A thousand stones could have fallen on Jada in that moment and she wouldn’t have felt a thing. Her entire body had gone numb. Her mother had known. No one had ever told her.
Ciara stepped between the warriors and Leon. Jada recognized the soft touch of the white calming power Ciara had wash over her. It had no effect.
“Who was this woman and how would she know something like that?”
Leon glanced at Jada and sighed. “I had hoped you would uncover all of this in time yourself. Raina made me swear a binding oath that I wouldn’t tell you. She was afraid it would interfere with your destiny.”
Jada couldn’t look at him. She barely remembered her mother. She’d been gone for hundreds of years. Jada had been so young when her mother had died. “Who was she? How did she know?”
“Your mother was the daughter of a dragon and the White Witch told her your destiny.”
Welcome to Hell
Ky landed hard on the hot stone floor of the barred cave acting as his prison cell. He was almost grateful for the gravel grinding into the skin on his hands and knees as he pushed himself up. It hurt a hell of a lot less than the whips of fire the demon dragons had lashed him with over the last…he didn’t know how long.
What he wouldn’t do for an ice lolly.
“I’m not telling you shit, asshole, so you can quit skulking over there and get the fuck out.”
Skulking?
“Who’s there?” He used his dragon sight to search for the speaker. It was one of the only parts of his dragon he still had access to.
“Like you don’t know. Wait, who the fuck are you?”
God, the mouth on this girl. He took a breath, catching her scent. She smelled of the sea and now that he’d made the connection, he recognized her voice.
“Azynsa?”
She came into the light at the front of the cave coming from the bubbling lava in the underground hell hole. “Ky Puru?”
She rushed to his side but hesitated to touch him. Probably because there wasn’t a whole lot of skin to touch that wasn’t burned. “Oh God. What have they done to you?”
“Nothing that won’t heal.” If he could get access to some water. “What about you? Have they--?”
She shook her head. “Fuckers learned to back the hell off about ten minutes after they dragged me in here from those tunnels where we fought them. They only time I’ve seen anyone since is when one of the non-imbecilic ones brings me water.”
“You don’t happen to have any of it now, do you?” His mouth and skin were so dry he felt like he was covered in scales even though he was in his human form.
Thanks to the crone and her scary ass dark magic, he hadn’t been able to shift. If he could, he’d find a way to get them both out of here.
Azynsa slumped and licked her cracked lips. “It’s been a while. Couple days I think. Sorry. Can you use your powers to bring some in?”
At first Ky thought he was literally in hell, but Azynsa said she’d been dragged in here, so they had to be in the inner belly of the caldera where she’d been kidnapped.
He opened his senses as far as they could reach, but didn’t find the water, an underground spring or even a half-empty bottle of water anywhere.
“It’s too hot and the water is too far away.” He’d tried the second his mind had cleared after Jada’s allure hit him during the battle with the Black Dragon. He’d blacked out when they sucked him through the shadows. He’d been blissfully wrapped in the magic of Jada’s sensuality while unconscious. The fire whips had been a literal rude awakening.
His mind fought to control the worry gnawing at his gut. He had no idea if Jada were alive or dead or taken by the Black Dragon.
It’s not like anyone down here wanted to answer his questions.
He would know if she was dead. Down to his soul, he would know. She must be alive.
“Damn. I was afraid you’d say that. I don’t know where we are, but I haven’t been able to feel the water since I got dragged down here.”
That alone had to be torture for a Mami Wata. But, Ky was grateful they hadn’t done worse to her. He’d been afraid that when they’d kidnapped her and he hadn’t been able to save her, she’d be killed. Or worse.
He pulled himself up and rested his side gingerly on the nearest wall. There was no position he could rest in that was comfortable, but sitting up was better than lying in the rocks and dirt.
He sure as shit wished he had some shorts. He’d be digging rocks out of his asscrack for weeks after he got out of here.
They would be escaping.
As soon as he could figure out how.
“I told you to bring him to me when you were done with him, crone.” A terrible voice, crankier than even Match roared through the tunnels.
Ah, shit.
The croaking voice of the crone replied, but their words were growing distant. They must be on the move. “Dispose of him, Kur-Jara. He is mated and of no use to us.”
“Shut up. Your revenge lust clouds your insipid brain. Don’t interfere…”
Their words faded behind the shuffling and hisses of a pack of demon dragons gathering near the prison cave entrance.
“Azza, get back into the dark. They’re coming back for me now. They don’t need to be reminded you’re here.”
“No. I can’t let them take you.” She had a ferocious bravado, he’d give her that. It was a might stronger than his own knowing he was likely in for a hell of a lot more torture at the hands of the Black Dragon.
“We don’t have much of a choice. The crone put a spell on me. I can’t shift, and I can’t heal without the water.”
That was all the time they had to discuss plans. Four demon dragons slithered up to the cave entrance. Two stood guard while the others came in for Ky.
She seemed pretty savvy and badass, so hopefully she would go with his spur of the moment plan to get her the hell out of here.
“Azza. Wait 'til I start fighting back, then make a run for it,” he said out of the side of his mouth. “If you make it out of here, find any other dragon and get a message to my mate, Jada.”
Azynsa’s face said no way.
He thought for a moment she was going to refuse, but then she gave him one nod. “What do you want me to say?”
That he was sorry they had such a short time together. “I love her and I’m fighting.”
“Oh god. Okay.” She read between the lines. They both knew there was a very real possibility that he wouldn’t make it through the next hour, much less get out of here.
But, he would fight. Dragon shift or no. He had the heart of a warrior, not just from his dragon lineage. His Māori ancestors had fought for their way of life since he’d been born more than a century and a half ago. He’d learned to defend himself and strike fear into his enemies before he was old enough to shift.
Back before he’d learned he would never have a mate and had built a wall around his heart.
Jada and her beautiful vulnerability, the way she let him in to her heart smashed those defenses.
Yes, he would fight. For her.
The demon dragons rattled the door and slunk into the cave.
“Now, get back against the wall, but be ready to bolt. I’ll keep them occupied as long as I can.”
Ky slumped to the side and put all his weight into his center of gravity. If they wanted to pull him out of here, he wasn’t going to be helpful.
“Up. AllFather kill you.”
“Great, but no.”
They didn’t like that one bit. They grunted and growled but backed away. One of them snapped its teeth and pointed at him like that would change his mind. “Up. Up.”
They were afraid of him. Even after the beating and the crone’s spell. They were fucking terrified that he wasn’t simply giving in to their demands.
Best news he’d gotten all day. New plan. He’d scare the shit out of these bastards and injure them the best he could. He and Azynsa were getting the hell out of hell.
K
y groaned as he got to his feet, partially because it really did fucking hurt, and mostly so they would think he was weak and not a threat to them, let down their guard.
He limped his way to the front of the cave and at the last moment turned and winked at Azynsa.
His dragon form might not be available to him at the moment, but he knew exactly how to strike fear into the heart of any being, man or beast.
The Haka.
But he chose no ordinary rugby haka. If he was going to make it through this day and get back to Jada, he needed some serious inspiration. Tika Tonu.
The ancient dance and chant would be meaningless to the demon dragons, but no matter the words, the haka messed with opponents’ heads, whether they were warriors, rugby teams, or demon dragons.
To Ky, the words would invoke Jada for him. Tika Tonu was often performed at weddings. He hoped someday to enact in this particular haka at his own joining with Jada.
As soon as he was outside of the bars, but before the bastards could shut Azynsa in again, Ky took up a fighter’s stance, legs wide and in a half squat.
“Ki aro
Kia whakaronga, kia mau!”
He’d have to chant both the leader’s words and the responses. He slapped his thighs and puffed out his chest at the demon dragons. As a group they took one giant step away.
“Hi!
Ringaringa e torōna
kei waho hoki mai!
Kss Kss.”
They backed up another step, looking at each other. If they had even a smidgen of intelligence, they’d be thinking he’d gone batshit crazy.
What he was, was crazy in love. The words to his haka were about becoming a man. Ky would survive this day, and the next. He would be the man Jada needed.
He began to chant, shouting the words, instilling the passion of every Māori warrior he’d known since birth, his own father, and even Nana Kiki. She’d kick these demon dragons to the dogs and back.
What is right is right. Indeed.
“Tika tonu!
U - e!
Tika tonu!
U... e!”
He waved his arms, raising and dropping his knees, advancing on his enemy and backing them away from Azynsa’s escape route.
“Tika tonu atu ki a koe, e tama
Hiki nei koe aku whakaaro, pakia!”
He saw her approach out of the corner of his eye and turned the energy of his dancing and chanting up a notch.
“He hiki aha to hiki?
He hiki roa to hiki?
I a ha hā!”
Azynsa was almost away, but in another meter, she’d be directly in their view. Ky showed the demon dragons his pukana, glaring wild-eyed looks. They backed away smelling of urine and fear.
“E tama, te uaua ana
E tama, te mārō
Roa ina hoki ra
Te tohe o te uaua na”
Ky slapped his chest and elbows and prepared to shove the band in front of them into each other and then turn and run.
“E tāu nei.
Āna! Āna! Āna! Aue... Hī!”
He growled at the scaredy cats who cowered, and he bolted after Azynsa.
She climbed over rocks and took twisting turns through tunnels. “What the hell was that thing you did? A spell?”
“No, it’s a traditional chant about being true to oneself.” God, he hoped she knew where she was going. “A dance that will be performed at my wedding.”
“Your mate must be one fierce queen.”
She was.
Another turn and he could see light. It couldn’t be daylight, they were too far underground.
He grabbed at Azynsa’s arm, but it was too late. She practically flew into the open chamber narrowly avoiding running into the Black Dragon by diving behind a pile of rocks.
A dozen demon dragons, given mettle by the mere presence of their King and AllFather, were on him in a second. Ky bellowed and fought, he took one of them out with a well-timed head butt.
Poof.
Splat.
Crack.
He eliminated three more, but there were too many. They pushed him toward the wall and secured his arms and ankles to the rock with scorching metal chains.
“Well, what do we have here? Trying to escape my little corner of hell?”
Ky had been lashed with a fiery whip when the demon dragons first dragged him down. He’d have scars for a long time. But the weapon they’d used on him looked like a kitten’s toy ribbon compared to the fire whip the Black Dragon held in his hand.
Kur-Jara hadn’t yet noticed Azynsa, so Ky went back to plan A. Distract the enemy while she escaped.
The Black Dragon sauntered over and got right up in Ky’s face.
Ky pissed on him.
It wasn’t much, as dehydrated as he was from being in this heat, but it was definitely enough to piss this asshole off.
He shifted into human form, holding a very big, very hot fire whip. “You’ll pay for that, you blue piece of shit.”
The Black Dragon raised his arm over his head, fire whip poised to lash Ky right down the middle, probably aimed at his junk.
Fuck.
Azynsa popped up from the rocks, rushed between Ky and the Black Dragon and raised her arm, prepared to take the blow from the fire whip.
“No,” Ky grunted out.
“Oh, yes.” Kur-Jara took a few steps back and raised his head in one of those horrible clichéd bad guy laughs. “This is perfect. The unmated mate needs a lesson that will teach her to appreciate just what her life is worth.”
He snapped the whip over his head, his muscles bunching, prepared to strike Azynsa. She wouldn’t survive the blow.
“Stop.” A human woman’s voice rang through the cavern. “You will give no lashes to that girl.”
Kur-Jara stopped, the fire whip poised over his shoulder. He narrowed his eyes and turned to find the speaker. His body hid her from Ky and Azynsa’s view. “Tell me why not. I am lashing someone today, damn it.”
He was different with this woman than he had been with the crone. He didn’t call her names like a school-boy.
The woman, walked across the room and stood in front of the two of them. There was no way she could be human and survive down here. He didn’t scent anything else on her. But his senses were all out of whack without his dragon.
She closed her fists and glanced back at Ky and Azynsa. Fire lit up her eyes. Literal fire. Flames burned where her pupils should be.
If she was human, they had done some fucked up shit to her down here to make that happen.
“Why shouldn’t I give her the lashes she has coming, Fallyn? She’s proven worthless to me without the shard. She’s nothing more than a dragon’s whore.”
“It. Is. Not. Her. Birthday.”
“Ah. But it is yours. I had almost forgotten.” Kur-Jara paced. “Take hers and yours and I will let her go. For now.”
“I will take her lashes, but in exchange neither you nor my brothers will touch her. The punishment today will serve for her upcoming birthday, whenever it may be.”
Every sentence that came out of her mouth raised more and more questions. Birthday? Her brothers?
“Very well, little red devil.”
She certainly wielded more control than the crone. Why was the Black Dragon giving in to this woman? Just who the hell was she?
His mate?
No. It couldn’t be.
Jada had said the demon dragons were Kur-Jara’s offspring. If that’s who she was referring to when she said brothers, this family was all kinds of fucked up.
“Come, little daughter. Lay across that rock there so that the dragon and the whore can watch your tears, and so that I can see their pain in your pain.”
The woman, Fallyn, took the position, gripping chains that had been drilled into the rock obviously for this purpose.
Ky jerked against the restraints holding him against the wall. He could not let this woman get whipped. Daughter of the king of hell or not, she didn’t deserve thi
s.
She stared at him for a moment and then gave one sharp shake of her head, before she lowered her eyes staring at nothing.
“How old are you, whore?”
Fallyn didn’t respond.
“Fishy bitch. I asked how old you are. Don’t make me guess, because I assure you I will over estimate.”
“Why does that matter?” The fight and vigor had gone out of Azynsa’s voice, her words were filled with a tremor.
“Because Fallyn is taking your lashes. One for each year old you are.”
Azynsa shook her head and clamped her hands over her mouth.
“Tell me now or I’ll just make it an even hundred.”
“No,” she cried out. “I’m not that old, that’s not fair.”
Kur-Jara blew a stream of fire over the whip, boosting its flames. “One hun—”
“Twenty-three,” she blurted. “I’m only twenty-three.”
“Fine.”
Fuck. He was going to lash Fallyn twenty-three times. Ky couldn’t allow it.
The whip cracked through the air smacking the woman’s back, slicing open her thick leather tunic. She didn’t even flinch.
“One,” she said.
Two more and her shirt fell away all together. Still she counted and barely moved as the fire bit her skin.
Ky’s dragon roared, fighting to get out, scratching and clawing to get to the surface. The crone’s spell held fast.
“Four, five, six.”
Ky jerked at the chains using all of his strength to try and pry them free. Even if he couldn’t shift, he could put his body between that whip and the girl sacrificing herself.
Jada would kill him, when she finally met him in the afterlife.
“Seven, eight, nine, ten.” Her voice wavered on the last number, the first time she seemed affected by the pain of the lashes.
Ky’s scales skittered across his skin, the tattoo on his arm and shoulder writhed, trying to get him moving.
When the count hit twenty, Azynsa turned away, her hands over her mouth, so much pain written across her face.
Ky could handle his own pain. But seeing this woman, a human he should be protecting, one whose raven black hair reminded him of Jada’s, suffer even though she didn’t show it, had shredded him.