Dragon's Ground (The Desert Cursed Series Book 2) Read online

  “Will you at least talk to Ish before we go?” Darcy asked softly. “She—”

  I held up both hands, stopping her. “She doesn’t give a shit about Bryce any more than she gave a shit about you. And I’m not going to let him die out there any more than I let you go without a fight. That’s not how a pride works. You know that. We stand together, we fall together.”

  Something churned in my guts, and while deep in me I knew what it was, I didn’t want to give voice to it. Not yet. Truth had a way of forcing itself to the surface whether we wanted or not, and this particular truth was hard for me to let out. Soon, I wouldn’t be able to stop it. But soon wasn’t now, so for the moment, I’d stuff it down. Like everything else that made me uncomfortable and introspective. I snorted to myself. I didn’t have issues at all. Nope, not a one.

  Darcy sighed and her shoulders slumped. “Well, let’s get ready. Knowing Steve, he’ll try to catch us off guard to make us look stupid in front of Ish.”

  I gave her a nod, frustrated that she could see him for what he was and still back him. But she was deep in the throes of being part of a pride . . . and I was not. Goddess, I was not.

  She turned to go, then paused at the door. “You really think Ish doesn’t care about us?”

  I made myself lock eyes with her as I nodded because I didn’t dare speak. Her question was too close to the truth that bubbled to the surface of my mouth.

  I closed my eyes for all of two heartbeats, and when I opened them, she was gone, and I was alone in my room. My saddlebags and bedroll were already packed, of course. Ready to go at the drop of a hat. I grabbed them from beside my bed and set them on top.

  I ran my hands over them, lightly touching the most important pieces of my gear. My weapons—two kukri blades that I wore strapped to my outer thighs, a shotgun with limited ammo and a grenade launcher under the barrel, multiple smaller blades, and the big bad of them all, the flail. I reached out, drawn to the flail more than I wanted to admit.

  “You’re a right fucker, aren’t you?” I muttered.

  Magical, it was made by the Jinn, but even more than that, it had been forged by Marsum, the Jinn who’d killed my father. He’d made the flail to be a killing machine of epic proportions.

  Two long chains hung from the shaft’s end. At the bottom of each chain, a spiked ball clanked against the other as I picked up the weapon. Light in my hand, it felt as though it weighed nothing at all—another of its perks as a traditional flail was heavy, usually forty or fifty pounds. This flail, though light as a feather, hit with the power of hundreds of pounds, and drank up the blood of my enemies as payment.

  Nice, right? In theory, it was a grand weapon. One that any smart person would want to have on their side rather than in the hands of their enemies.

  Except there was a downside as mentioned. That whole drawing on my life force when I used it to kill. Or maybe it was just geared to take the life of anyone who used it that was not its master, or not a Jinn. That could be it too.

  “Maybe I should leave you behind,” I said. Sweet baby goddess, I was talking to the thing now. But . . . I could take it and use it only if I had no other recourse. A last resort, and until that last resort happened, the weapon would stay strapped to my back. Satisfied with my decision, I let my fingers trace the weapon.

  It made me think of the Jinn which led me to thinking of a Jinn I didn’t hate as much as I would have liked to.

  Maks. I tightened my hand on the weapon as I thought of the blue eyes of the man who’d claimed to be human, but was in truth a Jinn masquerading as a weak creature to get close to us. He’d told me he’d been sent to kill Steve and Bryce. He never tried to hurt me, and I’d put myself in a vulnerable position with him more than once.

  Zam is mine. His whispered, sleep-laden words still sent shivers down my spine that I couldn’t deny made my skin hot and my heart pick up its usually steady pace.

  I put the flail down with a sigh and pulled on my long deep-hooded cloak over my riding pants and simple short-sleeved cotton top. The hood hid my face from anyone trying to get a good look at me and blocked the worst of the weather. I reached up, thinking I could almost feel Lila there, curled up against the cold and wind, huddling close to me.

  Lila, the little dragon who’d wormed her way into my heart in record time. Lila who’d helped me get to Darcy. Lila who was now on the run from her own kind because she believed they would come for her, and if she stayed with me, I would be killed too. She was the friend of my heart, and even though Darcy would say it was stupid to trust someone not in our pride, Lila was different. She got me, and I got her.

  If I believed in past lives, I would have said she and I had been sisters in another life, another world.

  I rubbed a hand over my face. So many people . . . so many lives on the line, and so many lives destroyed, all for a fucking jewel.

  If it were up to me, we’d stop hunting for them completely. How many of us had been lost looking for them already? Previously, I’d thought the cost was worth it.

  But now, I wasn’t sure at all.

  Ish had told us the jewels were tied to her life force and that she couldn’t survive long without them. But from what I could see, that wasn’t entirely true—if I were being honest, and that was something I was doing my best to be, at least with myself. If anything, the jewels seemed to hurt her more than help her. Or they were changing her. Yes, that was a better assessment.

  I shook it all off. We were leaving soon, and that made me . . . well, happy wasn’t the right word. Determined, maybe, eager to go. As soon as we were out of the Stockyards, I’d track Bryce and split off from Darcy and Steve.

  That would make Steve happy.

  I frowned and rolled my neck, shocked at my own thoughts. I assumed Darcy wouldn’t come with me to save Bryce, an assumption I hated even while I felt it in my gut to be true. She would follow our new alpha as much a slave to our old ways as any other female in our pride.

  “Well, fuck that misogynistic shit,” I muttered.

  I grabbed my gear and shooed Balder back from the window so I could crawl through and end up inside his stall. I’d avoided Ish for the last three days. I wasn’t about to face her now as we left. The last thing I wanted was for her to try to make me stay behind, or worse, have the truth of my thoughts spill out my mouth.

  Horror flickered through me and I froze, crouched on the sill of the window. She wouldn’t dare stop me from leaving, would she? Even as I considered it, I realized it was a distinct possibility. She knew me well. She knew I would leave Steve and Darcy to go after Bryce. Unless I made a convincing act. I snorted and shook my head. I was no actress. I couldn’t so much as keep my thoughts off my face for a second.

  I dropped into Balder’s stall and put my gear on the straw-covered floor. I ran a hand over his steel gray hide, scratching him here and there where he liked it most. “You ready to go, my friend?”

  He snorted and bobbed his head, butting it against my chest, shoving me a little. I had him brushed clean of the loose straw and saddled up in a matter of minutes, my gear attached to the back of the saddle along with my bedroll and additional bags. I slid his bridle on and did up the throat latch and chin strap, then took him by the reins and led him out the stall door into the central courtyard. Steve was there on . . . Batman? I couldn’t help the gasp.

  “How is that possible?” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, and I knew my jaw was gaping in absolute shock. Batman had been with Maks. The horse had chosen the Jinn over me. So, what the hell was he doing here? I hurried to the horse and put my hand out. He nuzzled my palm, looking for a mint, so I fished one out of my pocket.

  His muzzle felt different, more prickly and whisker-covered. I stared harder. No, it wasn’t Batman after all. But a big boy who was almost identical in color and body shape. The only thing different was this horse’s left hind leg had a snippet of white on it. Otherwise, the two horses could have been twins. A strange sense of relief flowed through m
e. If Batman really had shown up, then Maks . . . he would have been in trouble.

  And I didn’t like the fear that induced in me. Obviously, I was not the only one who noticed my strong reaction.

  Steve smirked. “Missing your human? Maybe you shouldn’t have let him die then, Zamira.”

  I spat at him, yes, literally, hitting him right in the face with a great gob of saliva. He roared and flailed backward with his arms windmilling as though I’d punched him in the nose. For that kind of reaction, I wished I had.

  “Enough.” Ish’s voice rang through the courtyard, power curling through her words and freezing me in place. A tremor shook through me, not fear, but the magic that Ish was spreading across us. The flail on my back heated, dispersing the cold touch Ish had given me.

  I flicked my eyes to see her approach me and Steve. Darcy stepped out from the other side of Steve. Her horse, Pig, gave a soft nicker when she saw Balder.

  Ish was tall, slender, and elegant as always as she swept toward us, and I was reminded of the Ice Witch. The Ice Witch who’d implied that Ish was her sister. The Ice Witch who’d said she’d thought we were of value to Ish, that Ish would have come to save us. And when she hadn’t, the Ice Witch had fucked off because . . . well, because we were not the trap for Ish that her sister had thought.

  That said all sorts of things about our value to our mentor. You didn’t rescue tools that could be replaced.

  The Raven had said they were sisters, and that it was good I hadn’t given the sapphire to Ish. Fuck, would Ish ask about the big white bird? How the hell was I going to explain having a chat with her sister’s pet as it brought me a gift? Sweat trickled along my spine.

  The time to be a good liar was right now, but I wasn’t sure I could pull it off.

  I made myself turn and face Ish, feeling the shards of my life and the truths of my world cracking under the strain of learning more than I’d ever wanted to. Why now? Why did this have to be happening now when Bryce needed me more than he ever had?

  “Steven,” Ish said. “You are charged with leading the way to Dragon’s Ground, to the hill that the jewel lies under. You are charged with returning to me the gemstone of flame that was given to the dragons by the Emperor himself.”

  Steve put a fist to his chest. “I take the charge on willingly, my lady.”

  “I was not done,” she said. He went red in the face and I grinned. Her eyes swept to me, but she spoke to Steve. “Do you believe that Zam will be able to follow you in this task, or will she be preoccupied by the loss of her brother’s life?”

  My heart plummeted to the cobblestones beneath my feet. She spoke as though Bryce were already dead. Something we didn’t know, something we couldn’t possibly know. He’d left, headed for Dragon’s Ground in search of a healer.

  There had been no news to the contrary, and I refused to believe him dead until I saw his body with my own eyes.

  Steve shook his head, a glimmer of malice in his eyes. “I do not believe she will listen to orders. But that is nothing new, Ish. You know that as well as I do.”

  I stared at Ish, the mother of my heart, the person I no longer was sure I could trust, the center of my internal conflict. “Do not tell me I can’t go, Ish. This is what I do. This is all I know.”

  “Or what?” She lifted herself, straightening her body. “What would you do if I required that you stay here to protect me, Zamira?”

  If I thought my heart had plummeted before, it was nowhere near to the depth it dropped with her question.

  How the fuck was I going to answer this?

  Chapter 2

  I shot a look to Darcy next to Steve, both mounted and ready to leave the Stockyards, to see how she was reacting to Ish’s question. Because I wasn’t sure how I should respond. Of course, I wanted to go to Dragon’s Ground, but not for the reason Ish wanted us to go. And she knew it. We all knew it.

  Bryce was there, but how did Ish know I didn’t give a shit about the gemstone? How did she know when I’d said nothing regarding Bryce after that first night back? I’d kept to myself and made sure to keep a low profile. So, who the hell had told her how little I cared about the gemstones now?

  Darcy looked away from me, lowering her eyes to the courtyard’s dusty ground.

  “Fuck it all, seriously, Darcy?” I whispered the words, even while I understood why she’d told Ish. I felt the sting of her betrayal though that wasn’t the worst part. She was not the friend I’d thought her to be. I’d once believed that Darcy would have come for me had I been the one trapped in the Ice Witch’s castle, but seeing her now and the betrayal . . . I knew in my heart that was false.

  Darcy lived the laws of our lion shifter pride about as fully as one could. Which was part of the reason why she’d given in to Steve’s attentions when he’d pursued her when he and I had still been married. Back in the day, there was only one male in a pride, just like natural lions. And he got to fuck all the ladies as much as he liked. My father had changed that, and the Bright Lion Pride had been healthier, happier for that. One mate to one mate.

  Steve wanted things the way they once were where he benefited from all the ladies. And there was no physically strong male lion to gainsay him.

  I drew a breath as I worked the words out in my mind. “I would do as you asked of me, Ish. You know that.” I lied right through my teeth with only minimal effort. I had to make her believe I could behave. If only long enough to let me get the hell out of here.

  Once, I would have thought Ish trusted me to make my own choices, but I could see that was no longer the case. I wasn’t sure that Ish would know I was lying, but I did know I was a terrible liar. This was not a game I had any skill at.

  Her eyes left me and went back to Steve. “You are ready to go then?”

  A breath escaped me. Thank the desert gods, she believed me.

  “We are, but are you sure about Zam?” The crease in his brows deepened. I wanted to flip him off with both hands since I was behind Ish’s back but I didn’t dare move.

  “I am quite sure about Zamira. This is excellent.” Ish clasped her hands in front of her, resting them against her long blue skirt. “Zamira will stay with me. Darcy, you will go with Steven.”

  Except for the tightening of my hands on the leather reins and the freezing of the air in my lungs, I did not move while Steve and Darcy filed past me. Steve with a smirk, Darcy with tears in her eyes. She mouthed something to me but I looked away from her. She would always be my friend, but I knew now not to trust her. Nor did any of this mean I could just take this camel shit lying down.

  And people wondered why I had trust issues. I’d trust Lila and Maks over the pride I’d been raised in at this point.

  That idea rippled through me like a little shock wave, because it was truer than I’d thought possible for the two of them, two friends who’d lied to me at different times for different reasons. One of whom was my natural enemy. But their lies had been backed by truths that were tangled and complicated. And in the end, they’d both come through and had my back.

  I turned and tugged on Balder, leading him into the stall, keeping my temper in check but barely. I un-tacked him and put all my gear away, tossing it into my room through the connecting window. Ish might think she had me trapped, but I would find a way out. No matter how long it took.

  I felt the air pressure change more than I heard Ish behind me. I stopped what I was doing and bowed my chin to my chest, adopting a look of submission. “What is it you need of me . . . Mistress?”

  She sucked in a sharp breath. “Why would you call me that?”

  I turned slowly to face her, the truth inside me bubbling up slowly, like lava curling toward the surface of the earth right before it went on a killing swath a mile wide.

  I could hold the heat back no longer. “You are my master, are you not? You command me and I must go where I am sent because of what you wish from me, correct? My own desires are not considered. Other people’s lives are not taken into account. I am
not free to go where I want. I am held captive here, which makes you my mistress. You own me, Ish. I am a slave to your whims.” I was proud of myself; I delivered the words calmly, almost in monotone. No anger took hold of me.

  “You are a child yet then, if you believe I do not know what is best,” she said, and any other time I would have said her eyes were sad, but I saw the flash of anger. Now that I knew it was there and growing, I saw it more and more.

  I forced myself to stare her down even though she was taller than me, even though the cat in me wanted to curl away in submission. My jaw ticked. “You would have left Darcy to die. Someone you claimed to care about, a woman who I heard you once call daughter. What if I were out there? Would you have given a shit? No, I don’t think you would have.” I didn’t feel an ounce of fear while I faced her. I was not afraid, but I should have been.

  She waved a hand at me, dismissing my words as if they were nothing more than a bad smell. “I was willing to send Maks to find you when Steven came back from the giants without you, or have you forgotten so quickly?” She paused, and again there was that strange flash in her eyes. “I will always want to keep you safe, Zam. And it has always been with great reluctance that I send you out into the world on my behalf. You are too small, too weak, to be able to truly protect yourself. I let you go only because I knew you would chafe being held here. But no more. You must stay out of danger. I will not allow you to be hurt, or worse, killed.”

  I felt my face getting hot, and I wasn’t sure if I was more embarrassed or angry. Her desire to protect me should have made me feel loved, but it only left me feeling owned. “You are avoiding the question. You don’t give a shit about the others then? Just me?”

  Her eyes narrowed, and she spun on her heel, throwing her command over her shoulder as if she didn’t even need to look me in the eyes to make me obey her. “You will not leave the Stockyards, Zamira Reckless Wilson. Not one foot will leave its safety.”