“It seems I, as well as the rest of the Dragon world, have underestimated you and your family, Enzo,” she said, trying to sound impressed rather than full of contempt as she actually was. “You’ve cultivated connections all across the globe, you’ve managed to create a new metal through our fire… and you’ve taken the only female Dragon in existence hostage without a single person outside of this house knowing about it. Very impressive.”
She was doing her best to play to his ego. She hoped it was large enough, and fragile enough, for her to use against him. By the way his little smirk turned to a cocky smile she knew she had chosen the right option.
“My family has long been underestimated in our world, Miss Balaurescu,” he said, his arms folding haughtily across his chest. “You have no idea the things we have accomplished while being overlooked by others.”
“I must admit…” She said, trying to add a bit of a flirty tone to her voice without being too obvious. “I find myself curious about it.”
He looked at her and she could tell she was losing a bit of her believability. She offered her best coy look and smile, shrugging her shoulders a bit as she glanced away, as if embarrassed. She was going to have to be careful here. Everything she said, every look that passed across her face would decide if she went free or remained his captive.
“I only mean…” She said, lifting her dark eyes back up towards him slowly. “That I was unaware of your family’s true history, and that something like that factors heavily into my… decision.”
“I see…” He said, one eyebrow arching up a bit.
“Will you tell me of your family? Of your true history?” She asked, giving him those big, innocent eyes.
“Our true history is a long one,” he said, taking the bait faster than she expected him to. “I am sure you know we can trace our lineage back to the great Biscione Dragon of Milan, who is famed for terrorizing the region?”
“Of course,” she answered with a smile, feeding his ego all the more to keep him talking. “Your lineage dates back impressively.”
“Yes,” he said with pompous confidence. “My ancestor, Ariprando Visconti, officially founded the family and brought us out of the caves and out of hiding.”
“How did he manage such a feat?” She asked in mock awe, stepping closer to him bit by bit as if magnetically drawn to him. In reality, she needed to be closer to see if he had that key on him.
“Through charm and deception, of course,” he said, smiling like he was proud of it. “Ariprando was the Biscione, but he knew that soon or later he would be hunted down and killed for his rampaging. Thus, in his human form, he convinced the locals of Milan that he would slay the Dragon and free them of its terror.”
“Surely, they did not believe him,” she injected, though her next question was intended to prompt him along and give her eyes a chance to scan him for the key. “What proof could he offer that he had killed the Dragon if he was, in fact, that very Dragon?”
“His own foot, of course,” he said as if it was common knowledge. “He lopped it off while in his Dragon form, bound and hid his stump in his boot and presented it to the people of Milan as proof.”
She had no response to this one, which she figured was what he wanted. She simply stared at him, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly agape. She was actually impressed by his ancestors’ actions, even if they had been done to deceive people. By the snarky look on his face, she could tell he approved of her reaction. That, and it appeared he hadn’t noticed her trying to scope out that key.
“He was praised as a hero and given both land and title,” he continued. “The titles have been lost or given up over time… but the land remains ours. This home has been our ancestral home from the beginning and will remain as such until we are scorched from the Earth. Since the early eleventh century, my family has been working to climb the ladder of both the Dragon world as well as the human. Alas, the Noble Hierarchies of the old world no longer apply as much as they once did in the human world, so we have shifted our focus mainly to the Dragon side of things.”
“What do you mean?” She asked, legitimately curious now.
“Well, my dear, Isidora,” he said with that sinister smile of his. “You are a perfect example.”
“Me?” She asked, confusion on her face again.
“My family keeps a very close track of all other Dragon families and their statuses across the world, Isidora,” he explained, his arms falling from their folded position, so he could place his hands on his hips like a cocky teacher. “Yours included. Both the Balaurescus, and the DeLeons.”
She paused. The mention of her family, both of these families, had her hesitating. She found herself torn between her original plan of sneaking the key away from him through distraction… and wanting to hear what he had to say about her two families, assuming she could trust what he had to say, of course.
“What… what do you mean?” She didn’t know what else to ask, but she knew it would keep him talking based on his track record thus far.
“My father knew of your existence within a month of your birth, despite your mother’s and father’s desperate attempts to keep you a secret from the world,” he told her. “A letter to your beloved Uncle Geza was intercepted and that was how we learned of you. A little further digging and we were able to learn of your parents, your brothers and your extended family in Romania who you wound up with.”
“I… I don’t understand,” she confessed, nearly forgetting about the key to her freedom.
“Your mother and father wanted to send you to Romania to be raised with your extended family,” he explained, almost sounding exasperated with her. “It was a wise idea, but they traveled from Mexico with absolutely no security, whatsoever.”
“I can’t really blame them.” He scoffed with a smile. “The DeLeons have been hilariously disconnected from the Dragon world since your father passed.”
She felt her heart seize in her chest. Her father… was dead? She had never met the man before, and until the past twenty-four hours hadn’t even known who he was or that he existed. Yet, the news of his death still struck her to the core. Enzo seemed not to notice and kept talking.
“It took a surprisingly small amount of effort from my family to intercept your parents and take both you and your mother hostage during your infancy,” he went on, talking almost as if he hadn’t just verbally punched her in the gut. “We underestimated your family, however, and we lost you back to them. Apparently, our intervention in your parents’ plans pushed them to cut off all contact with you while you grew up in Romania. I suppose it was done to protect you and their other children…”
He gave a shrug of his shoulders and the finally seemed to notice her again. He laughed, softly, and stepped forward to place a hand against her shoulder for a moment as if in comfort. It snapped her out of her haze and she brought her dark eyes up to meet his, trying her hardest to keep her emotions off of her face.
“This time, I will not lose you back to them,” he said, smiling as if he spoke of going on a picnic together.
It took her a moment, but she realized her best way out wasn’t just to distract him… but to distract him with what he wanted. She took in a breath and shoved her emotions to the back of her mind. Slowly, she let a smile grow out across her face and let that coy look return to her eyes.
“I feel a bit disappointed in you, Enzo,” she said, glancing away from him as if actually disappointed.
“What?” He asked, confusion knitting his brows together.
“Such a waste of your time and effort, knocking me out and locking me up like this,” she said, her voice dropping to a dusky tone as she brought her eyes back to him.
“Waste of my time?” He scoffed.
“Such a waste…” She said as she stepped closer to him, closing the gap to just a few inches now, and placing a hand against his chest. “I came here of my own free will this time, didn’t I?”
“I suppose�
��” He agreed, though a hint of curious suspicion laced his features.
“Then why drug me and lock me up?” She asked, looking up at him as if with longing. “Isn’t it obvious that I have chosen you? Was my choosing to come, alone and unforced, not enough of a sign that I trust you?”
Her hand slid up across his chest to his shoulder, draping over it as her eyes locked with his. She shifted her own shoulder, causing her robe to slip slightly from it and reveal that caramel colored flesh of hers. She could tell he noticed by the way his eyes dipped briefly away from hers.
“I couldn’t leave anything to chance…” He said, his voice slipping into a softer whisper. She had him.
“I understand…” She said, just as softly, as she leaned upward as if to kiss him.
He responded and leaned towards her. She took the chance and let her other hand slip to his side… and then down towards his hip and pocket. Just before their lips came together she felt the key resting at the bottom of his pocket, her fingertips just grazing across it.
“Nice try,” he murmured close to her lips.
He reached down and grabbed hold of her wrist, yanking her hand away from his pocket roughly and with a slight sneer on his lips. She had been caught and her heart pounded, wondering what he would do to her now that her intentions had come to light.
“You truly should have been raised amongst the Visconti family,” he said, almost with lament. “You are just as much a snake as you are a Dragon.”
He threw her away then, shoving her back towards the bed she had woken up on. She stumbled but managed to keep her feet, a snarl curling her upper lip as she locked her eyes on him once again. She wanted to scream at him, to transform and rip him to shreds… but she couldn’t.
“I’ll give you credit for trying, little girl,” he said, laughter dripping from his voice. “But I could care less about how you feel. You are far too precious and far, far too valuable for me to give a damn about your emotions. You are a bargaining chip for me and nothing more. You should have resigned yourself to such a fate ages ago when you realized just what you were.”
His words were like a slap to her face and left her standing stunned and silent, pulling her robe tighter around herself. She watched him laugh at her again, shaking his head as he turned to leave the room. The sound of the door locking behind him broke her into a thousand pieces that fell, shattered, to the floor. She sat there, her breath catching in her chest as her heart threatened to explode out of her. What was she supposed to do now?
Chapter Six
The morning after Isidora’s departure from the Balaurescu Estate, the entire household was in what could only be described as a chaotic uproar. The news that Isidora was missing was not received lightly… and it spelled a world of trouble for the entire family, for more than one reason.
Sorinah, currently a blubbering and distraught mess, had been the one to discover the truth earlier in the morning. As her and Isidora shared a suite of rooms, when Sorinah had gone to wake her daughter up she discovered her to be absent. At first, she hadn’t thought anything of it. Isidora occasionally rose early with the sun and was likely already eating breakfast. A little over an hour later, after discovering not a soul had seen Isidora that entire morning, Sorinah began to lose her cool. Isidora had never been missing before, not ever for an hour. She had to sound the alarm.
Combing the entire house from top to bottom, enlisting the help of the entire estate staff, Sorinah tore through like a tornado in her efforts to find her daughter. In the end, all she was able to find were the tattered remains of Isidora’s clothing, caught on the rocks surrounding the mountaintop landing space. The realization that Isidora had transformed and left the safety of the estate sometime in the night let Sorinah’s heart in her stomach and her mind was whirling. Something had to be done. They had to find where she had gone. Sorinah went to find her brother.
Geza, who was normally to be found in his office, was actually enjoying the morning air and a cup of coffee out in the gardens when he heard his sister’s voice snapping in loud frustration at a staff member. He continued to sit on the stony bench, his eyes cast out at the forest that surrounded their mountain home, and just listened to the voice of his sister for a moment. He couldn’t quite tell what she was saying, but he heard Isidora’s name and that, combined with his sister’s distraught tone, had him worried. As he stood up with the intent to go find his sister, she came exploding out into the garden with a look of terrified confusion etched across her face. The confusion was mirrored in Geza’s face as he set his cup of coffee on the outer stone wall of the garden and moved towards his sister.
“Sorinah?” He asked. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
“She’s gone, Geza!” She responded, looking like she might collapse as her voice cracked over her words. “Isidora. She… she left the estate and I have no idea where she went or why she left!”
“She left the estate?” He questioned with a hint of irritation. “Who allowed her to leave? Who has gone with her to chaperone?”
“No!” Sorinah snapped. “I found her clothes up on the landing space, Geza, torn to shreds. She’s gone!”
“Visconti…” He growled shaking his head as his hands balled at his sides.
“What?” She asked, her voice still strained.
“That damned Enzo Visconti,” he answered. “He got into her head and now she’s gone off after him.”
“What?!” Sorinah practically shouted. Geza couldn’t tell if she was confused by what he had said… or if she had heard it at all.
“That Enzo Visconti,” he explained. “You saw how fired up she was after her meeting with that cad. He told her something about the DeLeons. She must have gone off to track him down and get the answers I wouldn’t give her.”
“Then why didn’t you just tell her the truth, Geza?!” Sorinah shouted at him, the pain on her face was palpable. “She would never have left if you had told her! She would still be here… she would still be safe!”
“Sorinah, enough!” He snapped back at her, no longer willing to play this back and forth game with her in this state of mind. “Had I told her the truth… do you really think she would have stayed? Or do you think she would have left all the same… only to go further away than she has now?”
Sorinah simply stood there and stared at her brother for a long while. As the silence passed between them, her overwhelming worry for Isidora and her anger with Geza began to slowly fade. She understood what he meant… but that didn’t make her happy about it. Geza was right. Damn, that Enzo Visconti… that snake.
“Bring her back, Geza,” she finally said, her voice having fallen to a whisper.
Geza just looked at her. The sadness in her voice and the look of loss on her face broke him to the core. He had never been a very emotional man, taking after his father in a number of ways, but his younger sister was and always would be a weakness for him. She was his only sister, what kind of brother and Patriarch would he be to let his sister suffer?
“Whatever it takes, Sorinah,” he said, softening his own voice as he stepped forward to wrap his arms around her shoulders in a hug. “We will bring her home.”
“Sir! Sir!” Shouted one of the staff from within the estate. “Sir, Mr. Drayce, you cannot…”
The woman stopped short in her comment as she reached the doorway leading out to the gardens. The heels she had been following close behind on belonged to Ladon Drayce, who by the look he sported was not happy in the slightest.
“What now…?” Asked Geza with a hint of irritation as he released his sister and faced the young man who had just come barging in. “Ladon Drayce… why, pray tell, are you storming into my home at such an early hour?”
Geza tried to keep things calm and act as if nothing was amiss. Should they let slip the information that Isidora had run off from the estate with no chaperone or guard… well… to put it simply, all hell would break loose. Isidora was beyond valuable in th
e Dragon world… there was no telling what might happen if others knew she was all alone. Ladon didn’t seem to buy it.
“I was invited here, to spend the day, by Isidora,” Ladon answered with bite. “Yet when I arrived, your staff attempted to brush me off like a lost solicitor.”
The way he spoke, the way he held himself and the way his hands clenched at his sides made Geza think that the young fellow was holding back a substantial amount of anger… and it had him narrowing his eyes and the young man with scrutiny.
“I demand someone explain what is going on and to tell me where Isidora is,” Ladon snapped again.
Geza laughed, shaking his head at the younger man before locking his eyes onto him. He could understand the lad’s concern… but he had met Isidora twice. This demanding attitude and anger was unwarranted and unwelcome in Geza’s eyes.
“Isidora is gone!” Sorinah blurted, unexpectedly. “We think she may have gone to find Enzo Visconti.”
“What?” Ladon said, taken aback enough that he lost a significant amount of his anger. Now he was confused… but a little angry as well. “Enzo Visconti?”
“Isidora had met with him just yesterday,” Sorinah began.
“Sorinah…” Geza said, his tone warning her to be quiet.
“It was a prescheduled meeting, just as yours with her have been,” Sorinah continued, ignoring her brother’s warning with a slight glare in his direction. “Enzo… he must have told her something and now she has gone after him.”
“That… that makes no sense,” Ladon said, confusion still knitting his eyebrows together. “What could he have possibly said to her? Why did she not come to you, her family, about it rather than going off after this Enzo?”
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