The male’s presence snagged Ling’s focus and she squinted in his direction. Tall. Long, lean muscles that didn’t have enough bulk for his big frame. Long, dark locks. Eyes of melted silver caught the barest hints of light. He stood, solid, shackled across the room from her, the intensity in his perusal drawing her in.

She stared harder as he locked gazes with her. They didn’t know each other, did they? No, and yet, he was oddly familiar. A tingling down the back of her neck hinted she ought to be able to identify who he was.

Her eyes shuttered and a thousand voices crashed through her in a murmuring wave. This guy was entrancing her. What? How?

She couldn’t fight it, only surrender to it. Ling sensed her muscles give out and her body go limp. She sank lower and lower into the floor, as far as her shackles would allow.

“Stop that right now. Whatever the fuck you’re doing to her, stop it.” Cao’s threatening growl sifted in and out of the waves and, desperately, she clung to it.

Suddenly, it was over. The darkness remained, but it was the dimness of this cavern. Her muscles responded to her movements, to her control.

She jolted upright, regretting the pounding that caused in her head. “What did you do to me? Who are you?” Dragons and their mind games. Ugh. She dragged her scrutiny to him, this time, refusing to fall under his spell.

The corner of his mouth lifted and intrigue twinkled in his eyes. “You know who I am.”

* * *

You’re my family,” Ling whispered in awe.

Family? Cao’s fists were clenched, ready to pummel this motherfucker, but the mention of family piqued his curiosity. Who was the male to Ling?

“I’m your half-brother,” he droned. “Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself.”

Cao considered him, uncertain whether they should trust him. What had this dude done to wind up in here?

“I’m Taelen. Tasi’s my mother, too.”

That would do it. Cao shot his gaze to Ling, who gaped. Princess Tasi had another kid? One no one in their world knew about.

“Yeah, unlike you, no one talks about me much.” The guy tipped his head back, lifting his chin. “My father isn’t of the same breed as our dear mum, and everyone was pretty furious when he charmed her into having an affair.” His lips tugged into a sour grimace. “I was never supposed to hatch, but, ta-da, here I am.”

Fuck. Cao studied the male harder. What a history. To be a mistake? Poor Han, and poor Tasi. No wonder she was insane. After everything she’d endured? Who wouldn’t be?

Taelen hardened his features. Must be difficult to admit as much as he had. That was, if there was any decency in him. Still to be determined.

“What did you do to me?” Ling swayed on her feet.

“You did it yourself.” He straightened, as though on the defense.

“I did? What was it?” Ling glanced between him and Cao.

“We’re from the same bloodline, so you followed me into the Hive Mind.”

“That was the Hive Mind?” Awe and puzzlement flooded her voice.

“Sort of. I’m imprisoned in there as well, but the idea is the same. Did it live up to your expectations?” Taelen regarded her, still so stoic.

She flicked her stare to him. “No, it’s not how I envisioned it. Though, I’d like to try again sometime.”

“Some other time,” Cao barked.

Taelen’s perusal flicked across him, and he met the guy’s hard assessment. He might prove to be an ally, a friend, someday.

But for the moment, he was an enemy.

An enemy to them all.

* * *

A brother. Ling attempted to concentrate on her current predicament, but her mind kept spinning around the fact she had a sibling. A half-sibling, but that still counted.

Her entire life, she’d longed for a brother or sister. Jade had come close. Even with Jade, she hadn’t been able to share everything how a family should.

Connecting with Taelen’s mind had been thrilling.

The pile of pity and sympathy she carried for her mother mounted ever higher. Poor Taelen, to suffer for how he’d been brought into this world. Dragons frowned upon any intimacy between breeds. Mixed creatures like him were rare.

She refused to contemplate what had happened to his father, afterward. A shudder flittered down her spine. Dragon punishments had a ton in common with medieval torture. Point in fact, this dungeon.

Taelen’s silver eyes, trained on her, were so intense. Was she who he’d been expecting? She could only imagine how long he’d been aware of her, and how he must have felt about her existence.

She was a forbidden love child, too, but a wanted child. Mostly. She snorted, musing about Han’s pathetic parenting skills. If her parents had been allowed to stay together, who knew what kind of childhood she might have had. Taelen would never have been born.

Ah, the conundrum.

Well, there was no changing the past. Only mending the future. Was the Matchmaker aware of him? Was anyone else? “How long have you been in here?”

He flicked his focus to her. “Depends on what year it is.”

Oh, gods. That long.

“They put me in here after they learned you’d hatched. If that helps.”

Twenty-eight years? Sweet Emperor. Her grandfather would make good on his promise to imprison her for centuries.

“I’m twenty-eight,” she offered. Not like that would be good news.

Taelen kept stoic, not revealing how the revelation affected him.

The poor guy. She longed to walk over to him and give him a hug, but that wasn’t going to happen. Also, they were naked. Being chained, nude, in a torture chamber with two men wasn’t her idea of fun times.

She doubted even Cao had wanted to try this once.

“Why haven’t you escaped?”

A wry laugh rasped from his chest. “Trust me, I’ve tried.” He twisted, and the dim lighting was enough to reveal the lines of shiny scars across his broad back.

Ouch. She winced, regretting broaching the topic, and released a long, droning exhale.

Guess they would be held prisoner.

For a very long time.

* * *

The sight of so many scars softened Cao’s concerns about Taelen. The Dragon King was a bloody prick and chances were, anyone in his dungeon didn’t deserve to be there. No more than he or Ling did.

Now that there were three of them, they could devise an escape. No way would he accept the resignation in Ling’s sigh. Fucking hell, but he couldn’t keep getting naked with Ling in all the wrong circumstances.

“Well, there must be a way to escape.” Cao pegged the other man with his stare, waiting.

“Perhaps,” Taelen evaded. “Who can you trust on the outside?”

“Ry,” Ling bleated.

Thankfully, Taelen nodded. “She’s honorable.”

“I don’t think she can break us out. Our friends won’t be able to help us, either.”

“Right, Sheep cou—”

“No.” Ling whipped her head. “The Dragon King wants that. He can’t get the jewel back without us, or without them. They’re safe as long as they stay away.”

“Sheep?” Taelen barked. “Heh, so you’re a Chosen.”

Ling shifted her feet.

“That’s no concern of yours.” Cao flipped Taelen back to the enemy side of the coin.

“Hey,” the dragon male opened his hand, “I’m a friend of Chosen.”

“Cao,” Ling hissed, “be nice.”

He glowered, but kept his mouth shut. Right now, he didn’t trust any dragon. Not when it came to Ling’s safety.

“When did you hatch?” Ling peered curiously at her half-brother. Interrogation time.

“Three centuries ago, or so.” His chains rattled as he rolled against the wall. “I haven’t spent any time in this place except in the dungeon though, so I’m no use for blueprints.”

“We know our way around. I’ve been staying with Ry and her den-mates. They kidnapped me, under our grandfather’s orders. Cao is my guardian, but a few months ago, I was with the guardian who raised me, a Feilong dragon named Da Xia. Have you met her?”

He shook his head. “Sorry to say I haven’t. All I knew about you was you’d hatched. What are you doing in the dungeon, anyway?”

“It’s a long story.” Cao shut down show-and-tell time. “If we piece together everything we know, we should be able to break out. When do the guards come?”

“Impossible to tell anymore. A glimmer of light spreads across the far wall.” Taelen pointed his foot in that direction. “Might be daylight, might be moonlight. It’s the only thing that changes in here. When it’s gone, they bring food, water. Unshackle me for a few minutes, to, ah, relieve myself. If I’m obedient, they go. Come back the next time the light’s gone.”

Cao squinted at the beam of light. It had progressed since he’d awoken. It wasn’t easy to tell how much time had passed and measure that against the distance it had traveled. They’d have to wait until it disappeared.

With even one of them freed, they could overpower the guards.

Their plan was risky and might backfire, leading to them being tortured.

But it was the one chance they had.

* * *

After however long they’d been stuck here, Ling’s eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. Her brother’s figure was partly in shadows, thank the gods, but she studied his features, comparing them to her own. Did they look alike? Well, they shared one parent.

His eyes are silver like mine.

Taelen was also full dragon. While she longed to trust him, she couldn’t quite do so yet.

Cao seemed pretty intent on not trusting him. Ever. That was his overprotective side talking. He didn’t like Ry, either, and he’d managed to work well with her. Gods, she hoped her grandfather hadn’t figured out how Ry had helped her. If he had, she’d probably be in this cell with them, right?

Unless there were worse punishments.

She quivered. Moving made her body hurt worse. With her arms braced above her head, even wiggling her fingers wasn’t keeping the blood flowing enough.

No way was she about to spend centuries like this.

“Whoever they set loose first has to strike. Hard and fast.” Cao shot his gaze between the two of them. “If it’s not me, toss a guard at me. I’ll take care of them. Can you do the same?”

“Yes,” she croaked, her throat scratchy from lack of water. Being thrown in a dungeon sucked. Not that she should complain. Taelen had been in this dungeon for decades.

Because of me.

Oh, gods. What if he harbored some deep-seated hatred for her because of this? What if he was pretending to be harmless, but would pounce once set free?

Cao might be right to act with caution.

“I’m in,” Taelen rasped. “So, since we have time on our hands, why don’t you share how you ended up in here? I didn’t think they’d ever want us meeting, but perhaps just not on the outside.”

“We stole the Dragon King’s jewel,” Ling bleated before Cao could stop her again.

“Why the fuck would you do that?” He cocked his head, assessing.

“Because he kidnapped me and we needed leverage to gain our freedom. My friends took the stone with them. I assumed the King would be interested in where it is. Guess I was wrong.”

“Hell, yeah, you were. You managed to piss him off even more.” Taelen gave a vehement shake of his head. “You don’t know much about dragons, do you.”

The simple statement stung. “I wasn’t raised as one. I had no idea who my mother was until a few days ago.”

He snorted. “You didn’t miss out on much.”

Intriguing. “Have you met her?”

He leaned his back against the wall, face tilted to the ceiling. “Yep. I thought seeing me might snap her out of it, ya know?”

“It didn’t.”

He shifted his head from side to side. “Nope, it didn’t. Whatever she might have once been is long gone.”

‘That’s so sad,” Ling murmured.

A sudden squeak of the dungeon doors jolted her from drifting into musings about her mother. The guards had come.

Their escape was now or never.