We were going to leave later tonight, to make it in time for our meeting tomorrow evening.
At eight a mini-bus stopped outside. The long trip back home was going to start.
I didn’t know how Blake was going to carry all of us, but then he took us to the port.
“Blake, the elevators…” I didn’t have to finish, most of these people had never experienced an elevator ride before.
“We are not taking the elevator, Elena, but a small airplane.”
“An airplane?”
“We actually have some this side.”
Luke laughed. He took the seat next to Blake up front and I watched him park the mini-bus.
We all got out and I was glad that none of the reporters were here.
It meant that this was seriously a top secret mission, one they were treating as such. I guessed there was a first for everything.
We all followed Blake to another section of the port and found a small private airplane.
We got in and after half an hour the plane lifted off.
Cassy and the kids were terrified and I listened to how Blake calmed her down as he put her on his lap and started reading them a story. They listened with awe, even laughed as he made a deep voice for a character in the book who was saying something. Who was this guy?
They all calmed down, forgetting about what was awaiting them.
Whether he used a tiny bit of persuasion, I didn’t know, but I could feel myself getting extremely comfortable too.
I really had no idea who this new Blake was. He was a mixture of the one on the mountain and the one Lucian used to speak so highly of, the one he’d tried to claim, to save from the darkness inside of him.
Our eyes met for a few seconds and he mouthed, “You okay?”
I nodded, smiled and plugged in my ear phones. I gave Annie the other one so she could listen to some music with me.
Songs blurred through the phones and she closed her eyes and just listened as if she was hearing music for the very first time. I knew it wasn’t really like that, as music played in the house, in Clive’s house all the time.
We all started to fall asleep. Annie lay her head on my lap and I awkwardly laid mine against the seat. It was so uncomfortable.
I sighed and opened my eyes. I was really so tired.
Blake got up and made sure that Cassy was comfortable on the seat, covering her with a blanket.
He walked over to me and my heart was beating fast again.
He had that power over me now.
He squeezed into the bit of space that was left next to me and just wrapped his arm around me.
Without saying a word, I laid my head on his shoulder and it was a position I fell asleep in.
When I woke up again, I found him reading through a magazine.
The sun was trying to get into the closed windows.
The pictures were of bikes and I smiled.
“You had a perfect one and you just chucked it back in my face.”
He chuckled. “Idiot, I know. But for your information, I still have it. My father knew how much I wanted that and kept it in the garage.”
I giggled. “So how does it drive?”
“Don’t know, haven’t tried it yet.”
“What?”
He smiled. “I told you I was busy with other things, Elena.”
“Yeah, so you did.”
I knew what those other things were now, trying hard to find me.
A couple of hours later, the plane started to land.
We all woke up, but nobody said a word as we all feared what was going to happen again.
Blake opened one of the window covers and bright light streamed in. He squinted.
“Another mini-van is waiting with plenty of cockroaches.”
I hated that so much.
Blake started to explain what to expect, giving them a small crash course. I wished I’d had this sort of advice from him just after I’d woken up and claimed my identity. But he hadn’t been there. He’d run away, away from me. Again the Blake that’d saved me so many times jumped through my mind.
Was this going to happen every time I thought ill of him?
Cameras flashed as we all grabbed our bags over our shoulders and walked fast to the van. King Helmut’s guards, I knew from the McKenzie sign on their uniform, kept all of us safe.
“Princess, what are you going to do if this verdict doesn’t go your way?” one of the reporters shouted. More questions followed as I heard the mini-van’s door open.
“Just get in, Elena,” Blake whispered and I entered with all the rest.
The door finally closed after Luke and Blake got in and I could breathe again.
Flashing lights still bounced off the windows.
“Is it like this every time?” Annie’s eyes were huge.
I nodded.
“How do you get used to this?”
“Who said I was?” I smiled and offered her the other ear phone again.
She took it without saying a word and I could hear Blake speaking softly to one of the guards that had taken the seat next to the driver.
The Ancients and the entire Council were waiting for us. I didn’t like that. Not one bit. They always did this, changed meetings around without giving anybody notice.
FOR THE FIRST time in hours, all of us were dead silent.
Annie looked petrified. “Hey.” I touched her arm. “It’s going to be okay. Nothing bad is going to happen, Annie. Promise.”
“I second that.” Blake turned his head around to look at us.
The big structure of City Hall came into view. The last time I’d seen it was the night that Blake had almost destroyed the entire building.
The mini-van parked right in front of the stairs that led to the building and more cockroaches were waiting for us.
Annie looked with huge eyes at them.
I put my arm on her and gave her a soft smile. “Just like before, you keep your head down and you don’t say a word.”
I blew out a deep breath as Sir Robert walked toward the van.
“Is that…?”
“Yes,” I answered Luke and wielded my shield around all of us. “And please, whatever you do, don’t tell him about my father. Don’t tell anyone, please, including your mother.” I looked at Annie.
They all nodded and I lowered my shield as Blake opened the door.
“Dad.” He smiled and hugged his father.
“I’m glad you made it safely out of there. What does it look like, Son?”
“We need to get them out of there as fast as possible. It is really bad. I’ll fill you in later, but now, you have to do me a favor, keep them safe, all of them.”
“You have my word on that, Son. Nobody will hurt them.”
“I know.” Blake smiled and looked away. I could only imagine how he must feel, knowing that his father’s rider was still alive and that he couldn’t say anything.
“Sir Robert.” I smiled and got out of the mini-van. The cameras flashed like mad as more questions were yelled in my direction.
Sir Robert grunted.
“Just ignore them this time,” I said softly and everyone else climbed out of the van. I put Cassy’s hoody over her head as she clung onto Daisy’s hand.
They all followed the guard that had traveled with us safely into the hall.
I walked next to Sir Robert. “I am very proud that you finally put your foot down, Elena, but you did threaten the Ancients.”
“They deserved it for even thinking about quarantine.”
“It’s not that easy, it only fuels what they want more.” He blew out a huge breath. He was worried that we weren’t going to be able to succeed tonight. I was worried too and my actions from a couple of days ago were literally biting me in the ass now. They always did.
We entered the city hall and Blake stayed with the group inside a room.
Sir Robert put his hand on Blake’s arm. “I promise, Blake.”
“I know, Dad. I don’t do
ubt you for one second.”
I hugged Annie and Daisy, all of them with a confident smile. The Ancients just had to see it our way. These people had suffered enough.
“Ready, Elena?” Blake asked and I took a huge breath and followed him out the room.
I looked back at Sir Robert and he nodded once. I knew they were safe.
Denise waited for us right in front of the door that led into the court room. I didn’t even smile at her.
“You ready?” she asked in that sweet voice looking at Blake. All I could see in my mind’s eye was her using that same tone with my two best friends the day she’d told them that I didn’t need them anymore.
“Ready,” Blake said in a confident tone. He was always confident when facing the Ancients.
We walked in, one right after the other and looked at all the people sitting in their seats. My eyes caught on Constance and Master Longwei. None of them smiled at me and my stomach turned again.
This meeting wasn’t going to go Blake’s way.
HE THREATENED TO kill us!” Duclin shouted from his throne.
Blake was speechless, disappointment was radiating from him, I could feel it.
The meeting had been a disaster ever since we walked in. They hadn’t mentioned anything about quarantine yet and it felt as if none of Blake’s answers satisfied them.
“Well, under the circumstances given at the time—”
“Under the circumstances…” Duclin interrupted him. “It was a threat.”
My eyes caught on King Caleb who was actually enjoying this. Seeing Blake caught in the middle like a slab of cheese that was going to get mauled by a mouse.
“Threats to the Ancients carry great consequences, she should be punished.”
“We have Etan to free. This can wait for another time.” Blake stood his ground again.
“So, it doesn’t even bother you that this girl said those things, made a threat to the people that keep you all safe, especially you in your time of darkness. I expected more justice from you Blake. More loyalty.” I hadn’t meant it like that, jeez.
I could feel Blake freezing next to me. “My loyalty doesn’t lie with a bunch of hypocrites. I made it clear whom I serve, and that will never change.”
He spoke true words, I knew they were, because he was serving me, it sounded like an obligation again and a part of me yelled that he didn’t mean it that way. He just spoke on the same level as the Ancients. “So sorry if I disappoint, but I think there is a greater need that is requiring this girl’s attention than being dumped in a dungeon to wait for your punishment.”
Okay, that I didn’t like.
“And if you think, that you will throw her in a cell with me just standing by, then I’m afraid you have no idea who I am.”
I glanced up at him. Okay, I should’ve expected that last part but I didn’t.
“Fine, you want to discuss what is going to happen to the people you brought back, there is no discussion Blake, we voted already. They go into quarantine for three months. You have only ten to worry about, we have almost a million innocent people this side.”
Blake looked at the Council. “All of you agree with this? Chong?” He looked at Master Longwei. He didn’t say anything. “Constance?”
She looked, her gaze found his and she had no words. “It’s cruel and doesn’t show them mercy. Nothing we promised them will come true. You will only instill fear, more fear.”
He shook his head and I knew he was giving up. This couldn’t be happening. They couldn’t do this.
“It is done, Blake. You have no say in this matter. Elena has made her plea, before all of this even started. She should’ve thought about the consequences, dealt with it differently, the way her mother and father would’ve been proud of, not by threats. But we can’t blame the poor girl. She had no idea who they were.”
Duclin’s words started to awaken something inside of me. I knew who my parents were, not the way I wanted to, but I knew. They’d used threats too at a stage, ones that were ignored and that led to a war. A war that brought peace.
“They will be confined to a medical facility,” Duclin spoke again. “Where they will go through a cleptomius test…” He started naming all the possible tests for diseases there were. All I could see was Cassy’s beautiful face, men holding her down to push a needle into her arm. Her screaming for her mom who couldn’t help as she was going through the same thing. More fear, and his words about my parents not being proud of me rushed through my head. They would not be proud if I let this happen.
“They’ve suffered enough.” I interrupted him. It was so soft but he heard and stopped.
“You have no jurisdiction in here. I told you before, you made your plea with threats,” he said through clenched teeth, trying to overpower me. “The law isn’t on your side—”
“I said, enough!” I screamed that last word staring up at him. He hadn’t expected that, none of them had. Duclin’s eye twitched. “You speak about laws and about these people as if they are carriers of the plague. They don’t have any disease, because I promise you if they did, all of Paegeia would’ve had them. I would’ve had them.”
“Elena,” Duclin spoke. “You have a healing ability running through your veins. You heal easily.”
I smiled at him. “Didn’t you hear? My healing ability doesn’t work the way it used to anymore. Nothing works the way it used to. I almost died a few times but luckily Blake healed me. So….”
“Our decision is final. You wouldn’t know anything about these sorts of matters,” he said and started speaking of the tests again as if I’d never interrupted him.
“What don’t you understand?” I said again.
“Elena,” Blake spoke softly.
“Keep your mouth shut and let me deal with this,” I said and stared back at Duclin. “I was for four months in Etan. The only disease in that stinking hell hole is from the evil that is overpowering the people. The same evil you want to put them through again. These people have suffered enough and none of them will be placed in quarantine. A doctor can visit them daily but as a friend, and they stay with loved ones.” I walked towards them until I reached their thrones. “Yes, I threatened all of you, because you didn’t come in peace.”
Duclin laughed. “You didn’t even know under what pretenses we were there. You just assumed that we wanted to hurt them.”
“Assumed, camping out miles from the lodge. If your pretenses were so kind, then why did your men feel so guilty that they couldn’t accept accommodation from Connie and David? I knew what your intentions were the minute I walked out of those Creepers. Do you want to know how? The blood in my veins stirred.”
“How dare—” Duclin said.
“You might not like me much,” I interrupted him again, “And I might not be my father or even my mother, like you said, I didn’t know them. But I am their daughter and I’m the only person with their blood flowing through my veins. You have trampled over me since the day I opened that vault, and yes, I might not be the right suitor in your eyes to take their place, but this is not about me anymore. This is about the people of Etan that are still part of Paegeia, no matter how badly you tried to erase them from all the maps. I saw one where they were still part of Etan, and the people of Paegeia are my responsibility. That is who I stand up for today. I alone, am the only one that can keep them safe through my blood. Not through yours, and not through anyone else’s in this court. You have a problem with that, don’t make it mine.”
I turned my head and looked at King Caleb sitting in his chair. “I will not step down from this title,” I said staring into his black beady eyes. I looked at the Ancients again. “And I will fight every single one of you that come near those people trying to harm them. They have suffered enough. My decision is final, not yours. And if I have to die protecting those people, then so be it. At least I will die for people that need me.” I stopped at Duclin. “You are right,” I carried on. “I might not have known who my mother and father were,
but what I’ve learned about them from all of you, was that they had compassion, they showed mercy and they would fight for the weak when no-one else would. And that alone, would’ve made them proud of who I am today. So don’t you ever try to make me feel small speaking for them, because in reality they might actually have turned around and been disappointed with not just you five up there, but with this whole bloody Council.” I looked at everybody. “You are the ones that are insane, not me. And I just realized that none of you are equipped, or smart enough, to run my world.”
“Your world?” Duclin tried to mock me again.
“Yes, mine. It was given to me the day all of you chose to make my great, great, grandfather, William, your king, and nobody is going to take it away from me. It is my birthright.” I looked at Duclin. “And the next time you see me, it’s Princess.” I’d gone through plenty of shit to get where I was tonight.
My eyes caught on my Pappi, he had a soft, almost invisible smile tugging at the side of his lips.
“They need to be in quarantine!” Duclin yelled. “Have you all lost your minds?”
“Well then you’ll have to go through me.” I lit up my palm and a pink flame danced on my hand.
Gasps filled the court as Duclin’s eyes grew, staring at my flame.
“And me.” Blake’s voice filled the court. I turned around and looked at the same flame that was dancing in my palm, flickering in his.
“Me too,” King Helmut said and a blue flame appeared in his palm.
Every single person who had abilities stood up with us. Dragons and riders united. Everyone except Caleb and a couple of members from Areeth.
“I think it’s done, Duclin,” my Pappi said. “They don’t need our vote this time.”
“And who is going to protect the rest of Paegeia? All the innocent, all the children?”
“All the children.” I looked at him and then smiled, looked over my shoulder at the guard who was standing at the door. I nodded and he opened the door. A few moments later, Sir Robert came out followed by the group we’d gotten out. Gasps filled the air as most of them were children. I looked back at Duclin.
Moonbreeze (The Dragonian Series Book 4) Page 52
