Page 13 of Her Silent Knight

Oh, how the tables have turned.

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HIS HEAD ACHED SOMETHINGfierce.

Kaede’s entire body felt like it had been run over by a train. An enemy train that after running over him once, backed up and ran over him again and then parked on his head, crushing his skull. No exaggerating.

He tried to sit up. Not happening. Moving only made his headache worse. Was he spinning around in circles or was it the room spinning? He didn’t know. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and released it slowly.

All of that spinning was starting to make him nauseous. He took another deep breath, held it in and laid completely still. He wasn’t spinning. Neither was the room spinning. Though he thought he was lying still, a swaying sensation crept over him.

Drugged. Only drugs could make him feel this way. Powerful drugs. He’d only felt this way once in his life. That was many years ago, back on the Mortal Plane. It was the day his world fell apart.

Now was not the time to relive memories of the past. Someone had drugged him. Who? Why? When? Head still pounding, Kaede released the deep breath he’d been holding and slowly opened his eyes.

He stared up at the ceiling. There was a weird image painted on the ceiling. Kaede squinted. It looked like flames. Then again, his vision was blurry. It could be a drawing of icicles.

He couldn’t truly make out what the painting was. What he did know was that this wasn’t his home. Neither was this his hideout spot in the Frost Forest. Where the hell was he? He tried to sit up again. Oh no, the spinning returned.

He relaxed against the couch and closed his eyes, waiting for the moment to pass. Never had he felt so fucking weak. If there was a predator around, he’d be dead by now. Kaede inhaled deeply.

He didn’t sense any predators. Then again, there was a ringing in his ears at the moment and the only thing he could smell was... he inhaled again. The only thing he could smell was, chocolate.

His stomach growled. He couldn’t recall the last time he’d smelled chocolate. Sweets were a hot commodity in the Frostlands. He’d have to trade a finger or a toe to the cannibals who roamed the frost hills in order to get a few barks of chocolate.

If his nose wasn’t failing him, he did indeed scent chocolate. He turned his head in the direction the scent was coming from. That was when he noticed the lights. Christmas lights. Or rather, Christmas flames.

No wonder there was no chill in the air. In the corner of the room was a huge flame in the shape of a Christmas tree. It’s orangish-yellow flames flickered but didn’t lose the shape of the tree.

Floating in different sections of the tree were miniature flames of various colors in the shape of tiny bulbs. A string of smaller blue, green and yellow lights was strung around the flaming Christmas tree.

He’d never seen the likes of it in his life. It was both beautiful and comforting. It reminded him of home. Of his childhood. Not because he’d grown up around flaming Christmas trees.

But because his mother loved decorating their home for Christmas. And there was always a fire blazing in the fireplace during the winter months. In some dragon households, there were fires blazing during the summer months also.

Dragons loved fire. In his culture, Christmas didn’t hold the same meaning as it did for other cultures. However, it was still a time for family gatherings. It was a time to celebrate the ones you loved.

He and his siblings would sit around the fire and listen as their father told them tales of the dragons of old. He would tell them of the legends who came before them and the battles they fought.

Sometimes, other members of the pack would come to their home just so they could sit in the living room and listen to Kaede’s father, the pack alpha, tell stories of their ancestors.

If Kaede closed his eyes, he could vaguely hear the deep timbre of his father’s voice. And the soft musical sound of his mother’s laughter. Those had been the good old days. Until tragedy struck.

As they say, all good things come to an end. Everything good and pure in Kaede’s life had been taken away from him. He no longer believed in good or bad. All he believed in now was survival.

So why the fuck was he lying in unknown territory, admiring a fire tree and reminiscing about events that no longer mattered? Whatever drug he’d been given was starting to wear off.

The pain in his head was ebbing. His body no longer felt heavy and lethargic. He moved to sit up. This time his actions weren’t accompanied by a swaying sensation or a feeling of nausea.

When he sat up, the beige sheet that had been pulled up to his chest dropped to his waist. Kaede stared down. He was naked. He was butt-ass naked. Why the fuck was he butt ass naked?

Even though he knew what he would see, he still reached for the sheet to look under it. Well, he tried to. He nearly tore his arm from its socket in doing so. Kaede’s gaze jerked to his hand that hadn’t budged.

He was handcuffed to a small table. He jerked his hand again. It didn’t budge. The table appeared to weigh no more than ten pounds. Why couldn’t he move it? He should be able to smash the small thing to free it from the other end of the cuff.

He couldn’t. He continued jerking. Nothing. Fuck. He swung his legs off the couch. The sheet dropped to the floor. He was indeed butt-ass naked. Ignoring that for the moment, he used his free hand to try and lift the table.

The damn thing was cemented to the floor or something. He stared at the legs of the table. They weren’t fixed to the floor. He tried to move the table again. Nothing. Frustrated, Kaede began to growl as he kicked at the table.

“Someone woke up grouchy?”

That voice.His gaze jerked to his right. A woman entered the room wearing a T-shirt that read, Bite Me, I’m Delicious.

Something inside him stirred.