Dragon's Price by Daniel Potter

Author:Daniel Potter [Potter, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fallen Kitten Productions
Published: 2019-02-27T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

It is only through the love of the Steward a houseless mongrel can rise so high.

Madam Mana, Headmistress of the School of the Lady, speaking of Admiral Madria in letters

“No. I won’t do it, Ishe. I’ll kill myself before I go through that again,” Yaki whispered into her sister’s ear. She felt Ishe’s grip on her hand grow from comforting to that of a vise, and the space between them filled with the sound of grinding teeth.

“You can’t do that, Yaki!” Ishe glanced over her shoulder at the open doorway behind her.

“Why not? You have no idea what it was like to have your organs twisted out of you when you can’t even scream. I’ll choose death by a sudden heart attack any day. I won’t let him do that to me. I’ll tear open my wrist with my teeth if I have to.” Yaki kept her voice steady, but her heart had begun to beat with fury. Ka-chink, ka-chink! She kept waiting for Ishe to comment on the sound.

“No!” Ishe nearly shouted before chewing on her lip in a conscious effort to restrain herself. Both girls’ eyes flicked toward the door. No one appeared, but Yaki imagined one of the nurses hovering just beyond the doorway. “You can’t simply give up. I worked too hard to keep you alive,” Ishe whispered.

Wrapping her free hand behind Ishe’s thick neck, Yaki pulled her sister’s ear to her chest. The tender flesh screamed at the touch, but the pain barely registered compared to the memories of that terrible chamber flashing through her mind. “Listen,” she hissed. “You hear that? You hear the machine he put inside me?” Ishe flinched in her grip, but Yaki managed to hang on for a few sharp heartbeats before a strong hand shoved her away.

Ishe shivered with revulsion as she spun away, hugging herself.

“I’m dead, Ishe,” Yaki whispered. “I died the moment I hit that tree. That dragon’s killed both Mother and me. Don’t let him get you, too. Take Hawk and Sparrow and don’t look back.”

Ishe spun, red-faced. “You’re not dead!” she roared. “You’re alive!”

Yaki, surprised, shrank away from her sister.

“So, you got one little part of you that’s ugly and makes a funny noise. Stop acting like your masts are snapped,” Ishe hissed.

An incoherent noise of anger burbled up Yaki’s throat; her hand lashed out against Ishe’s set jaw. Ishe didn’t even have the decency to flinch. “I’m not going to let that monster rip me open again. Nobody will do that to me again! Ever! I’ll rip this thing out of my chest with my bare hands if I have to!”

“Stop being so dramatic! It’s just pain, Yaki. We’re both the children of Madria. We can endure pain.” Ishe’s eyes were cold.

It wasn’t simply pain! Yaki wanted to scream at her sister. To grab her and shake her until she understood how she could still feel those tentacles in her chest, forcing her to breathe, to live when the only thing she had wanted was to die.

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