Free Reckoning (Book 5) by Megg Jensen

was for the best. The poor girl had been strong when he met her, but every day he could feel her grip on reality slipping. She wouldn’t last long under his control. The girl was weak, far weaker than she’d seemed when he first met her. Once he had what he wanted, Fi would be irrelevant.
    Every time Donovan took a human for his slave, he exploited their greatest weakness. He gave them something they thought they needed, then snatched it away. It had been too easy with Jarrett. The man had wanted to learn magic. All Donovan had to do was give him a little rope, and Jarrett hung himself. Jarrett had even betrayed the woman he loved, nearly killing her.
    Jarrett was one of his easiest conquests.
    Still, Donovan had tricked Tressa into freeing the statues in Desolation easily enough.
    When he decided to cut off Hutton's Bridge from the rest of the world, he had to make it vulnerable. He'd lured the adults out of the village, promising them protection from the Red, who was stirring to the north, banging the drums of war. The Red needed honey to keep Decarian sated and trapped. Donovan had convinced the adults of Hutton's Bridge to give their stores of honey to the Red as a peace offering. Then he promised them a quick trip back to Hutton's Bridge through the portal in the Red castle.
    Fools. All of them. Donovan grew to hate other humans. Their stupidity offended him. Not one suspected his agenda. There were no probing questions. No moments of concerned questions. They were all so simple in their ways. It helped that they feared the dragonlords, and that Donovan whispered words of reassurance in their attentive ears.
    To control the humans, all he had to do was tell them exactly what they wanted to hear while he led them in the wrong direction.
    Once he'd led the people of Hutton’s Bridge into Desolation, he turned them into statues. Unfortunately, though their bodies died, their souls lived on. No matter how far he fled, their impassioned begging for their children followed him, their pleas tortured him. Eventually, he settled on the Isle of Repose, taking the legend of the Keepers for his own. There he grew lonely and old. His body decayed nearly to the point of decrepitude. He'd nearly forgotten why he was there until that idiot healer brought the baby dragons to the island.
    A long-forgotten hunger had risen deep in his belly. A lust for power. He breathed life into a pile of plain rocks, creating Stump, his faithful gollum. Events spiraled until the healer was dead and Jarrett was his.
    It was as if a greater force had reminded Donovan of his own destiny, forcing him to take what was rightfully his.
    He chortled as he entered the mouth of the cave. The entrance was hidden by a great deal of brush. Donovan tore through it, ignoring the scrapes from the ragged broken branches. A few cuts would make his new skin more distinguished.
    He pulled his tinder box from his cloak, lighting a nearby torch hanging on the wall. Donovan traversed the dank passage. The path led downhill until he came to a cavern. The noise of bones clanking on metal made him smile. Good. His minions were practicing for the upcoming battle.
    Once they'd reached the cottage, Donovan spurred them to continue digging until they emerged in this cavern. Here some of them could train. Others could work their way back to the ruins of the Red castle, widening the tunnel until it was big enough to fit Decarian.
    Soon, Donovan would emerge with an army behind him. One made of skeletons and a giant beast. But there would be others. Kilrothgi, the tall, hairy beasts, and their brethren, lost beasts of myth. The shades would be welcome. All from Desolation, the land where the dead roamed.
    "Report!" Donovan yelled.
    A skeleton dropped her sword and ran over to his side. She knelt, one bony kneecap protruding. "My lord."
    "Rise, Hildie. Tell me how the digging goes." With two fingers, Donovan beckoned her to stand.
    The skeleton, who had once been the woman Fi and