I was jarred awake and blinked hard when the sun hit my face. My surroundings were fuzzy, but as my sight focused, I saw the sky was filled with thick smoke. I locked eyes with the person carrying me. “You—”

He dropped me.

I landed on my back in the dirt. The fall had knocked the air from me. Groaning, I rolled over and crawled to the edge of the path.

Zoran stood there with an eyebrow raised.

“Stay away,” I breathed, clambering to my feet. I was still feeling unsteady and clung to the coat wrapped around my waist. “I don’t know what’s happened, or why I said it, but I’m not going anywhere with you.”

Zoran narrowed his gaze. “I may have an eternity ahead of me, but I have no patience for temper tantrums.”

I pointed my finger at him. “You stay right there,” I stated, trying to sound threatening. “I’m going back to Gail, and you can go back to that inferno pit where you belong.” I swung my arm toward the bottom of the cavern.

His mouth curved into a smirk. “You mean the town you just set on fire.”

My eyes shot back up the path. The town was hidden by the mountainside, but the smoke billowing into the air could clearly be seen.

The black flame appeared in his palm. “I bet they’d be so happy to take you back.” With a twist of his wrist, he made the fire disappear.

I inched around him and backed up the trail. “I didn’t mean to. That box did it. I wasn’t thinking. You did something to my head. It was your fault, not mine.”

“Hmmm….” He took out a red metal pocket watch. “The dragons need to be fed, so I only have a limited amount of time before I push you off the side of the cliff. Your choice.”

I glanced over the ledge. Even as far down as we had traveled, I still couldn’t see the bottom of the ravine. “You wouldn’t.” I sucked in my lips and met his gaze. “You didn’t do all this and burn an entire town to the ground to kill me now.”

“If killing you were that easy, I would’ve told Edgar to push you over. A creature so fragile isn’t something I would keep.”

“You’re insane.” I clenched my fist. “I’d rather live in the forest alone than go any further with you.”

“My patience is soon to be nonexistent.”

“Well, you can’t really turn me into a pile of ash, so I don’t really—”

In a puff of smoke, he had closed the five-foot gap between us and had this hand wrapped around my throat. “You are merely a minute step above a human. Do not mock a god, Fin. If you were anyone else, I would have killed you the moment you spoke.”

I swallowed hard and looked over my shoulder. My feet were barely remaining on the trail. I locked eyes with him and saw fire flicker in his irises. “You won’t do it. Killing me would be a waste.”

Zoran smiled and leaned into my ear. “You weren’t paying attention.” He traced the shell of my ear with his free hand. “So, little sparrow, here’s your first lesson.” He ran the finger across my cheek. “Flying.”

The coat was ripped from my body, and Zoran’s hand landed in the center of my chest.

He gave me a smile as his eyes glowed red. “I’ll see you at the bottom.”

Everything slowed down. I reached for something to grab, but Zoran disappeared. The air left my lungs as I started to fall. That man’s smug face appeared above me, peering down his nose with no remorse for what he had just done.