Hidden Dragon (The Treasure of Paragon Book 7) by Genevieve Jack (best book club books .txt) 📕

for the empress’s vision of uniting the kingdoms, but until the Obsidian Guard sets foot on Nochtbend soil, we will not involve ourselves.” Her eyes drifted to Sabrina again. “Now, I will call Ruthgard to show you out.”

Sabrina’s green eyes shifted to Tobias. He gave her a small nod. “Zaruki, I challenge you for your position in Nochtbend coven.”

“What did you say to me?” Zaruki’s fangs lengthened.

Sabrina crouched, hissing. Tobias’s mate was truly frightening, her green eyes taking on a silvery-blue glow with her anger. Dianthe took a step closer to Sylas, clearly unnerved by the display. Sabrina’s voice sounded strange as it filtered through her teeth. “I said, I challenge you. Are things so different among Nochtbend vampires that you don’t know what that means?”

Zaruki’s eyes narrowed to slits. “Oh, I know what it means, but I fear you have no idea.” She shoved past Sabrina and threw open the door. “Guards! Take these four to the arena.”

“The arena?” Dianthe whispered to Sylas.

He barely glanced back at her. He did not take her hand. She shifted nervously beside him.

“It appears that you will have your wish, Sylas,” Zaruki said, glaring directly at him. “You will be in the audience of the master… while I battle your friend to the death.”

Chapter Eighteen

Something was very wrong with Sylas. Dianthe followed her mate, Tobias, and Sabrina from the room, led by a group of brutish vampires who seemed dead set on making the experience as uncomfortable as possible. Sylas did not react at all to the guard’s firm grip on her arm or move closer to her to protect her. In fact, her mate had barely looked at her since their conversation at the lake. He was angry, that was for certain.

You said he was smothering you, she chided herself. It was a mistake. In her anger, she’d said things she regretted. Smothered was perhaps an exaggeration. Smothered was perhaps the wrong word choice given that he’d, only minutes before, allowed himself to be eaten alive by a monstrous worm. Smothered was likely the reason he wasn’t speaking to her.

Damn it all. Why had she chosen that word?

With a shove to the center of her back, Dianthe stumbled forward into a pit of mud and stone. She flapped her wings to right herself, then looked up and up and up. An underground coliseum rose above her, quickly filling with thousands of vamps whose individual mumbles created a cacophony that echoed through the space. Occasionally, Dianthe heard the word challenge pop out of the otherwise indistinguishable din of voices.

“By the goddess.” Dianthe turned in place, disturbed by the sheer size of the stadium and the fact that she was surrounded by predators. Every one of these vampires would make a meal of her if there wasn’t a pact between their people. Here, would anyone even know if one of them decided to indulge? She shivered.

The guards left the four of them alone, the tunnel into the arena closing behind them. That was that. There was no way out of here but for Sabrina to fight. Hopefully just Sabrina. Why were they all in the arena?

“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Sylas whispered to Tobias and Sabrina.

Sabrina removed her cloak, folded it neatly, and handed it to Tobias. “Do you want the second orb or not?”

“Of course I do, but—”

“Zaruki was not going to give you access to the master. She sympathizes with Eleanor. I could smell her contempt for you the moment you walked into the room.”

Sabrina stripped off her shirt until she was left in only a sports bra and leggings. Her fingers danced along her hair, braiding it perfectly with superfast precision. She tied the ends with an elastic she’d had around her wrist.

“We don’t know what this challenge entails,” Sylas said. “How can you be so sure you can handle it?”

“She can handle it,” Tobias said confidently.

“All vampires are fundamentally the same,” Sabrina said. “They’re violent creatures. They won’t respect us unless we demand respect. Trust me on this. I’ll be okay.”

Dianthe observed Sylas and Tobias. Both dragons. Both mated. Their reactions could not have been more different. Tobias was smiling as his mate prepared for war. Sylas was scrubbing his face with his hands as if this entire situation was making his skin crawl. She had to agree with her mate on this one. All of Dianthe’s instincts told her Sabrina was in over her head.

“Tobias, I need you.”

“Blood or energy?” Tobias asked.

“A little of both? I expect this will be… challenging.”

Dianthe did a double take as Tobias pulled Sabrina into his arms and kissed her like it was her last day on earth. A few whistles came from nearby vamps, but as Dianthe watched, she realized this was more than a kiss. Sabrina’s cheeks turned as pink as a fairy’s. And when her lips tucked into his neck, she saw her sip blood from his skin. Sabrina and Tobias weren’t making out, he was feeding her.

By the time she pulled away, she was positively glowing. “Mmm-mm good. See you later, baby.”

“There’s more where that came from. Finish this without making me shift, and it’s all yours.”

She gave him a reassuring nod and then jogged to the center of the arena, waving to the vampires who booed her arrival.

Dianthe tugged at Sylas’s arm and gestured toward a box at the front of the arena. A vampire entered, wearing a tailored black suit decorated with red cords. With his jet-black hair and eyes, his very presence was foreboding, even from her spot across the arena. But it was what he carried in his hand that had caught her eye. A scepter in his grip was topped with a glowing red orb.

“By the Mountain,” Sylas said. “I guess Sabrina was right about him keeping it close.”

“Let’s pray Sabrina wins this thing and we have the opportunity to plan how we might pry that thing out of his thousand-year-old grip.”

“I don’t think he’s a thousand years old.”

Dianthe