Now, she knew why the woman was half-clothed, and why she seemed utterly astonished, they were probably in the midst of fucking when he’d turned on her. She could see the look of betrayal etched in her eyes and across her face. If he hadn’t taken her life by force, the woman would have died from heartbreak.
A man stepped out of the shadows. She didn’t have to look to know that it was O’Malley. “I’m sorry, my love. He wanted you dead. I couldn’t fight his order. You were starting to stir up too much shit, if you’d warned the king and queen. Ah, sometimes life really does hand you the short end of the stick. Sleep easy, my beautiful girl.” The dagger he still held in his hand, clattered to the ground. He sunk to his knees. A keening wail of agony ripped from his mouth.
His visage changed. It was almost as if he had two different personalities.
Was O’Malley a split personality? Was his one personality loyal to her father, while the other personality was loyal to the crown? If so, they had a loose cannon on their hands.
The memory faded, to be replaced by another more recent one.
“Lord Draco, we have found a way for you to bypass the blockades the royalists will put between Dragonia and Earth.”
“Tell me, Desdemona.”
“If you open a portal by the ancient oak tree in the Tarilian Forest, you will be able to link with another ancient oak in England. The one that will suit our purposes is an ancient oak located on human holy ground. It’s on the grounds of the Abbey in Tewkesbury. It’s close enough to the Welsh borders to suit your fancy and yet still on English land.”
“That’s excellent news, my dear. I knew you would serve me well.”
“Lord Draco, what will our occupation of Earth mean for the humans?”
It was O’Malley’s voice. He sounded terrified…and yet, awed at the same time.
“It will mean that we slaughter whoever gives us resistance, and if they submit, they can serve us as our slaves. The humans of this world will soon learn that we are the superior race.”
“What about the magical community? They might give us a form of resistance.”
“We will turn their magic against them, and we will kill them, without mercy. William Lightfoot, as the biggest troublemaker of them all, he will be the first to die.”
She’d heard enough. Breathing deeply, she traveled out of his mind. She no longer wanted to see anything that O'Malley had done for her father. If he’d killed his own mate, he’d already damned himself for all eternity. And if he truly did have a mental disorder and he was two people sharing one body, then, both identities had sentenced themselves to a fate worse than death.
She released his hand. “After what you’ve done, I don’t think you should have a moment’s peace. Live in your own hell you bastard, and enjoy it with my compliments.”
As she was walking away, he sprang to his feet. She could feel his towering rage, feel his fury at being judged and condemned by her. She allowed him to knock her down to the floor.
“Am I talking to the one that murdered his mate?” she shouted.
At her demanding tone, his eyes took on a hardened glint. “She was no better than a bitch in heat. She confused me, she muddled my mind, and she tied me down. Every time I turned around there she was right up my ass. I couldn’t be free. When she started to dig into my comings and goings, she had to be eliminated. She was a filthy little royalist, why fate had given me her to love, I don’t know. So, I threw her back into fate’s arms.”
“You are despicable!” She spat. Her spit hit him on his face. He circled his hands around her throat. She allowed him to do so. When he was about to attempt to squeeze the life out of her, she retaliated with the full force of her abilities.
In that moment, the door to the interrogation room crashed open. William rushed in followed by two other wizards while Amelia brought up the rear. She’d knocked O’Malley out cold.
“He isn’t right in the head. He needs attention. And it’s not the sort of attention your lot can give him. My kind needs to help him. Only counseling from us, will fix him. We might be able to heal his mind, but we can’t ever heal his soul, his own actions have damaged it beyond repair. No magic in this world can ever save him.”
“What do you mean?” William knelt down to help her to her feet.
“I mean that he has two distinct personalities. One is his human and the other, the other…” she paused, taking the time to regain her ragged breath.
“And the other?” Amelia lowered her voice to a hushed whisper.
“The other one is his dark dragon side. It has emerged and it is relishing the power it holds when it’s in control. Now, he’s part animal, part human.”
“I thought you were all part animal?” Amelia seemed genuinely confused.
“We are dragon shifters, but when we shift we don’t lose our humanity. The animal in O’Malley will take over completely if he’s not given the right sort of care. We have wise dragon shifters that have seen this before. They will know what to do if you allow me to send for them.”
“We can’t ask for help from your kind.” Amelia adamantly shook her head.
“You will have to. My kind will be here sooner than you think. As we speak, I’m sure that my cousin and his parents have determined that they can no longer hold their ground.
They’ll know they need to retreat—or else be slaughtered, and I pray that’s not the decision they make, they knew they had to close off the portal. I just hope they do that on our side rather than sacrificing themselves on the other side. No, they will retreat to Earth. But that’s the least of our worries at least the royalists aren’t set upon conquering Earth and destroying your kind.” She turned to address William.
“William, you need to start working on that spell. I hope you’re almost done.”
Something flickered in his eyes. Was he done before Denys had even found him? He had the spell and he didn’t want anyone to know. Since meeting her, he’d been overcome with a slew of doubts he didn’t want the spell to become public knowledge. He coveted it and not for selfish reasons. He coveted it because he feared that his kind would use it against innocent dragon shifters. He looked away from her, realizing that she'd taken all she needed to know from his mind.
She looked over at Amelia.
“Is something wrong, William?” Amelia sounded suspicious, and by the way she’d inclined her eyebrow and narrowed her eyes, Grania knew she was forming some theories.
“Nothing wrong at all, Amelia. I’m just hungry.”
“Ah, well, we can rustle you up some food. Your mother wants you to meet her at noon sharp.”
“Keep him under constant guard. You shouldn’t even allow him to shift. With his next shifting, he could lose his humanity all together,” Grania said, warning them, and hoping they'd take it to heart.
“I thought your kind needed to shift,” Amelia sighed.
“We can repress the need. O’Malley will just have to feel a little sick for a few days. It’s far better than having a full-blooded dragon on your hands. Believe me, you don’t want to mess with one of those. Even a dragon shifter has a low chance of survival when it comes to tussling with one of them.”
“We happen to know of a few good dragons.” Amelia started to sound snooty.
“Hmm…perhaps, but those dragons weren’t half evil in their human form.”
“Oh, by the graces, how do you keep a level head with her, William?” Amelia smiled serenely, and then turned back toward the door. “Lads, make sure that O’Malley is properly subdued and transported back to his cell.”
“What else did you find out?”
William spoke to her as they walked side by side toward his mother’s office.
“He killed his mate. He’s already damned himself. And, I also found out how they plan to get into England. They figured out how to harness the magic of the land to work for them, instead of against them. The first battle will happen in Tewkesbury. From there, they plan to take over the entire world. Thos
e that resist, they will massacre, those that submit, they will enslave, and your kind…why, you’re the luckiest ones out of the batch. You are to be exterminated, and they want to start with you.”
“I’m not surprised,” His voice hardened, filled with determination. “I’m not going to let that happen, Grania.”
“I pray that you don’t.”
Chapter Ten
“Ah, William. Grania, how did your time with O’Malley go?”
Aine looked beyond interested, she was captivated.
“I think we can safely say that O’Malley needs to stay in lockup, mother.” He cleared his throat. “It’s beyond me how Nicholas has still managed to stay alive. From what Grania gleaned from his mind, O’Malley wasn’t just a follower of Draco’s, he was an enforcer slash assassin, just like dear old Denys.”
His mother’s face blanched. “Let’s not refer to that Denys filth, again, William. It makes me feel sick.”
“Well, I don’t know why. Denys wasn’t the only one that recently tried to ice William we also had Kendra, Orion, James, Pablo and Arnold that tried to have a go at wiping him off the face of the planet.”
Aine sank down in her desk chair. “Really, I was serious, Grania. I’d rather not dredge up merry tales detailing the grim reaper that constantly trails my son. I will not hear of his so-called impending death,” She let out another rattling sigh.
“As long as I’m around, he won’t have to fear for his life.”
“So you keep saying. I heard from Nicholas how badly you were wounded last night. I’m not so certain you’re up to the task. That’s why we’ve decided to keep my son under constant guard, here at the Agency. William, you are not leaving this building. I forbid it. Do you understand?”
“You can’t forbid me anymore, mother. I am not a child.”
“Nonetheless, you will not leave this building.”
“You lured us here. You’ve known all along what O’Malley was up to, haven’t you?” William asked. Grania gasped, aghast at the machinations William’s mother had employed to get them to walk willingly into a trap.
His mother looked away from him. “I will not be accused by my own son.”
“Admit it, Mum, you knew.”
“O’Malley did admit something that caused the last telepath to walk away far whiter than when she’d walked into the room. She did find out the truth. You put me in there as your puppet…” Grania’s voice trailed off. She didn’t like being manipulated. She liked it far less when it was someone like Aine Lightfoot.
“I will not be treated like a criminal by the two of you. I will not allow you to make me feel like I’m the guilty party in all of this. I only sought to keep you safe, William. You are my only son. I won’t let you get killed because her kind is having a stupid war! When Draco brings the war to Earth, he will learn that we have zero tolerance for pests like him.
In the years since our last war, wizards, warlocks and witches have become less scrupulous about how they fight a war. Now, we fight to win. If that means killing as many of you as possible, then so be it. It won’t be our kind facing extermination, it will be yours. This is a war that will find the victors in the race for the survival of the fittest. Your kind will discover that our kind will do whatever we have to do in order to survive!”
“What the hell is the difference between a wizard and a warlock? The two of you are bloody both male.”
“Well, actually, not always,” William said. “Wizards can be female…it’s quite a complicated part of our history, Grania. Wizards are usually the scholars, the wise ones if you will, and in wars they are the strategists and the ones who make…”
“The weapons,” she supplied.
“Usually, yes. While Witches and Warlocks are the ones who...”
“Fight?” she asked.
“If you like,” he said. “But we’re basically all the same. We all use magic, and a warlock can write an aggressive spell or make a weaponized potion just as well as a wizard. I guess over the years, it’s all become a bit blurred. Besides, Mum, you can’t kill them en masse unless you have my spell,” William pointed out, apparently buoyed by that thought. Grania's heart went out to him. If he thought that was going to waylay someone like Aine, he was dead wrong.
“My darling son, even though you are the most brilliant wizard of your age, you aren’t the only one that knows how to create spells of that dreadful magnitude. We have what we need to defeat the dragon shifters, with or without your spell. That’s why I need to secure your safety. Last night was an annoyance. It destroyed part of my house, but I never would have let them kill you. I’m not all tea, scones and clotted cream, dear. I can fight…I will fight. Even now, I’m having our best warriors assembled to meet the first wave.”
“You do know,” William groaned.
“I do, indeed. If I didn’t, I would be following in my father’s foolish footsteps. As we speak, Tewkesbury is being evacuated and our forces are being deployed. I have called for our vicar to unite the two of you in holy matrimony. If we do happen to fail, which I seriously, seriously doubt, you will be a part of her family, that in itself should keep you from harm.”
“With all due respect, Aine, you are underestimating my father. You only know where the first wave will appear, you have no idea where my father intends to send the second and third wave, and fourth and…”
“I think, child that I know what I’m doing. Thank you for your concern.” She stood up. “Come, the vicar is waiting in my receiving rooms.”
“I’m not going through with this.” She started shaking her head.
“You aren’t going anywhere, Grania.” William turned to her. She’d never seen him look so…masculine. She didn’t know if she liked it.
“Don’t think you’re going to sway my decision, William. Your mother is only using us as a means to an end.”
“I assure you, Grania, that I have no ulterior motives when it comes to William. I would do anything to keep him safe.” Emotion welled in her usually cool, calm and collected voice. “We have heard about the blood ties within your society. You value above all else, the institution of family.”
“Well if we do, a fat lot of good that did for O’Malley’s mate, Rayne.”
“You knew her?” William sounded shocked.
“Of course I knew her, I didn’t know that she was O’Malley’s mate, but everyone close to the Royal Court knew each other by sight. She was one of the Queen’s Ladies-in-Waiting.”
“Oh…Grania.”
Even Aine looked remorseful. “War touches us all. In your case, Grania, it touches you more frequently. As the daughter of the leader of the Rebel Forces, you should start expecting it.”
“I never expect to lose someone I love. As we speak, my family could be losing their lives. The king and queen have young children. Their only child that is old enough to actually take care of himself is Blaze.”
“I thought that your cousin had a twin?” Aine seemed perplexed.
“He did, she was killed last year. She died fighting for what she believed was right. Now he fights alone.”
Bitterness welled inside of her. Her aunt and uncle kept their other children a secret. They didn’t want anyone to know that they existed for fear of having them come under enemy fire. Now that she reflected on it, Bronwyn and Brianna had to be nearing the dragon shifter age of maturity. The last ten years had flown by.
“They are wise indeed.” Aine nodded her head in silent understanding. “Losing a child is a pain that I never wish to feel. Your aunt and uncle have my deepest sympathies.”
“You must release me, if you know that they are retreating, you must let me go to them. They are the only family I have left. I won’t let them stand alone in their darkest hours!” Her emotions were warring with what she wanted to do and what she knew she had to do.
“Now, my dear, I’m sorry to say that they reached their darkest hours many days ago. They shielded you, or kept you ignorant because of your relation to Draco,
I can’t decide which. Either way, they had the barbarians knocking at their gate five days ago. They remained under siege for as long as they could…”
She interrupted Aine.
“My cousin Blaze came for me last night to heal me…”
“He is a very brave soul. He came under great risk for himself and the rest of his family. In your case, your cousin showed that his loyalty to his family goes far beyond the call of duty.” Admiration swelled in Aine’s voice.
“I owe him my life.”
“Where are they, Mum? You must know you have eyes and ears everywhere. You might think I’ve been living in a glass house all of these years, but I know—I know how much power you wield—your connections are impressive. I’m sure you’re in the know as to where they will be.”
“William, you can rest assured that once they step their dragon shifting feet on Earth soil that we will collect them and place them under guard.”
“Why would you place them under guard, they are no threat to you! You can’t be serious,” she scoffed. Inwardly, her insides were knotting up while outwardly, she attempted to keep her anger in check. Now was not a time for a good old blow up.
“Please, let us put our arguments aside for the time being so that the two of you can be married. After that, I’m open to arguing.”
“Why is she doing this?” Grania turned to William, hoping to glean some insight into his mother’s apparently cracked nut.
“My mother always has to get her own way, no matter how many people she pisses off in the process.” He offered her his hand. “It’s not like we wouldn’t have eventually walked this road, anyway. She’s just sped up the process for us.”
“You can’t honestly expect me to marry you under duress?”
“Let’s see—we’re still experiencing the mating fire, correct? Because if we’re not I’m way too hot.”
Dragon's Heart Page 11
