JACK

It was only a matter of time until I was punished for trying to win the Ringmaster’s games and escape, but I didn’t care. Fucking bring it on.

Seeing my brothers again had woken me from the stupor I’d been dumb enough to wallow in for too many cycles, and kissing Carlyle had given me something new to fight for.

I’d often had vague flashes of memory - what I’d been taken from and who might be searching for me. Now that I’d seen Sol and Killian, Dair and Jai, I remembered everything with a vengeance.

Now that I knew for sure that Carlyle was a Qilin, I understood the Ringmaster’s infuriating riddles, not to mention his need to have her in his circus. With her Qilin magic, he could open his Portal immediately, without bothering about the Path.

I had freely - desperately - given her my half of the bond once I’d understood his twisted betrayal. I was pretty sure her soul and body had accepted it. If she had, and we were truly mated now, she would absolutely return to Underbelly to burn it to the ground, like Austin’s power predicted.

She would have my fire power, and we would clash over what I’d done. I was sure of it.

One day, I hoped she would be my - our - greatest strength. Right now, she was our greatest weakness. If the Ringmaster ever got his mind mage claws in her, we would all tear ourselves apart to get her back.

I stretched long on my bed, wondering idly where they were now. Jai would have moved them already, and I was grateful for that. If the Ringmaster figured out I’d been to see them after my regeneration, he would torture the location from me. It had been almost too simple to trace her scent through the siphon.

I clenched my hands into fists, rubbing a thumb over my thick gold dragon’s ring. It was vital that I keep the secret of my potential mating bond, or he could use it against me. My brothers would die, one by one, and Carlyle would become the Ringmaster’s tool.

He would surely be able to find the bond if he suspected, which made it especially vital that I give him nothing to suspect.

A knock sounded on my trailer door, and I rose, opening it warily.

I didn’t recognize the boy standing there, but that didn’t mean anything. Underbelly was huge and sprawling, its inhabitants constantly shifting between camps.

“The Ringmaster requests you at his trailer,” the boy said, turning to go without another word. I sighed. It was always like this - zero information, zero option to say no. I’d tried to ignore the summons a few times, and the following pain and punishments were never worth simply suffering through the visit.

I tugged on my boots and slammed out of the trailer into the sweltering southern sun, weaving through the vehicles, trailers, and cages until I came to the right one.

I knocked politely, but not because I wanted to be polite. Again, rudeness just wasn’t worth it with the Ringmaster. Underbelly kids learned quickly to shut up and obey. The ones who couldn’t stomach it always disappeared, and I had too much to work for now.

The door swung open beneath my hand, and I was surprised to see the man himself standing before me, sleek black suit and all. Usually, he didn’t even rise for our meetings.

The Ringmaster surveyed me with a cold stare. “I see you’ve kept the same body and bright, soulful blue eyes for another cycle. Interesting,” he mocked.

I fought to keep the mage out of my mind, but it was no use. The man giggled like a third grader.

“The girl thought you handsome? How charming. My pet dragon desires a mate.” The Ringmaster reached out a hand and yanked me viciously up the trailer steps and inside, slamming the door behind me. “The only mate a dragon has is death,” he hissed into my ear, then shoved me to the floor.

I kept my eyes down, breathing heavily and pressing down hard on the creeping joy I felt. He’d done a quick scan of my form, but it looked like he couldn’t tell I’d attempted a bond with Carlyle. This was so much more than I’d hoped for.

Then doubt began to slide in, squeezing out the joy. If the bond wasn’t noticeable to the Ringmaster, maybe it didn’t actually exist.

Maybe our bond wasn’t complete.

“Come,” he said, walking to the edge of his trailer and out the back door. He strode for a smaller side tent, and my stomach bottomed out. This was the experimental tent - the one where new acts were tested and trialed.

The one that broke Haretians into pieces for the Ringmaster to use to build his empire.

He held open the zippered flap with a flourish, and I stepped in, my heart pounding in anticipation of pain. I could take it - I’d taken it before. It would fucking suck, but I had even more to live for now.

The sound of the heavy fabric door slapping shut behind me triggered my anxiety even more, and a cool sweat broke out across my brow.

“Wings only,” the Ringmaster commanded as he circled to face me. The gleam in his eyes made me nervous as fuck. What did he want with my wings?

“Wings,” he repeated, shooting a lance of pain straight through my temples. It was enough to buckle my knees, and sure enough, my wings snapped into existence.

He gripped my mind with his magic, keeping me just at the edge of a full shift. I could have ended him in my dragon form, but he’d never once let me show myself in full shift inside camp.

He seemed to have a sixth sense about when people were going to use their powers against him. He was always at least one step ahead, like he’d been with Arcadia and countless others. I’d often wondered if he was part vampire, since he seemed to have some of Jai’s special techniques to go along with his own brand of mind control.

“Enter,” the Ringmaster barked to someone behind me, and I twisted my head enough to see two of his favorite goons entering the tent with looks of cruel anticipation splashed on their ugly-ass faces. Well, that was just great. “Tie him.”

Before I had a chance to fight his intentions, the two men had wrenched my wings backward at a painful angle and tied them together with some sort of enchanted chain, wrapping the bones and leather in awkward bundles of magic. I wouldn’t be able to break free - all that was left to do now was wait and bear it.

“Now, you shall have a visitor,” the Ringmaster said, a devious smile creeping across his face. He wasn’t exactly a handsome man, but there was something charming about him, in the way a serial killer must be charming to lure his victims near.

“Fucking dragon,” a silky female voice said from behind me, and I bit back a groan.

“Fucking harpy,” I taunted back, my pride rallying one last time. Naming Arcadia’s magic so openly had always resulted in an explosion of her dark magic before - but now that she’d given this magic to the Ringmaster in his game of Life or Liberty, I doubted she could fight me back.

I was wrong.

She stepped behind me and ran her fingernails up my spine, beneath my shirt. “Isn’t this where you dig out your scales?” She shoved a nail hard into my skin, twisting until I grimaced. She slid her hand around to my chest, pulling my body close to hers.

“Fucking traitor,” she whispered, nuzzling against my neck and running a hand through my brown hair. “I never wanted that piece of you inside me.”

I tried not to shudder - there was a time when I’d found Arcadia attractive, but that time was done. She slunk around my body and stared me in the eyes without any readable expression, then she lifted her knee and slammed it into my balls.

I groaned and slumped to my knees. What a goddamn bitch.

Above me, she snickered. “It’s time you stopped playing for both sides, dragon,” she murmured, drawing a slim knife from her pocket. “This time, it’s not Life or Liberty. Choose: Dragon or Qilin.”

“What?” I managed, leaning around her to get a visual on the Ringmaster. He was twirling his cane idly, just watching the show. Since when did he let someone like Arcadia do anything more than serve food in the mess tent?

Even more, why was she acting like she was on his team? Last time I’d seen her, she’d been out for blood after he double-crossed her.

One of the goons stepped forward and wrenched my head back by my hair, forcing me to stare up at Arcadia. My eyes gaped as her wings extended behind her - how the hell had she gotten her magic back? Had he given it back to her in exchange for something?

There was something weird going on here. I didn’t want to risk the Ringmaster looking too carefully at me, though, so I kept quiet.

I tried to cut my eyes to the Ringmaster again to assess what game he was playing, but she stepped closer, blocking my view.

“Choose Dragon, and you’re free. No more Underbelly. You can even go home to Haret right now, with your magic intact. You can even take me, Austin, and all the other Haretians under contract home. We can use the Portal. No need for the Qilin - she’ll stay safe here with the circus.”

“Not possible,” I gritted out as the man behind me twisted my hair.

“Oh, you know what’s possible well enough,” the Ringmaster piped up. “Besides, it’s time I tested my Portal. Who better to be my guinea pig than an immortal dragon?”

“There’s no way it’s complete,” I said. It had to be a trick. He didn’t have enough pieces yet - I knew he was missing most of the magic from creatures like my brothers.

“Says the dragon who was born yesterday,” sneered Arcadia. “There’s a whole wide world out there you don’t know about. It sucks, and I want out of it. So choose your own life for once, and take me the fuck home, dragon.”

Her knife flashed forward and ripped straight down the leather and sinew of my left wing. I screamed out in agony, my stomach churning with the intense, unexpected pain. I tried to wrestle to my feet, but each of the Ringmaster’s men gripped one of my arms, looping thick chains around my muscles.

They were binding chains - I could feel the weight of the iron links trapping my magic inside my body. The effect of iron on magic was an old story, but it was still true. The goons stretched the chains taut and locked them to stakes driven deep in the ground, holding my body prone for whatever Arcadia and the others might want to do.

Fucking hell. I’d stepped in it big time.

“You have another choice,” the Ringmaster prodded Arcadia.

She nodded and wiped her bloody knife across the front of my shirt. “Choose Qilin, and she goes free, but you stay with Underbelly forever. Your life or hers.”

My mind screamed at the idea of staying in this circus for the eternity that forever meant to a dragon. I didn’t know if I would survive - my body might, but not my soul. I couldn’t exchange myself for Carlyle, though. I glared at Arcadia, feeling the need to bargain.

“What about my brothers?” I raised my voice, sure to reach the Ringmaster behind.

“You have no brothers,” he challenged, surging forward. “I thought you’d learned that lesson more clearly over the years and years when they didn’t come for you. You’ve been forgotten, dear Jack. Nobody is coming for you anymore.”

Arcadia skimmed her knife along the ridge of my other wing, and I braced myself for another blow.

“Choose,” she prompted.

“Fuck you,” I answered, and she rammed the knife to the hilt in my shoulder. I clenched my jaw shut, refusing to cry out and give her the satisfaction. Dizziness swept through me, and I heard the Ringmaster mutter something to her. She stalked away, her face pinched in rage.

“Empty his trailer,” he said to the two men. “Mattress only.” Turning back to me, he said, “I’ll be generous and grant you more time to decide. If you take too long, though, my offer will expire. I own you, Jack. I own your magic, and your dragon soul, and every reincarnation your mind could create. There is no escape.”

He reached forward and gently massaged my temples before pressing in so fast and hard with his magic that I thought my brain might explode through my eye sockets. Then there was nothing more but blackness behind my eyes.