We all waited. Any day now they would come. I’ve been secretly making the marks on the wall as the day passed. Today was the seventh day. We had our shower’s yesterday, and I was grateful that I would not see my daughter smelling like a dumpster.
It had to be today.
The main door opened and the men all closed their eyes, pretending to be asleep. The footsteps sounded on the concrete until they stopped in front of my cell.
“Wake him up and bring him with you,” Goran said, and my eyes flung open. He looked at all the other cells. “Wait for the sign and then kill them all.”
“Goran, don’t do this, please!”
His footsteps sounded down the hallway as my cell opened. Travis and Ettienne yelled my name. Where the hell were they? Why weren’t they coming?
Hands gripped tight around my arms as they dragged me down the hallway.
“Have faith, Ettiene,” I yelled as they dragged me past his cell.
Through the door and down the alley, up the steps and out the door. The sunlight hit me as I squinted too late.
Whimpering came from the gate at my home in Sovereign. Some even cried, yelling at Goran to show mercy. They were brave, trying to plead with him.
The guards pushed me into a carriage with beams, and my body ached with every bump and jolt as a woman tried to keep up with the carriage, trying to touch me.
“Stay strong, my king.” She cried.
Goran knew. He knew they were coming.
The drive was long, and I drifted away. I didn’t even feel when we stopped and only woke up when I got pulled out of the carriage.
My feet swayed under me, and I connected with the cobblestones of the castle in Boliva.
The revelation hit me. I would not make it, but my men could. They would know freedom again, they would hold their daughters and sons soon. Ettiene’s girl was probably with Elena at Dragonia and Brom’s son would join next year.
I prayed they would come soon on their behalf.
I got taken to our monthly room, and the guards shoved me down hard on the slab, tightening my hands in the clasps.
Goran paces. I knew it wasn’t the time for the monthly meeting. This was different. He knew what was coming.
“Leave us,” Goran said to his guard, and the man bowed, retreating to the door. They didn’t see me as a king anymore after Goran had stripped me of all of my dignity.
“Why?”
“You think I’m stupid, that I didn’t know about, Albert?” He walked closer. “I know they can get through the creepers. I know they are planning to save you. Robert will never have the pleasure of speaking to you again, to hear your voice saying his name.”
Tears filled my eyes and glistened in his.
“You will never be called Dad.”
I closed my eyes. He knew, he knew, about Elena. How?
“You think I didn’t know about her? How stupid of you.”
The guy that was going to betray us knew about her all this time. “How?”
“You have your ways. I have mine.”
He grabbed a knife.
“Gordy, don’t do this.”
“Don’t call me that. It wasn’t your name.”
“She died for crying out loud. It wasn’t my fault.”
“No, it was. You made her sad.”
“Because she was away from her daughter. Because of you. If Irene didn’t see that someone close to us was going to betray us, she would still be here.”
“No, you made her unhappy.”
“I loved her with all of my heart.” My voice faltered. “She carried my daughter and had to give her away. Do you have any idea how much that hurts? It was because of you.”
“No, it’s because of you. You should’ve let me marry her.”
“She didn’t love you like that.”
A tear fell over Goran’s cheek. He refused to see the truth and wanted me to be the villain with Kate. He refused to see that he was the one that ended her life. It was because of him that the wyverns had killed her. Sure, he took revenge on those that committed the crime, but he refused to take the blame.
“I’m done, Albert. I should’ve never let you live this long, to toy with you the way I had. You will never see the truth behind any of this.”
The door barged opened, and all I saw was a dark robe with dark hair.
Robert!
He pinned Goran against the wall, and a growl escaped his lips. I gasped. It wasn’t Robert. It was Blake.
Goran laughed. “The Rubicon is all grown up now.”
“Shush.” He growled.
“Are you going to kill me, Blake? You don’t have it in you.”
“You don’t know me.”
“Blake, don’t. Show mercy, the way you showed Elena mercy.”
Goran gasped as Blake’s eyes fluttered to mine. He had Issy’s eyes, but looked like his father. His gaze fluttered back to Goran.
“You didn’t yield, you submitted.” He leaned closer to Blake and whispered in his ear as more men barged through the door and Emanual rushed into the room.
A powerful jolt pushed out of Goran and Blake flew into the air and hit the wall hard.
“Blake!” The heaviness of responsibility of that boy’s life plunged into the pit of my stomach. He was my daughter’s dragon and I had to bring him safely to her.
Spells were being spoken with counterspells. The force threw the slab I laid on to the floor. The pain seared through my body, but I could still see what was happening. There were too many for Goran to fight against. He was on the floor and looked at the dragon’s face, Emanual’s face.
“Emanual, don’t.” I spoke from underneath the rocks and rubble.
Emanual squinted and spoke the sleeping spell. Bob entered and rushed to Blake’s side.
My lips wobbled seeing my dragon, and the tears blurred my gaze.
“He’s here,” one yelled.
“James,” I spoke.
“Albert, you bugger,” he spoke and lifted off rocks. Someone else was helping from the other side and as the rock lifted, Robert stood in front of me.
He bent over me and his scent overpowered me as his laughter poured out of him. James hit Bob on his shoulder. “Get him up on his feet, Bob.”
I looked at Goran on the floor. His hands were in magical shackles and the peace mixed with the guilt of what happened to Blake made me nauseous.
He gave the orders to tie him with magical shackles and peace mixed with the guilt of what happened to Blake made me nauseous. Someone already attended to him and put him over their shoulder, taking him out of the room.
“I thought you would have smelled twenty thousand time worse,” Bob said.
“You can be glad he gave us a shower last night. He knew.”
“Shh, we can talk about that later. Let’s get you out of here.”
He untied the straps on my arms as Emanual hoisted Goran over his shoulder.
“You were supposed to be with your son. Why did you let him come in here alone?”
“He is so fast, Al. We couldn’t keep up. He just wanted to save you so that she could meet you. Don’t hold it against him, please?”
“Never.”
He helped me off the slab and at that moment, my legs gave in and he caught me. “Don’t let me fall in front of them, please.”
“Never.”
