Caged Warrior

NINE

The release of the collar’s damping hold shot power to the deepest recesses of Nynn’s body and mind. Energy coursed through every cell—energy she needed. That vitality was even more potent now, after the adrenaline rush of Leto’s persuasion. He was right. A human wouldn’t have noticed that empowering shift. The woman named Nynn was exhilarated and freed.

No. She caught herself. I’m Audrey. I’ve been Audrey since high school.

Did it matter?

He had kissed her, she had let him, and something chilling was pressing in from the back of her mind.

She was losing herself.

Even in the labs, she had rarely felt as helpless as when Leto had traced his lips across hers. The intensity of his attention had been . . . enticing. Unsettling. Full of potential.

Wrong.

The gold-flecked mask of his eyes and the exploring touch of his tongue had been terrible enough. Terrible, because she’d responded. Not by running or shouting. She’d been too shocked for that. She’d responded by relishing each honey-slow caress. Just his mouth and her mouth and what sick spell they’d brought to life. Her body was keyed up and aching in ways she’d never known. The call and response of ancient needs.

Needs she’d thought dead and buried with Caleb.

The depth of her betrayal was staggering. Her heart stuttered, and the taste of ash settled at the back of her mouth. For that alone she needed to stay clear of Leto.

As if that were an option.

She couldn’t shake free of those moments when his exhales had tangled with her inhales. She’d shivered through the entire encounter—not from fear, but from an elemental exchange. His curiosity about her. Her unconscious response to that curiosity. She’d practically stopped her own heart. Wondering. Searching. What did he see when he looked at her?

Now she was nauseated to realize how easily she’d responded.

Her limbs buzzed all the way to the tips of her fingers and toes. Not fear. Not hatred. Dragon be, not even simple lust. For those moments when he’d stroked her jaw and her cheek, she’d wanted comfort. From a beast. She’d only found real comfort when in the company of her cousin, Mal, and in the arms of her late husband. Any reaction—anything—to Leto’s enticements was like personally shooting Caleb in the heart.

That was where the torture had started. She had wanted to fight back. She was a Dragon King. She should’ve been able to do something. Her gift had failed her, as it always had.

Another darkness slunk forward. Distant fear. Grief she couldn’t identify. A terrible thing sat at the edge of her vision, like being stalked by a wraith.

Muscles coiling, blood surging, she faced her tormentor—the brainwashed brute who’d just kissed her.

“Use logic, Nynn. You know I’m right. You have greater potential than you’ve yet tapped.”

“What would an animal like you know about logic?”

With a casualness that mocked the situation, he glanced around the Cage wires. “Animal? Seems we’re both locked up.”

“But you’re so subservient that you stay locked up by choice.” She couldn’t stop moving now. Spinning. Her head was a tornado. She couldn’t keep still. Didn’t want to keep still. “How can you sit down here in the dark? You’re a circus freak, not a man. I knew a good man and I loved him and he’s dead—murdered—by the cartel family you serve without thought. I look at you and I want to throw up.”

He didn’t react. He didn’t even taunt her with the kiss she’d just accepted. “Who did you lose?”

“My husband!”

“No. Farther back. There’s a hole where something happened. Where someone should be.”

“No one!”

“Think about it. I didn’t hit you. I didn’t threaten you. I only asked who you’d lost. Now look at you. Look around you.”

As if of its own accord, a ball of light appeared before her. It grew and grew until it was half her height and twice her width. Explosions sparked at its heart. She was mesmerized by what she had wrought.

Beautiful. Fascinating. Destructive.

“Let it go,” Leto called. “Release, Nynn.”

Her impulse to hold on to the magic was strong. She only wanted to look at it a while longer. Otherwise she wouldn’t believe it. She couldn’t even trust that she’d remember it. The bursts of color and hot violence were like vicious fairies in pitched battle. She could watch it forever. Let it grow. See if she could crack a crater in the earth with one blow.

In the back of her mind, where the woman once known as Audrey MacLaren still thought and assessed, she saw the truth in an instant. Such a release would kill her.

She closed her eyes. Arched her back. Spread her arms.

The ball that shivered out from deep within—it was part of her. She had to let it go.

It burst.

A wave of heat and electricity shot around the Cage in whirling circles. That power hit her back in the face. The ricochet effect knocked the air from her lungs and threw her back in a lopsided stagger. She landed hard on her ass. The back of her head connected with one of the Cage’s metal posts.

“Aw, fuck,” she muttered. Blood seeped from the base of her skull. Leto strode toward her and knelt. She touched a strip of that leather woven through his armor—leather singed black. “How?”

“Less damage? I was ready this time. Flat on my back, or it would’ve been shredded to pieces.” He grabbed her upper arms and gave her a hard shake. “Tell me you remember that. Nynn, you stubborn little shit. Tell me.”

“I’m not stubborn. I did what you wanted.” She wiped the blood on her pants. No number of blinks cleared the image of what she’d just done.

Dragon be. I have a gift.

She had expected Leto to remain as still as statuary, yet his features spoke of surprise—and something close to approval. “You did. We can move forward now.”

She shook her head, which added dizziness to her pain. Or maybe that was another aftereffect of her gift. He was right. Audrey MacLaren was not a Dragon King. Yet Nynn was. This demonstration, the unnatural way she took so quickly to Leto’s training, maybe even how she’d responded to his physical allure—all proof.

But to let go of Audrey? That would mean turning her back on the life she’d shared with Caleb. She would not be the same mother Jack loved. Perhaps that might be for the best. For his safety, he needed her to become a warrior like Leto. Only later could she offer comfort and the pure affection she longed to give. Warrior and mother were interlinked.

A year in the Cages.

She didn’t want to become such a monster.

“The next step is for you to control it,” he said plainly.

“That I managed to do it at all is as good as it gets.” She pushed to her feet. Her balance was unnaturally steady. “How are we going to fight with that bomb ready to mow us both down?”

“Energy can be controlled. If you want to learn how.”

“You act like I’m doing this on purpose!”

“I thought that. Not anymore.”

This talk was more than just talk. He was prodding a place as tender as a wound that had never healed.

“Dragon damn,” she whispered. “I hate you.”

If he shrugged in reply, she was going to smack him until her hands bled and he wrung her neck. Instead, he stood and walked toward the center of the Cage. Big man. Big, confident steps. Eyes the color of his singed leather armor were sharp, but his arrogance had dimmed. Why? Perhaps less need to posture? Or the inherent faith in what it was to be a true, unencumbered Dragon King?

Maybe she didn’t hate him. The word didn’t take into account how he made her terrified of her own impulses. She wore the same skin, but beneath it were new urges. She was struck by how the energy of their gifts reminded her of sexual potency. He looked stronger, bigger, and more intimidating, and her body responded—no matter that he still bought into a system so corrupt that no decent person could possibly defend it.

They squared off. Audrey was furious at him and the Asters and herself. Leto was as calm as she’d ever seen him.

“Let me tell you five words.” His voice was low. Hypnotic again. “See if it jars your memory.”

“Do it.”

He paused for three heartbeats. “A box in a corner.”

Cold covered her skin. Flashes. Old memories. From inside out, her body convulsed.

“Follow it, Nynn. Talk.”

“Can’t.”

“I can’t read your mind like some Indranan witch. Talk.”

“Some gifts are too dangerous.” Her voice sounded different. “No. Those weren’t my words.”

“It’s what they told my parents about my sister Pell. Now she’ll be in a coma for the rest of her life. What there is of it.” He crossed his arms, appearing defensive. “Did they beat you? When they forced their way into your mind?”

“I don’t remember.” Audrey shook her head. “Did they beat you?”

“Yes.”

No wonder he looked so wary. She couldn’t imagine anyone or anything strong enough to cow Leto of Garnis.

Bitter acid had collected at the back of her tongue. Flickers returned. Whispers and secrets and fear as painful as needles piercing her eyelids. Entire years were missing.

Leto reached out to touch her clenched hand. A zap tingled between his skin and hers. Their gazes caught. “They took it from you, Nynn. There are steps to reverse the process. You know that.”

“And let some Heartless witch in my head? If that’s what’s happened, I’m sure as hell not letting it happen again. There has to be a better way. More training.”

“We’re almost out of time.” His anger, and all of his emotions, were becoming easier to read. Was that Nynn’s doing, or was she affecting his personality as much as he was altering hers?

“Then I want to make the most of that time. That means sleep. Will you let me, or will this argument go on all night?”

He caught her chin and looked at the back of her skull. “You’re still bleeding.”

“And that’ll be healed by morning. Don’t tell me you haven’t realized I’m changing.”

“For the better.”

Audrey pulled free of his taut fingers. “Are we done?”

“Fine. Limit met. Loud and clear.” From beneath his armor he pulled a fist-sized packet wrapped in white butcher paper. “Here. One of the guards wanted you to have this.”

The scent of mint hit her with an old memory. Jack with a candy cane stuck in his hair. His third Christmas, when anything Tonka yellow made her little boy squeal with a child’s enthusiasm.

“Why?”

He lifted his brows. “To buy your attention with trinkets. Would you take one of them as your lover to secure gifts and privileges? Or would you fight to earn them honorably, as I have? I pass them on to you as a reminder. Trust anyone here but me and you’re a fool. I’ve always been clear about my motives. These humans would trade Dragon knows what for trinkets and pornography. You’re above them.”

She took the package from him. You need to make a choice. That meant knowing what, exactly, she was choosing.

“Were you given the chance to hold your niece?”

He flinched. “Sometimes you make no sense.”

“Answer me, please. Sir.”

A long exhale. Was he merely frustrated with her? Tired? Or did he feel the same buzzing aftereffects of their kiss? The fizzing snap in her blood—part Leto, part aftershocks of her explosive gift—was tantamount to infidelity. Caleb was dead, while she’d been turned on in the midst of a sick power game. Leto’s mouth. His hard restrained strength. His beautifully masculine body and oddly innocent reserve.

“Did you?” she asked more sharply.

He studied her for a long time. She didn’t waver, just waited for his answer.

“Yes, I held her. A little girl they named Shoshan. She has my sister’s dark hair. Fairer skin.” He looked away. Shook his head. “It was an honor to see her. To know I’d earned such a gift for them and for our clan.”

“Then it is possible. The Asters . . . ?”

“I told you. Winning is important. Keeping their family profitable is vital. Without them, the system collapses.”

“Maybe for the best.”

“My father died in a Grievance after fathering three children. He didn’t believe it a useless system, and neither do I. There’s too much to be earned for those we cherish.”

Cherish. Such a tender word from a brick wall of a man.

“We will never agree on this,” she said, almost to herself.

“Just do your job. That means controlling your powers. Indranan live here. They could unlock what we haven’t been able to.”

She stepped away. Once. Again. “My mind is not theirs and it’s not yours.”

No matter Leto’s faith and his skills, no matter the birth of his niece, she didn’t trust that her son would be returned out of the goodness in Old Man Aster’s heart. He and his warped son had no hearts. They didn’t give away anything that didn’t earn them something in return. Letting Leto hold little Shoshan only kept him focused on earning their respect and adding to his family’s glory. The incentive had successfully bought the rest of Leto’s life, and had taken the life of his father.

She sure as hell wasn’t letting anyone into her mind on that scant possibility. Already her thoughts were blended, distorted, and still aching with an old, forgotten tremor of bloodshed she didn’t want to see.

“What else do you get out of this system?” She was trying to shed her uncertainty. For nearly three weeks, that had meant baiting Leto. “Maybe extra beans at dinner time? A pillow for when you sleep on the floor? Or do you just like to feel important once a month? I’m assuming it’s not only for procreation, otherwise your sister would have half a dozen children.”

“I’ve won eight Grievances. Shoshan has been the only child to survive.” He blinked once. “You’re not the only one here who’s suffered.”

His emotions shut down. Closed off. He was as opaque now as when he’d first strode into her training cell—further evidence of how many of his subtle clues she’d unconsciously learned to interpret. He exited the Cage. A brief shudder marked the moment when the collar revoked his gift.

Leto was skilled in all methods of combat, but the amazing power that set him apart from human beings could be withdrawn on a whim. Even among the Dragon Kings he was special. Clan Garnis. The Lost. He had the heart and soul of a warrior. The taunt of having his greatest asset offered, then stolen again . . . Surely he must regret losing that precious blessing.

Nynn had only just discovered her potential, and even she felt its loss. As soon as she followed him out of the Cage, her new potential flipped off like a light switch. The tease was nearly as cruel as the promised rewards. Deep beneath his misplaced loyalty, Leto must hate it, too.

Shadow claimed most of his body. Only a glimmer of golden skin shone where his breastplate left room for muscles to maneuver freely. Bare. Smooth. Flexing with each movement. She remembered her vision of him as a work of art. Charcoal and warm, fluid pastels. She wondered briefly how she would draw him while he fought. Blurs of color. Smudges of steel gray and swirls of his mace.

Shutting her eyes blocked those visual distractions, but the details of his body followed her into the dark. She was free to imagine Leto posing for an artists’ class on the male anatomy. An exemplary specimen, with every muscle and ligament ripe for study.

Nude and glorious.

With a frustrated noise, she ground her knuckles against her eyes. She was behaving like some desperate victim succumbing to Stockholm syndrome. Sympathizing with his cause. Changing her beliefs to suit his. Accepting his praise like a cracked desert floor drank the rain. Her fears were coming true, that she would wind up just as brainwashed.

Jack was her lifeline, as was her vow that the Asters would burn for their crimes.

Ten minutes later, Leto and a pair of guards walked her back to her training cell. He left without a word or a backward glance.

Alone, Audrey opened the butcher block paper. Inside were peppermints—the round kind that only old people ate, or what children left for last after Halloween. Didn’t matter. She grabbed one of the candies. The mentholated sweetness was a shock. Work and work and more terrifying work. Now she rolled candy across her tongue.

The contrast was nearly as shocking as how tenderly Leto had kissed her.

She glanced down the corridor toward the gate. There stood the sleepy, ridiculously overdressed guards. What was the purpose of their SWAT-style armor if they traded for peppermints and Playboy? What sort of men were they to imprison and torture and snivel like moles in the ground?

Only the locks held her prisoner. Not those fools. They were as useless as the rest of the humans in that complex.

Audrey froze. She spit the peppermint onto the ground.

She’d been trained since birth to believe the old, pompous prejudice that Dragon Kings were better than humans. Millennia of examples proved it. Only, Audrey had fallen in love with Caleb—with his caprice and warmth and lack of centuries-old ego. Here, she was sinking into the morass of ancient bigotry against the resourceful, thoughtful, amusing people she’d spent years among.

No matter how much she disliked that thought, Audrey recognized the pragmatic truth. Her heritage was impossible to deny. She was a Dragon King, and she would need to embrace that old, powerful arrogance to save her son.