Dragon's Heart

by Marly Mathews

  A light rain drizzled down around them. Fortunately, she now wore a raincoat.

  “Nice change.”

  “Well, when we set off we both weren’t dressed, so I made a few improvements.”

  He was right. She’d been so rattled earlier at the prospect of their lovemaking, and then by Nicholas’ update that she’d completely forgotten she was still in her nightgown when she’d more or less ordered William to take them to headquarters right away.

  “Thanks for noticing that.”

  “Well, I can’t exactly show up in front of my mum at her place of business wearing nothing but my boxer shorts. Could you see her reaction? Her eyes would fall clear out of her head!”

  He laughed, and she followed. “The day is dismal isn’t it? It feels like a foreboding of sorts.”

  “We’ll have sunny weather again soon. Hey, the weather here is known to change at the drop of a hat.”

  “If my kind does invade, it will be changing on the hour, most likely. With our temperaments and our control over the elements…”

  “Let’s not dwell on that sordid thought right now. We should get a move on, get past security and onto where O’Malley is kept.”

  He held open the door for her and ushered her inside. They stepped into a tastefully decorated lobby. Two secretaries sat in front of them. The one desk was immaculate. The other desk had a candle, a quill pen, and what looked to be a wand sitting on it. She noticed the other secretary wore a tailored designer suit, while the eccentric secretary wore an Empire waist dress. She didn’t need William to tell her that the one was human, and the other one was a witch.

  “Master Lightfoot! How good to see you again! I see you’ve brought along your new bodyguard. Oh, she does look intimidating. Your mother is waiting for you. We just need you to take the necessary security precautions and then, you’re on your way!”

  A console appeared out of thin air. A light started to flicker on it, and then, it took what appeared to be William’s picture.

  An old wheezy voice shot out of the console. “Identity: Master Lord William Lightfoot. Wizard: First Class. Master Lightfoot hails from the ancestral families of Lightfoot, Fairborn, Le Fay, and Wynn among other less dignified families. Security clearance: Alpha.” While the console spoke, a physical representation of William appeared along with the many colours that represented his aura.

  “Nice. I can’t wait to see what it’s going to say about me,” she muttered, eyeing the device with distaste.

  “I’m getting to you, Mistress Burns.”

  She gasped. “Is there a person behind that?”

  “What do you think?” The witch asked. We don’t use computers like our mortal counterparts do. Now, smile for my wand…”

  In the next instant, the same bright light that had surrounded William also engulfed her. Two images of her appeared in front of her. The first image was of her in her human form, while the other image was of her dragon shifter form.

  “You are beautiful when you are a dragon.” He looked in awe. “I’ve never seen a white dragon with a red mane before…”

  “We are rare.” She smiled at him. “You’ll see me in living colour the next time I have to shift.”

  “Don’t be thinking of doing that in here, we have strict rules against shape shifting while in these buildings.” The voice rasped, then wheezed, then whoever belonged to the voice started to cough. It was a hacking, grating sound. “Now, where was I? Ah, yes. Identity: Lady Grania Burns. Dragon Shape Shifter: First Class. Security clearance: Nonexistent, given guest clearance. Mistress Grania hails from the ancestral line of Burns, Pendragon, Augustus, and the Royal Ruling Houses of Dragonia, Gemini and Dionysus. Daughter of: Lord Draco Burns, our enemy and Princess Polaris, deceased.”

  She drew in a sharp breath at the last word. Her stomach churned.

  “Pendragon, eh? That’s quite an impressive lineage.” He gave her a cheeky smile. As always, he was trying to make light of a very serious situation. She was going to spend the rest of her life with a man that her father wanted dead. In fact, she didn’t think he’d ever give up until one of them was dead.

  “You may pass into the restricted zone.” The woman coughed again, and then sighed. “This Earthly air, really grates on my lungs, especially at this time of the year, the pollens and pollution are hell. You all have a blessed day.”

  “Thanks, Delilah. Give my regards to Alf.”

  “I will, William. Have a good day.” Her voice suddenly turned syrupy sweet. All trace of the wheeze was gone.

  “Well, that’s not much for security.” A door appeared in front of them, a door that had nothing behind it and only them in front of it. “You’re kidding right, what do you do if a mortal comes in here?”

  “Most of the mortals that work here, know about our organization. Don’t worry about it.”

  “So that door behind the human secretary?”

  “That leads to their part of the building. Ours is cloaked.”

  “Huh. You learn something every day. Why are you sharing so many of your secrets with me? We dragon shifters have never had any spies in your world, but you have had them in our world for quite some time, I’d imagine. It’s almost as if we’ve had big brother watching us.”

  “I can’t help it that my kind became so proactive after our last defeat at the hands of the dragon shifters. We aren’t going to make that mistake again.”

  “You aren’t? How can you be so sure that you’ll win?”

  “I’ll show you. Take my hand and walk through the door.”

  *****

  William watched her eyes light up with awe when they stepped through the doorway into the magical part of the MI6 building. “This is definitely something I never expected to see in a million years. I can literally feel the power in this place.”

  “I know. It does get into your bones. With all of the magical people inside of this building, it’s a wonder outsiders don’t feel it. But for many years we have been here in secrecy. Helping when we can, fighting when we need to.”

  “Why do you know so much?”

  “My mother and father have dedicated their lives to this cause. There was a time when I was young when my parents were so busy here, that my aunts and uncles were always taking care of me, watching over me, helping me with my magic. That’s probably why I took such an interest in taking up where my uncle left off. Someone had to take up the torch. That and my mother came home one day with intelligence on your father telling us that he was going to try this. The Oracles were right.”

  “And now, we wait until they come to Earth.”

  A group of men and women bustled toward them. The woman in the lead was his mother.

  “Come, William. You and your… Mistress Grania, you will go with Amelia here, and you will see what can be done about Master O’Malley. We have had our best telepaths trying to breach the walls erected in his mind, but they’ve been unsuccessful. You need to fix that, Grania. We know how talented you are at the mind reading bit. We have had the reports.”

  “Good. I’m sure you know just as much about my life as I do. Why don’t you give me some more shiny little tidbits you’ve gleaned through your spies?”

  “I understand your confusion, Grania. We were only doing what we deemed right. It would seem that keeping tabs on you and your father wasn’t such a foolish thing to do in the first place.”

  She remained silent. To say something would only make things worse for William. His mother wasn’t the most maternal woman on the face of the planet, and now she knew why. Her true child was her career.

  “Call me impressed.” She shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly. “But you still haven’t shown me the prize of the hour I’d like to see O’Malley.”

  “Of course, no need for a tour of the place anyway. The less you know the better.”

  “Mother!” William sounded horrified.

  “I’m only watching out for her best interests. If she were ever taken by the enemy while working to protect
you, it would not bode well for us, if she were able to give them unneeded Intel.”

  “Yes, your mother is only looking out for me, while she secretly hopes that I will fall into enemy hands.”

  “On the contrary, I would like to solidify your relationship with my son. We’ve been researching your culture. You don’t kill the members of your own family, even in the name of war.”

  “Times, they are a changing,” she snorted. “If you honestly believe linking William and I together by way of marriage will deter my father from killing him…well, you are gravely mistaken.”

  “I don’t think I am. And William can vouch for the fact that I’m usually right.”

  “It’s true.” William lowered his voice to a whisper. “It is freaky, but true. You don’t want to mess with my Mum when it comes to being right. I’ve tried—and lost.”

  “Great. I’m not going to be a blushing bride, William. I know people tend to tie the knot during times of war and all that, be that as it may, I’m not really ready to be hitched, yet.”

  “You will be soon. I’m sure mother dearest already has an entire wedding party all dolled up and waiting for the wedding march.”

  “I give up. Can we please get to fixing up O’Malley first? Ordinarily, I’d try to fight this whole wedding thing. I’m not. I will marry you if only to help me achieve my objective.”

  “And what would your objective be?”

  “I’ve been trusted with protecting you. If, for some stroke of luck you being bonded to me encourage my father to spare your life…then, I’ll take the gamble. It might be a fluke but it’s worth shooting for.”

  “Stranger things have happened.” His eyes softened, and the look he gave her made her heartbeat quicken.

  “I’m wearing red for the wedding, per my people’s tradition.”

  “My mother probably has a white dress waiting for you—but hey, I’m sure she can change the colour in the blink of an eye.”

  Amelia stepped forward, as William’s mother moved away. “Does your mother have a name?” Grania asked.

  “You may call me, Aine.”

  “Thank you, Aine.”

  His mother narrowed her eyes at her, paused for a moment and then, moved away.

  “I still don’t think she likes me,” Grania whispered.

  “You’ll grow on her.”

  “That’s what you think. If I grow on her, it will be akin to moldy cheese.” She chuckled.

  Amelia gestured to them. “This way, O’Malley is locked up on the next floor. He’s in a special containment room, allowing for his transformations.”

  She started to feel hot and ill at ease. William tossed her a look of concern. She gave him a weak smile. As she drew nearer to O’Malley, she started to get some pretty weird vibrations.

  “What’s the matter?” William whispered, concern tingeing his voice.

  “I’m feeling his desperation…his feelings of restlessness, his regrets, and his feeling of loss. They are all washing over me in rather strong waves.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s nothing to apologize for. He’s been cut off from his kind for how long? Nicholas has been impersonating him so…”

  “Nicholas has been under cover in the guise of O’Malley for exactly three years.” Amelia’s answer was curt. Grania doubted that Amelia would even give her the time of day if the circumstances were different.

  “Three years?” She blanched, feeling the blood drain away from her face. Her head swam.

  “Aye.” Amelia looked back at her, smiling. “We are most dedicated to protecting our kind and the rest of Earth from the tyranny your father poses.”

  “I know he’s a threat, but…”

  “You have been fighting the war for almost four years, we were lucky to get someone in so quickly to start minimizing the damage. Our operatives have been among you since before the start of the war, but we had to learn how to remove key dragon shifters and replace them in order to truly get the sort of information we needed.”

  “Where are the rest of the ones that you’re impersonating?” She remembered Nicholas’ words—they had to be dead…killed by her father, or… She couldn’t bring herself to think the next thought.

  “And here we are.” Amelia smiled at them. Her smile was cold and distant when directed at Grania. She efficiently ushered them onto a lift, they went down one floor and arrived in an area that looked like a clinical science lab. The floor seemed to cover quite a good deal of space. There were wizard and witch guards everywhere. Another wizard came forth, he wasn’t wearing a guards’ uniform, but she could tell that he was ready to fight, if the need presented itself.

  “Mistress Amelia, I see you’ve brought the dragon shifter we’ve been waiting for.”

  “Aye,” Amelia answered.

  “The dragon shifter has a name.” To her surprise, it was William that was speaking up. “Her name is Lady Grania Burns, try to use it.”

  “You can knock off the Lady stuff, Mistress Burns is fine,” Grania muttered.

  “Yes, sir. Mistress Burns, please, come this way. We’ll allow you to go into the interrogation room that we’ve moved O’Malley into. He’s still a bit drowsy from the sedative we gave him. He really doesn’t like to be moved from his home cell.”

  “Cell? So you admit you are keeping him as a prisoner,” Grania said, anger surging through her.

  “We are keeping him as our special guest.”

  “Just point me in the direction of the room,” she ordered.

  “Actually, we’ll have to go with you, in case he becomes a bit too feisty. You’ll need one of us to subdue him,” Amelia argued.

  “I can assure you if it comes to it, I know how to subdue him.”

  William gave her a wary gaze. “I think you should heed their advice, Grania. You really need to watch yourself…”

  Pursing her lips, she nodded her head. “Fine, have it your way. Someone can stand sentry directly outside the door, that way, if something does happen they’ll be able to come to my rescue.”

  They led her toward a large room surrounded by glass. She assumed they could see in but O’Malley couldn’t see out. She recognized him instantly. His ginger hair, freckled face, and sky blue eyes were hard to miss. He looked like he’d been through hell and back. He was thinner than she remembered, and he had dark circles beneath his eyes.

  “O’Malley, how did it come to this point?” She felt a twinge of sympathy for him. Bolstering herself for what was to come, she waited while the warlock next to her waved his hand over the handle of the door. It swung open. She walked through and when it shut, it made a jarring locking noise.

  “Grania?” He narrowed his eyes. By the dopey look in them, she knew he was still partially drugged.

  “Greetings, O’Malley. I’d ask you how you are doing if it weren’t already written as plain as day across your face. I’m sad to say that you look like shite.”

  “You would too, if you’d been locked up here for days on end, year after year.” He heaved a shuddering breath. “How goes the war?”

  “I don’t think they want you to know that information, O’Malley.”

  His eyes dimmed even further. “I was hoping you were going to tell me that we were winning.”

  Her stomach sunk. When he said we, did he mean the royalists or the rebels?

  She looked at his hands. They shook. “Have you eaten lately?” she asked gently.

  “Yeah, they gave me the crap they call breakfast a few hours ago.”

  She swallowed. He was shaking because he kept trying to call on his powers and the room and drugs pumped into his system prohibited them from emerging.

  “You want my father to win, don’t you?” she queried, hoping to catch him off guard.

  He jerked his head upright. His slouched shoulders suddenly grew rigid.

  “Why would you say that?” He tried to look indifferent. She narrowed her eyes. He would keep avoiding her questions she had to read his mind. She’d hope
d he’d open up to her but that was just wishful thinking.

  “Don’t go into my mind, you won’t like what you see. Their telepaths tried to get in, and I showed them lies, or at least I tried to. The last one almost scratched the surface. When they took her out of here she looked as white as a ghost. You don’t want to know what I know. Nothing can stop your father—nothing. He’ll be here soon, and when he comes, we will all be in a living hell.”

  “My father isn’t that vicious.”

  “Your father has darkened to a point where no light invades his soul anymore. When he lost your mother, he lost himself. I believed in his cause until…” He shook his head. “No. I’ve lived with what I know for three years, and since even you can’t take away my guilt you should leave now.”

  “Do you know how my father intends to take Earth?”

  “There’s no way to stop him, Grania. That’s the horror of it all. Return to his side, and beg for his mercy. Beg for his love. If you don’t, you’ll be damned forever. He’s going to bring hell to Earth.”

  An arctic chill swept through the air. “I’m not going to take my father’s side. I made my choice long ago, and he knows where I stand.”

  “He will still take you back. He still loves you.”

  “Stop it!” she shouted. "I’m supposed to be here asking you questions…you aren’t supposed to be doing what you’re doing.”

  “What am I doing?” he asked innocently.

  “You’re trying to play on my sympathies and manipulate me to your own end.”

  “No, I am not. I am only giving you fair warning. By this time tomorrow, the first wave will be here. When that happens, you need to have your father on your side.”

  “Not going to happen.” Before he could react, she’d grabbed a hold of his hand. In one spiraling moment, she was inside of his head. He tried to pull his crazy mirage shit on her, but she was too good for him. After all, she’d learned from the best. She knocked down one of his erected walls, and walked into a memory.

  Grania stood motionless over a dead body. It was a woman. Her flaxen hair, mingled with the blood pooling around her body. Her blue eyes were open and frozen in horror, her one hand was clenched over her heart. That was where the blood came from—he’d killed her by driving her through the heart, and the only way he could have done that was if he’d been close to her. She resisted the urge to heave.