Pierce (Dragon Heartbeats Book 1)

by Ava Benton

  “He won’t believe you?” Cash asked.

  “He’s a suspicious man. That’s just who he is. Probably because he always has a scheme up his sleeve. He assumes everybody else thinks the way he does. Paranoia.”

  “He sounds like a lot of fun,” Miles snickered.

  “Oh, sure. You’d be best friends.” I tried to imagine George sitting around the game room, watching football or playing arcade games. It was almost too ridiculous to picture.

  “What happens if he doesn’t believe you?”

  “He will. In time. He knows how close Jasmine and I were—are,” I corrected. How was it that I was already thinking about her in past tense? That was for the best, I guessed, since I had to pretend she was gone forever.

  Then again, she was gone forever. Gone from my life.

  “So he’ll know you wouldn’t give up unless all hope was really lost,” Cash mused.

  “I’m counting on it, anyway.”

  “What about Bradley?”

  “Oh, him?” I laughed. “He’s a joke. I’m sure he didn’t want to be bound to my sister any more than she wanted to be to him. He does what the advisors tell him to do.”

  “Who is he that your sister was promised in marriage to him, anyway?” Miles asked.

  “It’s a long story. His father and our father were best friends. His father made a lot of money doing all sorts of things—the fae don’t care about human money as a rule, or we’re not supposed to. We’re not supposed to care about anything humans think is important. But Bradley’s father did, and he ended up making a lot of money for the clan. I guess I should thank him—it was because of his shrewd investments that I’m able to live without worrying about supporting myself. Papa left us all of his money when he died, and there’s more than I could ever manage to spend.”

  “What about your clan? I heard your home is pretty insane,” Cash pointed out. “The guys said it was like a castle.”

  “I think that was what the designers had in mind when they dreamed it up,” I grinned. “Jasmine and I used to pretend it was a castle when we were little. We used to explore it, and the grounds around it, and we’d make up all kinds of stories. It’s the sort of place that inspires the imagination—especially a little girl’s imagination.”

  “You had to have a lot of money to put something like that together.”

  “Not when you have magic,” I smiled. “There was a lot more magic in the clan back then, centuries ago. It’s sort of… dimmed… as time has gone on. Just like there’s a lot less magic in the entire world than there was in the old days.”

  “Oh, believe me, we know all about that,” Miles smirked, and Cash snorted in agreement.

  I had forgotten for a second there that they were over a thousand years old. They would know all about the way magic had slowly drained from the world as humanity became more scientific and industry-driven.

  “The clan is well off, though,” I explained. “I don’t know much about the specifics because, you know, I’m just a girl.” I rolled my eyes in disgust when I thought about how George hated when we asked questions. “But there are vaults at our bank, someplace far away—I’ve never known where—filled with gold.”

  “How do you know they’re filled with gold if you’ve never seen them?”

  “How do you know you’re guarding a treasure if you’ve never seen it?” I countered. The two of them went stiff. “Yes. I know about the treasure.”

  “How do you know?” Cash asked in a low, dangerous voice, eyes meeting mine in the mirror.

  I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. “Because neither of you told me I was wrong just now, when I guessed.”

  They were silent for a beat.

  “What?” Miles laughed.

  “I guessed. I mean, why would six dragons take turns guarding the mouth of a cave for a thousand years if there wasn’t a treasure somewhere inside? And I only guessed that you never saw the treasure, too. It’s pretty easy to fool you guys sometimes.”

  “Well, may not be as smart as Smoke,” Cash chuckled. The mention of his name sent a pang to my heart.

  “Don’t worry. I won’t tell anybody about it. I know how important it is for you to keep it a secret—and I wouldn’t want to make life more difficult for Jasmine, either.”

  I tried to imagine what it would be like to spend my entire life guarding a treasure I was never allowed to enjoy. I guessed that would be the kind of life that didn’t allow much introspection. If a person thought too much about the unfairness of it, they might never get out of bed in the morning. Or ever again.

  “We appreciate that. I only hope we’re not delivering you back to something that’s gonna make you miserable.”

  “And I appreciate you caring. I really do. But that’s my problem.” I patted Miles’s shoulder.

  It was nice of him to give a damn about me. None of them had to. It told me a lot about them, and about the way they cared for each other. I had saved their cousin’s mate, so I mattered.

  “Why is he called Smoke? Is that his name?” The question had been on my mind since I first met him.

  “It’s a nickname. His name is Scott. But when he was little... let’s just say he wanted to be a dragon that started fires,” Miles said.

  “And what he got was a whole lot of smoke instead.” Cash laughed.

  I smiled slightly, still heartbroken. I’d never get to tease him about that.

  All the talking we did helped pass the time, and before I knew it, we were driving down the road which ran adjacent to the clan’s property. My heart was like lead. This was it. No going back. Ever.

  “We can take you up to the house,” Cash offered as he cut the engine, plunging us into complete darkness.

  I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t want you two to run the risk of being spotted, anyway. I’ve walked through these woods in the dark before, more times than I can count.”

  “You’re sure?” Miles asked.

  I heard the uncertainty in his voice.

  “I’m absolutely sure. Thank you, both.”

  “Hey.” Cash turned in his seat. “Thank you.”

  I didn’t have to ask what he was thanking me for. I only nodded—I couldn’t talk over the lump in my throat—and got out of the car to make my walk.

  The woods were as familiar to me as the back of my hand. I walked with confidence even though I wasn’t wearing shoes.

  My feet were used to it.

  I almost wished I had an excuse to get lost out here, but nobody would believe it. Everybody knew that when I wasn’t in my room, I was out in the woods to gather herbs and mushrooms and tree bark.

  The moon was only half-visible behind the clouds which drifted in front of it, but I could make out the house even in the dim light. It was impossible to miss.

  Lights burned in many of the windows, and the sight of them brought me a twinge of guilt for the first time since I left. I hadn’t given any thought to what my friends were going through when they discovered I was missing.

  Had any of them looked for me? That put a wrench in my plans. What if they were looking in the same place as I said I was, at the same time? I would have to deal with that if it ever came up—and hope it never did.

  I reached the tall double doors which led inside. They were four times taller than me and heavy enough that I had to throw my entire weight behind pushing one of them open. The crystal chandelier which hung in the three-story-high foyer was dark. I crossed the floor slowly, asking myself how I would behave if I really had been out to find my sister. If I were coming home dejected, alone, thinking I would never find her.

  The door to the banquet room was open a crack. Light from inside spilled across the hall. Curiosity got the better of me—who was in there in the middle of the night, and why?

  There was murmuring.

  Many concerned voices. And one voice which rose above the others, reaching my ears and making my heart sink lower than ever.

  “And this is w
hy we need to arrange for search parties. I want ten teams of ten each, one assigned to each of the areas I’ve designated on this map.” George.

  I should’ve known. Organizing search parties, too, because he just loved to stand at the front of a room and command the crowd. I would’ve bet the entire stock of medicines in my room that he didn’t care one way or the other what happened to Jasmine and me. It was the perception of the rest of the clan which bothered him.

  He had to look like the concerned uncle, the leader, the one willing to go the extra mile to bring his beloved nieces home. The entire thing made my stomach turn.

  It also made me open the door a little wider and step into the torch-lit room with the ancient tapestries which hung along the walls.

  My eyes widened when I saw just how many clan members were in there, sitting around the five long tables. And George, standing up there on the raised platform at the head of the room, a map behind him.

  Bradley stood up there, too, and a scowl twisted his handsome features. His role was Grief-Stricken Fiancé, and he would play it just as seriously as George played Concerned Uncle.

  “Excuse me?” I called out.

  Over one hundred heads turned in my direction, and a collective gasp rose up from them.

  So much for a quiet entrance.

  Afterword

  I hope you enjoyed Pierce!

  Smoke is next! Get yours!

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  Copyright © 2017 by Ava Benton

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