“No.” Terror gripped my throat at the thought of Lessie dying, her life choked off before it had ever really had a chance to begin. “Please, Salcombe, don’t do this. I’ll find a way to get the heart to you. I know where it is on the island.”
“And yet you didn’t seek to share that information with me before now.” Salcombe’s lips thinned. “No, Zara, you had your chance, and you squandered it.”
Salcombe left the room before I could protest further, posting a guard both inside the room and in the hall. The guard who took Salcombe’s vacated chair wore the same black robes I’d seen before, and now that I could properly see again, I noticed the silver dragon sigil embroidered on his chest.
“What is that?” I asked.
The guard slapped the cudgel he was holding against his palm, a menacing sound. He didn’t answer me, and I decided not to press. I was completely at his mercy, and while Salcombe couldn’t kill me now, he’d said nothing to the guards about keeping me unharmed.
If only I could reach my weapon, I thought morosely. Salcombe had left it on the table next to the armchair. I knew he’d done it as a deliberate taunt—bound to the chair as tightly as I was, there was no chance I was getting free. He’d even removed the daggers from my boots.
The next several hours dragged with excruciating slowness, and eventually my anxiety gave way to pure exhaustion. I knew Salcombe was either going to kill me or force me to become his personal dragon heart detector, but since there was nothing I could do about any of it right now, I tried to doze in the chair and save my strength. The poison they’d used to knock me out hadn’t completely worn off, and I was so weak and muddled I couldn’t even reach out to Lessie. Had Salcombe managed to drug her too? Was that why she’d been so tired, why she hadn’t been able to respond to my call?
The sound of something crashing into the wall roused me from my stupor. “What the hell?” the guard sitting across from me asked, jumping out of his chair. Shouts and screams echoed from the floor below, and the cobwebs cleared from my mind with a rush of adrenaline. What was going on? Were we under attack?
I heard footsteps pounding down the hall, followed by the clash of swords. The guard raised his cudgel over my head. I braced myself, preparing to have my brains dashed out.
“ZARA!”
The window behind the guard exploded, showering us in a wave of glass and debris as Lessie crashed through the wall. I threw myself to the side, chair and all, as she blasted the guard with fire, instantly reducing him to a charred husk. His burning body fell to the ground, and Lessie kicked it impatiently to the side, scrambling to reach me.
“Lessie,” I choked out, tears streaming down my face as she used her claws to rip through my bindings. I wanted to throw my arms around her neck, but the door burst open, and more black-robed guards streamed in.
“Get on!” Lessie commanded, turning to face the guards. I snatched my dragon blade from where it had fallen to the ground, then jumped onto her back as she spewed the guards with a torrent of flame. Their screams mingled with the scent of charred flesh, but I barely had time to register any of it before Lessie leapt through the broken wall, launching us into the sky.
“Yes!” I punched the air as we soared, my heart bursting with relief and triumph. Lessie swooped down, circling to the front of the lawn where several of Captain Marcas’s men were fighting with the black-robed guards. I took a flying leap off Lessie and jumped on the back of one of them, using my blade to slit his throat, and Lessie snapped up a second one in her jaws, tearing him to pieces.
Within a matter of minutes, the rest of the black-robed men were dead.
“Where is Salcombe?” I shouted, opening up my senses again. My stomach plummeted—I couldn’t sense the piece of heart anymore. Had he really managed to escape so quickly? My range was significant thanks to the training I did with Tavarian—how was that possible?
“Gone,” Tavarian said, stepping outside. I blinked at the sight of him—he was in full armor, his black hair wild around his face, a bloody sword in his hand, like a legend straight from a story book. The scales covering his armor were silver, just like his eyes, and I was reminded again that Tavarian had once ridden a dragon of his own. How many battles had he fought? How many times had he stained that sword with blood?
There’s so much I don’t know about you.
“We found a tunnel entrance in the basement,” Captain Marcas said, stepping out just behind Tavarian. He was disheveled and bloody as well, exhaustion tugging at the lines of his face. “We tried following it, but he collapsed it about ten feet in, blocking the path. My men are searching the house for blueprints, to see if we can find where that tunnel goes.”
I shook my head. “Salcombe wouldn’t have left blueprints lying around the place, especially not with secret tunnel entrances.” I looked at Tavarian. “He had a piece of heart on the property, but it’s gone now. I can’t sense it at all.”
Tavarian nodded, but he hardly seemed to register what I’d said. His silver gaze was fixed on my face as he strode toward me, anger blazing in its depths. For a minute I thought he was going to berate me for being foolish, for falling for Salcombe’s trap, but instead he merely slid his hand beneath my chin, tilting my head up.
“Broken nose,” he mused, studying my face. “Did he do this?”
I nodded. “I told him he was selfish and insane. He didn’t seem to like that very much.”
Tavarian shook his head, but I thought I saw his mouth twitch. “Foolish. Brave, but foolish.” He dropped his hand. “Any other injuries?”
“No.”
“Zara!” Rhia cried, and I spun around, shocked. She and Jallis raced around the corner of the house, dressed in their dragon armor. Their swords were strapped to their sides, and they looked as if they’d been fighting as well. “You’re safe!”
Tavarian stepped back as Jallis caught me around the waist, spinning me in the air. “We tried to get to you,” he said as he crushed me to his chest in a hug, “but we were outnumbered five to one. Honestly, I don’t know how we managed to defeat them all.”
I glanced at Tavarian over Jallis’s shoulder, wondering if he’d had a hand in it. I’d read a few stories about the battle mages of old, and while Tavarian couldn’t use his magic openly, he could very well use it for subtle things, like making a man’s arms too heavy to carry a sword, or constricting his air supply. But if Tavarian noticed my scrutiny, he didn’t pay it any mind. He was deep in conversation with Captain Marcas, likely discussing their next plan of action.
“I’m so glad you came,” I said, hugging Jallis back. I hugged Rhia too. “How did you guys convince Tavarian to let you come along?”
“He didn’t seem to need much convincing,” Rhia said with a smile. “He needed the help, and there wasn’t really any time to argue about it. We are soldiers, after all, and trained. A couple of guys in black robes weren’t going to be a big deal.”
“He did try to leave me behind,” Lessie said, nudging me with her giant snout. “He felt that bringing dragons would ruin the element of surprise. But I couldn’t stay back, not after I’d already failed to protect you.”
I felt a wave of guilt and shame wash over her, and I wrapped my arms around her neck in a hug. “It’s not your fault,” I said soothingly. “They must have found a way to slip something into your food.”
“I should have detected it,” Lessie argued. “But I was so hungry that I ate without thinking. All this growing is wreaking havoc on my appetite.”
I laughed at the plaintive note in her voice. “Well I’m glad you’re growing so fast,” I said out loud. “If you weren’t so big, you wouldn’t have been able to save me.”
“That’s right,” Jallis said, grinning at Lessie. “You saved the day.”
Lessie preened. “I suppose I did.”
But as the four of us celebrated, I couldn’t help but feel that our victory was bittersweet. Salcombe was at large, and as long as he was still looking for those pieces of hea
rt, as long as he still needed to find me, Lessie and I would never be safe.
20
“Are you ready to go?”
I turned to see Tavarian standing in the doorway of my room. He bore very little resemblance to the dragon rider I’d seen last night, dressed in his waistcoat and trousers once more, his long, black hair neatly secured at the nape of his neck. So different…and yet the same. The more time I spent with him, the more I realized he was not the cold mask he wore, but multi-faceted. Complex. Dragon rider, businessman, and mage all at once.
An anomaly.
“Nearly.” I tucked one last item into my suitcase, then shut it. Tavarian had the guards bring all of my things last night, both from my dormitory and my apartment, so that I could pack what I needed for the journey. After everything that had happened, Tavarian was taking me and Lessie to an undisclosed location to train us. He wasn’t taking any chances on either of our lives, and had insisted that I spend my last night in Elantia at his estate, in the same guestroom where I’d once been locked in as a prisoner.
How things have changed.
“Good.” He stepped into the room, looking around. Clothes, supplies, knickknacks, and trinkets were strewn all about—I’d spent the morning going through everything I owned and deciding what I could and couldn’t live without. Living at the Dragon Academy, where I could still go down to the shop and my apartment on the weekends, had been one thing. But now I was leaving Elantia entirely, and I had no idea when I would come back.
“You’re really not going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked as I hefted the suitcase off the bed. A servant immediately took it from my hands and whisked it out of the room before I could even set it on the floor. “Not even a hint.”
Tavarian smiled faintly, but he didn’t take the bait. “Come,” he said. “There is one more thing we have to do before we leave.”
I followed him down the hall, a little annoyed. I was leaving on short notice, without time to say proper goodbyes to my friends, to get my affairs in order, and he couldn’t even—
“Zara!”
Carina flung her arms around me, and I stopped, stunned. I’d barely noticed when Tavarian had led me into the sitting room, but as I looked over Carina’s shoulder, I saw Rhia and Jallis were there, along with Portina, Tiana, and all my friends from the orphanage. Even Brolian was there, grinning at me.
“Wha…what are you guys doing here?” I sputtered.
“Lord Tavarian brought us up to say goodbye to you,” Carina said. She pulled back to look at me with a watery smile. “We knew that you wouldn’t be able to come to us, so we decided to come to you instead.”
A lump swelled in my throat, so fierce that I could barely speak. I turned to Lord Tavarian to thank him, but he had already disappeared, likely to give me time alone with my friends while he took care of some last-minute affair. A wave of gratitude filled me for this man who had done so much for me, despite my recalcitrance. I would have to find a way to repay him someday.
“Quit hogging her already, would you?” Jallis complained, yanking me from Carina’s arms. “I didn’t get to do this properly last night, with your broken nose and all,” he said huskily, and then crushed his mouth against me in a breath-stealing kiss.
Wolf-whistles and cheers filled the air as I wrapped my arms around Jallis’s neck and kissed him back. I would miss his crooked smiles, the steady warmth he filled me with, his looks and touches, the feel of his mouth on mine. Would we ever get a chance to explore what we had? To find out if I was wrong, and that a relationship with him really could work?
“There,” Jallis said softly, releasing me. “That should hold me over until the next time.”
I spent a blissful hour talking and laughing with my friends, sharing stories and eating cake and hors d’oeuvres. The stolen slice of time was like a balm to my soul, a reassurance that though I had to leave my friends behind, I would be in their hearts just as much as they would be in mine.
“I wish that I’d had more time to sort things out with you all,” I said to Carina and our new employees. “I was hardly at the shop as it was, and I feel like I’m abandoning you all now.”
“Nonsense.” Tiana smiled. She looked better than I’d ever seen her, her skin glowing with health, the bags beneath her eyes vanished. “You know we’re grateful just to have the opportunity to work. We’ll take excellent care of the shop while you’re gone.”
“Honestly, Zara, we’re just glad you’re going away somewhere safe,” Carina added. “Don’t worry about the Treasure Trove. We’ve been getting in plenty of inventory from other hunters, and while they’re not as good as your finds, we’ve been attracting higher quality treasure hunters lately. By the time you’re back, you may not even need to hunt at all.”
“As if.” I rolled my eyes at the teasing note in her voice. I didn’t know what my future held, but I knew that I was never going to stop being a treasure hunter. “I’m sure I’ll bring back some new finds to add to our inventory.”
But eventually that hour came to an end, and with it, the guards. I made my last goodbyes, exchanged more hugs, kisses, and tears. Jallis promised that he would find a way to send me letters—his father was taking over Tavarian’s duties, after all, and he was certain they had some way to communicate. The idea gave me hope, but I tried not to take it too seriously. After all, the idea was that we were trying to drop off the grid. I doubted Tavarian would allow me any correspondence at all for risk that Salcombe might intercept it.
Lessie was waiting for me on the airfield, her sapphire scales gleaming in the morning light. Despite the bittersweetness of my farewells, the homesickness I was already starting to feel, my heart lightened at the sight of her.
“I’m so glad you’re in my life,” I said, wrapping my arms around her.
“As am I,” she agreed. Her foreleg came around me in a gentle embrace, and then she pulled back and turned toward the ship. “Are you ready for our next adventure?”
I looked up at the ship and saw that Tavarian was waiting at the top of the gangplank. His gaze was steady, patient, but as I took in the airship, the balloon that was already half inflated, tugging on the ropes that bound it to the ground, my blood began to thrum with the need for speed. To soar in the skies, to explore new territory, see new things. To find out just what Lessie and I were capable of together.
“Always,” I said.
To be continued…
Zara and Lessie’s adventures will continue in FLIGHT OF THE DRAGON, Book 2 in the Dragon Riders of Elantia series! Click HERE to be notified when it’s released!
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About the Author
JESSICA DRAKE is obsessed with books, chocolate, and traveling. When she’s not binge-watching Lord of the Rings or planning her dream vacation, she can be found chained to her computer, feverishly working on her next project. She loves to hear from her readers, so feel free to drop her a line at [email protected].
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