They’ve hammered nails through my feet and wings to keep me from flying. The drum of pain has ceased, but rage still burns in my gut. I will rip King Algear’s heart out just as he did Mother’s.
A draft of wind carries the stench of death, and I lift my head.
King Algear strides through steel doors, flanked by two Red Land soldiers.
“Hello, Dragon Reaper.”
“Mother named me Grimm.”
Repulsion ripples across King Algear’s face.
“Dragon Reaper fits. You’re a monster. A traitor to humankind. An abomination that drank dragon blood. I want to end you, but God has spoken to me. He says you are his servant and, therefore, mine.”
One soldier steps forward with a branding stick, whispering a chant. It brightens, growing hotter.
I scoff. “You might as well kill me then.”
King Algear holds out both palms, a black portal swirling above them. An egg the size of his head plops into his grasp.
“Give her back!”
I lurch forward, but the nails bite into my flesh.
King Algear smirks. “Accept me as your Master, and in three years, you and this beast can return to your cave in the Gray Lands.”
My fangs cut into my bottom lip. Today, I can do nothing but relent for my sister.
The guard presses King Algear’s curse into my chest, burning through the scales I received from Mother’s blood and my free will.
Jamiel Jones the Writer 
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