by Rinelle Grey
Taurian’s voice was reassuring. He clearly believed their sister’s assertion without question.
Lyrian wasn’t so sure.
Sarian’s nose wrinkled at the unfamiliar word, but she got the gist of its meaning from Taurian’s mind with her words. “We don’t have a lot of time then,” Sarian said. “We have to get out of here and back to the lair.” She stared at Latrima. “How do we get rid of her?”
Lyrian was wondering the same thing. There would have to be a discussion of some sort, of that she was sure. But so far, Latrima hadn’t said anything. She’d been unusually quiet, watching the two princesses, her lips thin.
She had to know the Rian dragons were conversing, and guess she was the topic of discussion. Maybe she was hoping Sarian would change her mind after talking to her sister. Maybe she hoped Sarian would admit something to Lyrian that she wouldn’t say out loud.
Either way, Lyrian looking at her indicated their conversation was over.
“Are you sure that is your final answer, Princess Sarian?” Latrima asked.
Sarian’s eyebrow shot up. “Are you asking me if I’m sure I hate your leader?” Her lips twisted in a sneer. She grasped hold of Raven’s hand and used it to help lever herself into a sitting position. She hadn’t quite gained enough energy to stand, but it wouldn’t take long. She kept hold of his hand, using the connection to help replenish her.
“Let me explain something to you,” Sarian said, her voice quiet. “Your leader attacked my people. He injured me, and my brothers and sisters, and killed many of our clan. He has kept us trapped in the Mesmer sleep for three hundred years. And you think there is some chance I feel something for him? I don’t know about Trima clan, but in Rian clan, we don’t attack the family of those we love.”
“Did you feel something for him, before all this started?” Latrima persisted, her voice quiet. “Is it possible that Ultrima attacked your clan because you betrayed his love?”
Sarian didn’t answer immediately, and when she didn’t speak, Taurian broke the silence. “Are you questioning my sister’s answers? Suggesting that she might be lying?” he demanded. His hands clenched into fists.
Lyrian glanced at her sister, catching a flash of pain on her face.
It was gone in an instant, to be replaced by a steely determination. “I cannot betray something that never existed. Ultrima may think he feels love for me, but his actions clearly demonstrate otherwise. He shows nothing but lust and a need for power. Not qualities I admire in a dragon, or ever have.”
Her sister lifted her head regally and stepped down off the platform, only her firm grip on Raven’s arm showing how much effort the movement cost her.
“Now if you’re quite finished your questioning, I’d suggest you leave, before I have reason to make you.” Sarian stared at Latrima, unfazed by the life dragon’s power. If Lyrian didn’t know she’d just woken from the Mesmer and hadn’t had a chance to finish the ritual, she never would have doubted that she could carry out her threat.
But she had…
And Latrima knew it as well as she did. The fight would still be two against one, but that might not be enough against a life dragon.
Lyrian watched Latrima closely, looking for any sign that might indicate she was about to attack. Taurian stood behind her, his eyes on their enemy. Dragon claws slipped out of the end of his human fingers. He was poised to attack. If necessary.
Truthfully, Lyrian would prefer not to fight her. The Trima dragon might be their enemy, but so far she’d shown a reason and sense that Lyrian respected. She would not like to have to hurt her.
Latrima showed no intention of attacking them. She was still looking at Sarian, as though she itched to ask her about her feelings again.
Somehow, Lyrian was pretty sure that wouldn’t go well, so she stepped in.
“You have been present at Princess Sarian’s waking, as we agreed, and heard her answer,” she said firmly. “It may not be what you want to hear, but that is not your choice. It is my sister’s. And she’s made it quite clear that she is not interested in mating with Ultrima.”
Latrima’s mouth twisted. “I am not convinced it is the truth, but that is of no consequence. Being present when Princess Sarian woke was only part of the deal. Lisa and I also agreed that Ultrima would get a chance to talk to her.”
Lyrian hadn’t heard that part of the deal. She glanced over at Taurian, one eyebrow raised.
Her brother frowned. “Even if that is so, Lisa could not make an agreement based on what my sister does. If she has no wish to see Ultrima, then she has no need to. Not that it matters right now, Ultrima is at the police station, not here.”
“It was also part of the agreement that Princess Sarian not mate with the man who woke her,” Latrima said quickly.
Lyrian stared at Latrima. If this were true, she needed to give Lisa a stern talking to. Who did she think she was, making these sorts of agreements without talking to the rest of the clan? To Sarian?
“So you’re telling me that you and Lisa, whoever she is, made decisions about who I would and wouldn’t sleep with in my absence? And you think I should acquiesce to them?” Sarian demanded.
Latrima didn’t quail, exactly, but she did glance down at the floor for a moment. “Of course not, Princess.” Her voice even sounded deferential. She lifted her head, staring at Sarian, her expression indicating that she was warring with something inside herself.
“I have no wish to make demands on you,” she said quickly. “I only wished to be able to offer you a choice. A chance to choose love, if you so wished.”
Sarian stared at her for a moment, and then her expression softened. Her voice was almost gentle as she said, “That is kind of you, child, but your concern is misplaced. I have never been coerced into any decision I did not wish to make.”
Latrima stared at her for a few moments, then nodded. “It appears we may have been lied to.”
Sarian nodded her head, as though to agree, then to Lyrian’s surprise, said softly, “Do not be too hard on your leader. It is not uncommon for dragons to believe so strongly in what they want to come to pass, that they overlook evidence to the contrary.”
“Yes, of course, Princess.” Latrima sounded contrite, maybe even a little miserable. A vivid contrast to her earlier certainty and arrogance.
Sarian paused for a moment and glanced at her brother and sister. Then turned back to Latrima. “If, given this new information, anyone in your clan wishes to change their allegiance, and return to Rian clan, they will be welcomed with open arms. No one will be punished for believing Ultrima’s lies.”
“Yes. Thank you. I will inform everyone,” Latrima said, her head bowed.
Then to Lyrian’s surprise, she walked back to the ledge, transformed into her dragon form, and flew away.
Lyrian heaved a sigh of relief. That had gone better than she could have possibly expected.
Chapter 47
“Come with me.” The expression on the senior constable’s face was impassive, not giving away anything.
The glance she threw at Ultrima, in the corner, though no more emotional, gave Brad a clue that something was going on. Something he was unaware of. It was almost as if… as if the woman knew the dragon. But how could that be?
Brad didn’t have much time to ponder the issue as she lead him back to the meeting room where they’d talked to Barry earlier. Was the lawyer back already? Did he have something that could help them?
When they entered the room though, it wasn’t Barry waiting there. It was Detective Inspector Williams. And he didn’t look happy. He stood next to the window, staring out, but when he turned around as they entered, his face was grim.
A flash of adrenaline hit Brad. This wasn’t about the lawyer. It was about the lies he’d told. They’d figured it out. Brad’s heart thumped in his chest.
The woman waved them to their seats, and to Brad’s surprise, shot them a sympathetic look.
Her gesture had the opposite effect to
its intention. Brad’s hands shook as he pulled out a chair and sat down, trying to look nonchalant.
If the woman felt sorry for him, he must be in real trouble.
“We’ve searched the area you mentioned, thoroughly.” The inspector’s voice was deliberately calm, but it didn’t calm Brad at all. He could hear the ‘but’ behind it. He winced, knowing what was coming.
Detective Inspector Williams turned faster than his bulk would indicated he was capable of, giving Brad just enough warning that he was able to not jump when the man slammed his fists on the table. “You lied to us.”
Brad didn’t say anything. What was there to say? The inspector was right, and he couldn’t deny it. He had lied to them.
“Did you think it was funny, sending us on a wild goose chase?” The inspector stared at them, his expression fuming.
Brad’s continued silence only seemed to incense him more. “Do you have nothing to say for yourself? You’ve talked to your lawyer, now it’s time to talk to us.”
He paced the room a few times, glancing at Nate and Brad, neither of whom said anything. Then he pulled a chair out roughly and sat down. “Look, I’m a reasonable man. I gave you a chance to help us out, to help yourself out. But if you continue to say nothing, then it’s going to go very badly for you, I promise.”
Brad winced. Barry had said that the charges would be minor, not a big deal. He had a plan to get them out of here. Brad needed to hang onto that, and not let this man intimidate him.
His resolve must have shown on his face, because the inspector swore. He pushed the chair back and stood up, pacing the room for a minute, then turned to stare at them. The anger had faded, and the icy calm that replaced it chilled Brad’s blood.
“Never mind,” Detective Inspector Williams said, his voice silky smooth, “Your silence tells us everything we need to know. You lied to protect the dragons, meaning that you were concerned we were getting too close. They have to be out at wave rock.”
Brad swallowed, saying nothing, even though he knew it was pointless at this stage.
He only hoped that Barry had reported in to Lisa, as he said he would, and that the dragons were in the process of evacuating the lair even as they spoke.
*****
Lisa stood at the entrance to the lair when Lyrian and the others returned, Verrian standing beside her, both looking worried. Lyrian landed, and Sarian slid from her back, her eyes seeking out Raven, who had ridden on Taurian’s back, and clasping his hand without even looking at him.
They hadn’t wanted to remain at the Mesmer chamber long enough to finish the ritual, not certain whether Latrima planned to return with the rest of her clan and ‘convince’ Sarian to go with them by force.
Verrian gave his sister a hug, and Lisa gave her a nod, but the first words out of Lisa’s mouth were, “We’ve got a problem.”
Lyrian’s heart sank. Another one? She really would like a break from problems for a while. Like, long enough for them to deal with the ones they already had.
“What is it?” Taurian asked. He must be as tired of problems as she was, but he didn’t hesitate.
If he could manage it, she could. Lyrian squared her shoulders and waited for Lisa’s reply.
“I just had a call from Barry,” Lisa started.
Lyrian’s heart skipped a beat. Lisa’s boss, Barry, was supposed to be helping Brad. What could have gone wrong? Had Brad been wrong, and the police were a danger after all? She stood poised, ready to transform back into a dragon and fly to Brad’s rescue if Lisa’s next words indicated a need.
“He’s confident he can help Brad, but he said the police aren’t going to be fooled for long. Brad has apparently given them a false location for the lair, but once they realise we’re not there, they’re going to figure out where we are. Brad thinks we should evacuate.”
The words hung in the air between them. Lyrian’s heart slowed down a little, its irregular beat not quite so painful now she knew Brad wasn’t in danger. She glanced sideways at Taurian, guessing what his answer would be, even before he spoke.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Taurian said firmly. “I wouldn’t let the Trima dragons chase us out of our lair, and I won’t let the humans either. They can’t hurt us here. They wouldn’t dare. Let them come.”
Anger welled up in Lyrian. Didn’t he realise that Brad had sacrificed himself to protect them? To give them this chance to escape before the human’s found them? Was he going to throw it all away out of pride?
She opened her mouth to object, but Sarian beat her to it.
“I think you’d better tell me the situation, before we make any rash decisions.” She looked over at Lisa, a glance up and down sizing her up quickly. “How long does this ‘Brad’ think we have to prepare? And can his evaluation be trusted?”
“We don’t know how long,” Lisa said quickly. She looked to Lyrian, as though expecting her to explain the rest.
Lyrian bit back a sigh. “Brad is my mate. He gave himself up to the police to hide the location of our lair. A sacrifice that will have been in vain if Taurian insists on remaining here to satisfy his pride.” She shot her brother an irritated look.
Sarian seemed to be doing a good job of taking things in quickly. “We appreciate your mate’s sacrifice, without question,” she said softly to Lyrian, not even blinking at the fact that her younger sister had a mate she’d never met. “No matter what happens here, he bought you time to wake me. How many of us are awake now?”
“We still have to wake Calrian and Warrian,” Verrian said, his expression concerned. “But we skipped them in favour of having you here.”
“Very wise,” Sarian said, her voice clipped. “So there are four leaders awake. That should be enough to deal with the humans.”
She spoke firmly, as though she’d forgotten that she wasn’t at full strength yet.
“Not necessarily,” Verrian said. “They have even more powerful weapons than they did when we left England. They are a threat in their own right. Perhaps more so than Ultrima is.”
“They might be, if they could get to us,” Taurian insisted. “But last time I looked, humans can’t fly. Not as well as a dragon anyway, and certainly not without large and noisy machines. They cannot get into the lair. We are safe here. Far safer than we would be anywhere else.”
Frustration flashed across Sarian’s face. Was it because their brothers were fighting, or because she had missed so much, and wasn’t sure what decision to make or whose advice to follow?
Though she tried to hide it, Lyrian could see the exhaustion in her eyes. They needed time. Time for Sarian to finish the Mesmer ritual and regain her full strength. Time to fill her sister in on what had happened in her absence. Time to figure out what they were going to do next.
But that was time they just didn’t have.
Chapter 48
Brad paced up and down the room again. He could hear the commotion outside the door, muffled through the walls, but his hearing wasn’t good enough to make out what was being said. He glanced over at Ultrima, wondering if the dragon could tell anything more than he could.
But if he could, he wasn’t giving it away. He sat on the stretcher, leaning back against the wall, his eyes closed. He could well have been asleep, but Brad wasn’t convinced. He didn’t think the Trima dragon missed much at all.
Raised voices sounded in the other room, and Brad’s stomach clenched. “What do you think is going on?” he asked Nate privately.
Nate frowned, silent for a few moments, as if trying to identify the words, or at least the voices. Was that Detective Inspector Williams’ voice, or someone else? “Do you think someone is trying to stop them going after the clan? That woman, Senior Constable Lyons, I think she might know more than she lets on.”
It was interesting that Nate thought her behaviour strange too. Brad had definitely noticed her reactions being unusual. Not that he was sure what was usual when confronted with a dragon.
As if summoned, the door opened
, and the senior constable stood in front of them. “They want to talk to you.”
Brad glanced over at Nate, but his brother just shrugged. He was probably thinking the same thing Brad was, that they didn’t really have a lot of choice.
He and Nate headed through the open door, but the senior constable didn’t follow them. She was still staring into the room. “You too,” she said to Ultrima.
Brad’s heartrate kicked up a notch. That was different. They hadn’t talked to both of them at the same time before. Was this some new way to try to get them to talk? Pit them against each other or something? Or was something else going on?
If so, he was damned if he knew what.
They already knew that Rian clan wasn’t at the location Brad had told them, and they had a pretty good guess where they were. What more did they expect to get from him? And why bring Ultrima into the conversation?
It was already obvious that the Trima dragon hadn’t given away the location, for reasons known only to him.
Perhaps though, they were aware that he knew it, and thought to somehow provoke one party or the other into confirming it. Maybe even giving them a clue on where to start their search.
It made a frightening kind of sense.
Brad resolved to be calm, to refuse to take the bait, and whatever else he did, not to antagonise the other dragon.
Which was what he was going to do anyway.
When Senior Constable Lyons lead them back into the conference room though, it was clear there was something more going on. A new group of people were sitting at the table. Three of them, all wearing suits and ties, all middle aged at least.
At least half a dozen police officers stood behind the empty chairs against the opposite wall. Brad suspected they were there to keep an eye on Ultrima, rather than him or Nate.
In the middle chair opposite the three men, sat Barry. He gave Brad and Nate a friendly smile, and for the first time since the senior constable had come into the room, the constriction around Brad’s heart eased a little.
