Chapter 9
Even after Verrian went quiet, Lisa felt a little better. Somehow, she’d convince him to forget this deal he’d made with Ultrima. Because if he thought she was going to give up on her mate, just because the enemy dragon wanted to mess with them, he had another thing coming.
The fact that he was hanging around and still talking to her showed that he wanted to.
And that thought filled her with a warm glow.
But she’d worry about that later, first she had to get out of here.
And her best chance at that stood right in front of her. The life dragon was watching her, her head tilted to one side, a half smile on her face.
Lisa couldn’t help feeling that the life dragon knew exactly what she’d been up to, talking with Verrian. The thought made her feel a little uncomfortable, and made her want to get as far away from the life dragon as she could.
Trouble was, this whole lair was filled with dragons who were going to make her feel uncomfortable. This one, at least, she knew. Sort of.
“So what did Ultrima say your name was?” Lisa asked her.
“Latrima.” The life dragon’s eyes whirled as she spoke.
A real conversationalist this one. Lisa needed something to draw her out, but she didn’t even know where to start. She knew nothing about the Trima clan, and even less about life dragons.
So she picked something she did know about.
“So, what happens now?” she asked, trying to keep her voice casual. “I’ve never been in an enemy dragon’s lair before. Are you guys just waiting for a chance to kill me?” She couldn’t help her voice breaking a little on that last bit, no matter how hard she tried.
Latrima gave her a reassuring smile. “You are safe here, Lisa. Ultrima has said you are to be protected until he returns.”
Lisa wasn’t sure if that was a relief or not. She certainly didn’t want to still be here when Ultrima returned.
If he did.
“That sounds confident,” she said. “How can he be so certain he’s going to return?”
The life dragon gave a snort. “Do you really think your police could stop him if he wanted to leave? The only reason he’s there is because he agreed to be. The moment he’s had enough, or they push him the wrong way, he’s out of there.”
She had a point. Lisa had seen these dragons up close. If Ultrima transformed, they’d have a hard time stopping him doing whatever he wanted. Except for one thing.
“They have guns,” she pointed out to Latrima. “You know what they do, right?”
A shadow crossed over the dragon’s face, and Lisa winced as she remembered. Latrima had been shot herself, at the fight near the Rian lair.
“Yes, I know,” she said tightly. “But Ultrima is older and tougher than I am. He will have no problems escaping from the humans if he so chooses.”
Lisa didn’t point out that Ultrima had surrendered after Latrima had been shot. She wasn’t sure he was as bulletproof as the life dragon thought he was. But she couldn’t see any point in bringing that up right now.
It wasn’t her problem. And she didn’t think it would endear her to Latrima any, which was her aim.
“So how long are you expecting him to be then?” Lisa asked her.
Latrima shrugged. “As long as the humans amuse him.”
Not a helpful answer. Although if it was honest, Lisa suspected Ultrima wouldn’t be long. He’d stop being amused really quickly when the police started grilling him. Making her escape plans all the more urgent.
She was wasting her time with Latrima. She’d be better served by getting her out of the way, and finding a way out of here.
She most certainly didn’t want to still be here when Ultrima returned.
“So I’m just a prisoner here until then?” Lisa asked bitterly.
“We’re all prisoners right now,” Latrima said gently. “But your people are the jailers, not us. You are free to walk out there and go with them if you’d prefer.” She raised an eyebrow in amusement.
She knew Lisa didn’t want to go with the police any more than she did.
“I bet there’s a back way out of here,” Lisa said flatly. “Those people out there wouldn’t stop you if you really wanted to leave.”
Latrima knew that, Lisa could see it in the amusement in her eyes, but she just inclined her head a little. “For now, we are all stuck in here together. We might as well get along,” she said.
Lisa sighed. She didn’t want to ‘get along’ with the Trima dragons. She wanted out. As if Latrima was going to help her with that. “I think I just want to be alone right now,” she said tiredly.
Latrima inclined her head. “As you wish. I’ll show you to your room.”
The ‘room’ was just a cave with a blanket hanging over the door, but it did have a mattress on the floor. More comfortable than Rian clan caves, Lisa had to admit.
“If you need anything, just come and find me. I’ll be in the room at the end of the hall.” Latrima pointed in the direction.
Lisa nodded. “Thank you,” she managed.
She might rather be out of here, but she had to admit Latrima was doing her best to make her comfortable. Something she hadn’t expected from the Trima dragons.
Once Latrima left the room, Lisa stared around at the rock walls, not really seeing them.
How was she going to get out of here?
“Verrian?” she reached out, desperate not to feel so alone.
“I’m here, Lisa,” he responded instantly. “And I may have a plan.”
Lisa’s mood picked up instantly at his words. “What sort of plan?”
“There are some TV reporters out here who claim they know a back way into the mountain,” Verrian told her. “If you could find that back way from the inside, you could use it to get out.”
Lisa’s heart sank. “This mountain is teeming with Trima dragons. If I start poking around, they’ll find me.” She hesitated for a moment, then added, “They did say I’m free to go, but the minute I walked out the front door, the police would be on me. I’m not sure that’s any better than it is in here.”
“Maybe they’re counting on that,” Verrian suggested. “But if you could find this back door, then you could escape.”
“Will you be waiting for me when I get out?” Lisa asked. “Just in case they are waiting for me?”
There was a long silence. Verrian was obviously thinking about his deal with Ultrima again.
Why did he feel this need to stick to the deal he’d made with the Trima dragon? Lisa wouldn’t in the slightest. Especially not after all the things the Trima dragon had done. He hadn’t exactly been honourable himself, especially not to Verrian’s sister.
He needed to just get over this and move on.
Yet Lisa hesitated to say that to him.
She wouldn’t have had a problem with breaking the deal herself, even if she had been awake to agree to it, but somehow, it was different when she thought about Verrian.
He wasn’t like her. He only said something if he meant it.
Lisa’s heart sank.
He’d had a point.
He’d said, when she’d pushed him earlier, that Ultrima had kept the deal with his clan, and he had a point. Lisa had been there. Ultrima had made one of these deals with Taurian and Karla—he wouldn’t attack the clan if they mated. And he’d kept it.
But in this case, it wasn’t like Ultrima could break his side of the deal with Verrian now. She was already healed. He couldn’t undo that.
Well, unless he attacked her.
That thought gave Lisa goosebumps. She wasn’t brave at all. If it had occurred to her that she would get injured last time, then she wouldn’t have distracted that dragon. The only reason she’d done it was that she hadn’t stopped to think about the danger.
Would she risk Ultrima attacking her again just to be with Verrian?
Stupid question. It wasn’t like Ultrima had promised not to attack her again. All he’d agreed to was to heal her. Even if they kept his deal, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t come straight back here and kill her.
She opened her mouth to tell Verrian that, then closed it again, and not just because she didn’t need it to be open to use dragon speech.
There was another deal at stake here.
This wasn’t just about her and Verrian.
If Verrian broke his deal with Ultrima, then the Trima dragon could well see it as proof that he could break any of his deals with the Rian clan. Including the one that kept Verrian’s clan safe from the Trima clan’s random attacks.
So far, Ultrima had kept to that deal.
Giving him any reason to break it was endangering a whole clan.
Lisa’s heart sank.
Even she couldn’t advocate risking that. No matter how much it hindered her.
What was she going to do? How were they going to get out of this? No matter how much she could understand why Verrian felt he needed to stick to his end of the deal, she just couldn’t accept him walking away from her forever.
Maybe it wasn’t a big deal for him?
Maybe it was even the excuse he was looking for?
Her heart skipped a beat, and her mind wanted to shy away from that idea, and not go there.
But she forced herself to consider the truth.
Verrian had never said he loved her. Sure, he made love to her as willingly and eagerly as she responded to him, but what did that prove? Sex wasn’t love.
She knew that with certainty.
She’d slept with many men in her time, but she’d loved none of them. Not one had engendered anything close to the way she felt about Verrian.
But that didn’t mean he felt the same way. She had to face that possibility.
And yet, he hadn’t left.
He was still there, outside, waiting, even though he felt he couldn’t actually be with her.
That had to mean something, right?
Lisa hesitated. There was one way to actually find out.
“Verrian?”
There was a long pause, and Lisa’s heart skipped a beat. Was he still there?”
“Yes?” he said finally, hesitantly.
She wanted to ask if he loved her as much as she loved him, but the words stuck in her mind. She couldn’t bring herself to ask outright, too afraid he’d say no.
Instead she said, “Do you… do you want us to be together?”
Verrian was silent.
Lisa’s mind didn’t want to accept the possibility that he didn’t, so she kept talking. Maybe if she filled in that silence, it would stop him saying he didn’t want them to be together.
“I mean, I know we didn’t choose to be mated, not really. But… well, it’s been kind of fun, hasn’t it? And the sex is good. Really good. That’s not just me, is it?” She knew she should stop, and maybe let him answer some of the questions she was asking, but she couldn’t make her mind pause.
“I mean, I know I’m not a dragon, and… well, I’m a bit of a coward when it comes to fighting. Not really princess material. But… well, I thought we were okay together. That maybe we could make this work somehow. I really want to, you know. And not just because you’re a dragon prince, but… well…” She broke off, her heart beating a thousand words a minute, her mind shying away from the truth, just in case Verrian could hear it without her verbalising it.
She’d almost said it.
What if he didn’t feel the same way?
Did it even matter now? She felt like he was slipping away from her. This could be her only chance of stopping that. Her last chance.
She hesitated, then blurted out, “I love you, Verrian.”
That was it. The moment her mind chose to stop, completely blank with no more words to give her.
Lisa waited, the silence so loud she could clearly hear her heart thumping uncomfortably.