“Gold is your friend, luv,” the woman said, pushing Kachka up the stairs. As Kachka ran, she glanced back at the woman. She wasn’t one of the dwarves. She was tall, lean, and brown-skinned. Like Izzy or her mother Talaith. She was also dressed as a warrior or soldier of fortune. She was even more out of place in the dwarf mines than . . . well, than Kachka was.
But without any other options, she had to take her chances this woman wasn’t trying to destroy her.
So she took the steps three at a time until she reached the top.
Kachka pulled the leather bag out of the top of her boot where she’d stashed it for her mad dash to the mines and pulled her arm back to toss it into the molten gold. That’s when she heard, “Down!”
She did as ordered, dropping down to the ground, and the dragon who had been about to grab her, sailed right over her. The dragon turned in midair, wings out, claws reaching for her.
Two arrows slammed into the dragon’s face and neck. A short spear hit it right in the chest, through the heart, killing it as its body fell from sight.
Hands grabbed Kachka again, only this time it was her comrades Zoya and Marina hauling her to her feet.
“Kachka—” Marina began, but then the dragon was back. It hadn’t been killed. Nor did its wings seem to work, hanging limply from its back, so that it floated to the ledge instead of flying.
The three of them scrambled back, watching the dragon carefully land. It pulled the arrows from its face and the spear from its chest and that’s when Kachka knew it was Vateria.
“Those of us,” Vateria said, “who have been truly blessed by our god, need more than these weak weapons to kill us.” She held out her claw. “Give it to me, barbarian, before I stomp you into the ground like the worthless trash you are.”
Kachka began to tell her to fuck off, but she and her comrades were forced farther back when there was suddenly a large dragon ass landing right in front of them.
Gaius snarled. “Get away from them, cunt.”
“Cousin. You should have let my father finish the job,” the bitch teased. “My god would like you better with both eyes missing.”
“You expect me to believe you worship anyone but yourself?”
“Chramnesind understands me as no one else ever has. Accepts me just as I am. The others give up so much . . . and yet I give up nothing but receive so many rewards. He loves me the way my father always did. Unconditionally.”
“Gods, you really haven’t changed.”
“Why should I? I’m so perfect.”
“You have tentacles.”
“And I love them. Just look what they can do.”
With that, Vateria sent Gaius, Marina, and Zoya flying, leaving Kachka alone.
“Now . . . give it to me, human.”
“I am Daughter of Steppe, She-dragon. I will not yield. To you or anyone.”
Vateria smiled. “I’ve heard of you, actually. My god told me about you. What was that nickname again? Oh, yes. The Scourge of the Gods.” She laughed. “What idiot gave you that?”
The brown-skinned warrior suddenly appeared again, leaning from behind the She-dragon. “This idiot,” she said, before she grabbed Vateria’s dragon form and tossed her into the molten gold beneath.
“And,” she went on, “if I do say so myself, it’s a brilliant name for you to have, Kachka Shestakova. One you’ve rightfully earned.”
“Who—?”
“Kachka!”
Marina leaned over the other side of the stairs. She was on her belly, slowly slipping toward the abyss.“I can’t hold her!”
Kachka scrambled to her comrade’s side, reaching down to grab Zoya Kolesova’s other arm. Together, they hauled the Mountain Mover up. It took all their strength. She was very heavy.
They pulled until they had all of her on the stairs, letting out a breath and collapsing on top of her once they were done.
Beneath them, Zoya snorted. “I knew you heartless bitches loved me. All heartless bitches love Zoya!”
Gaius heard laughter and woke up. He was on the ground by the furnaces where all the different metals for the dwarves’ weapons and jewelry were melted in giant crucibles. Yet the laughter wasn’t Vateria’s so he knew Kachka and her comrades were safe.
Relieved, he sat up, bending and stretching his neck, which now hurt from the impact of the fall.
He had his head down, eye closed, when he heard . . . something.
Gaius lifted his head and saw gold-covered talons easing out of the crucible.
Snarling, he got to his claws just as Vateria launched herself at him, melted gold covering her from head to back claws.
She tackled Gaius to the ground, the pair rolling across the mine floor, slamming into furnaces and knocking over other crucibles.
They were Iron dragons. Born of fire. They felt nothing as they battled each other through the dwarf mines.
But Vateria was no longer the Vateria Gaius once knew. Emotionally, of course, she was still the same evil bitch she’d always been. Her god had not changed that. Yet he had changed the rest of her, made her stronger. Although she seemed to have no skill with weapons, she had her tentacles and claws, and her talons tore at Gaius, her tentacles wrapped around his throat, choking him.
Gaius, however, still had his rage. He grabbed his cousin by her hair, the gold starting to harden, and yanked her back. Off him. Gaius stood, dragging the bitch with him. Still gripping her by the hair, he turned and flung her into a wall.
He yanked out his blade and started to walk over there, ready to cut her into pieces that he would bring back to his twin.
“No!” the child’s voice screamed as he dashed over to Vateria, throwing himself in front of her, arms wide. As if he could protect her with his tiny human body. “You get away from her!”
Gaius studied the boy, then looked at Vateria. It dawned on him, as bright as the two suns now coming up in the skies outside these mountains.
“Your son.” It swept through him. Cold. Brutal. The rage that had made his name for him. The rage that allowed him not to care. About anyone. Anything. Growling now, he said again, “Your son.”
Vateria’s forearm wrapped around her offspring’s body. For the first time ever, he saw fear in her eyes. True, absolute fear. Because for once, she cared about something other than herself.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Vateria told him.
But this Gaius would dare. This Gaius, who remembered his sister, trapped with Vateria, would dare many things to right that wrong.
Gaius raised his blade over his head, his entire body shaking, his gaze locked with his cousin’s, enjoying the pain he knew he’d cause her.
Even knowing this was wrong, nothing would stop him. Nothing.
Gaius yanked his forearms back a bit more to get the most power behind his attack when he heard Kachka scream from above, “Gaius, no!”
He fought against her voice. Fought against how right it sounded.
“Do not! He is just child!”
“Vateria’s child,” he reminded her.
“Would this make your sister proud? Or are you finally becoming Thracius himself? Do not do this.”
Gaius’s will began to wane. Kachka was right. Harming a child to get at its mother? That’s what his uncle not only would do but had done.
And now he was about to do the same.