Breathing Fire (Heretic Daughters #1)(84)

I tried to reassure the girls in the other cages. I just wanted them to know that no matter what I turned into, they didn’t need to fear me, but there was no time.

Blue flames engulfed my body, which was normal. My wings expanded in one huge flap, quick as flight. That was not so normal.

The steel bars on the cage that had seemed so sturdy just moments ago snapped like twigs.

I was suddenly too big for the oversized theatre. There was no exit that would come anywhere near fitting my full dragon form. I would have to make one.

CHAPTER FORTY

The Return

I landed softly on top of the vaguely familiar building. My shift to human form was more difficult than any I could remember. But also faster. I had been submerged in my other form for over six months. I had never stayed changed for such a long period of time. But I’d had a lot to do as my dragon self.

I just lay on the textured concrete pavement of the roof for what could have been hours while I acclimated to my new form. I lay wrapped around my precious burden. It was carefully bundled inside a thick leather hide that I had been clutching securely the entire flight here.

Finally, I stood on wobbly legs. My skin still glowed gold, and I could see from the strands of my hair that lay against my chest that the dragon-trance still claimed that as well. I knew from experience that these effects would last for days or even weeks.

My landing perch was the posh balcony that I knew connected to the presidential suite of the casino that was my destination.

I didn’t make a sound as I slipped in the door. The first four rooms I moved through were empty, but I followed the sounds of voices and easily found my target.

I found him holding court in a palatial dinning room. The room was dark and beautifully decorated, all dark wood and marble. Dom sat at the head of a massive table, his back to me. I’d obviously arrived at a bad time, during some kind of business dinner, but I couldn’t leave until I’d completed my mission. Dozens of druids faced me, staring with mixtures of shock and contempt. Siobhan sat to Dom’s left, obviously his hostess. Hers was the only glare I returned. She clutched a steak knife in her hand like she intended to use it on me. I half-wished she would try. The draak still held enough sway over me that I knew I would show no mercy. Consequences be damned.

Dom had frozen at my entrance, but hadn’t turned. He addressed his dinner party. “I assume by your silence that whoever just entered is posing no threat to me.” His tone was sardonic. I heard him take a deep breath. “Jillian,” he said, his voice dangerously soft. I wasn’t myself enough yet to have any idea what that tone of voice meant.

“Dom.” My voice was hoarse from disuse. I worried that the faint sound hadn’t reached his ears, but suddenly, he turned. He stood at the sight of me, and it was only as he stared at me with shock and fury that I remembered clothes. Or rather, my lack of clothes. I was nude, of course. Dragons have no thought for clothing.

“Everyone out!” he roared, his voice going from human to beast in an instant. They obeyed. All except for Siobhan. She sat where she was, as though she were immune to his order. He turned to her slowly, growling in his throat. “Did you hear me?” Menace inundated every word.

She swallowed hard. “There’s nothing you can’t say to her in front of me, Dom.” Brave woman.

“OUT! You don’t want me to remove you myself!” She was gone in a blurred flash, door slamming hard behind her. She cursed colorfully on the other side of it as she stormed away.

I drank in the sight of him. He was enraged, but I felt no fear. Perhaps it was my other form’s hold still on me, or maybe I had just never been afraid of his rage.

He studied me closely, visibly shaking. His voice was calmer than I would have expected when he spoke. “I didn’t think you were coming back.” Abruptly he turned and sat. I sat to his right. He had his head in his hands, rubbing his temples wearily. His hair had grown since I left. He obviously hadn’t cut it. It hung nearly to his shoulders now. Druids grew things back quickly; hair, nails, limbs. He looked wonderful. I drank in the sight of him, starved to the point of pain.

“Me neither.” My voice was getting stronger. “I thought I was flying north to perish, to tell you the truth.”

“But you didn’t perish.”

“No.” I surprised myself by laughing.

He looked up, startled and angry. “Something funny?” he asked coldly.

I shook my head, but a little smile still lingered on my lips. “No, it just feels good to know that I’m not going comatose or crazy for the foreseeable future.”

“So what have you been up to for the last seven months?”

“I thought it was closer to six,” I mused out loud, though I was sure he had tracked it more closely than I had.

“Trust me, it was seven. You know, we raided that place they were holding you in. I even let the slayer and the mimic in on the action. We got there just one hour after you had escaped. We were so close to rescuing you. But you never were one to wait around long enough to be rescued.”

My eyes widened in surprise This was all news to me, of course. “Did you see the other captives? Where they okay? Was Lynn in there somewhere?” I still felt bad about that, about leaving them, even though I’d had no control over it at the time..

“No signs of Lynn. The slayer believes a different group of dragons took her. But we found the other captives, and they are fine. The dragons left in too big of a hurry to take them. They were both orphans, so they’re in druid custody now. They are acclimating as well as can be expected, considering all that they’ve been through.”