The Twiceborn Queen (The Proving Book 2)

by Finlayson, Marina

  Strange, to see myself like that. Part of me knew that was my face. Recognised the glittering golden scales, the flared nostrils on the long reptilian snout. Felt comfortable with the flat, unblinking gaze of those eyes. Another part of me thought it looked like something out of a nightmare, and couldn’t get past the teeth. My God, those teeth! As long as your forearm. Such a monster shouldn’t exist.

  The footage was angled as if it had been shot from a high window further down the street. The burning leshy was on the very edge of the shot. The flames only briefly illuminated the massive dragon body as it stalked past to poke its head down the alley. That was when I’d incinerated the other two leshies, but their deaths were off camera.

  Dragonfire rapidly consumed the first leshy. As the flames died darkness fell on the street again, so it wasn’t clear what happened to the enormous dragon. One minute it was there, the next gone. Movement in the shadows by the ruined step announced the arrival of Luce, though the scuffle that followed soon after was lost in darkness. Then two cars roared away from the scene, their headlights jiggling wildly as the cars bounced over the broken road. Though the footage lasted a moment more, I couldn’t tell what had happened in the fight between Luce and the mysterious stranger. Was it too much to hope the stranger had left Luce alive?

  Garth scowled at the screen as the footage finished. “I don’t trust that woman.”

  “Me either,” said Ben. “Once could be coincidence, but twice?”

  “So she’s watching us,” I said. It wasn’t a crime, and she wouldn’t be the only one. “If all she does is save our arses, I’m not going to complain too loudly.”

  “Why doesn’t she join us then, if she wants to help? What’s with all the lurking in the shadows crap?” The big werewolf folded his arms. “I don’t like having randoms going off half-cocked all over the place.”

  No, he wouldn’t. He didn’t like surprises. Worse still, he’d hate the fact that both times he hadn’t even known she was there till she chose to reveal herself.

  He sighed. “Well, at least the video’s better than the New Year’s Eve footage. You can’t see much. Elizabeth shouldn’t be too upset.”

  I snorted. “Elizabeth is already doing her best to—” I almost said kill me, but caught myself in time, aware of Lachie listening to every word. “To shut us down. It can’t get any worse.”

  “Of course it can!” Ben protested. “Detective Hartley—”

  “How’s that hot chocolate going?” I interrupted.

  Lachie looked up guiltily, a chocolate milk moustache decorating his upper lip. Despite being ten years old, he still couldn’t seem to eat or drink without leaving traces of his meal all over himself. He tipped the cup to show me it was still a quarter full. He’d been drinking as slowly as possible, trying to stave off bedtime, though his eyelids were drooping. “Not finished yet.”

  “Drink up, then. Time’s up.”

  Ben clamped his lips on what he wanted to say as I shepherded Lachie toward the door, but his frustration was clear. I paused next to him, urging Lachie ahead with a gentle push.

  “Is this still about me taking trueshape?” I kept my voice low.

  “It’s the last thing you should be doing! You don’t need that kind of attention. It’s too dangerous.”

  “So’s getting killed in the street. I had no choice.”

  “There’s always another choice.”

  Garth and the others hung back awkwardly, trying to look as if they weren’t listening.

  “‘Do nothing’ isn’t a choice, Ben. That’s refusing to choose. Sometimes I only get a crap option and a crappier one, but I still have to pick one, because I’m responsible. I might have dragged you all into it, but this is my fight, and I don’t get to sit it out.”

  His eyes glinted with frustration. He would have to learn that he couldn’t protect me any more. “I think you just like being a dragon. You like taking trueshape. Admit it.”

  “And I think you can’t accept what I am.” I forced myself to swallow my anger. I couldn’t change the fact that I was a dragon, but I refused to let it define me. I could still have a disagreement with someone without wanting to bite their head off. Literally. “But there’s no point discussing it now. What’s done is done, and plastered all over the Internet already. Let’s all get some sleep and deal with the fallout tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “You need to see this.”

  Garth poked his head into the kitchen, where Ben and I were having a late breakfast. A very late, uncomfortable breakfast. Ben had been asleep when I’d finally gone to bed, so late that the sky had taken on the grey light of impending dawn. He hadn’t mentioned our argument again and neither had I, but it sat at the table with us like an unwelcome guest.

  I felt like something the cat wouldn’t even bother dragging in, so tired that not even Dave’s superpowered wake-you-up-or-else morning coffee had any effect. I’d been up so late searching for a way out of my rapidly declining situation. I needed a bold stroke to restore my fortunes, but no great genius plan had occurred to me yet. Now the sun streaming in the kitchen windows felt like it was burning my retinas out.

  “See what?”

  “There’s a woman at the front gate who wants to talk to you.”

  “A herald?”

  “No. Says she’s the woman from last night.”

  I pushed my chair back, suddenly more awake. We both followed him to the comms room, where Steve was on duty, surrounded by banks of screens. The quiet hum of computer equipment filled the small room.

  The gate camera showed a Japanese woman in leathers astride a motor bike at the closed gates. She’d taken her helmet off to show her face.

  “Is that her?” Ben asked. “I didn’t get a good look at her last night.”

  I nodded. Same direct gaze, same red-streaked dark hair. “Yep. That’s her.”

  “What do you want to do? She’s probably working for someone.”

  I remembered another occasion, only a week ago, when an Asian woman had waited at a gate to be admitted. Luce had had her own agenda, sure, but for the time being it had aligned with Alicia’s interests, and she’d genuinely been trying to do Alicia a favour. But Alicia’s paranoia had refused to let Luce in unless she agreed to undergo the ancient binding ceremony that forced her to submit to Alicia’s will. And Luce had been so desperate she’d agreed.

  How differently things might have turned out if Alicia had been prepared to compromise a little.

  “Yes, she probably is. But she did us a huge favour last night. Who knows? She might be prepared to do more. We need to talk to her. We need all the allies we can get.”

  Ben frowned. “We shouldn’t be letting strangers in. She could be working for Elizabeth, or Alicia. This is why we have heralds. Tell her to use one if she wants to talk.”

  I stared at the woman on the screen. Her aura was the faintest I’d ever seen, a pale yellow that almost disappeared in the sunlight. If I hadn’t been looking hard I might not have noticed it. Even last night in the dark I hadn’t seen it. Too busy trying to stay alive. Some kind of earth shifter? I’d never seen an aura that colour before.

  She waited with no sign of impatience, the faintest of breezes ruffling the red streaks of her hair, as if it didn’t matter to her one way or the other if we let her in. But it mattered to me.

  “She could be, but I can’t afford to turn anyone away without finding out. Garth, take Steve and get down there. Search her before you let her in.”

  “I don’t trust her.”

  “Good. Let’s all stay on our guard.”

  They left, and we waited in the humming silence. I slipped my hand into Ben’s, and he glanced down at me, his face unreadable. At least he wasn’t arguing any more, but he didn’t seem happy. What a great way to start a new relationship—constant threats of death, danger and mayhem. Not too many people had fights about whether they should turn into a dragon or not. Most women only had to worry about whether he was go
ing to return your calls or if the third date was too early to sleep with him.

  Though I guess if the relationship survived this baptism of fire I’d know it was rock solid. I gave his hand a little squeeze and watched the monitor.

  “You didn’t come to bed last night,” he said.

  I looked up into troubled brown eyes. “I didn’t want to disturb you. I was trying to come up with a plan, and I couldn’t sleep.”

  “I thought maybe you’d changed your mind. About us.”

  “Because we had a fight? I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

  On screen Steve appeared and covered the woman with his gun while Garth patted her down.

  “I thought about what you said, about not accepting you as you are. I just feel …”

  Our visitor stood still and endured it, but her eyes followed Garth’s every move.

  “Feel what?” I prompted, when it seemed as if he had run out of words.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. As if I’ve waited for you so long, and now you’re even further out of reach than ever.”

  “What do you mean, you’ve waited so long?”

  “Isn’t it obvious? I’ve been crazy about you almost since the minute we met, but you only had eyes for Jason. Then you guys finally broke up, but I wasn’t going to be your rebound guy, so I waited.”

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw the gate on screen closing, but what was happening in this little room seemed much more compelling all of a sudden. In one corner a little red light blinked in rhythm with my suddenly speeding heart.

  “I had no idea.” And didn’t I feel like an idiot. I’d been so caught up in Jason and our love-hate relationship I’d hardly known which way was up in the first year after our break-up. Now I realised that he’d only married me to get a child, but at the time his actions had made no sense. Probably he’d only stayed with us as long as he had because he was bored with his long life, and marriage was something he hadn’t tried. But at the time I’d been so hurt and confused by his infidelities and all the fights and making up I’d thought I could never trust a man again.

  Ben hadn’t seemed interested, but to be honest, if he had I probably would have run a mile. I’d thought we were just friends.

  He laughed. “I know. But when it seemed like you’d finally gotten over Jason, he pulled that trick with the changeling.” His expression darkened. “That screwed everything up. You were devastated, and I felt like the world’s biggest jerk. How could I even think of you that way when I was hiding the fact that Lachie was still alive from you?”

  I shivered, and moved into his arms. “Let’s not talk about it. We’re together now, and that’s all that matters.”

  “Is it?” He searched my face, brown eyes serious. “But now you’re a dragon, and I’m just an ordinary guy.”

  I kissed him, feeling the familiar surge inside at his touch. He hadn’t shaved this morning, and his cheek was warm and bristly under my hand. I loved touching him. There was nothing ordinary about the happiness bubbling inside me as I pressed against him.

  “I don’t think you’re ordinary.” I could drown in those dark eyes, lose myself forever in the love I saw there.

  “You say that now, but soon you’ll have every shifter in the place throwing himself at you.”

  As if. “First they have to stop trying to kill me.”

  Over his shoulder I saw Garth and Steve marching the stranger up the drive, one on each side, until they disappeared from the camera’s range. Her bike they left standing outside the gate. No quick getaways for our visitor.

  In my back pocket, my mobile started to buzz. Reluctantly I let go of Ben. It was a new phone, and hardly anyone had the number.

  “Hello?”

  “Ms O’Connor?”

  “Yes.” I stifled a groan. Just what I needed—another conversation with Detective Hartley. “Good morning, Detective.”

  “Is it? I wasn’t sure if you’d be answering. I’ve been calling you for hours and you didn’t pick up. Are you aware of what happened at your address in The Rocks last night?”

  Her words were clipped, her tone cool. Not that we’d ever been best buds exactly, but I got the feeling she wasn’t pleased with me.

  “Yes, I am. We were attacked again.”

  “I’ll need you to come in this morning and make a statement. I have people lining up to talk to you here.”

  “I don’t know if I can—”

  “Ms O’Connor,” she interrupted, “you are in serious trouble. I would advise you to engage a lawyer immediately. What the bloody hell is going on? There were two dead bodies on your premises, and another three in the street outside. Why in God’s name didn’t you call the police?”

  She was practically shouting down the phone. Ben looked concerned; he probably heard every word. I turned away from the monitors and began pacing in the small space.

  “If people are trying to kill you, Detective, you don’t stop to call the police. You fight or you run, otherwise you die.”

  “And which did you do? Did you kill any of those people?”

  “No, of course not.” I wondered if she’d seen the video yet.

  “Then who did?”

  “I don’t know. I was too busy running.”

  There was a short pause, then:

  “We’ve had some reports of another dragon sighting.”

  Right. Guess she had seen the video.

  “Oh?” I wasn’t going to make this easy on her.

  “In the street outside your house. Breathing fire, apparently.” Her tone held frank disbelief. “I have to ask, are you connected with these supposed dragons in any way?”

  “I didn’t see any dragons.” It was the truth. Kind of.

  “Fine. Where are you now? I’ll send someone to collect you.”

  “No, I can’t come in today.”

  “Ms O’Connor, if you don’t come in of your own free will, I’ll have you arrested.”

  “On what charges?”

  “Suspicion of murder? Public affray? Obstructing a police investigation? Take your pick. You haven’t been straight with me. If that’s the way you want to play it, we can do this the hard way. In which case you might want to rethink the pack of lies you’ve been feeding me. It’s an offence to knowingly give a false statement to police.”

  Man, she was really riled up. Maybe having to ask questions about dragons when she so clearly didn’t believe in them had gotten under her skin. Or maybe she’d done some digging, and found my name on the concierge’s list at Valeria’s apartment. Dammit.

  I heard the front door open and close as Garth and Steve escorted our mystery woman inside. I’d much rather be talking to her than dealing with irate policewomen.

  “You’re right, I haven’t told you everything.” I tried to sound contrite instead of irritated. I had no time for this. “It’s my husband, you see—my ex-husband. He’s trying to kill me. He says if he can’t have me, then nobody will.”

  There was a short silence on the other end of the line. Did she believe me? Probably not. Detectives were supposed to be suspicious. But maybe she’d go along with it to see where it led.

  “Why didn’t you tell me this the first time you and Mr Stevens were attacked?”

  Good question.

  “He—he said if I went to the police he’d kill our son too.”

  Ben raised his eyebrows at that. Yes, it opened a can of worms. But it certainly made Jason look suspicious. Maybe I could light a fire under his tail for a change and take some of the heat off me.

  Time for Lachie to officially come back to life.

  “I thought your son was dead?”

  Well, she’d obviously done her homework.

  “My husband ran a scam, to make everyone think so. He wanted to make sure I didn’t get custody. Look, I know it sounds strange. I’ll tell you the whole story, but I can’t come in today. My son was injured last night, and I don’t want to leave him.”

  Not entirely untrue. Would it convince h
er?

  “I’m afraid this can’t wait. I could come and get you, and do the interview somewhere closer. The Hills Local Area Command, perhaps.” She sounded slightly less hostile. Maybe she had kids of her own. “Then you could be home with your son again faster. But it has to be today. Soon.”

  “Okay.” If I got her here I could persuade her we didn’t need to attend a police station after all. Dragon powers were handy like that. “What time shall I expect you?”

  “I’ll be there in an hour.”

  I gave her the address and hung up. Hopefully a compulsion would do the trick. I’d enthral her if I absolutely had to, but that was a last resort. Apart from the fact that people would notice the change in her, the thought of it turned my stomach. She was only doing her job. I didn’t want to steal her will. My words to Ben last night came back to me: Sometimes I only get a crap option and a crappier one, but I still have to pick one, because I’m responsible. Enthralling the detective would be a truly crappy option, but if there was no other way, I’d have to dragon up and face it. I couldn’t keep fighting on so many fronts at once.

  Ben and I went to find our guest. Garth met us in the hallway.

  “She’s in the library. Steve’s keeping an eye on her.”

  The library boasted a huge number of books, most of which Leandra had never read. It had just amused her to have a classic library in the house, complete with glass-fronted bookcases lining every wall and deep leather armchairs scattered around the plush carpet. She’d even put in a fireplace, though no fire had ever been laid in it. If it impressed people, it had done its job. Leandra, like most dragons, was very big on appearances. Substance wasn’t quite so important.

  When we entered the woman was standing at one of the bay windows tucked between the bookcases, looking out at the view of wide green fields ringed with hills. Or possibly checking security on exits and entrances. Just because I was grateful for her help didn’t mean I couldn’t be suspicious. Steve stood close by, looking menacing. His gun wasn’t out but his hand hovered close to its shoulder holster. His face brightened with relief when we came in.