Brannie felt sick, but she forced herself past it. “They didn’t purify him?”

“Not that we saw.”

“Where is the head now?”

Kachka gestured to the cage. “Perhaps you do not see we are still behind bars.”

“Oh. Right. Right.” Shaking her head, she went back to the torture tables and looked at the weaponry hanging overhead. There had to be some way to get the damn cage open.

“How long ago was this?”

“Two weeks.”

Brannie stopped again. “You haven’t been out of that cage in two weeks?”

“Do you want to see bucket?”

“No, thank you.”

“They hope to starve us.”

“They haven’t fed you in all that time?”

“No food. No water.”

“Shouldn’t you be . . . weaker?”

“We are Daughters of Steppes. Some seasons on the plains are very good. Very plentiful. Others? We are lucky if we do not eat the weakest of our tribe.”

“Sometimes we do.” When Kachka, Nina, and Brannie all stared at Zoya, the giant Rider asked, “What? Only the Mountain Movers of the Lands of Pain in the Far Reaches of the Steppes of the Outerplains have ever eaten their weakest members?”

Nina glared directly at Brannie. “Get me the fuck out of here. I will spend not one more minute with this giant open sore!”

“I have saved your life, Nina Chechneva, the Unclaimed!”

“And I have saved yours, Zoya Kolesova! We owe each other nothing except disdain and hatred!”

Calmly Kachka motioned Brannie over with a wave of her hand. When Brannie stood in front of her, Kachka grabbed her throat and yanked her even closer.

“I will say this once to you, Celyn’s sister—”

“I have a name,” Brannie choked out.

“—get me out of here or burn everything down around me. Because I cannot listen to another moment of this ridiculous horse shit!”

* * *

Aidan had led the Zealots on a merry chase through the tunnels and eventually out of them but, sadly, he ended up trapped inside their main hall, Zealots surrounding him.

He didn’t know if he’d given Brannie enough time to find Ren but there was nothing he could do about that now. He had to get the two of them out of there.

Aidan was reaching for the sword at his side when he heard the screams of other Zealots moments before Uther and Caswyn came charging into the main hall, covered in blood, and in a complete panic.

“What are you doing?” he asked, trying not to laugh.

But it was hard. The Zealots were screaming and running in such a panic that he couldn’t help himself.

His laughter died, though, when Caswyn exploded with, “Keita’s gone!”

“Gone? Gone where?”

“We have no idea,” Uther explained while snapping a Zealot’s neck. “We went to get her something to eat and when we came back—”

“You left her?”

“Who knew she’d wander off?”

Aidan yanked his sword out of a Zealot’s gut. “Keita doesn’t wander anywhere. Don’t let her bare feet fool you. That dragoness always has a plan.”

He looked around, pointed at a door with his blood-covered sword. “There. The dungeon. Let’s get Brannie and get out of here.”

“What about Keita?”

“She’ll find us when she’s done.”

Caswyn yanked the spine out of a Zealot’s back before asking, wide-eyed, “When she’s done doing what?”

“Let’s not ask. Let’s just get Brannie.”

* * *

It didn’t matter that Keita couldn’t find Ren’s body. She knew her friend was gone. Dead. And that these people had killed him.

Standing among all those “purified” bodies, Keita closed her fist and raised her face to the sky. Rain poured down and mingled with her tears.

Tears for her friend.

She had more to do, but not before she got revenge for Ren, before she made these Zealots suffer.

And they would suffer....

* * *

“Move to the back,” Brannie ordered the Riders. “As far back as you can.”

Once the three women had gotten in place, Brannie went to the side of the cage and studied a spot she hoped would be easily melted by fire.

She also hoped that she wouldn’t burn any of the Riders when she unleashed her flame. Some dragons had amazing control of their flame. It was said the queen could use her flame like a whip. But that was the queen. When Brannie unleashed her flame, she could easily wipe out a small forest. Once she took out half a town. She’d felt really bad about that, too.

She’d warned the Riders of the risk, though, and they didn’t seem to care. Of course, they had a thing about dying . . . they weren’t afraid to. But she’d never hear the end of it from Celyn if she ended up accidentally killing Elina’s sister.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Just go already!” Kachka bellowed.

“All right. All right.”

Brannie let out a breath, focused on a spot, and opened her mouth—

“Brannie!”

Growling, she turned to see Aidan and the other two barreling into the dungeon. Aidan quickly came forward, while Caswyn and Uther slammed the double doors shut.

“We have a problem,” Aidan told her as soon as he was close enough.

“What did they do now?”

“It’s not their fault.”

“Don’t make excuses for them. Just tell me what’s going on.”

He swallowed. “Keita disappeared.”

Brannie felt a muscle in her neck twitch. “She was captured?”

“No.”

She took in a breath. “We need to get them out.” Brannie pointed at the bars. “I can try and melt them but—”

“Uther! Caswyn! Cage!”

The two lumbering oxen made their way over to the cage and Brannie tossed keys to Aidan. “Get as many out as you can.”

As soon as Aidan began the process, Brannie heard a horrible wrenching noise and turned in time to see Uther and Caswyn ripping apart the cage with only the help of their human hands.

Even the Riders were impressed. Well, all except Zoya.

“At least these two men have some skills.”

“Males,” Nina corrected.

“What?”

“They’re not men. They’re males. Dragons. Remember?”

Zoya stepped out of the open cage, eyeing the two males before loudly announcing, “Then I would expect more of them! Such weak dragons! Dragons!” she exclaimed, walking past the shocked—and hurt—pair.

“We could have left you in there, you know,” Uther reminded her.

“The great dragon captain would not have allowed that, would you, Branwen the Awful?”

“Well—”

“Exactly!” She pushed past Aidan and, with her bare hands, began prying open doors that, unlike hers, hadn’t been melted shut.

Aidan didn’t bother to argue with the Rider. He didn’t bother to argue with anyone really. Instead, he just made his way over to the other cages and worked with Kachka to release everyone else.

Nina Chechneva didn’t help anyone—as was her way—but instead stared at the sigil burned into the wall.

“Did you know that mark keeps you and your friends from shifting to dragon, Branwen the Awful?”

“What? Oh . . . no. I didn’t. But I hadn’t tried either.”

“You do not feel weak?”

“No.” She faced the strange and, frankly, unpleasant witch and added, “I’m sure we can still murder anyone in our way and burn the flesh from their bones for a tasty meal. You know, in case you were wondering.”

Dark, dark eyes studied Brannie but, after facing “Auntie” Brigida’s soulless stare on occasion, Brannie had learned not to show any fear to the magick wielders.

She flashed Nina a smile before giving her a hearty slap on her back. The witch stumbled forward, shocked, and Brannie announced, “But we’re all friends here, aren’t we, Nina Chechneva?”