He was more somber than when we’d sailed on a tiny-ass boat across the ocean, so this must be serious. “What’s in there?”
“Outcasts.”
“Outcasts?”
“The worst of the worst. People ejected from society. At least, that’s what I’ve gathered in my visits.”
“I’m not following…”
“Most crimes are punishable by death. That’s merciful. That’s easy. But for the people who deserve worse…they’re exiled here. An island with limited resources, where your neighbors are just as barbaric as you are. It’s the worst of the worst.”
“Who’s exiling these people?”
“I’m not sure. But it’s a big world…and there’re a lot of people in it.”
“You mean, there are kingdoms outside of ours?”
“It’s not impossible, right?”
I’d never really thought about it.
“So, we stay low. We stay quiet.”
I nodded.
“We do what we came here to do—and then leave. No fires. No sex.”
“Whoa…why not?”
He grinned. “Do you care about anything else?”
“I was referring to the fire—”
“Liar.” His grin was arrogant now, but still so handsome. “I don’t want someone to watch me fuck you. They’ll want to take you for themselves. And they know this land better than I do, so…”
Now I felt sick, just the way I did during the biggest waves.
“It’ll be alright. Just do what I say.”
“Okay.”
His eyes took me in for a while. “Actually…it’s a turn-on when you listen, too.”
I rolled my eyes and turned away.
His hand gripped mine hard and yanked me back, right into his chest, right into his lips. His hungry mouth devoured mine like we hadn’t just spent the day screwing below deck, enjoying every single position there was to experience. His hand squeezed my ass at the same time before he abruptly let me go. “Let’s move.”
The Capital was warm, but it wasn’t humid like this. This place was tropical, with big green leaves that hung from branches, large flowers that were open along the forest floor and in the trees. It was so dense that all the whistles the birds made echoed in the canopy, so loud it was as if they called right in my ear. “This doesn’t seem ideal for dragons.”
He took the lead, chopping down vegetation in his way, inching deeper inland. “I don’t think they had a choice.”
“They’re dragons. They always have a choice.”
He lowered his sword to his side and immediately squatted, like he saw something.
I did the same and dropped down.
His eyes peered through the leaves, pulling them over slightly to reveal the distant light of torches.
We weren’t alone.
I could make out the scene, a vine of ropes secured around a man’s neck as he stood on the branch of a tree. Another man stood behind him, like he was about to push him off.
“Ready?” There was a man down below, a dagger carved out of stone in his hand, tied together with coconut husk. “And, go.”
“Don’t!” The bound man pleaded for his life, trying to break free of the restraints on his wrists and balance on the branch at the same time. He must have been kicked in the back because he toppled over, and just before he hit the ground, the vine bounced and yanked him back up.
I heard the crack of his neck.
The man with the dagger threw the blade at the moving target, hitting him in the stomach. “There’s one.” He withdrew another and did the same, but he missed his second shot. “Alright, one out of three.”
The man was dead now, but he was still bouncing left and right from the springy vine.
The other man threw the third and impaled him in the shoulder. “Two outta three. That ain’t bad.”
I wanted to reach for my bucket and hurl.
Unfazed, Huntley just watched.
The place seemed warm and beautiful from the outside, but on the inside, it was a cage. A cage where evil fought evil to the death. “Let’s hurry up and find those dragons…”
Huntley returned the leaves to their place and looked at me. “They’re on the other side.”
“Then why didn’t we sail there?”
“Can’t risk someone seeing the boat. They’d either steal it or sink it.”
I didn’t scare easily, but I was scared now, even with Huntley with me.
He watched me for a while, his eyes shifting back and forth as he took me in. “You want to leave?”
“Is that even an option?” We’d come here for a purpose, and that purpose hadn’t been fulfilled.
“You’re scared. And I’ve never seen you scared.”
“Well…I’ve never been stuck on an island with the cruelest men alive.”
“I don’t think you’re weak,” he said. “I’ll take you back to the boat if that’s what you want.”
“And then what?”
“I’ll kill everyone on the island, then go back for you. I don’t know how many there are, but there can’t be more than a hundred.”
“No…I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I would die if something happened to you.”
Now his eyes locked on me in a whole new way.
The words were already gone from my lips, and I couldn’t take them back. When his stare became too much, I looked away, back to the big leaves that hid us from view of the maniacs. “You know…because I wouldn’t survive out here on my own.”