How to Lose Your Dragon (The Immortality Curse Book 1) by Peter Glenn (beach read TXT) 📕

gone for hours now. If they wanted to come get you, they’d have done it by now.”

“Humph. Shows how little you know,” Bevan spat.

“Oh?” I gave him a curious look. “Well, why don’t you illuminate me, then?”

“They’ll be here tonight, after the binding ritual is complete!” he said, looking rather smug. “Then you’ll see just how big a fool you’ve been!”

I laughed just a little. “Tonight, you say? So the ritual is being held tonight? Why thank you, Bevan. You’re quite the little font of information.”

The little smug smile he’d been brandishing wiped off his face nice and fast. “Hey! You tricked me!”

I nodded. “Indeed I did, Bevan. And there’s more where that came from, too.”

“Humph,” he said. He shut his lips and turned his face away from me. “That’s all you’re getting out of me. A fat lot of good it’s going to do you.”

“Oh come on, Bevan, don’t be a spoilsport.” I put my hand on his cheek to try and turn his face to look at me, but it wouldn’t budge, so I circled around him until he was looking at me again instead.

Bevan humphed again and spun his head the other way.

“Children,” I sighed. “They can be so hard to manage.” Whether or not Bevan understood that was also an insult aimed at him was hard to gauge, since he was still facing away from me. “Still, what can you do? I need information, and you have it. Where’s your base, Bevan? Where is everyone hiding?”

Complete silence greeted me. I could barely even hear him breathing.

“Now, now, Bevan. I can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

I’d never been much for torture. Watching a master interrogator at work was something I’d been forced to do in my youth more than once as a minor member of the Chinese royalty. It had never sat well with me. There were so many more humane ways to get information. So I was really hoping I wouldn’t have to resort to it in this instance.

Again, there was nothing but silence.

“Fine,” I said, sighing again. “If I have to do this the hard way, I won’t hesitate.”

Still, Bevan said nothing.

I ran around to the front and backhanded him again so hard I heard his neck snap backward. It wasn’t enough to break it, but it didn’t sound pleasant.

His head spun around for a moment, but he eventually regained full control and turned his gaze away from me again, not even making a sound.

I wasn’t sure if it was bravado, or if his type just didn’t feel pain. I’d seen Arlan and Conall go through some pretty painful stuff in our earlier conflicts without so much as wincing. Heck, I’d almost severed Bevan’s arm last night, and he hadn’t so much as slowed his approach. Maybe pain really didn’t have any effect on them.

Which was just as well for me. It meant I wouldn’t have to keep up the torturer act, after all.

“One more chance, Bevan. Where is your base?” I said it in the firmest voice I could, but once again, he didn’t say anything.

“Fine.” I shook my head and sighed. “Have it your way. Stew in here a while longer. We’ll see how willing you are to talk once you’ve been stewing down here alone for a few hours in the darkness.”

I went around to the front of him and glared down at him for a minute but did nothing. I was trying to instill fear in him, but I didn’t think it was working. Oh well. I bent down and checked the ropes that had him held to the chair.

“Let’s see you get out of that,” I said, giving the main knot a good shake. “If you’re even man enough to try.”

With that, I flicked the switch on the wall to douse the lights and went up the stairs, closing the door behind me.

Sheila and Rick were waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Sheila had a small plate of cookies in her hands. Rick was holding onto the grimoire like his life depended on it. Both had harried expressions.

“So?” Rick said. “You get anything from him?”

I wanted to answer him, but I was also starving, and Sheila’s cookies were just too yummy. I snatched one off of her plate and shoved it into my mouth.

“Oh my gosh,” I mumbled through bites of cookie. “These are even better than yesterday! Did you add more sugar or something?”

Sheila grinned at me. “I added double the white chocolate chips. Just the way you like them.”

“They’re divine!” I wolfed another one down while I spoke.

Rick was tapping his foot, glaring at me. “Back to business, eh Damian?” he said through a scowl.

“Oh! Right. About that.” I swallowed the rest of my current cookie and cleared my throat. My eyes kept trailing toward the cookie plate as my tummy growled. “Bevan woke up.”

Both Rick and Sheila gasped in unison.

“It’s all good. I wasn’t in any danger. Those knots of yours are really good, Rick.”

He beamed at me.

“Boy Scouts?”

Rick gave me an inquisitive look, and I waved a hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, I tried to interrogate our little prisoner, but I didn’t come up with much. Only that the ritual hasn’t happened yet, but not where it’s going to take place.” I paused for a second to catch my breath. “But wherever it is, it’s going down tonight. I’m certain of that.”

“Of course!” Rick exclaimed. “That makes so much sense!”

“What’s that, now?”

“The ritual,” Rick explained. “I’ve been reading through this grimoire, and I think I found a copy of the binding ritual that Boudicca is planning to use. It can only be cast under a full moon. It needs the moon’s power to fully activate. And tonight is a full moon.”

“Really?” I was impressed. Rick was actually really starting to come in handy. And maybe even drop his little disbelieving stance. “That’s amazing.”

“Yeah,” he continued. “And that’s not all. Remember that inscription on that little piece of fabric