“He might, but I’m betting he won’t. For one, he’d be hard-pressed to get any of the locals to come wi’ him. These hills are home to fairies. Some of them kind. Others deadly. As a dragon, I donna fear them the way the others do. I can protect you if we are set upon, but I doubt many will rush after us here, especially not in the dark. And Lachlan, he’s a coward and a crook. He’ll hesitate to leave Castle Dunchridhe and the hold he has over it and will avoid facing me alone at all costs, especially here where there are those who might not be sympathetic to his cause.”
Avery wasn’t sure what he meant by that and struggled to get her tired brain to formulate the right questions to ask. She looked around her. Fairy hills. The only fairy she’d ever encountered was Aborella, and she’d been the deadliest and scariest supernatural being she’d had the misfortune of meeting. To think she hadn’t believed dragons or witches existed a few short months ago. And now she was hiding in the fairy hills.
She thought about what he’d said, but there was something she didn’t understand. “Why would Lachlan’s leaving the castle affect his hold on it?”
“The castle magnifies his magic, as do the poor creatures in his office whose life force he drains when he needs power. Allows him to keep a mental hold on my clan. If he leaves or becomes too drained, his magic might fail and someone might remember.”
The answer simply spawned more questions, but she was too tired to ask them. She held her hands toward the fire.
“What is yer name, lass, and how did ye come to ken my brother?”
She smoothed her skirts and gathered her arisaid tighter around her shoulders. “My name is Avery—my sister Clarissa is mated to Nathaniel. My other sister is mated to Gabriel.”
Xavier made a deep, throaty grunt. “Mated, both. Hmm. And yerself? Are ye mated to one of ma brothers as well?”
She chuckled and raised her brows. “No. I am not married or mated or anything else to anyone.”
For some reason, that elicited a hint of a smile from the dragon, who covered his smirk with a hand and rubbed his mouth and beard. “What are ye that ye were able to open the cage?”
“Hmm?” She shook her head. “The cage wasn’t locked.”
He grunted again. “No need to hide what ye are from me, lass. I be a dragon. I will na judge ye.”
She shrugged. “I’m not hiding anything. I’m a human, plain and simple, and all I did was tug on the bars. The door simply swung open.” She didn’t mention the shock that had gone through her arms. She was sure there was some explanation, static electricity or some other natural phenomenon.
Xavier didn’t press the issue.
“How came ye here? How did Nathaniel know I was imprisoned in the castle as to send you to fetch me?”
“He didn’t.”
“Heh?”
“I’m here to retrieve you for an entirely different reason. Nathaniel assumed you’d still be laird of Castle Dunchridhe. I marched right up to Lachlan, believing he’d be you, then had to pretend to be a mountain-raised bumpkin in order to be hired onto the kitchen staff. I only found you when Glenna heard me say your name and led me to you.” She widened her eyes, realizing she’d completely forgotten about the fate of the oread who’d helped her so much. “What happened to Glenna?”
“Traveling back to the castle. I asked her to retrieve some things for me.” He gestured to his state of undress.
“Oh. Good.” She was relieved the oread wasn’t in danger. “How long were you in the dungeon?”
He tugged at his beard. “Two years, I reckon.”
“Two years!”
“If ye did na ken I was in there, then whit reason did Nathaniel send ye for?”
Avery threaded her fingers and looked into the fire. She’d thought it would be easy to tell Xavier everything his siblings had learned about Paragon, but now she wondered where to start. The man had obviously had a hell of a time the past two years. She didn’t relish adding insult to injury with the truth about his wicked mother.
“It isn’t good news. Would you like me to wait to deliver it until morning?”
He frowned. “Ye come all this way. Deliver yer message whilst the devil is at his rest.”
She folded her arms across her stomach and took a fortifying breath. “Your brothers and sister are together on the other side. Earlier this year Gabriel discovered that your mother, Eleanor, was responsible for Marius’s death.” Avery told him about what Gabriel and Raven had learned on Pyre night and then about Scoria coming to kill Tobias. She spoke about Aborella taking Raven, Gabriel, and Tobias prisoner and how Nathaniel, Alexander, and Rowan fought to bring them home. She explained about Eleanor murdering Brynhoff and naming herself empress and how a rebellion was rising in Paragon, one his siblings planned to join in the future once they had his help.
His expression remained chronically impassive as she rattled on. Finally she finished relaying everything she could think of as he sat in stony silence. A yawn stretched her mouth. “Nathaniel would like you to come back with me to the outside world and join forces with your siblings to take back Paragon.”
She waited. He stared at the fire. When several minutes had passed, she began to worry there was a language barrier. “Did you get all that?”
He gave her one curt nod, his expression giving nothing away. It was as if she’d told him she’d just watched a squirrel bury a nut. When more time passed without a reaction, Avery grew impatient. “Well? Will you come back with me?”
He took three long breaths while he toyed with a ring on his finger. It looked strikingly similar to Nathaniel’s, but instead of an amethyst, it contained a grand topaz gemstone. Finally, after a small eternity, he raised his blue gaze to meet hers.
“Nay, I’m sorry, Avery. I canna.”
Chapter Eleven
Everfield
For three days, Aborella endured Dianthe’s kindnesses in silence. Her fairy rescuer spoke softly to her and kept her company as if she were a child. She was fed delicious stews and tasty sweets and given healing teas to drink. She was rarely left alone, although Sylas never made an appearance in the small cottage.
It all made Aborella profoundly uncomfortable. Never in her life had anyone from Everfield shown compassion to her. Then again, if Dianthe knew who she really was, she’d probably be torturing her instead. Still, the woman’s actions made it terribly difficult to hate her.
“Why… are you… helping me?” Aborella rasped on the fourth day, when she discovered she again had her voice.
“You can speak! Praise the goddess!” Dianthe took her hand and smiled at her warmly.
“Why?” Aborella asked again.
Dianthe stared at her in silence for a long time. Her shoulders sagged. “The answer I should give you is that any fairy would help another fairy for the sake of the goddess. I think we both know that isn’t true. The population of Everfield isn’t always kind or helpful.” She released Aborella’s hand and walked toward the fire, leaning a shoulder against the stone. Her wings folded gently.
“No.” So then why was she here?
“Most people in Everfield would have left you in that grave. I don’t know you. You were buried near the palace. I have no idea if you were once friend or foe to the crown. What I do know is that you haven’t been a member of this community for a very long time. I’d know if you had been. I know everyone here.”
“Then why help me?”
Dianthe’s gold eyes locked onto her. “Sylas thought I should leave you. He doesn’t trust you. He won’t stay here while you are here.”
Aborella hadn’t once seen Sylas since she’d been there, but she’d spent so much time unconscious, she wasn’t sure if she’d simply missed his coming and going. Interesting. She waited, although the silence dragged out between them.
“What is your name?” Dianthe asked.
Aborella thought for a moment, then offered her middle name, a name she hadn’t been called in her lifetime. “Call me Zinnia. Zin.”
“
Zin, you are here because whoever you are, you know something about what is happening inside the Obsidian Palace. And the fact that they buried you alive means that even if you were once a friend of the Highborn, you no longer are. We need people like you to help with the rebellion. We need inside information.”
“You admit you’re part of the rebellion?”
“Defenders of the Goddess, yes. There are many of us. We grow stronger every day.”
The opportunities this presented swirled inside Aborella’s mind. She’d known Sylas was involved with the rebellion; she’d never thought his mate would be sharing his involvement with her so openly. If she played her cards right, could she potentially find out more about the rebellion to take to Eleanor? A list of rebels could be her ticket back into the empress’s good graces.
“You are being kind to me in the hope that I will join your cause.”
Dianthe shook her head. “I’m being kind to you because I believe in treating people the way I would want to be treated. No one deserves what they did to you. No one. I don’t care who you are or what you’ve done in the past. It was wrong.”
A chill traveled the length of Aborella’s spine at the conviction in Dianthe’s voice. In that moment, she almost believed that Dianthe truly would have helped her even if she’d recognized her for who she really was.
“As for my mate, he is compassionate but far more cautious than me. The only reason he is allowing me to keep you here is because he hopes you will join our cause when you’ve recovered. It should be soon. I’ve never seen a fairy heal as fast as you.”
Aborella glanced down at her legs. One had already regenerated to its regular size and shape. She wiggled her toes. The other leg had grown back to just above the knee. Her skin was no longer as white as it had been. Now it was a pale pink with the slightest hint of purple. Her fingers explored her face and found it still healing. She had time. It would be a few more days before she’d be recognizable by anyone, and by then she’d be strong enough to use her magic to disguise herself. She was in the perfect position to gather intel on the rebellion.
“As you might have guessed, I am no friend to the crown,” Aborella said softly. “Tell me more about the rebellion. What exactly is it the Defenders of the Goddess are trying to achieve?”
Dianthe smiled. “I’ll make some tea. This will be a long conversation.”
Chapter Twelve
“What do you mean, no?” The one called Avery might have sworn she wasn’t a witch, but Xavier reckoned flames might shoot out of her eyes at the anger rolling off her. He hated to disappoint the lass, but he could not return with her to the outside world. Not without first settling the score with Lachlan.
“I must liberate my clan from Lachlan’s clutches, ye ken? He’s an evil bastard, he is. I canna leave here without setting things right.”
“I’d think you’d have a lot better chances of that if you got your brother involved. We can go back, get help.” She grabbed the sides of her head in exasperation.
“If I go through the wards, there’s no guarantee I can come back. The original barrier was created by the fairies, Nathaniel, and me. Lachlan is a fairy. It’s possible he tampered with the wards while I was imprisoned.”
Avery rolled her eyes toward the stars. “Are you telling me that I came all this way to get you and you won’t leave?”
“Aye.” Xavier narrowed his eyes on her. “I donna doubt that Nathaniel has good reason to want ma help, but ma responsibility is to ma clan. Paragon is not mine anymore.”
Xavier frowned as Avery slid angrily off the log and flopped beside the fire, staring up at the stars. The poor woman had come all this way to rescue him, and this was how he repaid her? What a sorry arse he was! Dark circles swelled beneath her eyes and her lids drooped heavily. Poor wee thing. He wished he could help her, but his duty was to his people first.
He still suspected she was a witch after what he’d seen her do, but it seemed rude to press the issue, all things considered. Besides, witches were not always welcome in these parts. Perhaps she was protecting herself from the burning stake by denying what she was. He couldn’t say he blamed her.
“How did Lachlan become laird anyway?”
“Well, the first thing ye should ken about that is at first I thought he was human.”
Her eyes fluttered. “Not surprising. He looked human enough to me.”
“He’s a fairy changeling.” Xavier frowned when it was clear Avery had no idea what that was. “The fairies stole a healthy babe from Oliver and Gwendolyn MacKenzie, a lovely couple I knew quite well, and they replaced it with Lachlan, who played the part of their child. I knew the boy, ye ken, his whole life. I thought I did anyway.”
Avery rubbed her eyes. “Are you telling me the MacKenzies never suspected their baby had been replaced? That seems doubtful.”
“Aye, but ye see, a changeling isn’t actually an infant. Lachlan is hundreds of years old. He only posed as the baby and then as their child, and he was careful and patient as not to raise their suspicions.”
“Okay. So this fairy—I assume he was here from the beginning?”
“Aye, likely living on this very hill.”
“But you said he didn’t lock you in the dungeon until two years ago. Why then? Why not one hundred years ago?”
Xavier grunted his approval at her thoughtful question. She was a smart one. Exhausted, but still working things out. Curious. Nathaniel must have known as much to send her alone.
“Lachlan understood that he could not win against me fair and square. On a fairy’s best day, their magic is no match for a dragon’s fire. If he challenged me when I was in a position of power, he would lose.”
“Then how did he get you in the cage?” Avery asked.
Another good question. He smiled in her direction although her eyes were closed and she could not see it. “Fairies, generally, have three powers in their favor. The first is control over plants and trees. Everything green. They can make things grow faster than normal, make a tree reach down and grab you with its branches. The second is illusion—they can make themselves look like anything or anyone. That’s how he concealed himself as a child all those years. They can also make things appear that are not there. But the third and final power is the most dangerous. Fairies can read and control thoughts. Lachlan can read human minds, tell when they’re lying, and he can whisper in their ear and make them believe what he says.”
Avery yawned. “He couldn’t tell I was lying.”
“Hmm?”
“He held my hand and asked me why I was here. I lied right to his face and he couldn’t tell.”
“Well, I’ve no explanation for that. But I can tell ye that Lachlan started makin’ people believe that there was a beast picking off their cattle. He did it slow, over many years. A cow dead here. Another missing there. Sometimes people would claim to see a flyin’ beast.”
“Flying beast? What, like a dragon? Was he trying to pin the cattle deaths on you?”
“Normally the people here know what I am, and it would appear so, but as these cattle went missin’ while I was in the company of others, Lachlan’s goal was never to pin the thefts on me. His goal was to make the people believe a mysterious unknown beast was at large and to pressure me to do somethin’ about it.”
Avery tossed an arm over her eyes.
“After so many complaints, Lachlan corrupted the mind of the local blacksmith and had him approach me about building a cage fit for a dragon. Now, I didna believe the thing was a dragon, but I was beginning to wonder if there was not some type of mutant bird with a penchant for cattle involved. To appease ma clan, I agreed to build a trap for the creature. The blacksmith made the bars, and then I warded them with ma own magic. Before I ever understood what Lachlan was, he’d manipulated me into usin’ ma own magic to build a cage that could hold me.”
Avery grunted. “He couldn’t build it himself, so he tricked you into doing it for him!”
“Exactly. Fairies may not
be as strong as other supernaturals, but they are brutally clever. This blacksmith had lost half his herd to the monster, and he built the cage in record time. And I, believing I was doing the right thing, used my magic to make the cage unescapable. We placed it in the field with a cow as bait. And what do you know, we caught ourselves a dragon.”
“You did?” Avery asked. “I didn’t know any other dragons were here.”
“That makes two of us. I’d never seen a dragon like that before. It was small like a whelp, with odd-shaped wings and teeth. It didna look like any dragon from Paragon. I wondered if Scotland had grown its own, ye ken, so I went inside the cage to see what we were dealin’ with.”
“Lachlan trapped you?” Avery’s voice held all the despair he’d felt that day.
“Aye. Turns out the illusion of the dragon was bait for me. Lachlan’s mind control doesna work on me, but his illusions don’t require psychic manipulation. They’re damn near impossible to detect, even by supernaturals. Once he had me trapped, he shot me with a poison arrow and moved me and the cage into the dungeon. Then he used his power to convince everyone that the dragon had killed me but that he had slain that dragon. Later, he made them forget I ever existed. That’s when he became laird.”
“Just like that?” Avery stared at the stars.
“Fairy mind control is a significant force to reckon with, at least for humans.”
“Not dragons.”
“Nay. It didna work on me, although Lachlan’s cunning is almost as dangerous. He tricked me into the cage after all. Tricked me before I ken whit he was.”
“What a dick.” Avery yawned again, adjusting herself in her makeshift bed.
Xavier hadn’t heard a man referred to as a dick before, but by her tone of voice, he surmised it was an insult. He nodded in agreement.
“So I canna return with ye because I must take back the castle and free my clan from Lachlan’s hold on their minds. Most of them are na better than slaves, ye see.”
Highland Dragon Page 9
