by LJ Andrews
I nudged his shoulder. “It is real, Teagan. I wouldn’t lie to you. And I do think we need to speak with Konrad—out of anyone he’ll be the one to listen—but let’s wait just a little longer. I think we need to find out more about you. If we learn why those marks found you, it will fill in my own questions.”
“If you’re a powerful royal, why are they keeping everything from you?”
The bitterness wasn’t easy to hide. “I was so young during the war. The king was my grandfather. He and my parents were killed, so when the serpents were banished, I was hidden and placed under the complete protection of Raffi and Dash and Eisha. Eisha was my mother’s closest advisor; she vowed to keep me safe and one day help me rise to my position. I’m still young to others, so I can’t help but feel they shelter me. To them, I’m still a child.”
“Two centuries is young, huh?”
“Quite young,” I said with a laugh. “Eisha is nearly five hundred. Raffi is finally mature at three hundred and twenty. And don’t let Sapphire fool you. He may be nearing two hundred and sixty, but he still has some immaturities.”
“I can’t.” Teagan groaned, but he tightened his hold on my fingers tucked around his arm, and I caught a small smile on his lips. “My head is exploding—how am I supposed to act normal around Sapphire after all this?”
We stopped at the front door of the house when the first ribbons of pink light broke across the gravel driveway.
“Who said anything about acting normal?” I moved my lips close to his ear. Teagan was intoxicating. All my strength supposedly flowing in my blood, and I was limp and weak when it came to resisting his gaze, his scent—everything. “Teagan, Sapphire won’t send you away. I won’t allow it. Something dangerous is coming, and although my people have the best intentions, keeping me—and you—in the dark is dangerous.”
“Then we should tell them,” he said.
“We will. Let me speak with Eisha first, okay? Then we’ll tell them everything you told me—about the willow, those stones you found. Everything. Just give me a little time.”
“Okay, but I’m not writing in his reflection journal anymore,” Teagan said with a touch of mirth.
I laughed. “You know that’s how he’s learned how to behave like a human. Sapphire does have a gift, though. Despite being a royal wyvern, he has helped a lot of people. He has a big heart and feels compassion for youth.”
“Do you think he knew something was different about me from the beginning?”
I shook my head, remembering Konrad brushing away my concerns. He wouldn’t have been able to conceal all his worries. “No, not until those marks appeared. Now he suspects something.” Voices came from inside the house, and I rushed Teagan toward the door. “Go, now.”
“Wait, Jade. When can I see you again?”
I paused, each scenario of escaping Raffi or Dash running through my mind. “Tonight. Meet me tonight just beyond the trees.”
He smiled, and I thought I might collapse. “See you tonight.”
I watched Teagan rush back into the house. My smile faded quickly when I turned toward home. Eisha, my stand-in mother, had some questions to answer. If I had to, I’d use my rank—for the first time.
I was ready to rise to my fate no matter how dangerous it might be.
Chapter 14
The house was chilled, the way Eisha and I enjoyed it. When your blood boiled inside and fire burned your lungs, a little chill in the air helped.
Inside, the thick wooden door creaked on the cast iron hinges. The house beamed on the hill above the town of Wyvern Willows. A house fit for her royal charge, but not the largest or grandest house in the town. A strategy to avoid lindworm attention should they ever show their faces.
Now, they had.
But how had the zomok figured out who I was?
Eisha brushed away my concerns most days. Even after the attack at school, she said it was nothing to concern myself over. The warnings didn’t mean the lindworm, King Nag, had escaped his exile. It was a fluke, a one-time mishap with the barrier, but a reminder to always be on guard.
I shuddered remembering the greenish yellow glow of Nag’s eyes.
Before the bloodshed of the Wyvern War ripped my family from my life, lindworms hadn’t always been defiant of the wyvern peace laws. All races of dragon lived peacefully. But something changed, and peace was the last thing King Nag wanted.
My only solace was the lindworm and his greasy black snakes were banished somewhere far away.
I took the spiraled staircase two steps at a time. My determination set like a lead weight in my chest. Secrets weren’t going to exist among this house a moment longer.
“Jade, is that you?” Eisha’s rich voice called out from the bedroom down the hall.
Clearing my throat, my fists balled, though I wasn’t angry. More to hold my courage.
Eisha may be shutting me out, but there was no denying she had saved me. I remembered my own mother’s crystal eyes, but Eisha had undoubtedly been a mother to me in her stead. I didn’t want to go against her wishes, but I also refused to allow the pounding warnings bleeding through my heart to simmer in disregard any longer.
I opened the door to her circular room. “Eisha? Where are you?”
“In here.” A light came from beneath the bathroom door. Eisha sat on the edge of the bathtub; her slender human legs dipped into the water. The nozzle was turned to the frigid setting of ice-cold, but steam floated off the surface. Eisha glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “I’m glad you’re here. Would you be able to get some ice from the refrigerator?”
“Are you injured?” I asked, checking her legs. Red blisters wrapped around her ankles.
“No, of course not. I, well, I had a meeting with the school board yesterday, and I’m afraid I started to lose my temper with Abram again.”
I chuckled. “You’re the epitome of wearing your emotions on your sleeve.”
The true wyvern form was stronger than the human shell—sometimes the heat of the heart could break through the skin. I hurried for the ice, second-guessing myself. She could destroy her entire self if she grew too angry. Then again, Eisha hadn’t ever lost her temper with me.
“Ah, thank you,” she sighed when I returned. She splashed frigid water along her toes. Her skin soothed, even the tips of her dark hair no longer looked ready to ignite in flames. “So, where have you been? Raffi and Dash couldn’t find you. I know you don’t like to hear it, but I must insist you stay on this property.”
“Will you order me, Eisha?” My jaw set in a taut frown.
Eisha cocked her head—she was reading me. I could always tell when my guardian used her gift to judge emotion. No one was better at recognizing deception or valiant hearts than Eisha.
“You know I cannot. I hope out of genuine respect for one another you will order yourself to protect yourself. Something has upset you—what has happened?”
Clearing my throat, I studied my reflection in the oval mirror. Gold fire in my eyes flashed. The traitorous color was what gave away my emotions, and I paused long enough to bury down the flurry of thoughts flapping through my mind.
“Eisha, you have protected me well. I trust no one more than you,” I began. “I hope to expect the same courtesy.”
“Jade, of course I trust you. You will become a beautiful, honorable leader.”
“I cannot become that any longer. Eisha, I must be that leader now.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, lifting her icy legs from the water.
“Something is happening in Wyvern Willows,” I said. “There is something coming, and no matter how much you and the others assure me, I know something is happening. I also believe my own people keep me protected from truths I deserve to know.”
“Jade, no, you have us wrong—”
“I wasn’t finished.” Eisha looked stunned at my abruptness, but I had to continue or I would lose all my nerve. “I may be young, I may not even know how to rule or properly protect t
he power of the stones, but I cannot deny what my instincts are telling me. The willow is warning of something. That zomok nearly ended my life, Eisha. Raffi and Dash still have not been able to find it. How long until more lindworms find a breach in our barriers?
“I know you . . . I know you feel we can protect our own. I understand that Raffi and Dash are charged with my protection, but I believe you and the others are making a mistake keeping what you know of Teagan Ward from me. What don’t you want me to know, Eisha?”
Eisha was silent for a long moment. Her obsidian eyes burned, and for a time I thought she might burn through her skin and shift in the tight bathroom. Eisha shifted only a few times a year to meet with the elder council, but never in front of me. I’d always appreciated the gesture since my greatest desire was to taste the euphoria of the sky again.
Closing her eyes, she drew in several deep breaths before brushing past me back into the bedroom.
“I thought we had already discussed this,” Eisha said. “He is not safe, Jade. For any of us. Even Konrad agrees.”
“Then why does Konrad allow him to stay?”
“Trust me, I have asked the same question myself,” she snapped.
“Eisha, I am asking you to explain what you’re so afraid of, but if I must, I will not ask.”
Eisha’s brow furrowed tight, forming a ridge over her nose. “Are you . . . commanding me to answer?”
“I hope you would not force my hand.”
Eisha scoffed, and I could sense her hurt. We’d never used our positions in the wyvern court against one another, and I never dreamed there would come a day when I would use my pure royal blood against her. “All right, my queen, I’ll explain what I know.”
“Eisha, I don’t want there to be bitterness,” I said. “But I must know.”
“Follow me,” she said, standing from the tub and stalking down the hallway toward the library. Eisha stepped into the room, but I was hindered, the energy against me holding firmly as she dug through the back bookshelves and removed a tattered, leather book that had a musky smell when she returned to my side.
Eisha tossed the book into my hands, her eyes sharp and direct when she leaned against the wall. The symbol on the cover was gold and formed a strange triad made of numerous spheres. There was no end or beginning to the design.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Read it.”
The spine was ancient, possibly older than Eisha, and the threads crinkled loudly when I opened the book. The title was written in a beautiful dark ink calligraphy: History of the Mage.
“Mages? But they were killed; they fought against us.”
Eisha pinched her mouth into a tight line and nodded at the book.
I flipped through a few yellowed pages with care, then stopped at a drawing—a man, dressed in a hood, with a long blade gripped tightly in his hands. On his arms, neck, what I could see of his face, anywhere skin was exposed were the beautiful markings of the ancient language.
Exactly like Teagan’s arms.
“What does this mean? I . . . in my story books these marks only came to the wards.”
Eisha sighed, her eyes sad for a moment. “That is exactly what the mages are—or were. Once our greatest defenders, our protectors, our wards in existence. A time long gone by.”
“But we fought them,” I said more to myself. This didn’t make sense. Dragons and mages were enemies during the war. I thought of school, of the book Mrs. Tiddel read. I’d balked at her incorrect history of mages and dragons crossing races, serving each other, but said nothing. We couldn’t give up that we knew better than books, that we were there, but now . . . perhaps I was wrong. “Are you saying Teagan is a mage?”
Eisha shrugged. “I don’t know, Jade.”
“Then why show me this?”
“Because I have my suspicions. I do not know for sure if a mage has returned to the willows. I suspect, yes. But having the jade color is not possible. So whether this boy is a mage or not, I do not trust him. His intentions cannot be honorable.”
I slammed the book closed, my chest flattening as though someone were pressing all their strength over my ribs. “He does have the jade color, so what do you mean it isn’t possible?”
“Because lesser mages protect lesser royals.”
“Protect?”
Eisha sighed and stared at the ceiling. “They once did. In truth, I would not doubt this boy as greatly if those marks were sapphire-colored, or ruby, or onyx. But if a mage returned with the jade color, they would need to be descended from the High Priestess or High Priest. The highest mage is always paired with the highest wyvern royal and the High Priestess was childless. Your bloodline has no mage; this is exactly the reason Raffi and Dash were assigned as your warriors.”
“So mages didn’t die off like I thought.” My mind whirled. “Is the High Priestess still alive? Did she join with the lindworms?”
Eisha growled, sounding more like her true self than a principal of a high school. She paced in her bedroom, pulling out a clean gray pantsuit, and began tearing off her cotton T-shirt, undeterred that I stood there watching her dress. “It’s almost time for school.”
“Answer me, please, Eisha.”
“I don’t know if she lives! But yes, once we lived in unity, as you know. Us led by your grandfather, them led with equal strength by the High Priest and Priestess.”
“Well, then isn’t it a good thing if Teagan is a mage? They are our allies.”
“No,” she said so sharply I jumped back. Eisha didn’t continue until she’d zipped a pair of black ankle boots over her again-blistering feet and stared at me. “I said we once lived in unity. You know they betrayed us. Jade, I held your mother as she died. As she choked on her own blood and begged me to look after her child. Your father lay scorched and murdered at her side.”
“Why are you telling me this?” I whispered, feeling the steaming tears burn behind my eyes. Even though the memories were from my infancy, I could still hear the screams like nightmarish echoes.
Eisha snarled, her face inches from mine. “Your parents, our kingdom, was torn to shreds all because a mage joined with King Nag and betrayed us all. The mages abandoned us in our time of need. The only help we were offered was a final enchantment—the willow. That was all we were left with. Wyverns were forced to trust an ancient spell to conceal us from the lindworms. A spell performed by a race that had destroyed us in the cruelest, deadliest of ways. You know our people are compassionate, and trusting, and strong. In time, it was determined wyverns had no need of the mage. We still have no need of the mage.”
“So because there was a traitor long ago, if Teagan is a mage, he should automatically be marked as untrustworthy? Where is our compassion now?”
“As I said, it is impossible for a mage to hold the jade color. So, you tell me if that sounds like something we should trust or if it smells terribly like a trap.”
“I spoke with him,” I blurted out, my heart ripping into a thousand pieces as I thought of my parents, my people, and Teagan in one emotional heap of thoughts. “Last night, I was with Teagan. He doesn’t know anything about what’s happening. I . . . I took him to the willow.”
Eisha’s hair was steaming again. “What did you tell him, Jade? What did you say?”
“I told him the truth, Eisha. I told him what I am. I thought he was a wyvern, but he was truly confused. I could sense it in his spirit. He’s good, he wants to protect me. He could have let the zomok kill me, but—”
“You foolish child.” Eisha’s eyes turned wholly black. “Have you thought it could all be a ruse? A zomok appearing, Teagan knowing it would happen, and he protects you to earn your trust. To find out who the royals are. Now he knows. You’ve placed us all at risk for things you cannot understand. Things your parents died trying to save you from. You are not ready to rule this people, and I fear you’ve doomed us all.”
I couldn’t speak. My tongue swelled in my throat, blocking my words. Eisha pounded a
round her room, snatched her supplies, and shoved them into her leather briefcase. Her entire body trembled, and she wouldn’t look at me.
“I may be a child to you, Eisha,” I said, voice rough. “But it does not mean my instincts are worthless. Teagan Ward is not a threat to me. He doesn’t know what is happening to him and I trust him. Why are you so certain there can’t be a jade mage?”
“Because!” she shrieked. “What mages do you think betrayed us? The bloodline severed at the divide, never to be repaired. The jade mages!”
Eisha couldn’t take any more. She slammed her briefcase on the floor. Her eyes rolled to the sides of her head, shaping into narrow diamonds. Her face peeled back, and in a matter of seconds Eisha was smashing through the window, her gleaming, powerful, ebony wings taking her dark body to the sky. I was left with the silence of the room, shattered glass and broken drywall littered at my feet. I wiped away a hot tear splashing down my cheek.
Today Eisha would not be attending school. Neither would I—her foolish Queen.
Hardly noticing the pounding footsteps bounding up the stairs, I startled when Raffi gripped my arm.
“Jade, what’s happened?” He gaped at the broken wall before shifting his attention directly to me.
I pressed the leather book against his chest, but he never took it from my grip. “Eisha told me about the mages.” I turned away from him, my palms tingling as my own body yearned to break free. “I angered her because I told her I trusted Teagan Ward.”
“What?” Raffi snarled. “Where are you going?”
“To the willow, Raffi—alone. I order you to stay back.”
“Jade, what are you doing?” he growled.
“Do not follow me.” I wheeled on him. “An order from your queen.”
“Don’t do this, Jade,” he begged, his voice soft.
I didn’t listen and slammed the door behind me. Book in hand, I left my guardian to conquer the skies, and my sworn warrior burdened by my command to leave me to face the world alone.
