Page 5 of Secrets of Ruin

The man’s lips twitched toward a smile again. “Ah, so you are Brokk. Your family is in my valley looking for you.”

Brokk didn’t respond as he pushed down the excitement trying to rise in his chest. He’d known his family was looking for him, but they hadn’t found him yet.

“From what I’ve heard, you’re a prince,” the emperor continued.

“So I’ve been told.”

“And a funny prince, too. I like a sense of humor.”

Brokk seriously doubted that.

“They’ve sent dragons into my realm,” the emperor continued.

Brokk remained emotionless, but along the line of cells, some others shifted. For most immortals, the mention of dragons sparked terror, but with Lexi in control of them, the dragons wouldn’t level the realm unless ordered to do so, and she wouldn’t do that.

But if dragons were here and not unleashing destruction on Doomed Valley, then Lexi had to be awake again. No one else could control the dragons enough to send them here and keep them from devastating the realm.

Unless the dragons were also here looking for crudue vine, but none had entered the realm with him and Kaylia. Things might have changed, but when they left, the dragons remained in Dragonia to watch over Lexi.

If they were moving around, it meant she was okay, that someone had found crudue vine and rescued her. Or at least that was the hope he clung to; it was the only one he had in this place.

“Do you know why there are dragons in my realm, Brokk of the dark fae?” the emperor asked.

“To find me.”

And Kaylia, but he kept that to himself. He didn’t know if such a revelation would keep her safer or put her in more danger, but Lexi and his brothers would be searching for her, too. She’d helped them too much against the Lord to abandon her here without answers, and she and Lexi had become good friends.

“My followers have captured and questioned some of these intruders; we don’t like interlopers in our realm.”

Considering the ophidians were interlopers in this realm and the mandarus were now all dead because of their intrusion here, that was a ballsy statement to make.

“Do you know what all those we’ve captured have to say about why they’re here when we ask them?”

“They’re searching for me.”

The emperor flashed his teeth, but his eyes remained cold and calculating. “Yes, they’re looking for you and… a witch.”

When the emperor’s gaze shifted to Kaylia, Brokk stiffened, and his breath exhaled harshly through his nostrils. Shit.

“You know some powerful people, Brokk of the house of the dark fae,” the emperor murmured.

“I do, and they’ll search for me until they get the answers they seek.”

It wasn’t much of a threat, considering he was behind bars and those searchers hadn’t found them, but it was true.

The emperor chuckled. “The dragons have gone home. It’s been days since we last saw one, and none of the searchers went with them. We made sure of that. They may send more to look for you, but will they find you?”

“My brothers won’t give up until they know what happened to me. They’ll keep coming, and eventually, they’ll find answers. I can guarantee it.”

The emperor didn’t look at all impressed by his words. “Maybe I’ll give them a body to make them happy… or a witch’s body.”

So that’s why they rolled in two torture devices. They may not intend to use them both, but the implication was there.

When the emperor’s gaze shifted to Kaylia, Brokk stepped forward. “No.”

The ferocity of the word caused the emperor’s eyebrows to rise. “No to you… or to her?”

Brokk had revealed too much with that single move, but he wouldn’t let Kaylia suffer because of him. He loved her too much for that.