Secrets & Promises

Light in the Dark

Hope y'all had a good week, and enjoy the chapter!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sapphire's head ached horribly as she slowly came back to consciousness. Raising her head, she looked around, analyzing her surroundings. The group was in a cave that was barred off on one end and had no light sources whatsoever, the only light coming from a torch further down the hall.

The other dragonets were slowly waking up as well, Qibli shifting his tail that he found to be loose surprisingly. Moon blinked blearily, not fully awake, Oak was quick to rise and look at Sapphire who nodded in response to his unspoken question. Winter was already awake, glaring at the bars from his place at the back of the cell.

Qibli spoke first, "Everybody okay? No severe injuries at least?" They all murmured in response, affirming his question. Winter by far looked the worst, though he claimed that it wasn't his blood that coated his scales.

Their attention was soon trained on a noise coming from the hall. They watched in silence, Sapphire rose to meet whoever it was. The dragonets all stood together, ready to face whatever was coming.

What they didn't expect was for there to only be three IceWings, two of which were following behind the same wiry female that Oak had had a glimpse of. Sapphire's eyes widened slightly at the two IceWings behind her, they were the ones who had... done the most damage to her. All the assassin training in the world could've never prepared her for seeing her previous captors again.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here? Isn't this the little scrawny thing we played with? I think its gotten fairly big." Sapphire let out a hiss, fear and anger mixing together, "What do you want from me?" The female shot the other two a look before they could speak.

"The name's Frostbite, and you're here because I wanted you to be." The female, Frostbite, tilted her head cynically. Oak stepped in then, "Why?"

"Revenge of course. Your parents imprisoned my father, when he tried to right the wrongs of your mother, that dreadful fake of a Queen." Sapphire's head tilted in confusion, "Who's your father then?"

"Freeze." Oak's eyes widened at the name. "You mean, your father is the one who kidnapped my father?" Frostbite nodded, "Yes, and then your mother took my father and slaughtered those who followed him. Luckily, a few survived, including me, and they want their revenge as well."

Sapphire chose that moment to speak up again, "So you took me? To get revenge on my parents for your father. Why? Why me?" Frostbite scoffed, "Don't go thinking you're anything special. It took me a while to actually round up all of Freeze's followers and convince them to follow me. You were just born at the right time. Easy prey." Prey. Frostbite had labelled her as prey, not as a living dragon, just prey to be hunted.

That's where Winter drew the line. For the first time since they'd been captured, Winter spoke. "Don't call her that." All the dragons whipped their heads towards him. Sapphire looked shocked, but happy that he was standing up for her. "Oh? And what're you going to about it, oh great prince of the IceWings?" Frostbite mocked. Winter snarled in response, stepping forward.

Sapphire was quick to touch his cold tail with her own, letting him know that she was okay. Winter settled quickly, glancing at Sapphire before turning back to the matter at claw. Frostbite, seeing as she wasn't getting anywhere, turned around to leave, "If you don't mind, I have other matters to attend to. Enjoy your last light for awhile."

With that, the IceWings left, and blew out the torch in the hallway along the way. The dragonets were then shrouded in darkness. Sapphire tensed at the loss of light, memories of darkness flooding her mind. Oak broke the silence, "Alright guys, let's try and get some sleep, we might be here for a while."

Sapphire nodded, her slight night vision kicking in but wasn't enough to make anything out except for the figures of the others. "C'mere Saph," Oak beckoned her over, doing his job as protective older brother. Oak then curled up on the rocky floor, Sapphire going next to him, touching each other slightly.

Qibli and Moon curled up together on one of the larger ledges in the cave, Winter taking his place against the wall and inside a fairly large indent. The dragonets drifted off in silence, no noise apart from their breathing.

***

Sapphire jolted awake, fear coursing through her veins. She began shaking, eyes watering as she recalled her nightmare. There was a shift in the corner of her eye, and she saw Winter blinking awake. Sapphire froze, hoping her wouldn't notice her quivering form. He did.

Instead of belittling her, he simply motioned her closer. Shakily, she took a step away from her brother and closer to Winter. Winter's white scales, although tinted blue, were still brighter than the rest of the cave. She froze a few steps away from him, unsure what to do.

Smiling softly, Winter opened his wing for her. "I won't bite, but maybe the cold and light from me will keep the nightmares away? I won't let them hurt you." Sapphire nodded slightly, before moving herself closer to him and sliding under his outstretched wing. The coldness from him was so much like her old prison, that it was almost comforting as she was used to the cold more than the heat.

Winter wrapped his wing around her, pulling her close and allowing her to cuddle up to him. The feeling of being this close to him was soothing and... safe. It was all she felt with his wing sheltering her, like the last piece of moonlight left. In this dark abyss, he was her only source of light. Sapphire felt herself drifting off as she lay there against him, shrouded in his light. When Winter settled his head down next to her's, she lost consciousness.

And the nightmares didn't return.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One, how adorable and fluffy was that from 1-10? Two, I hope you guys got the references to the sneak peeks I posted about this book before it was published! If not, they are in My Artwork if you'd like to go back and see them. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and have a great week! Stay safe! Thank you for 1k!!!!