. “We can’t stay here, but I need to give you what information I can before we go.”

“My home is safer than any other place,” said Kieren, his charming demeanor no longer present. He was more like his brother than he had let on when I met him. “Besides, Kol told us to stay at Safehouse X and make contact the moment she arrives. He’s in Drakos, but could be here in two hours. I’ll contact him.”

“No!” Gaius lunged and grabbed his comm device before Kieren could punch in a number. Everyone’s attention riveted to him. “No, Kieren. It’s not safe.”

Gaius moved to the fireplace. I took a seat on a cobalt-blue, velvet sofa.

“Why not?” asked Valla, her playful tone evaporating. She sat next to me, whipping her wings behind the sofa-back in a swift move. Unlike a Morgon man’s large wings, hers fit her frame—long, sleek, and elegant.

“He has spies everywhere. Even moles in the Morgon Guard and elsewhere. They’ve been able to intercept communication sent via comm devices. Don’t ask me how. I was never included in the intel briefings. I was used”—he turned away from us, staring out into the moonlit night—“for more brutal purposes. I couldn’t warn you because we were forced to take injections every day to prevent Moonring clan members from infiltrating our dreams and stealing secrets. They know well enough how many of you are in the Morgon Guard.”

“Injections of what?” asked Kieren, voice dropping to a lower register. He sounded so much like his brother.

Gaius shrugged. “I didn’t ask. It would’ve been suspicious. This operation runs like a militant machine. You do what you’re told. I couldn’t receive or give any more messages to Kol once I was assimilated into their ranks and taking the injections.”

“Wait, Gaius.” Kieren thrust his palm out. “Who is the leader? That’s what we’ve been unable to discover.”

Gaius faced us again, the fire at his back, his dark features hidden in shadow. “I don’t know. We… They called him lord and master. When I came on scene, Barron Coalglass was in charge, abducting girls for their blood and for…other purposes.”

“Their blood?” asked Valla. “They were really drinking human blood?”

“I believe the king was drinking their blood,” said Gaius before blowing out a tired breath. “Our orders were to harvest the blood, and that was all we knew. But I know of one instance where he bit and drank from a victim directly.”

I shivered. “Maxine Mendale.”

Grim-faced, Gaius nodded.

The other Morgon who’d been standing guard near the window joined us. He wore his long hair in a cue. His eyes shined pale green by the firelight, his wings a deeper shade of the same color. One of the Huntergild clan.

“So where did he come from? This lord and master,” asked Kieren.

“I can’t tell you. I can only say that one day, not long after I joined their ranks, Coalglass called an assembly at Palace Prime.”

“What’s Palace Prime?” asked Kieren.

“There are several palaces, as they call them, which are more like hidden lairs. I’ve only been to the one, where Moira was taken, but I know there are others. Anyway, Coalglass called an assembly and announced that our king had finally come. The king who would bring order back to our world and put humans in their rightful place. In chains.”

An audible gasp escaped Valla. My fingers went to my throat where I’d replaced my medal around my neck. My stomach clenched into a ball. I’d almost lost it forever. It cost little to buy another, but I’d worn this particular medal for so long. It had comforted me for so many years, giving me the will to become a woman of strength—free-spirited, determined, independent. Then the beast had taken my medal, as if he had the right to strip me of my dearest possession, as if he could strip me of the woman I’d become.

But I’d gotten it back.

Kieren, Valla, and Bowen gazed at me. “What is it?” asked Valla.

I shook my head, shaking off the fear and torment of that place where the monster ruled with a brutal will. “Nothing.”

Kieren turned to Gaius again. “But
who
is he? Where does he come from?”

“I wish I knew.” Gaius stepped forward. “I did hear Coalglass once mention something about a Syren sister, a defector, who has allied with them for their cause, their revolution. I heard her name mentioned long before the king made his arrival.”

“So it’s true.” I clasped my hands together to keep from wringing them in nervous agitation. “The Devlin Butchers aren’t butchers at all. They weren’t murdering those women and putting them on display for some cult or for some kind of sick enjoyment. Their plan this whole time has been to start a race war.”

“Their plan is to dominate all of humankind,” added Gaius. “And Morgonkind as well. It won’t just be a monarchy led by this king. It will be a totalitarian state with a sadistic dictator on the throne.”

The beast’s words filtered through my mind.
There is only power, and who has the most.

Silence. I stood up. Realization dawned on all of us at once. It wasn’t just the freedom of humanity that was at stake. It was the freedom of everyone. Every race.

Valla rose to her feet next to me, shaking her head. “I just can’t believe it.”

“What is he like?” Bowen asked, meeting my gaze.

“He’s a monster. He’s bigger than any of you.” I eyed Kieren’s large proportions, identical to his brother’s. “Even you,” I added. “He’s malformed. Claws instead of hands. Sharpened fangs, like that of a—”

My fingertips unconsciously brushed along the seam of my jeans near the punctures in my thighs.

“Like that of a dragon,” Valla finished for me in a small whisper, watching my hands.

I folded my arms to keep them still and nodded. “But we don’t need to worry about him anymore. I injected him with poison to escape. He should be dead by now.”

“That doesn’t mean his army will give up their quest,” added Gaius. “Coalglass is his second-in-command, and he’s maniacal.”

“They had other girls there.” I stepped toward Gaius.

Bowen tensed as tight as a bowstring, his expression darkening. “How many have they taken, Gaius?”

“There have been dozens of girls from every province, every human village imaginable. Not just the four from Gladium. They’ve kept it quiet, but soon, human police precincts will make the connection. And now the Guard will know.” He paused, his brow pushed into a deep frown. “I believe…their blood made him stronger, made him more dominant.”

I scoffed. “More dominant.”

The others glanced at me.

“He wielded it like a weapon.”

“So,” interrupted Bowen, “they
have
been the ones responsible for the missing girls in Primus.”

Gaius nodded. Bowen pivoted back to the window, fists clenched at his sides.

“I’m afraid the blood was for other reasons as well,” continued Gaius. “Coalglass and the king kept the army divided in a way that each faction was responsible for particular missions, no one knowing what others knew. It was the king’s way of keeping control. Only Barron has full knowledge of the greater plan. But I can tell you, he bled a lot more girls than he was drinking. There’s more to discuss, but we must move from here. Immediately. There’s no guarantee the locations of any safehouse known to the Morgon Guard is still confidential.”

Kieren stalked toward the hole in the corner. “Give me thirty seconds to change.” He dropped through the floor. I heard a soft whoosh as he landed below.

Gaius pulled a leather pouch from his pocket. He opened the pouch and handed a small object to Valla. A comm micro-drive.

“I’ve stored my logs on these micro-drives.” He handed a second one to Bowen. And a third to me. “I hope to give a full report to my captain, but I need to know if we’re separated or I’m captured—or worse—that what I’ve endured was not in vain.” His voice dipped low, filled with an anguish I hadn’t detected before now.

Valla placed her hand on his arm. “You will deliver your intelligence to my brother yourself. But know that I will keep this safe. Just in case.”

His captain. Kol. How I longed for him, wanting so desperately to send a message via comm. But I trusted Gaius. I wouldn’t risk anyone’s life for my own peace of mind or to still my restless heart. I’d have to wait.

Kieren reappeared, newly attired in dark clothing, a huge scabbard strapped to his thigh. Again, my heart leaped at the sight of him, looking so much like his brother. He gave me a wink. “Well, Moira darling. If things don’t work out with Kol…” He swept his arms down his body as if gesturing what I could have.

I shook my head with a light laugh, the first time since I’d tickled Julian in his bedroom. My laughter faded fast, wondering how my sweet nephew fared after witnessing such a nightmare in his own home.

“Let’s go,” snapped Gaius, picking up the body bag.

Bowen was at my side. “May I assist you to the roof?”

“Please.” I let him put his arms around my waist, and with one beat of wings and a swift jolt in the air, we were thirty feet higher on the platform leading to the rooftop.

Bowen let me go as soon as I regained my footing, all of us following behind Kieren as he disabled the alarm and ushered us out the door.

“If I may ask,”—came the deep, quiet voice of Bowen—“did you see any young women from Primus in captivity where you were?”

“I did. I met two from Primus.”

Pain creased the man’s brow, making me feel even more miserable that I hadn’t helped them. As if I could have.

“Did you get their names?” His green eyes glittered under the moonlight, so familiar.

“One was named Lena. The other I didn’t find out.”

His eyes closed, then it hit me. His features, though more masculine, mirrored the girls I’d met in that horrible place. Specifically the older, angrier girl. Was he somehow related to them?

I continued softly. “They couldn’t speak to me very much, and I only saw them a short time.” I wouldn’t tell him they were being used as sex-slaves for those beasts, for he knew and cared for these human women. I wouldn’t add to his pain, but I
would
give him hope. “I don’t know much, but I can tell you they looked strong, determined to survive.”