“I’ll shift, milady.” Leala handed off her whip to Hadriel, and I was too frazzled to ask what the fuck? before she reduced down into a sort of…monkey thing. Or a lemur. She had large brown eyes that looked too big for her face, ringed in black, with a small snout. Her body was brown with white areas, and her small, furry feet ended in little black claws.
“What is she?” I asked as she started slowly for the bridge.
“A slow loris,” Hadriel replied, stepping up to me with the whip outstretched. I took it, and he turned around so I could use it to secure his wrists. “Don’t let her dainty size fool you. They are one of the most venomous mammals. Their poison can suffocate. Not human-sized creatures so much, but still, a nip would give you a bad day.”
She worked her way out onto the bridge and then stopped moving.
“The bitch is, when they sense danger, they often freeze…” His voice trailed off.
Hannon didn’t hesitate. Smiling, he stepped onto the bridge and scooped up a frozen Leala. She scampered up his shoulder and clung to his neck.
I secured Hadriel as Vemar shifted into a gorgeous, glittering blue dragon and leapt off like he had no fear of death. Then again, he probably didn’t.
I threw Hadriel over my shoulder and marshaled my determination. Vemar landed as Hannon returned to the business end of the bridge and grabbed a pretty little faerie, holding her to his chest. I gave him a head start over the bridge, the faerie thrashing in his arms but not nearly powerful enough to cause him a problem. Leala re-froze on his shoulder.
“Here we go, Hadriel. I hope this isn’t the end of our friendship.” I started out.
“Ah, you admitted we’re friends. That’s so great! Except I am a butler, my love, and I am not friends with princesses locked in towers who—”
The magic of the bridge washed over me like a sack of stone. It clawed at my middle and tried to drag my ribs out of my body. My vision blackened then spun. Hadriel jerked and started screaming—or maybe that was me—and struggled to get off my shoulder. He punched my back, scrabbling to get closer to the ropes and likely throw himself over.
I staggered that way. Or maybe I meant to take that step. I wanted to throw myself off with him. To chuck him over and jump in after him.
This is a real gut-bender, folks, I thought desperately, tears streaming down my face. Will she give in to her baser desires and jump?
I struggled him closer to the end of the bridge, only to realize I was listing toward the ropes at the side.
Get a grip, my dragon screamed inside my head. Fight your way back. Use Nyfain. He is our lifeline. Use him to keep you grounded.
I did. With everything I had, I reached out for him through the bond, desperate. Terrified. Ready to end it all.
Like when I’d been brought to Dolion and his people tried to claw the bond from me, I felt Nyfain reach out. I felt him reel me in possessively, holding me tightly to him. The mark he’d given me burned and then tingled, like he was refreshing it, claiming me body and soul.
Mine, the sentiment seemed to say. You belong to me. No one and nothing else can have you. Nothing will take you from me.
The feeling from before, like his dragon’s wings spreading over me protectively, eased some of the crippling anxiety and broke through the chaos of my mind.
When I blinked into semiconsciousness, Hadriel was dangling from one of my hands, his feet above the lava, and I was looming over him, one leg bent as if I were about to climb over.
The bridge shook and wobbled, and as I hauled Hadriel back, I saw Hannon hurrying toward me with terror screwing up his expression. He couldn’t go too fast, though, or the bridge would shake enough to dump me over.
“It’s okay,” I said, out of breath, as I dropped onto the safety of the bridge, bending to him. “It’s okay, folks. She seems to have narrowly avoided catastrophe.”
“What?” Hadriel asked, flailing against me.
Oh great, now everyone will know you’re crazy, my dragon thought. And I’ll be considered crazy by association.
“Nothing.” I punched Hadriel to get him to stop struggling and then just dragged him behind me. I didn’t trust myself to sling him over my shoulder again. “I’m okay.”
I wasn’t, of course. My vision wobbled, and the desperate urge to jump didn’t ease. But Nyfain kept his grip on me and I fell into it, clutching him through the bond and forcing my legs to keep moving.
On the other side, I let Hadriel go, wiped my nose and then cheeks, and started back across.
“Wait, Finley—” Tamara said, but I didn’t hang around to see what she’d say. We needed to hurry.
“Many hands make light work,” I muttered, over and over, reaching the other side and grabbing the next victim. No one wanted to go with me after seeing Hadriel’s near miss with the lava, but time was ticking, and they relented. I took the next, Hannon following me. Then we did it again. And again. We continued on that way until it was done. Each time I crossed, I wished I would die. I was having a hard time dealing with the agony, not of the body—I was used to that by now—but of the soul.
What seemed like hours later but hopefully wasn’t, I fell to my hands and knees on the stone on the safe side, sobbing.
“Carry her,” someone said. It sounded like Micah.
“I’m a little short on strength right now.” Hannon panted. “There was a lot of fight in those last couple of dragons.”
“I can’t force myself close, not with the power pumping into that alpha’s scent,” Vemar said, clearly frustrated.
“I’m fine,” I said as someone else said, “I can.”
I was so twisted up in my thoughts that it took me a moment to register it was Tamara. “I…don’t mind the smell,” she said, pulling me up and giving me a supportive smile.
I shook my head and put a hand to her shoulder. “I’m good. It’s fine.”
“We gotta get moving, Strange Lady,” Vemar said, and for once, he wasn’t smiling. “That took longer than it probably should’ve.”
“It’s okay. We started a little ahead of schedule.” Calia drifted closer and rubbed my back. “That took great bravery. She deserves a rest.”
“No shit it did,” Tamara said. “Micah, Vemar, and I all tried to cross to help, but we didn’t make it far enough to even congratulate ourselves on the effort. Without our dragons, we would’ve been more cargo for Hannon.”
“Tough as balls.” Vemar shook his fist as he grinned at Hannon and me. “Both of them.”
“Balls, my ass,” Lucille replied. “Balls are the most fragile things I’ve ever heard of. A small slap is the end of the world to you fuckers.”
“Yes, yes, we all wish we had the mighty vagina. Bully for you,” Hadriel cut in, rolling his eyes. He stepped closer to me. “Finley, darling, you yourself know that you cannot stay here and rest. Either walk or get carried. Those are your options.”
“I’m good.” I straightened up and wiped my nose with my sleeve for what was probably the millionth time. “It’s fine.” I cleared my hoarse throat. “My voice is a little worse for wear, though.”
“Well, yeah, you were screaming the entire time you crossed the bridge.” Hadriel grabbed my arm and moved me forward. “Okay, love, here we go. This is the part where we need to pay very close attention, or we’ll be lost in this accursed dungeon forever.”