by Celeste Raye
“Knowing would do more harm than good. You have to believe me, honey. I would never keep you in the dark unless I thought that I had to. I know you don’t agree with being sent off, but it was necessary. Your father did all of it because he loves you so much.”
She wanted to believe it, really, she did. It was easier to think that difficult times were done and caused out of love, but Calypso had lost the last five years of her life to boarding schools and prep schools. Now she was finally out of all of that, done with an education that went on and on. Calypso wanted to be free, and having to learn her dragon roots from an old man her first summer out of school sounded like one of the worst ideas ever.
“I am glad that you guys love me and it’s nice to hear it, Mom, but I want to go off and have fun this summer. I am finally free. I don’t want to stay here.”
“I promise that this is in your best interest.”
Calypso wanted to pout, but she knew that her mother wouldn’t stand for it. She was supposed to hold herself to high regards, no matter what. She wasn’t supposed to show emotions.
“I just want to have fun, enjoy myself before I am too old to do it.”
“Just stay for the summer and next year is all yours.”
“Promise?”
“Yes, Calypso. I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t think that it was needed. Once you’ve had your training, I will feel better unleashing you on the world.”
Calypso didn’t like the wording or the implications behind it, but if it meant that she was able to have some freedom eventually, she was going to go for it. Calypso figured that it was just a couple of months and she could deal with anything for that amount of time.
“Fine, Mom. I will get trained by Frank, but then you have to leave me be for at least a year.”
Her mother frowned. “You don’t want to see me for a whole year?”
“I will visit, but I don’t want you keeping track of me like you do now. And don’t even try to deny it. The guys you hire are never very good at hiding what they are doing. Trust me; it would just be easier if you let me go. I will call and visit, but on my terms.”
Calypso felt like she had to make that clear. She didn’t want to have to explain it later. She wanted it to be done and for things to go back to how they were before she was caught with Kevin: that fateful night that changed everything.
Her mother agreed, and the woman hugged her daughter. “You’re beautiful; you know that, right?”
Chapter Two
Frank knew all of the rumors about Calypso and her family. He’d heard about the Phoenix family for years. He didn’t know if it was all true, but he had to wonder, considering that Freya had come to him a few months back to train her daughter. Calypso wasn’t going into any battle that he knew of. Everything was relatively calm at the moment, so his mind worked on the bits of a prophecy that he’d heard before.
She was going to be the bringer of death for all dragonkin. It was a big deal. One that he didn’t take lightly, but at the same time, Frank seemed to feel like it was all going to work out. He’d known of many prophecies that never got off the ground. They were guarded against and fretted about, but then nothing happened. It was always said that they were stopped, but then how would it be a prophecy if it was so easily pushed off?
He was worried about the wrong thing. He was worried about what he heard, but as soon as he met Calypso, he was distressed about other things as well. Her personality was easy to catch, and she had rebellion throughout her. He was supposed to get her into fighting form, for whatever awaited her, but it was clear that Calypso didn’t want to be there.
“Calypso Phoenix I assume?”
“Yes, and you must be my trainer, Frank. Mom said that you were getting up there in years.”
Frank smiled at her and chuckled. “Yes, it is a sense of power to be this old.”
“Full of wisdom, huh?”
Frank agreed, but he knew that he was about to get another barb sent his way from Calypso. “You know they have the internet now? All the information that you need, at your fingertips, and you don’t have to come to this stuffy castle.”
Frank could take all of the old-man talk that she could dish out, but he wasn’t going to hear it about his club. The Dynasty Club was his baby in a way, and he wasn’t going to have it trash talked.
“Come, girl. I see that we should start with manners, but your mother thinks that someone is going to attack you. After a couple of minutes in your presence, I have a feeling that Freya is right. You’re going to need to learn to protect yourself if you already have such a mouth on you. Maybe we should work on your self-defense first.”
“My mother also thinks that fire is going to come down from the sky if I don’t call and check in. She can be a bit dramatic, and I’m here to get her off my back. We can part ways now. I would rather have a drink than a lesson.”
Frank smiled but he was gritting his teeth. He had a feeling that she was going to be far more of a handful than he had first thought. Maybe he shouldn’t have agreed. He still had to train his nephew, Stephen, as well. If he was spending all of his time getting Calypso under control, he wouldn’t have a moment to spare.
“Well, while I can tell I am going to need a drink soon, I suggest that we first see where you are at and then I will know where to go with your training.”
“You want to test me?”
She seemed incredulous, and Frank didn’t quite know why. When he asked her, Frank wished that he hadn’t. The woman had no filter, just like her mother, if he remembered correctly.
“Because I don’t want to hurt you. I hear you’re really old and I would feel horrible if you, like, broke a hip or something.”
Frank just sighed and shook his head. “You’re more like your mother than your father, I see. Though I can see his temper in you.”
That made her sad for a moment and Frank felt bad about bringing it up. Sometimes he just didn’t think before he spoke.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No, it’s okay. I like to hear about him; it just took me off guard. He stayed here?”
“Yes, both of your parents did, many times. I have given you the room they always shared when they were here.”
“Thanks. Let me get changed and I will try not to hurt you, old man.”
Frank chuckled again. “Sounds good, Calypso.”
“I just need a few minutes.”
“Okay, Calypso. I will meet you back down here in fifteen minutes. The front desk man will help you.”
She thanked him and they both went in separate directions. Calypso went up to her room and Frank wondered about the woman. Calypso was quick-witted, but she had pain in her eyes that she typically kept hidden away. For a moment, he’d seen inside of her, and it had physically hurt him to see it. Maybe prophecies saw more than he could have imagined.
Chapter Three
Calypso was trying to figure out what she was going to do. She was nervous about being at the dragon club. She’d heard about it and even came there a few times in the past, but now she was a grown-up. Now she got to see all of the people that were there, knowing that most of them were her kind. Calypso had been kept from her kind, for her own good, but she still didn’t know specifically why. She felt like Frank knew something about it, and she was going to use him to get the information that she needed.
When she saw her room, the place was gorgeous, and she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her blonde hair was in a mass of curls around her face, and she pulled them back tightly. She was going to show her trainer what she had, and Calypso didn’t want her hair to get in the way.
The room was decadent, filled with furs and rich fabrics that made her smile. There was also a lot of yellow, and she wondered if her mother had requested the room for that. She always called the color sunshine and insisted it needed to be in every room.
The thought gave Calypso comfort and she grinned at the reflection of the room behind her.
“Can I do anyt
hing for you?”
Calypso jumped at the sound of a feminine voice from behind her. She hadn’t gone through the whole suite yet, and apparently, she’d missed something rather obvious.
“I’m sorry, who are you?”
A short and round woman came out and looked at the ground. Calypso instantly knew that she was human, and that made her curious as to why she was there. She was going to ask Frank about it when she saw him next.
“I am your chambermaid, ma’am. I am here for any requests you have, to help you dress, anything you need really.”
Calypso didn’t know what to say about that. It was uncomfortable to have someone there, staring at the ground and not even looking at her. It was like the woman was afraid, but that didn’t make sense. Why would she be afraid?
“I don’t think I will be needing your services.”
“Oh, I am sorry if I have upset you in any way.”
Calypso told the girl that she hadn’t, but she wanted to know why she was so upset all of a sudden. The woman acted like she might be whipped if someone found out that Calypso didn’t want her.
“I just started, and I really want this job. You’re a VIP, and if I mess this up, I think I’m done for.”
She was close to tears, and Calypso felt terrible for her. She told her that everything was going to be fine, even when she wasn’t quite sure that it was the truth or not.
“It’s fine, really. I just am not used to having a chambermaid or whatever you just said. Just chill in here and do what you want. I will tell Frank that you’re doing great.”
Calypso also planned to ask him why she was so scared to begin with. There had to be a reason. She felt bad for the human because she really wanted something to do. She seemed to want to be helpful.
“What’s your name?”
“Alice.”
“Well, Alice, everything is going to be fine. You can put these clothes up for me. I have to change for a sparring lesson. I will be back in a bit.”
“Do you need help with your clothes?”
The question threw her off, but she recovered and declined. It was going to be strange to have someone at her beck and call, but she didn’t want it. Calypso wanted privacy, and she went into the bathroom for it. When she pulled her clothes off, she looked at her scarred body. This wasn’t her first fight, and anyone that saw her would know that she’d been fighting something for a while.
“So, are you going to show me what you got?”
They were standing on a concrete platform that looked more like a landing spot. After a minute, Calypso realized that it was actually for dragons to land. She shook her head in disbelief. It was so strange to be in a place where that sort of thing was common. It was going to take her some time to adjust. That much she knew for certain.
“What would you like me to do? There are no weapons here.”
“You don’t need those, not yet. Let’s start with hand-to-hand combat. Try to hit me.”
She looked at him dubiously. Calypso didn’t like the idea of hitting the old man. He was rather nice and quick-witted. She had a feeling that he was going to be fun.
“I have practiced a lot before. Maybe it would be better if you started with trying to hit me.”
The old man chuckled and assured Calypso that he would be able to handle what she wanted to bring him. She wasn’t sure if she should or not, but finally, she agreed and got closer. She wasn’t going to play games and started to sweep his feet out from under him. He blocked her by stepping away and then moved out of her way through several more attempts.
Calypso wasn’t sure what was going on. She had never had this sort of problem before, but the older man was impossible to get to. He seemed to see her coming and knew every move that she was going to make before she made it.
She was out of breath, and Calypso was confused. She was actually rather good, had been trained by many in secret, but now she wasn’t able to hit a decrepit old man. It made no sense to her and she wanted to get to the bottom of it.
“Are you ready to give up?”
Calypso said that she wasn’t, even though every muscle in her body was starting to scream at her. It only became a battle cry inside of her that she wasn’t able to silence. She wanted to think that everything was as it should be, but she knew that something was off.
“No, I am not.”
She sprang at him and instead of blocking her, Frank let her hit him in the chest, and it took all of her strength. It was sapped right out of her, and it blew him back onto his ass several feet away. There was triumph on her face until he sprang up and knocked her down, sweeping her off of her feet in one fluid motion.
He was standing over her, smiling, and offering her his hand. Calypso wanted to slap it away, but she begrudgingly had to admire him. For his age, hell, in general, Frank was a badass, and that was only one hit.
“You are pretty awesome, old man. I was worried that I was going to be stuck with no help this summer, but I have a feeling that you’re going to keep me on my toes.”
Frank agreed, and they were about to restart the exercise when a blond-haired man came towards them. Calypso was lost for a moment in sea-green eyes that burned into hers. Something came over her when his gaze and jaw, set upon her. It was more than she could handle, and she turned away.
“Friend of yours?”
Frank agreed with a smile. “Family. That’s my nephew, Stephen. I might as well introduce the two of you. I will be pitting you against each other soon enough. You have impressed me, Calypso. I wouldn’t have thought your mother would have already had you that well-trained. The way she sounded; she was worried about what was going to happen. But I am starting to think that she tricked me.”
“My mother doesn’t know what I’ve been doing for the past five years. They sent me off to boarding school. I trained myself and hired others to condition it into habit. I look forward to working with you, Frank. Thank you.”
She turned around and abruptly left. Calypso made it a point not to look at Stephen as he walked up. She wasn’t in the mood to meet anyone. Especially not some hot guy like that. She was embarrassed by his words and the emotions the mention of her parents brought up. Calypso was going to have to work on that.
Chapter Four
“You’re late, Stephen.”
“Yes, but I see that you’re getting your exercise.”
“I am. I have a new pupil. She is well set, and I think she will give us both a run for our money soon enough.”
Stephen had seen the tiny woman that was fighting his uncle. She got knocked down rather quickly, though he’d missed the part where she did the same to Frank moments before. That was something that he hadn’t been able to accomplish yet.
He scoffed at the comment. “Surely you are joking. She looks like she weighs about ninety pounds soaking wet. I doubt she will be able to do such a thing.”
Frank seemed to think otherwise, and that told Stephen that he should pay more attention to her. It didn’t tell him why he should, so Stephen had to wonder.
“Trust me, Stephen. That girl has far more power than you or I could ever imagine.”
“I think you’re getting senile in your old age.”
Frank gritted his teeth. “Well, you two certainly have one thing in common. You’re going to both be a pain in my ass.”
Stephen agreed but he didn’t say anything else; there was no need. “I’m glad to be here, Uncle. You’re the only one that I would want to train me. So, don’t ruin it by telling me to worry about a tiny girl.”
Frank smiled, and Stephen sneered back. “You two have the same mouth as well. You can do the next sparring session with her. I have a feeling that you’re going to learn a lot, just like I did.”
Stephen tried to protest but Frank was already leaving. He wished suddenly that he hadn’t come. He didn’t agree to spend the summer with Frank just so that he could have a vacation from his family. He wanted to learn from a man known by many to be a fierce warrior. One of the bes
t. Now he was talking about sparring with a mere woman-child.
Frustrated with the turn of events, Stephen changed into his true form. He needed some time to think, and he always did that best while he was flying high on a current. The higher he got, the clearer his mind seemed to be. That’s what he needed right now.
Around lunchtime, he went back down to earth, but he still wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. The last thing he wanted to do was fight a girl. Especially not her. She was tiny. Powerless. It wasn’t something that he could even imagine. He would have rather kissed her than fight her. What if he really hurt her?
The restaurant inside was packed with all of the travelers like himself, going in for a meal. He looked around the room, and while he would usually be trying to find a woman to keep his mind busy, he knew that it wasn’t that way at all. He was looking for one girl in particular, knowing that in less than half an hour, he was going to have to fight her. It didn’t feel right.
When he finally spotted her, Stephen got to see her in a different light, and that made Frank’s instruction even harder. Now the blonde wasn’t in shorts and a T-shirt that hid her body. She’d looked tiny before, and she still did, but the curves of her body were pure woman, and Stephen couldn’t keep his eyes away from her.
Somehow, she must have felt him looking, because, to his horror, she looked directly at him and smiled. Did she know that they were to fight? That he was watching her? None of it made sense to Stephen, and now he wasn’t feeling all that comfortable. He wanted to think that everything was as it should be, but maybe it wasn’t.
Unable to hide from her all day, he grabbed his drink and moved to the bar where she was seated.
“I think we were supposed to meet earlier.”
“Yes, Frank’s nephew. Nice to meet you. My name is Calypso.”
“I know. I was told that you’re my sparring partner this afternoon.”
She smirked at him, and Stephen didn’t like the gesture at all. After what his uncle said about her, he was definitely looking at her a little closer. She had a tiny scar at the crease in her eye and one on her hand. She was self-conscious of it and covered it when she noticed him looking.
