Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129584 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 648(@200wpm)___ 518(@250wpm)___ 432(@300wpm)
If Thomas followed his usual route, they’d cross the bridge and meander toward Prague Castle before turning back toward Old Town and his flat. Thomas was giving no indication that tonight would be any different.
Passing by St. John of Nepomuk, Ravi ran his hand along the pedestal, hoping that whatever luck the old saint was tossing around would hit him. Not that he knew what that luck looked like. Maybe it would prevent himself and Sahan from being discovered? Or make Thomas finally lead them to a meeting of the Jaeggi?
They slowly crossed the bridge. The sounds of the river Vltava splashing and breaking on the banks and against the stonework rose up in the silence of the early morning hours. They could hear only Thomas’s steady footsteps as they darted from statue to statue, trying to get through the yellow circles of light that dotted the bridge.
When they were three-quarters of the way across the bridge, Thomas suddenly stopped in the middle of the path. Ravi froze, his heart leaping into his throat. This was new. Had they made a sound and given themselves away?
Ravi quickly glanced over at Sahan to find him crouched beside a statue of St. Joseph. He shrugged at Ravi, indicating that he didn’t know why Thomas was suddenly stopping.
“Really? I deserve better than this,” Thomas called out.
A chill ran up Ravi’s spine, but he still didn’t move. Who was Thomas talking to?
That question was answered when Thomas suddenly turned around and looked directly at Ravi. He knew they were there.
“You’ve been following me for…what? Five days? Have you discovered what you need?” The man’s voice was deep and taunting, slicing through Ravi.
He’d been sure that Thomas had never spotted them, never sensed them with magic.
Moving away from the statue, Ravi took a few careful steps closer to Thomas, his hands balled into tight fists at his sides. Five days of lurking and sneaking. Five days without his mate. Five days without fucking sleep.
“How?” he demanded.
Thomas barked out an ugly laugh. “You think I can’t smell a dragon?”
Sahan moved over to Ravi’s side, his cousin practically vibrating with rage.
“It doesn’t matter. We’ve watched your every step, known about your every move.”
“You know what I wanted you to know.”
Something dark and sinister started to uncoil itself in Ravi’s stomach, and he took a half-step backward. This was wrong. All of it was very wrong. Reaching out, he grabbed the sleeve of Sahan’s jacket. Two dragons against one mage whose magic was broken should not be a problem, but Ravi couldn’t shake the feeling that something was very wrong.
“You’ve forgotten who the Jaeggi are,” Thomas continued. He took a step closer to them, crossing into the light of one of the old lamps. He’d aged significantly in the past year. His black hair and beard were liberally sprinkled with white. His large frame seemed to have slimmed, but his jaw remained square and blunt like a nutcracker’s. “We are the hunters of the mage clans. The trackers. No prey ever escapes us.”
“But we’ve been tracking you!”
“Are you sure about that?” Thomas chuckled.
Ravi tried to pull Sahan behind him, but he knew it was already too late as a dozen Jaeggi mages popped into existence, forming a circle around them. A transportation spell. Difficult to manage at the best of time, the spell was rarely used, according to Lisette. But it was clear that the Jaeggi were still comfortable with it. Particularly if the Jaeggi leader was expertly luring his prey into a trap.
Sahan swore softly under his breath as he looked at all the mages surrounding them. Ravi’s heart raced. Magic started to build in the air like a gathering static charge. He had only seconds to act.
Grabbing Sahan’s arm tightly, he put his full strength into throwing his cousin toward the railing.
“Tell Alric!” he shouted.
As he expected, his cousin shifted into his dragon form before he could hit the water. With wings thrown wide, he caught the air and rushed up into the sky, a dark dragon-shaped blur. Sahan’s angry roar shook the night.
Ravi understood his cousin’s pain. He wanted to stay and fight, to protect Ravi, but if they both died on the bridge, then the mages and dragons back at Burkhard would never know the danger they were all in.
Ravi didn’t know if he could get free fast enough, but he was game to try. He didn’t want to be stuck here, either. The magic was thick and cloying now. It felt like it had a lock on him, but like hell would he just sit there and wait for the transportation spell to fling him to some unknown destination. His best bet was to shift and fly out, as his dragon form was much faster than his human form and the transportation spell could be far-reaching.