Mari Mancusi - Scorched

“No. You release her now. Or Darius will hear of this.”

“Darius was the one who ordered it,” jeered the second guard. “Go talk to him if you have a problem with it.”

His heart stuttered. “He wouldn’t do that!” he protested. But something in their mannerisms told him he was wrong. He shot an anguished look at Trinity, taking in her bruised eyes and scraped face.

“Trin!” he cried, rushing to her, not caring what the guards would do. Before he could reach her, the first guard shoved him back with the butt of his gun, sending him sprawling into a wall. For a moment he was too dazed to move, the wind knocked from his lungs. The guards regarded him with satisfaction before continuing their march down the hall.

“Trin!” he repeated, desperate and afraid. Ignoring the pain in his head, he dashed forward again, grabbing her this time before they could stop him, squeezing her hand with all he had. Send! he begged her. Send it all!

And so she did.

Caleb staggered, dropping her hand and hitting the ground hard, stunned and dazed by what she’d sent him. Their touch had only lasted a second, but it had been enough—enough to see the mutated dragons. The seedy arms dealer looking over the merchandise. Darius—his beloved mentor, Darius!—informing her of the Dracken’s true intentions.

“No,” Caleb whispered, rocking on his knees. “It can’t be.”

Darius had saved him. He’d rescued him from a life of crime and impending imprisonment. He’d promised Caleb a chance to become a hero. A chance to save the world. And yet all along, he’d been plotting to destroy it.

Somehow Caleb forced himself to stagger to his feet. While he could no longer hear Trinity’s whimpers of pain, they ravaged through his head all the same. He’d brought her here. He’d promised her peace and safety and a place to raise her dragon. Instead he’d put them both in danger.

“Caleb, there you are.”

He whirled around to find Darius walking slowly toward him, his lips curled into a self-satisfied smile. It was all Caleb could do not to smack it off his face.

“What’s…what’s going on?” he demanded, barely able to speak past his horror.

Darius gave him a pitying look. “There has been a complication,” he said, reaching Caleb and placing a fatherly hand on his arm. Caleb bit his lower lip hard, forcing himself not to jerk away from his touch. “The Fire Kissed’s mind, it seems, has been unable to accept the dragon’s bond.” He shook his head slowly. “We knew it was a possibility from the start. But we had hoped…” He trailed off.

What are you talking about? Caleb wanted to scream. You’re the one who’s been selling dragons as weapons. The one with the sick plan to burn down the world. How many people were in on this? All of the other Dracken? Had they known all along? Had they been laughing at him behind his back this whole time? Stupid, gullible Caleb, so desperate for someone to love him, he’ll believe anything you tell him—do anything you ask.

Gritting his teeth, he forced the thoughts from his mind. He couldn’t risk Darius overhearing them. “What did she do?” he asked instead.

The Dracken leader sighed deeply. “She tried to escape, ordering her dragon to slaughter two of our most promising Potentials in the process. Burning them alive simply for doing their jobs.” His face twisted into a self-righteous scowl. “Can you believe it? After all we did for her. Rescuing her from the Hunter, taking her in, clothing her, feeding her. Treating her like an honored guest…”

The indignation in his voice, along with the smooth lies rolling off his tongue, filled Caleb with rage. How many other lies had he willingly swallowed from this man over the last few years? Believing Darius when he told him he was special, that he had a gift? Yet all along, he’d been nothing more than a Dracken lap dragon, following orders without ever questioning them.

It took everything inside of him not to slam his fist into his former mentor’s face. To make him feel even half the pain that Caleb felt. Half the betrayal burning within him. Instead, he swallowed his anger down and forced his face to remain slack. Subservient. This wasn’t the time to act. It would only land him in the same prison Trin was headed for. And then there would be no one left to save her. To save Emmy.

To save the world.

“I’ve failed you,” he said, bowing his head in front of the Master, looking as contrite as possible. “I did everything I could to win her to our side. Obviously it wasn’t enough. I’m sorry. You believed in me and I let you down. I don’t deserve to call myself a Dracken.”

Darius’s face softened. “Don’t blame yourself,” he said, patting him gently on the back. “I know you did all you could. I don’t blame you in the least.”

“Thank you,” Caleb said in his most earnest voice. “I promise, I won’t let you down again.” He looked up at the Master. “So what happens next? Do we just kill her and move on?”

“I am scheduling a de-bonding ceremony for three days from now,” Darius said, “to give Mara enough time to prepare. We’ll do it publicly, with all the Potentials in attendance. After all, it was their brothers the traitor slaughtered so mercilessly. We’ll break the bond between the dragon and the Fire Kissed and then give Emberlyn to the other. Hopefully she will prove more worthy of the privilege.”

Caleb swallowed hard. “And what will happen to the traitor?” he asked, daring to meet his former mentor’s eyes with his own. “Will we keep her in custody? It would seem risky to let her go…”

“She’s not going anywhere,” Darius assured him. “No human has ever survived a de-bonding. Before the ceremony is even over, she will already be dead.”

Creak!

Trinity looked up blearily as she heard the turning of a lock outside her makeshift cell. They’d been keeping her in a wildly painted former Hot Topic dressing room, reinforced with steel bars. The room was small—too small to lie down in—and so she’d contented herself to pull her knees to her chest and lay her head on top of them in a desperate attempt to get comfortable. She had no idea how long she’d been there at this point—the blows the guards had delivered to her head had been sending her in and out of consciousness for some time, and she half wondered if she’d suffered a concussion. At least she knew they wouldn’t allow her to die—well, until they’d severed the bond between she and Emmy that was. After that, all bets were off.

Emmy. She reached out again, trying desperately to find her dragon to make sure she was okay. But, try as she might, she couldn’t lock onto the creature’s spark. She wondered if maybe they’d drugged her. Emmy had to be going insane without her mistress nearby, and no one wanted an insane dragon on their hands. At least she knew they wouldn’t hurt her. They needed her now more than ever. But the thought wasn’t as comforting as it should have been.

The door opened and light spilled into the room. Trin looked up to find a dark shadow, standing in the doorway. For a split second, she wildly thought it could be Connor, come back to rescue her somehow. But that was ridiculous. He was long gone. And it was Caleb standing there, flanked by two guards.

“Well, well, there she is,” Caleb said, his voice cutting and cold. “Our little traitor.”

Trin looked up at him in horror. All this time she’d been secretly praying that he’d received her desperate send when he’d grabbed her hand in the hallway. That he’d seen all the atrocities going on below the mall—the mutated dragons, the Dracken’s true plan. But maybe it hadn’t worked. Maybe he had no idea what the Dracken were really up to. Or maybe…Her heart skittered at the thought. Maybe he’d known all along.