Free Captive Fire by Erin M. Leaf Page B

gaze. Guards rushed past the
junction at the end of the hall, but it would only be moments before some came
toward them. All the soldiers wore red armor. The emperor’s men are
everywhere, he thought, frustrated enough to chew rock.
    “The empress?” Drakon asked Svana.
    She shook her head.
    Drakon cursed again. He should’ve known better than to
ask. He felt Ryuu’s grief through the bond. They were wasting time here. After
one last glance at the emperor, now sitting up and struggling to reach his
plasma weapon, Drakon made his decision. “Time to go,” he muttered, grabbing
Ryuu’s arm and shaking him, hard. “Ryuu! Think of your
people,” he hissed.
    Ryuu stopped struggling. “He killed my mother.”
    “Yes, but if you want to avenge her, first we must
live.” With Svana’s help, Drakon began to haul him away. “We have only moments
before your father’s men arrive.”
    Ryuu shrugged off their hold and began to sprint down
the corridor. The siren abruptly cut off and Drakon shook his head, disoriented
by the silence. At least the light in the hallway didn’t fluctuate. The crystal
reflectors studded the length of the ceiling in this section of the citadel. As
far as he could tell from the reflected light, it was just past midday. It
seemed much later to him, but then, a lot had happened in the past half hour.
    “This way,” Ryuu said , palming what looked like a blank spot on the wall. Light flared around his hand
and he shoved, muscles bulging. Drakon glanced at Svana, but she was watching
the prince. When the stone swiveled in, leaving a space just wide enough for
one person, Drakon stared. Even with the finger-key, he hadn’t discovered any
hidden passages.
    And he’d looked.The blueprints of the citadel
had specifically mentioned the danger of hidden tunnels without proper support.
The back of his neck crawled as he considered the weight of stone over his
head. Dragons really don’t like underground stone prisons.
    “I still have some secrets,” Ryuu told him, correctly
interpreting Drakon’s uneasy expression. He squeezed into the space. “Come on.
There isn’t much time.”
    Drakon grimaced, then followed his mate into the darkness.
    ****
    Ryuu jogged through the hidden tunnel, trying to shove
the memory of his father breaking his mother’s neck into the background of his
thoughts, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t focus. Every time he took a breath he
saw the look in her eyes: fear, anger, and sorrow. That wasn’t how he’d wanted
her last moments on Aiyana to happen. Millennia ago, when humans had first come
here from the dying Earth, they’d named their planet after an eternal blossom,
but instead of sweet beauty, all Ryuu knew of life was heat and struggle. His
father poisoned everything with his madness.
    “How much further?” Drakon asked, his voice
rough. “The light in here isn’t very good.”
    Ryuu knew his lover didn’t like the stone above his
head. Truth be told, Ryuu didn’t much care for it either. He’d always felt
uncomfortable inside the citadel, and these tunnels were worse than most of the
public spaces. The only light was from irregularly set crystal reflectors along
the ceiling. At night, the tunnels were inaccessible. Using artificial light
would give away their use from the surface and trudging through the dark could
mean death. There were more than a few traps and hidden drops. When he’d first
discovered these tunnels, he’d spent years mapping them out. Drakon didn’t have
that luxury.
    “Ryuu?” Drakon asked.
    “One more klick and we’ll be there,” he said,
increasing his speed. “Be careful of the next turn. There’s a drop to the
left.”
    Drakon grunted, and chains rustled.
    Ryuu frowned. Damn his father. They’d need to get
those chains off, but right now they had no time. They had to get to the flitter
hangar and get out of the citadel.
    “Zinan went to gather our loyalists,” Svana said,
keeping pace easily.
    Ryuu nodded, then