Dragonborn (The Jade Lee Romantic Fantasies, Book 1) by Jade Lee Page B

prisoners, Kiril. What could they have done except run afoul of the Emperor?"
    "Plenty," he snapped. "And they are not all military prisoners."
    "I did nothing but read books," cried one prisoner, his cultured accent giving support to his words.
    "I stole bread," said a woman. "I was hungry!"
    One by one they called out their pitiful crimes. They could be lying, but Natiya couldn't simply ignore them. "Please," she said to Kiril. "You know they're telling the truth. Real criminals are given over immediately as dragon food." She stopped speaking as they both heard the sound of running feet from the corridor to the right. "Kiril, please. Besides, it will help to cover our escape."
    He bit off his curse, then quickly tossed the keys into the nearest cell where an old man crouched in his own filth. "Now come!" he ordered her, and together they flew down the left corridor.
    She moved as fast as she could, her bare feet skidding on the stone floor. He moved with one hand gripping her arm. With him as her anchor, she never fell. He moved with assurance, taking turns and stairs through the fortress without pause except to listen for soldiers in the hallways. Twice they had to hide: once in a doorway, the other time pressed into the shadows, holding their breath in order to remain silent. Fortunately, both times the people passing nearby were too intent on their tasks to pay much attention to their surroundings. Finally Kiril dragged her behind a tapestry, muttering under his breath as he fumbled against the wall.
    "Someone's coming," Natiya whispered, her senses straining.
    "Got it!" he returned, and even in the dark, she knew he was grinning.
    Then she felt a rush of cold, damp air. She pulled back, instinctively disliking the feel of a yawning, black maw somewhere directly ahead. But she was given no time to think as Kiril drew her forward, still gripping her arm.
    "There are stairs right here. Going down."
    Here, at least, her bare feet helped, and she curled her toes around the edges of narrow stone steps. She extended her left arm, feeling the chill wall to the side, and began to descend. He followed, his breath exhaled in short, controlled bursts as if he were in combat. Then he released her, and she stopped.
    "Kiril?" she whispered, hating the panic that gripped her at his abandonment.
    "One moment," he said, his voice a disembodied ripple of sound. Then she felt more than heard the thud of a door pulling shut behind them.
    "What is this place?" She spoke in an undertone, disliking the way her whispers seemed to hiss back at her from the darkness.
    "Dag Racho's business often requires secrecy. This is just one of the many hidden ways in and out of his fortress."
    "Makes it a lot less of a fortress, doesn't it?"
    She could hear his chuckle as he once again found and took hold of her arm. "No one has dared attack these lands in one hundred years. Our Emperor has more need of secrecy than defense."
    "And yet you still serve him," she said, her tone more bitter than she intended.
    "And so I'm still alive."
    She heard him fumbling in the wall beside her, and then suddenly the light from an oil lamp cut the blackness. Her eyes adjusted quickly, and she saw a long passageway extend before her. Despite her earlier fears, the tunnel was actually quite clean, with iron hooks and more lamps dangling at regular intervals.
    "We must hurry. This is a well-traveled secret passage."
    "Then you should have taken me on a less-well-traveled one," she returned.
    He shrugged. "That one is a lot harder to find."
    She glanced at him, wondering how a new governor would know these things. Then she remembered: he was the Emperor's greatest warrior. Of course he would have come here many times on secret business of one kind or another.
    "Come," he urged, picking up speed. "It is not much farther."
    She kept pace with him, mentally calculating distances. "This must go under the entire courtyard."
    "It ends in the stable of the Open Maw inn. My mount is