Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Jokes and nice words rang out around the kitchen table, but he paid no attention to them. Impatiently, Rei drummed around on the dining table, where everyone had already gathered. Everyone except Quinn. Had she not taken his words seriously? How could she be so stupid as to disobey?

He remained seated for a few more minutes while the men were already taking their meals and sharing a few things about what they had done during the day.

Jerkily Rei stood up and ordered to bring the food to the other men in the basement afterward. Actually, he was always there helping so he could see right away where there were problems and intervene. Still, now he would have to take care of a problem elsewhere.

He left the kitchen with quick steps and strode up the stairs on the other side of the entrance hall to check on Quinn. Maybe she had just fallen asleep. He could still forgive her for that. As exhausted as she had looked, it was quite possible.

However, when he opened the door to the bed-chamber, there was no one inside. He quickly ran to the bathroom, but she was not to be found there either. Narrowing his eyes, he knew immediately what had happened. She had actually dared to escape!

She wouldn't get far on the island, but the freezing cold was hazardous. He knew that too well, which is why he put on his thick coat before opening the heavy iron door. As he did so, he wondered how she had managed it since only he and two other men could open it.

The unpleasant, sharp wind blew in his face immediately, and he hurriedly closed the door so that it wouldn't get too cold in the castle.

Quinn's footprints were visible, but the wind had blown the powdery snow over them, and it would not be easy to find them.

Rei's skin and eyes began to glow as he took on his dragon form. More prominent and more significant, the blue-haired man grew until he finally transformed into a fully-grown dragon.

His violet eyes sputtered sparks as his ice-blue wings moved, creating a freezing wind. Even colder than the wind on Barafu.

The wings were streaked with blue threads, giving them a noble appearance. The dark blue belly harmonized very well with the blue and silver scale dress. Isolated white scales were visible in between. Rei looked noble and robust as he rose elegantly into the air to explore the area. Somewhere he would find her, and then she would experience that he was a man who stood by his words.

With powerful beats of his wings, he flew over the island and kept a lookout for it. On the white of the snow, he suddenly spotted a dark coat. He recognized it immediately because Quinn had been wearing it when she had come to him.

Rei started to land, assuming that it was Quinn who had collapsed. However, he was mistaken. As he got closer, he could only make out her coat.

Had she taken it off and thrown it away? Was she really that stupid to want to freeze to death?

Rei looked around further and spotted the top and pants. They were all scattered around the area, and at first, he thought she was trying to give him a false scent until he spotted gray hairs peeking out from under a snowdrift.

With his wings, he created a wind that blew the snow off her body. How long she lay there, Rei could not estimate. The cold took no notice and had certainly done some damage.

Once Quinn was clear of the snow, he realized that she had probably stepped into a drift and had not been able to get out of it. Half of her body was still covered by the white splendor. Certain of what had really happened, he could not be sure.

"Quinn?" he called loudly against the wind as he assumed his human form.

She did not respond.

Rei immediately came to her and pulled her naked body out of the snow with a spirited grip.

Why had she taken off her clothes? The clothes had not been a false trail, as he had initially hoped. She really was utterly naked, and if it was awful, she might even have frozen to death.

Growling at so much stupidity, he put his ear to her chest to hear her heartbeat. Faintly it was still beating, so it wasn't too late. He had to hurry if he wanted to save her.

For a moment, he was even tempted to just let her lie there. If it was her desire to escape her fate, there wasn't much he could do. He didn't want to force her to turn, but he had to. In doing so, he had free rein over how long it would take him.

Rei took off his coat, which was even thicker than Quinn's, and wrapped her in it. He tried to block out the stinging pain he felt as soon as his skin met the cold. Tightly he wrapped Quinn and then took her clothes and cloak to put over them.

She hadn't come very far from the castle, but it would take too long on foot. Therefore, he turned back into a dragon and let out a loud scream. Just because the wind hurt a lot. Between his big claws, he took the woman and pushed her off into the air.

After a few minutes in the blizzard that swept over the island, he landed in front of the steps that led up to the castle. All the while, he had been keeping an eye on her to see if she was still alive. Rei gritted his teeth as he climbed up with her and pushed open the heavy iron door to finally get into the warmth. The wind had left marks on his skin that he would have to deal with later.

Now he had to get Quinn into the room and warm her up.

When he brought her up the stairs, she hung lifeless in his arms, but he could hear her breathing. Her breathing was heavy and yet a good sign. She was alive, and he hoped she survived it too.

Rei pushed open the door into what used to be his room and laid her down in bed before covering her extra warm and lighting the fireplace.

Although it was warm enough in the room, she needed extra warmth now. Deliberately, he kept her wrapped in the cloak as long as he lit the fire. Only after the orange flames flickered around the logs did he return to her and carefully unwrap her from the clothing.

However, she had escaped, Rei had had enough, and she would feel his threat. The heavy iron door could only be opened by certain people, and she was definitely not one of them.

From the chest at the end of the bed, he pulled out something leathery that was similar to what was used for the men and would suppress any abilities. He would give her that as soon as her cold and purple skin returned to average temperature.

Still, he decided to tie her up. Quinn had conjured it up and would now have to live with the consequences.

When he moved her to pull her arm up, she snapped her eyes open before a cry of pain left her lips.

She seemed disoriented until she realized where she was. Then life came to the young woman, but she was still chilled and weak. "No," she brought out in a rasping voice, trying to wriggle away from him.

The heat on her skin was terrible and stung like a thousand needles.

His grip was relentless and tightened even more as soon as she moved. "It's your own fault," Rei hissed angrily at her. "If you hadn't run away, we'd be having dinner together right now, and I'd explain a few things to you afterward." His voice sounded cold, rough, and hoarse, for the cold had slightly damaged his vocal cords.

His fair skin was marred with dark spots on his face and in some parts of his body. The wind, but also the cold, was to blame. It would be some time before that was completely healed.

Rei put on her shackles with the chains and then tightened them to the bed frame with ease. So that she had some freedom of movement but could do nothing else.

Quinn clearly made known what she thought of it and squirmed back and forth. She tried to grumble but was constantly interrupted by fits of coughing and made sounds of pain more than once.

"Why didn't you just let me die?" she asked in a rough voice, jerking at the bonds.

Immediately his grip tightened as he put on the shackles. "You don't get to call me by my first name," he raged indignantly, pulling harder than he should have. That caused Quinn to groan painfully.

It wasn't anyone's place to be on a first-name basis with him. He would make no exception with her. "You're giving up something you don't even know what it's going to be like," he growled angrily, trying not to screw up his face. His voice seemed broken and hoarse. Everything he touched left pain, especially on his fingers, which felt frozen.

That Quinn wouldn't even try to hold out hope for a good life annoyed him.

"Captivity is captivity," she said harshly and seemed to give up. Although she wanted to keep fighting back, her body had no strength left. "I don't want to become a monster," she whispered fearfully. That was what she saw in the other women who had undergone the transformation. They were neither human nor dragon.

She didn't want to lose her humanity and would rather die while she at least still looked like one.

"Dragons are not monsters," Rei hissed at her, covering her with the thick, warm blanket. In a way, they were, but he and some others couldn't help that.

"You could have moved freely here because to me, you are not a prisoner. But you lost that opportunity," he said bitterly. There you were already trying to be friendly and make cutbacks, and then that was abused.

"Maybe dragons aren't monsters, but I won't be a dragon," she hissed back. "I'm neither human nor dragon after this. To both, just scum to do with as you please because you own it or despise it," she growled, trying to rattle the shackles because she was far too warm.