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

to do was pull her hand back, rip the organ from her body, and this would all be over. Under her, Zaruki made a pathetic attempt to rise, her remaining hand slipping in her own blood.

“Do you wish for me to spare her, Master Demidicus?” Sabrina’s voice carried across the arena. It had gone silent again as the vampires accepted the loss of their champion. “I cannot serve as your second. I only wish to meet with you, master to master. If you speak now, I will release her.”

“I need her,” Demidicus said quickly.

Sabrina slipped her hand out of Zaruki’s body. Dianthe heard an unnerving splat as the blond vampire flopped into the mud and lay still. Sabrina stepped away from her, turned toward Master Demidicus, and bowed.

“I trust that you can provide rooms for my friends and me to get cleaned up. I’d prefer not to meet with you like this.” She gestured at her filth-covered body.

Master Demidicus snapped his fingers, and the portcullis behind them rose.

Chapter Nineteen

This time it wasn’t guards who escorted them from the arena but three young female vampires dressed entirely in white. Sylas thought they moved like a troop of ballerinas. He followed them into the halls of Nightfall, forcing himself to smile and participate in the mindless chatter they initiated. Dianthe looked exhausted, and Tobias was too busy clinging to Sabrina to bother with diplomacy.

He was relieved when they were shown to a suite of rooms connected by a central seating area. Tobias and Sabrina disappeared into one of the bedrooms immediately, giggling all the way. Which left Sylas and Dianthe staring at each other across a set of wingback chairs.

“I think I’d like to take a bath and a nap,” Dianthe said. “The welcome crew said Demidicus invited us to join him at a banquet later tonight, and unlike the three of you, I need to sleep.”

He pointed a hand at the open room. “It’s all yours.”

She took a step closer to him. “You could join me.”

His inner dragon perked up inside his torso. There was nothing Sylas would rather do than bathe his mate at that very moment. His body was instantly ready. He wanted her. He always wanted her.

But there was something broken between them. He saw it still in her eyes. A connection that used to be there, a mutual respect, was somehow missing. He wanted to get it back. He was certain he could if given enough time. But it wasn’t going to happen in the next five minutes. Something told him that making love now would do more harm than good. It would be empty. She might even end up resenting him for it if she felt the emotional schism between them.

He removed his pack and set it next to the chair. “As much as I’d like to take you up on that offer, I think I should prepare what I’m going to say to Demidicus. It’s my responsibility to get this right.”

Dianthe dropped her gaze to her toes, her mouth bending into a frown that broke his heart. “Okay.” Without another word, she disappeared into the room and closed the door.

Sylas’s knees gave out, and he landed in one of the wingbacks, thanking the Mountain it was sturdy enough to handle the abuse. Leaning forward, he rested his head in his hands. Would things ever be right between them? Would they ever have what Tobias and Sabrina had? Would it ever be how it used to be?

He leaned back in the chair, closed his eyes, and prayed to the goddess that one day it would be.

The symbol Eleanor had forced Sylas into on the floor of her ritual room radiated heat. Born in the heart of a volcano, dragons were rarely bothered by heat, yet this burn seemed to sink straight through into his bones. This was magic, dark and evil. He tracked her movements as she paced around him.

“You would dare lead a rebellion against me?”

He should remain silent. Admitting his role in the Defenders of the Goddess was a stupid idea. But whatever his mother had in mind, he doubted he’d be making it out of here alive anyway.

“What you’re doing to the five kingdoms is wrong. The other species need their independence if they are to have a chance to thrive. The taxes you are imposing are draining them dry and leaving them in squalor.”

“It’s not like I don’t give them a choice, Sylas. If they bow down to me, I will ensure they are taken care of.”

“And strip them of their culture and identity.”

She scoffed. “Culture and identity?” She waved a hand dismissively toward the ceiling. “How awful that the fairies won’t be able to celebrate every blink of light in the sky. The vampires will have to live in dwellings approved by Paragon instead of a hole in the ground. Poor elves, I’m sure they’ll weep when we finally fill in those fucking sacred pools in Rogos. Good riddance. They’re pests, Sylas! Dragons are the superior species, and once I rule all five kingdoms, everyone will accept that. They will have to after I ascend.”

“What do you mean, ascend?” Ice formed in his veins despite the heat.

“I will defeat the goddess of the mountain and take her place.”

Sylas jolted at the blasphemy. He looked over both shoulders, sure that a fist would drop from the sky and crush his mother into bloody bits. But nothing happened. If the goddess existed and could hear her, she’d chosen not to act. “What makes you believe you could do such a thing?”

She filled a silver vessel with liquid from a cauldron on her workbench. His gaze fell on a massive diamond there. Was that a dragon heart? Whose? He shivered.

“I have tricks up my sleeve that you’ve never dreamed of, dear boy, not in your most dizzying nightmares.”

Her mouth twisted into a truly wicked grin as she approached him again. She tipped her head in mock concern. “This