The Scorpion's Lullaby by Juliet Vane

Author:Juliet Vane [Vane, Juliet]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Juliet Vane

Chapter Eighteen

When we reach the stables, Henri stands in front of the gate. Marc and I stop short.

I don’t want to hurt an old man.

But Henri smiles. “I prayed to Beline you would come,” he says.

“Why?” I ask.

“You’ll rid us of the evil. Beline be with you.” He bows and steps aside, melting back into the light and music of the festival.

I look at Marc and sigh with relief. Henri’s blessing echoes in my head as we step into the stables. I throw a saddle over the scorpion dragon I befriended earlier. She’s more green than red, whereas Amaya is more red than green. Her spots will make the perfect camouflage as we sneak from the village, just in case anyone happens to be looking toward the tree line.

The melody from the party is faint, although the deep beats of the drums pulse like the heartbeat of the jungle itself.

Marc shakes his head. “You have the book?”

“Right here,” I say, patting the bag I grabbed from our tents.

Marc stops a few paces away from the scorpion. “How do you know it won’t shoot fire from its mouth and cook us alive?”

“The trained ones can’t do that—we limit their diets when they’re hatchlings.”

He eyes the stinger, bound in its sand-filled leather pouch. “It wants to stab me, I can see the intent.”

I move around the front of the scorpion, on my way to buckle a strap on the other side.

“Where can you see her intent?” I say, patting her bound pincer.

“There, in the eyes.”

“In all eight of them? Or just a select few?” I tease.

“Close your mouth, Joella, and get us out of here.”

Once the scorpion is ready, I help Marc climb up along her pincer to reach the saddle.

“I don’t like this,” he mutters. “I don’t like this at all.” His hands, covered in the fingerless gloves he used in the ceremony, clench the reins.

“She’s harmless,” I say.

“She has pincers, a stinger full of venom, and her species breathes fire.”

“Her pincers are bound. Her stinger is bound. She has no fire. Everything is safe.” I toss him the reins and open the gate. I consider setting free the rest of the scorpions so the Lesprits wouldn’t be able to chase us, but then they would know immediately that we’d escaped.

I scramble up the scorpion’s pincer to sit in front of Marc. As soon as I click my tongue, our scorpion begins to move.

Marc’s hands grip my waist. I nearly choke, remembering how just moments before, Phillipe held me in a similar position, my back pressed up against his front. But that was different, I remind myself. I had no control. Here, I have control.

Still, I have to force myself to take some deep breaths until my panic dies down.

I direct our scorpion behind the stable to travel along the outskirts of the common clearing. If we travel quickly, we’ll reach the trees and be invisible to the Lesprits.

“Nearly there,” I whisper to the scorpion. “Shh, shhh.”

But someone sees us. I recognize Guy, the man Mathilde’s supposed to marry.

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