Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 101427 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 507(@200wpm)___ 406(@250wpm)___ 338(@300wpm)
Sol’s throat closed.
They think I’m gone.
Her breath hitched, and before she could stop herself, tears spilled from her eyes.
Sol wiped her face quickly, brushing away the tears before they could fully dry.
No crying. We’re too strong for that.
She straightened her spine as best she could within the cradle of Korin’s claws. Her legs remained tucked close to her chest, so she adjusted again, slowly, straightening her legs.
Korin’s talons shifted once more, accommodating her without hesitation, yet making sure that she was in his grip.
I am going to survive whatever this is.
Sol exhaled through her nose.
A pulse of frost stirred in her fingertips—small, harmless. But it reminded her that she was not just someone to be carried away.
She was still dangerous.
I am strong. I have power. I can. . .beat him.
She leaned her head back and after several minutes of endless ocean and shimmering stars. . .her eyes fluttered closed.
Chapter eleven
Gold and Bone
Sol
Sol dreamed of flames so pure that they kissed the edges of the sky and sang in languages she couldn’t understand. She was in some battle, standing on the edge of a cliff, her body wrapped in armor that shimmered with ice.
Across from her stood a dragon, black and gold, magnificent and monstrous, with eyes like molten suns and wings that blotted out the sky.
Korin.
He lunged.
No!
She met him with her palms outstretched, releasing a blast of ice so sharp it cracked the ground beneath her. Power surged through her body.
She was not Lowly in this dream.
She was a force.
Still, Korin didn’t falter. He broke through her frost with one beat of his wings, barreling toward her. His roar was an earthquake. His eyes burned through her soul.
And then. . .his fangs descended to rip her body apart. Heat wrapped around her neck. She couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe. The last thing she saw was fire reflected in her own eyes.
She screamed.
No!!!
Sol jolted awake, breath ragged and shallow.
Gone was the dream, but even more, gone was the sky.
Gone was the wind.
Gone was the dizzying height of flight and the shimmering stars.
Gone was the ocean.
We’re not flying anymore.
She blinked.
We landed, but where are we now?
Underneath her she felt. . .warmth.
Softness.
Fur.
She looked down and realized that she lay curled atop a small hill of thick, luxurious animal pelts from black bears, tigers, white foxes, and others she didn’t have names for. The textures were impossibly soft beneath her body. Each movement of her limbs sent small shivers of sensation across her skin.
What?
Bare skin.
She froze.
I am naked. Why?
She took herself in. Not a single stitch covered her body. Her breasts pressed against the furs. Her thighs were exposed to the cool air around her. She wasn’t even wearing her old panties and bra—worn thin and full of holes from being so overused.
When did he take my clothes off and why?
Heart pounding, she pushed herself up on shaky hands.
Where am I?
And then she saw it.
Oh. . .my. . .
Gold, silver, and bronze coins were everywhere—mounded in impossible heaps, stacked into jagged hills that reached the height of trees.
Rubies the size of apples glinted between heaps of diamonds. Emeralds glittered in the cracks between stuffed treasure chests. Pearls were scattered and placed into their own piles near sapphires and discarded jeweled goblets slung to the side.
Huge crowns rested atop detached skeletal heads. Their jeweled bands still clinging to power long after their wearers had rotted away.
Korin must have snatched their heads off their bodies.
Sol turned to the right.
Statues of solid gold stood guard. Their faces were carved into divine expressions of lust, wrath, and ecstasy.
Thrones—actual thrones—were half-buried in the glittering dunes. And on some, long-dead kings still sat with their robes blackened by fire and their bony fingers curled around scepters of diamonds, rubies, and even onyx. Most of the kings’ bones were yellowed and cracked.
The air was thick with the scent of ancient wealth. Iron from old blood, the faint perfume of rare woods, and the unmistakable metallic tang of treasure hoarded by a creature not bound by human lifespans.
Korin brought me to his lair. Why?
She inhaled the space some more. She easily caught Korin’s scent of stormwater and jasmine—wild, heady, and unmistakably him. But now something shifted. Just beneath that heat, a new note threaded in.
Black violet and roses.
Not fresh garden roses either. These were darker. Pressed. Preserved. The kind left on tombstones or tucked in forbidden love letters. The black violet was sharp and silken too, almost powdery, clinging to the back of her tongue like a memory she hadn’t lived yet.
Who smells like that? What is this other scent?
Her breath caught. The scent tugged at her—soft but insistent. Familiar, but not. It didn’t belong to Korin. But maybe it belonged to someone like him.
That doesn’t matter. I must figure out a way to escape.
Sol was surrounded by every type of wealth a dragon’s hoard could offer.