The Tethering: The Complete Collection

1. Dexter-2

Dexter sat alone amongst the tables of Dragons. It had been two months since he had been allowed out of his room. His mother’s begging had finally worked, though being an outcast whose sole purpose was to help excavate the tunnels that had been damaged by the cave-in was not what she had had in mind.

Even with magic, moving the rocks was dangerous. The other workers treated him like filth. He was the one who had lost the Pendragon’s daughter. At best, incompetent. At worst, a traitor.

The Dragons stood as one when the Pendragon entered. He had blood on his coat and wore it like a badge of honor, not bothering to clean himself before sitting down to eat at the table high on the platform at the end of the room. He looked like a king. But what kind of king would abandon a princess?

Dexter stood and crept quietly out the door and down to the excavating tunnels. He didn’t need to be there yet, but it was better down in the dark alone than up here pretending to love the Pendragon.

It didn’t take long for the rest of the men to arrive.

“The Pendragon’s in a better mood. Maybe he finally got something out of her,” John muttered.

“You wouldn’t think a little blond thing could last that long.” Jess shook his head.

John and Jess stared at Dexter, waiting for him to create the shield spell so they could begin digging through the rocks.

“Saxurgo,” Dexter said. A bubble blossomed from his hand, traveling through his companions. The bubble grew until it lay against the wall, creating a thin, glistening film that was their only protection from falling rocks.

“You’d think we might be able to get a few more people to work a proper shield down here,” Jess grumbled.

All the strong wizards were guarding the compound, casting the shield that protected them from the outside, or away doing only the Pendragon knew what. The people working down in the tunnels barely had enough magic to be called wizards. That was the only reason they had been sent to do menial labor―they were as useless as humans. Except for Dexter. He had failed the Pendragon, and this was his punishment.

“I don’t know what the Pendragon wants from blondie. Elevare.” A large rock in front of John shook as it rose in the air.

Dexter slammed himself into the wall just in time to avoid being hit by the boulder.

“Sorry about that,” John said with a thinly veiled grin. “I just thought if the Pendragon wanted information on the Grays, he’d go out there and get it rather than making blondie Gray bleed every day.”

Dexter’s stomach turned. They had a blond Gray. Who?

“It’d be more fun. Going into that big estate and taking the information would be a lot better than sitting in the low tunnels every day,” Jess agreed.

“Well, she won’t make it much longer anyway,” John said, no longer bothering to hide his smile.