Quest for Trust

by Jacey Ward

  When she heard the first clap followed by several others and finally a roar of applause, she was conflicted. She was proud she had made her case, of course, but she was disappointed that Hunter wasn’t here to see that she found no fault in dragons and that no fault should be found with Faeries.

  She had to start facing facts. He wasn’t going to be swayed by her impassioned speech – or by any sort of soft feelings he may have begun to develop for her. His hate was too deep, his distrust too powerful.

  Her breath hitched as the pain she felt at this realization pierced through her, causing her eyes to mist, as she fought to hold back her feelings.

  Be strong, Zahreena, she told herself. You may have touched these people, but you’ll never again touch him.

  Chapter 19

  Zahreena spoke with Lilithe briefly following the mock trial. Now that the stress of the trial and all it entailed was finally over, she needed to get to the bottom of this missing dragon blood and what her aunt had to do with it.

  Once she got answers to those questions, she would do exactly as Hunter had done with her. Present him with her findings and then…then she would walk away. Maybe one day they could be friends again, but never lovers.

  You just didn’t make love to someone you hated. That was a fact.

  Make love? Where had that come from? Did she love Hunter??

  She quickly shut down that line of thought, for it would NOT do any good to decide that love had finally come to her, only to be dashed away by mistrust.

  Lilithe had agreed to meet her for a congratulatory dinner of take out at her residence. First, she needed to meet with Professor Kamberlin, and then she planned to head home to rest a bit before supper.

  “Miss Daely, that was quite an emotion-filled plea you made this morning,” Professor Kamberlin said as she let Zahreena into her office. “Well thought out arguments and very logical conclusions brought forth. I am happy to say the ‘jury’, the ‘judge’ and the officials of Veritas Academy were quite impressed and agreed to consider your suggestion. I do congratulate you on a job well done.”

  “I could not have drawn any such conclusions, had I not been partnered with Hunter. He was driven to find the truth, no matter that it may have cast his species in a negative light. He deserves congratulations for all of his hard work and honesty. I was disappointed that he was not able to join me this morning. I know his distrust of me runs very deep.

  “In fact, I don’t know if the ten of us will be able to continue our programs at the academy, given that there are still misgivings about us, certainly about me. I can only hope, at some point in the future, we will be invited back. My reason for wanting to meet with you was to see if you could deliver a message to him for me?” Zahreena asked.

  “You see, I’ve discovered some other truths while investigating with Hunter, about how we may have come to be students at this Academy in the first place. Once I know all of the facts, I will present them to you in hopes that you might pass them on to Hunter.

  “He believes the worst of me right now, and that…that makes me sad. He believes I betrayed his trust, and I would like the opportunity to show him that I did not betray him – not even once.

  “Trust is hard-earned, especially from one as strong willed as your son. I could never throw that trust back in his face and I would truly like him to know that.” She let her breath out as she finished presenting her request.

  “Zahreena, you must be careful in your quest to find the truth. Hunter will come around. I will do what I can to help him do so, and I will give him anything you may be able to discover. Please, child, don’t place yourself in danger trying to prove anything to anyone. You won everyone over in that courtroom today, Hunter will find his trust of you again soon enough – I am certain.”

  Zahreena was surprised when the professor leaned in and gave her a hug.

  “Ree!!!! Please let me in! We must get away from here!”

  Zahreena ran to open the door when she heard Lilithe’s terrified cries. Her aunt ran in and slammed and locked the door behind her, turning to face Zahreena with the utmost terror in her eyes.

  “He’s not far behind me, we must go out the back way!” Lilithe yelled, grasping Zahreena’s hand and dragging her through the residence.

  “Aunty, stop! What are you talking about? Who’s behind you? Are you in danger? Please stop and talk to me!!” Zahreena pleaded.

  “There’s no time to talk, Zahreena! We’re in trouble, don’t you see? He’ll kill us all. He’s insane!”

  Lilithe had barely finished speaking when they both heard a loud crash and breaking windows. From the corner of her eye, Zahreena saw a flash of light in the kitchen, followed by a wave of intense heat and the acrid smell of smoke.

  She turned when she heard a whooshing sound and screamed when she saw a large dragon’s tail strike out, catching Lilithe and tossing her across the room like she were no more than a rag doll.

  “Where is it, trickster? I need that blood, look at what I’m becoming!” Zahreena froze at what she saw before her.

  The creature had clearly tried to shapeshift, but something had gone terribly wrong. The thing before her had the face she recognized as Chancellor Billeford, but his eyes were huge and glowing. His mouth was blistered with burns. His clothes were torn and bloodied from the semi-formed dragon scales that were protruding from his arms and back.

  Zahreena dematerialized and made her way closer to where her aunt lay motionless behind the couch. She tried to shield them both from the beast, but again felt another blast of heat coming toward her.

  “All right, I’m coming, dammit! Settle down!” Hunter opened his door to Kadence and Luna both shouting at him at once. Gabe and Tristan were running up the walk as well.

  “What the hell is wrong with you people? What do you want?! One at a time!” he roared at them all.

  “Zahreena is in terrible trouble, Hunter! We’ve got to get to her. Her and her aunt are being attacked!” Valluna spoke first. “It wasn’t Zahreena that took the dragon blood – it was her aunt. She came to me after you fought, she told me she knew who had taken it and I picked up on something. She’s psychically very strong, so it took me some time to decipher it. Does she have an Aunt Lilithe?”

  “Hurry!” Kadence cried out, grasping both Valluna and Hunter, while Gabe teleported with Tristan.

  The residence building, which housed the faeries and elves was engulfed in smoke.

  The minute they landed, Hunter and Gabe let their dragons emerge. The others had teleported through the building to ensure there was no one trapped.

  “All seem accounted for, but Zahreena and Lilithe,” Valluna pointed in the direction where the Faery Realm residents stood stunned, as they watched the smoke billowing from the windows of the bottom floor – Zahreena’s floor.

  “There’s no one left on that floor, Hunter. They must have gotten out, but I can’t get a fix on where they went or who could have done this?” Kadence calmly stated, her eyes shifting their focus in her odd way.

  “Chancellor Billeford.”

  Hunter spun around at old crone’s voice he heard behind him. A small form manifested before him. Shrivelled, elderly, but with the penetratingly stunning yellow eyes common to all faeries.

  “There’s precious little time to explain, dragon! Lilithe and I are to blame for this. We discovered a terrible secret he’s been hiding and forced him to grant our children access to the academy.” The old faery sputtered.

  “What secret – where are they?” Hunter bellowed.

  “That man is a greedy fraud and now he’s a contorted insane monster. He’s human! He’s been lying to you since before he was designated chancellor. We gave him just enough rope that he had no choice that he had to help us or be hung out to dry,” she cackled, sounding more than a little insane to the onlookers, as well.

  “I get it! He’s been consuming the dragon’s blood to make himself appear to have powers!” Valluna supplied, recalling the conversation sh
e and Zahreena had had about why someone would need the dragon blood.

  “Yes, the idiot!” The old one’s voice cracked as she cried out.

  “And now he’s threatening Zahreena? What does she have to do with any of this?” Hunter demanded, menacingly hovering over the old woman.

  “Nothing, you fool! You and your idiot friends,” she muttered to herself, rolling her eyes with frustration at his stupidity. “She has absolutely nothing to do with any of this.”

  “No!”

  They heard a cry come from behind the building. Hunter and Gabe flew over the residence quickly, followed by Tristan.

  Hunter’s breath caught when he saw the scene before him. Zahreena, cradling her fallen aunt, on the ground. Her green eyes were glowing in the deepening darkness, tears flowing freely down her face. She gently laid her aunt on the ground and stood to face the half shifted, mutated creature looming over her.

  “You monster!” Zahreena cried out, letting her wings spread and rising up to meet his crazed eyes. “You killed her!”

  She closed her eyes, her hands intricately moving in the air, as she thrust them out before her.

  Hunter was shocked to see the chancellor’s form effectively shoved backwards. But she was no match for the chancellor’s maniacal mutated strength. He struck out at her with his sharp tail, catching her body just as the twins attacked.

  Hunter growled viciously as he saw Zarheena’s body fly back.

  “Tristan! Get her out!” he ordered his friend, as Gabe into position on the other side of the beast. An intense fire blew forth from their mouths, coalescing as it struck the dragon imposter. The ring of fire they created effectively encompassed the pseudo dragon, forcing it back, until the chancellor seemed to gather his strength to force his body out of the hold that Hunter and Gabe had created, breaking free of their fiery prison.

  But he was seriously weakened by their true dragon fire, and in one final concerted effort, the twins put everything they had into their blaze, burning the mutant to ash in minutes. A nauseating stench filled the air as the twins returned to the ground, searching the area for further danger.

  Tristan held Zahreena’s limp body in his arms as Hunter raced toward him, already shifting into his human form. He took her unconscious form from the wizard, frantically trying to assess her injuries through all the blood that wouldn’t seem to stop pouring from her body.

  “Valluna, please, help her!” Hunter pleaded.

  “We must get her back to the clinic, and we need more of your blood. If we can do this in time, her tissues will regenerate, and she will hopefully have a better chance to heal.”

  “What of Lilithe?” they heard the old faery cry softly. “Can nothing be done for her?” She looked up at Valluna pleading with her moistened eyes.

  “I’m so very sorry,” Valluna said as kindly as she could, having bent to check for any signs of life. “Lilithe is gone, there’s nothing we can do for her now. I am so sorry, we arrived too late.”

  When Hunter wasn’t moving, only cradling Zahreena in his arms and staring down at her face, Gabe, still in his dragon form, nudged his brother, picking both of them up and carrying them off in the direction of the medi-centre.

  Epilogue

  While they had waited to see what Zahreena’s prognosis would be after getting a transfusion of Hunter’s blood, Hunter, his brother and Abigail had discovered that several of the elder faeries and Lilithe had been blackmailing Billeford.

  Much to Hunter’s chagrin, it was revealed that it had been Lilithe who stole the dragon blood from the clinic, in an attempt to stall Billeford and escape with Zahreena. The embroidery thread Valluna had found, had come from one of Lilithe’s own protective garments, not Zahreena’s.

  For fuck’s sakes, he was an investigator, wasn’t he? How could he have been so blind?

  Hunter would have to live with the guilt of not letting her defend herself to him and ultimately putting her in mortal danger.

  His mother had revealed not only how distraught Zahreena had been to think she had lost his trust, but also how she had requested coordinates to the time prior to the one that had been given to them – thinking her quite clever in asking for them.

  “No one ever said further information could not be requested in your tasks. She had the fortitude to ask for it, before she made her decision on how to present her case. Very clever that little one is!” Abigail had practically beamed with her praise of the faery.

  His mother had always been a pushover, he thought lovingly, as he now sat next to Zahreena’s bed holding her hand, willing her to wake up.

  She hadn’t moved in days, he hadn’t seen the emerald of her eyes since that night they had glowed with such terror over her aunt’s death and her rage at Billeford.

  “I didn’t take your blood.”

  Hunter’s eyes snapped open, as he heard her weak voice.

  “I didn’t hurt Gabe, I swear to you… I did not betray your trust.”

  Her eyes had finally opened and the grief Hunter saw in them almost made him wish they might close again. Grief he had put there, by not believing her and not even letting her defend herself.

  “I know that, little one. I should have known that then. I am so sorry, Zahreena.”

  The ring of sincerity in his words was obvious, as was the pain in his eyes because of what he had caused. He lifted her hand and brought it to his mouth before bending to gently kiss her forehead.

  “Your aunt, we couldn’t—”

  “I know ... he struck her so hard after I had teleported us out of the building. There was no way she could have survived that blow,” Zahreena whispered, a single tear rolling down her face.

  “Wait a second, how did I survive? I remember his tail or his claws slashing over me…” she trailed off in confusion, looking up at him.

  “Dragon blood,” Valluna commented from behind Hunter. “Nasty stuff that, but it seems to have done the trick with you. Welcome back!”

  She whacked Hunter on the back of his shoulder.

  “Now I should warn you, Zahreena. There could be some brutal side-effects,” Valluna started, a twinkle in her violet eyes.

  “Luna,” Hunter warned.

  “You will likely have the most foul-smelling burps, huffs, and puffs, moving forward.” She grinned broadly at the patient in her bed. “Unfortunately, there is no remedy for that ...”

  Both ladies began to giggle at his expense.

  “Would you both shut up?” He muttered, shaking his head at both of them.

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