Giddy, I swirled my wine glass and took a generous sip. The page for my childhood obsession started off with a beautifully drawn unicorn galloping in a field. Facts such as normal height and weight littered the middle section, while below held more in-depth details on their behavior and habitat. “Songbird Wood?” I scrunched my nose trying to recall if I had heard it before. “Where is Songbird Wood?”
Something clattered on the table. A round golden saucer shook as if being pulled by a frantic force. It ceased its movements, then split down the middle. The top half rose, then a bright flash shot up above it and I reared back. When the light simmered down a pinch, a sprawling map unraveled itself in front of my eyes. The words “Songbird Wood” appeared on the top half of the map. A ring of gold materialized in a small forested area in the bottom half of the kingdom of Kibar. The ring grew larger as did its highlighted area. Letters were written out next to it by an invisible hand. ‘Songbird Wood, 614 miles from your current location.’
“Holy filé powder, it’s a magic map!” I leaned in closer, taking in the impressive details of the map’s terrain. Reaching out, I skimmed my fingers over the tops of the green forest area. Instead of feeling parchment, my fingers let off a strange tingle and I pulled my hand away. The map grew hazy, then faded away, only to reappear as a moving picture. Actual unicorns grazed in a field. One stomped his hoof and looked up. Its ears twitched as if sensing a predator. With another stomp, the entire herd took off into the forest. The movements were so elegant and regal, it made my heart soar. The moving picture stopped then restarted with the unicorns back in the field.
The invisible hand wrote more words below the image. “Unicorn. Primary habitat: Songbird Wood. Regal and majestic creature whose body can be used for numerous purposes. The mane of the unicorn has many medicinal properties. A single hair can turn a barren wasteland into a lush forest. Its horn, when boiled down into different potions, could extend the life of a dying man, or even make an immortal out of a healthy man.
“Caution: Taking the life of the unicorn may result in steady and intractable mental decline. Previous cases have become slowly mad over time until finally ending their own life. Those who survived the curse have stated that they wished they hadn’t.”
What kind of monster would kill a unicorn?That was absurd. Still though, a single hair could turn a ruined land into a lush field? Well, I think I just found out how I was going to beat Chili at our pumpkin-growing contest. I was already going to have to travel to gods knew where to get home. A little pit stop wasn’t going to hurt.
Speaking of home. “Um… map, thingy. Show me Boohail,” I said, clearing my throat.
The map zoomed back out to its full view. Instead of zeroing in on my hometown, the words “Unknown Location” appeared in the middle of the map. “Damn.”
Well, I still knew where it was. My home was located just on the tail end of Kinnamo. So long as I got close enough to it I could find my way back. I reached out and tapped at the bottom tail of the heart-shaped continent. As expected, the map zoomed in to where I tapped. Wide grasslands appeared across the land. “That’s not right,” I said, tilting my head in confusion. Boohail was surrounded by swampland. There wasn’t anything but the bayou and forest until you traveled closer to Wandermere. I knew I had been gone a good five years but there was no way the entire landscape had changed. “Map, how far away is that location?” The invisible hand wrote out the letters 2,794 miles. “Hissing puma, that’s far.”
“Map, where is my current location?” My fingers thrummed on the book as the map zoomed out again then highlighted another location. My eyes went wide when it circled a mountain ridge on the continent that took up most of the northern hemisphere of the map.
“Volsog,” I breathed. My stomach did a wicked turn. “I’m in Volsog. How thefuckam I in Volsog?”
The frozen continent was only home to demons. No human in their right mind would ever travel there. Hell, I don’t think any human has ever traveled there. Yet here I sat in a dragon’s castle, sipping his wine and reading his books.
Anger and frustration welled up to tears in my eyes. There was no way I could get out of here on my own. I hadn’t escaped at all. I just traded one dragon’s tower for another.
As if to add insult to injury, the ache of desire I’d been trying to ignore ramped up into incessant need. My breath came out as an irritated hiss as I squeezed my legs together. “Great, I’m trapped and I’m poisoned with weird dragon slut venom.”
The more I tried to ignore it, the more the image of Dante’s hands on me came to mind. The way he lifted me against him, how warm his breath felt as he ran his lips along my neck. Sighing, I slammed the books onto the table and stood. “I need a bath.”
Chapter 5
Dante
Fallon’s laughter echoed through the room. I rubbed at my temples to stop myself from putting a fist through the mirror. “I’m glad you find my predicament so amusing.”
“I do,” he said through a chuckle. “I really do.” His shoulders shook from the other side of the mirror. The ornate room he was sitting in was in sharp contrast to the simple gray tunic he was wearing. The space appeared to be much too large for the charming house he and his wife called home. Which implied that he’d finally finished setting up his new hoard below their farm.
It never crossed my mind to build my home underground, but shadow dragons were known to be rather secretive. When I thought back on it, I had no idea where the old Castle of Shadows even was. We knew the general location of his territory, but none were allowed inside. For all I knew, that castle could have been underground as well. No one I knew had ever seen it. My sister had attempted to find it once in her early years, thinking she’d be allowed passage as a female. She returned shortly after with a singed mane and bruised pride.
Fallon’s predecessor rarely ventured out from his territory to speak to any of us. It wasn’t until I met the young dragon that I realized the previous Lord Shadow even had a child. Though if he already had a female to protect, it would explain the violent rejection of Kohara’s advances.
“Did you find out why that sea dragon held her captive?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Who knows what’s going on in that madman’s head. He’s completely unrecognizable from what my father described. At first, I thought he may have taken her to replace the mate he lost, but from what she said, he made no advances in the time she was trapped in that tower.”
Fallon paused. “If his mate died, then how is he still alive?”
“It’s possible she wasn’t his fated mate. I’m not sure. Still, I’m not letting him anywhere near my wife.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like she doesn’t want to be anywhere nearyou.”
My brow twitched. Admitting the need for his assistance was uncomfortable enough. However, Fallon was the only other dragon I knew that had taken a human mate, and I’d clearly messed things up with mine. I didn’t even know how much time had passed since I fell asleep, only to wake up dry-mouthed and groggy. At the very least, the magic bond between us had let me know she was still in my castle. “Are you going to help me or not?” I questioned with clenched teeth and bruised dignity.
“I’m not sure I can, Dante. Of all the things not to do, getting high off your ass and biting her as soon as you met her is arguably the greatest thing not to do. Even so, I guess you didn’t electrocute her by accident. So Usha lost that bet.”
“You placed bets?” I asked incredulously.
“Of course we did.”
