Dragons Reborn Read Online Free PDF

that still haunted his nightmares. But he had to find her. To find
Domi. The only woman he had loved since . . . since that horrible day when . .
.
    He pushed the
thought aside. That was a memory he would not conjure here.
    I will save you,
Domi.
    And so he walked,
and he looked.
    He stared into
every cell—at the broken, mocking remains of humans, only half-alive. At the
mad eyes. The tears. The blood. The broken bodies. The terror Gemini had seen
as a child, that made fresh tears spring to his eyes.
    The Spirit
never wanted this, he thought. The Cured Temple is about gold, light,
splendor, not this.
    He dug his
fingernails into his palms. His thoughts were heresy, he knew. If the Spirit
heard him thinking this, the god would doom him to an afterlife in the Abyss, a
place even worse than this dungeon. He would not contemplate his faith now. He
would focus on finding Domi, on saving a pure light trapped in shadow.
    He kept walking
and finally, in a cell coated with blood and cobwebs, he saw her.
    His heart
shattered in his chest.
    Domi lay curled up
on the rough stone floor, her legs and wrists bound in chains. Her red hair
spilled across her face, and bruises and cuts covered her white limbs. She wore
nothing but tattered burlap, and welts rose across her.
    The guards had beaten
her.
    Gemini's fists
trembled with rage, and the keys jangled in his grasp. He would kill them! He
would kill them all—the guards, his sister, his mother, the whole damn Temple!
Hot tears burned in his eyes, and a lump filled his throat.
    But not before
I save you, Domi.
    With shaking
fingers, he began to test key after key in the lock. He had to hurry, he knew.
If his sister found out . . .
    Finally one key
fit. He tugged the barred door open and entered the cell.
    "Domi!"
    He rushed forward
and knelt above her. She lay on the ground, moaning. Her eyes fluttered open—those
huge, green eyes that he had first seen on Pyre, that pierced his heart, that
melted his heart, that were forever his beacon. Her cheek was bruised, and she
whispered his name.
    "I'm going to
get you out of here," he said, tasting his own tears. He began testing
keys in her chains' padlock.
    She stared up at
him, and she whispered, "Gemini . . . she hurt me, Gemini. Your sister."
    Such rage and pain
filled Gemini that he could barely hold the keys. He forced himself to breathe
deeply.
    Mercy will pay
for this, he swore. She will scream in pain.
    Finally a key fit and the padlock opened. Domi's chains fell to the floor.
    "Oh, Domi."
He gathered her into his arms. "I'm so sorry, Domi. I'm getting you out of
here. We're going to leave the Temple. We'll find a new place to live, a safe
place, you and me." He touched her bruised cheek. "I should never
have brought you here. We'll find a new home, you and me, I promise. Can you
walk? We must hurry."
    She nodded.
    Gemini's knees
shook as he held her hand, as he led her out of the cell. He didn't know where
to go. Mercy would hunt them, he knew. The armies of the Cured Temple would
scour the world, seeking Domi, a weredragon.
    "We'll take
the firedrakes," he whispered, walking down the hallway. "We'll build
our own army! We'll . . . Domi?"
    She had stopped
walking, feet planted firmly on the floor. He turned toward her, and he saw her
staring into another cell. Inside lay a young man with brown hair, chains
binding him.
    "Domi?"
Gemini whispered. "Who is—"
    She turned toward
him, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Gemini," she whispered . . . and
drove her fist forward.
    Pain and white
light exploded across Gemini's face.
    His keys clattered
to the floor.
    An instant later,
Gemini followed the keys, banging his head, and all went dark around him.

 
 
FIDELITY

    They walked down the cobbled road,
heading toward the city of Nova Vita—a father, a son, and a woman with terror
in her heart.
    "I swore I would
never set foot in a village again," Roen said, eyes dark. "Now we
walk toward the greatest city in the world."
    Fidelity