A Kingdom of Ruin (Deliciously Dark Fairytales Book 3)(83)

“Yes, what is happening?” Hadriel said. “You were always incredibly terrible to us.”

“Of course I was. People would notice a leopard without spots.”

The sound of pounding feet echoed down the hall. Govam jogged quickly to the other side of me, and Denski let Calia go and did the same.

“Hear me out, Finley,” Govam said in the same urgent tone. “Hear me out. If you don’t like what I say, then kill me. I know you can. I’ve never held any pretenses. You’ve always been the most dangerous of the dragons.”

Micah filled the doorway, his olive skin slick with perspiration and his muscles flaring. His deep brown eyes held rage and vengeance and destruction, and his power punched into the room like a solid force, his dragon clearly right at the surface. He stopped when he saw the state of the room as the other dragons and then wolves filled in behind him, ready to burst into the room and do serious damage. They didn’t care about the odds—they never had.

Govam raised his hands in the air. The rest of the guards did likewise, except for Sonassa, who stepped back a ways. She alone had the ability to control the faeries and shifters, and she was making it clear that she had no desire to.

“What is happening?” I repeated, louder.

“You said I should work on overthrowing the king,” Denski said, a step behind Govam, nearly at the bridge. “We are. We have been. But we can’t do it from within. Dolion and his minions are too powerful. We need the other kingdoms to step in. That’s where you come in, princess.”

“This sounds like a trick,” Micah said. “Or a trap.”

“They just killed a bunch of guards and threw them into the lava,” I told him. It also struck me that they were now using Dolion’s name and not his title. To Govam, I said, “Explain, quickly.”

He marginally lowered his hands. “The people in your kingdom aren’t the only ones who are stuck, Finley. We are trapped”—he gestured to the guards behind him—“within the current king’s rule. We are treated as second-class citizens—”

“Second class would be an upgrade,” Sonassa mumbled.

“—and we are killed without thought. Our lodgings are sparse, our food tasteless—we take what we are given or we are killed. It is a life without hope. We have always hoped a prisoner escape would lead to Dolion’s comeuppance, but it was starting to seem unlikely. Until you came along, Finley.”

“Except there have been escape attempts in the past, and you’ve stopped them,” I said.

“Yes. Because we were ordered to.” Govam lifted his eyebrows. “You might not see the officers, but they see you. Remember me telling you that? They caught on quickly with past attempts, and they always call the guard first. They’d rather let us die. But this time…” His smile was faint. “How’d you poison them all?”

Denski chuckled. “That was quite the shock when I was taking you back.”

“You knew?”

“Yes. I’ve dealt with them for years. Decades. They do hibernate after the ritual, but even then, they don’t look like… Well, like they are dead. On the way back, I checked to make sure.”

I shook my head a little, the pieces fitting together. “And the obice?”

“Forgotten on purpose,” he replied.

“We didn’t realize you’d already found a way to take care of that.” Govam nodded to Calia. “Very clever. You didn’t need our help at all.”

“The meeting with Dolion?”

A shadow crossed Govam’s face. “And that is where I showed my hand, as it were. He did want to see you. About what, I don’t know. I was instructed to get you. You were prepared as requested, and then I summoned Denski so I could leave and make an excuse about why you couldn’t be seen. I told him the officers had whipped you to the point of incoherence. He has a host of dignitaries coming in tomorrow who will remain for a few days. After they depart, he’ll call for you again. That’s when he will discover you are gone, the shifters with you, his officers are dead, and half of his best guards servicing the dungeons are missing.”

“What about the guards you just killed?” I pointed to the lava. “Won’t he notice they’re gone?”

“There was a large shake-up after that last party. A great many guards were killed, many more beaten. Several of our people are healing in their rooms… Besides, the guards who are with me, and those who are in there”—he pointed to the lava—“service the dungeons. He won’t try to call on us until the guests leave.”

He took a deep breath and then continued.

“As of now, I am a dead man walking. Everyone in this room is. If we show up alive, he will either guess we had a hand in this or punish us for not stopping it. Either way, we’d die. Our lives are now in your hands.”

“How did you know she was going tonight?” Hadriel asked. “I put most of those pieces together, but how did you know tonight would be the night?”

Govam’s smile was tight. “I know dragons. I know how they operate. I can anticipate them. Finley is a lot more mysterious than most, but I’ve been watching intently. The only reason she left the golden dragon was to save his kingdom—her kingdom. I knew she’d try to escape. I’d thought she’d hit a standstill because she couldn’t connect with the other shifters. I was trying to come up with a way to force the issue, but then…her friends showed up.” He looked at Hadriel. “And they worked miracles to open the lines of communication. I still wasn’t sure how you could bypass the officers, but I saw the look on your face”—his gaze shifted to me—“when I came to get you earlier. Between that and the vibe of the other dragons, I knew you had to have worked something out. I still didn’t know how—”