by Avril Sabine
“The High Protector. Your grandparents. Do they know you’re a Dragon Mage?”
As usual her luck was holding up just great. Bad luck that was. “My grandparents do so I guess they’ve told the High Protector.” Why did Dominic have to know about Dragon Mages?
“Would you have-” he gestured to her hands. “You know. Thrown them at me.”
She shook her head. “You surprised me.”
He looked disbelievingly at her. “Most people jump, not attack, when they’re surprised.”
“Most people haven’t had an assassin after them,” Amber said dryly.
“An assassin.” He spoke it like it was a good thing. Reverently and with a touch of awe.
“Yes.” Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned it, but she’d thought it’d bring an end to the questions, not have his eyes light up with excitement and curiosity. “Look, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Did they catch him?”
“Didn’t you understand what I said? Not talking about it. At all.” The last thing she needed was the nightmares to return. She pushed the image of plunging the blazing sword into Paili’s heart from her mind. An image of herself clinging to Queran’s back as she hurled fireballs at his wing tried to creep in to take its place.
“Yeah, but-”
“Did you want something?”
“You weren’t at dinner.” He barely paused for breath before he continued. “Why did you have an assassin after you?”
“I wasn’t hungry.” She ignored his second question.
“And the assassin?”
“What time is breakfast?”
“Six to six-thirty. After that you miss out. Now about-”
“Goodnight, Dominic.” She strode forward, grasping the edge of the door.
He placed his hand on the front of the door so she couldn’t close it. “What happened? With the assassin. Why won’t you talk about it? Did you get hurt?”
“No. I’m going to sleep now. Move your hand.”
“Was it something to do with becoming a mage?”
She started to close the door. Her eyes narrowed when he resisted. “Move your hand. Now.”
“Why won’t you answer me?”
She’d had enough. Why did they all have to question her? Feeling the panther prowling inside her, wanting to escape, she let only it’s power trickle through, slamming it back as she slammed the door shut. She leaned against the door. It had been close. For a second she’d thought the panther would completely escape.
Dominic hit the door. “That’s not the way to make friends. They said to make you feel welcome. Well screw you. Find your own way around.”
She listened to his footsteps retreat. Closing her eyes she tried not to think about what she’d just done. He’d been questioning her. What had he expected? She sighed, pushing away from the door. Maybe she’d apologise to him tomorrow. But she wasn’t about to spill her guts just to have a friendly face in this place. Too bad if they all hated her, she wasn’t about to stick around any longer than she had to. Turning off the light switch as she passed it, she crossed the room to drop onto her bed. Her stomach rumbled and she felt the panther stir. Breakfast was going to be a long time away.
Pulling out her phone, she sent a text to Kade. I hate it here.
What do you want me to do?
Nothing. I’m going to sleep. But I still hate it here.
I’ll be there 8 a.m. Monday.
I can’t wait.
She set the alarm on her phone and put it on the floor beside her bed. Lying there, she stared at the ceiling, light splashing across it from the still open blind. It took her ages to fall asleep and she woke several times during the night, the strange sounds and scents of the area disturbing her. Twice she had to fight against the panther breaking free. Missing dinner hadn’t been a good idea.
It wasn’t even six when she gave up on sleep, her room filled with light from her open window. She turned off her alarm, which hadn’t had a chance to ring yet, and lay staring at the ceiling wishing she was anywhere but here. It was a waste of time. She didn’t want to learn how to kill dragons. She was already far too efficient at that. Reluctantly rising from bed, she grabbed her bag from the wardrobe and wondered where the bathroom was. Maybe she shouldn’t have upset Dominic last night. At least not until she’d learned where a few more things were.
Opening her bedroom door, she peered up the hallway. It was empty and quiet. Where was everyone? Going to the next door along, she knocked on it. No one answered. Her hand hovered over the doorknob and she wondered if she should open it. She knocked one more time and waited a few minutes before she opened the door. The room was identical to hers except the bed was made and the room looked like no one was using it. She was almost relieved to see there were bars at the window. Maybe her grandparents hadn’t deliberately had some installed just for her. But she bet they would have if there hadn’t been any on the window. Closing the door, she looked in each direction. The next door or the one on the other side of her door?
She finally decided to knock on the door on the other side of hers. About to give up, Amber was surprised when the door swung open and Dominic stood in front of her. “Uhm, sorry about last night. I was tired.”
He nodded, but remained silent.
“Can you tell me where the bathroom is?”
He pointed up the corridor in the opposite direction to her room. “Fifth door on the right.”
“Okay.” She started to move away. “Thanks.” She heard the door close when she’d taken only a couple of steps. Obviously he wasn’t about to forgive her. Either that or he wasn’t a morning person, but she didn’t think that was the case. As a Knight, not being alert the moment you woke would probably be seen as a weakness.
Once she’d finished in the bathroom, she returned her bag to her wardrobe and knocked on Dominic’s door again. He opened it much quicker this time, standing there silently. Amber bit back the urge to tell him to get over himself. That she didn’t have to tell him her life story. “Can you show me to the dinning room?”
“When I’m ready to go there.” He closed the door.
She stared at the white door, fuming. Fine! Let him be like that. It wasn’t like she needed to make friends here. She wasn’t sticking around any longer than she had to. Striding back to her room, she left her door open, dropping onto the bed. Pulling out her phone she was relieved to see no new messages from Cooper. Maybe she’d finally gotten through to him that he didn’t need to text her every few minutes.
I survived the night. She sent the text to Kade.
Why are you up so early?
Breakfast is only served between 6 and 6:30. Missed dinner. Starving.
Why did you miss dinner? How is the panther handling that?
It felt like the panther was prowling back and forth, barely caged, but telling Kade that probably wasn’t a good idea. Because they’ve got too many stupid rules here. She looked up when Dominic appeared in the doorway. Have to go. My tour guide has arrived to take me to the dinning room.
Be careful.
She smiled. Like he was all the time? Yeah right. She rose to her feet, tucking her phone away, trying to think of something to say to Dominic. He remained silent as they walked along the corridors. She thought of and discarded several comments. If he expected her to tell him about the assassins before he’d talk to her again he was going to be very disappointed.
Chapter Five
It was quiet in the dining hall and Amber glanced around at the kids sitting at the tables, eating. Her eyes momentarily landed on Jennifer who sent her a venomous glare. Great. Just what she needed.
Dominic pushed past her, headed for the far side of the room where a man was serving breakfast. The man was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, had his dark brown hair cut very close to his head and his brown eyes took in everything. He stood behind a counter that separated the dinning room from the kitchen.
Amber followed Dominic, collecting a tray like he did
. She waited behind Dominic while the man added bacon, eggs and toast to a plate and handed it to Dominic along with a glass of water. Moving along, Dominic gathered cutlery off the counter while the man handed Amber a plate of food and a glass of orange juice. Smelling the dragon bone in the juice, she held it out to the man.
He didn’t reach for the glass. “Drink your juice.”
Dominic, who’d started to move away, turned back.
“No thanks.” Amber continued to hold out the glass.
“That wasn’t a suggestion. It was an order.”
She placed the juice on the counter. “I’m not having dragon bone.”
“You can’t be a true Knight if you don’t.”
Amber started to turn away, not interested in continuing an obviously unproductive argument.
“I didn’t give you permission to walk away. Drink the juice now. I don’t want a single drop left in that glass.”
She faced the man. “I won’t drink or eat anything with dragon bone in it.” She spoke each word slowly, aware of the silence in the dinning room behind her. Reaching out with her empty hand, she pushed the glass over. The noise of the glass striking the counter rang out in the silent room. The juice quickly spread.
The man stretched across the counter, knocking the plate from her hands. The plate and food tumbled to the floor. “No juice, no breakfast.”
Hunger and anger had the panther wanting to break free and strike out at the man. “You’re really going to want to feed me. I won’t be held responsible for what happens if I’m not fed.”
The man chuckled. “Nice try, little girl. My orders came from the High Protector himself. Now I’ll get you a glass of juice and you’ll drink it before I dish up another plate for you.”
“I don’t think so.” She tried to search the building with her mind, but whatever the building was made of, it wouldn’t allow her to reach beyond the room she was in. Striding towards the door, she stopped when four kids moved in front of her. She only recognised Jennifer. “Get out of the way.”
Jennifer smiled. “No dragons can get in here and rescue you. You’re on your own this time.”
“I don’t need dragons to rescue me. Now get out of my way.”
“Or what?” Jennifer’s smile became smug. “You’re a little outnumbered.”
Amber brought fireballs to her hands. “Then how about I deal with that by starting with you?” She heard the gasp of the kids behind her. She had felt them advancing, but now they stopped.
“Jennifer, fetch the High Protector.”
“But Stanley-”
“Now.”
Jennifer sent Amber a look that warned her there’d be payback, then left the room, shutting the door hard behind her.
Amber stepped to the side so she could keep an eye on everyone. Extinguishing the fireball from one hand, she pulled out her phone and rang Ronan.
“What did you do?”
“It wasn’t me. They’re trying to make me have dragon bone. I’m not eating it, drinking it, or consuming it in any way, shape or form.” To her, dragons were people. And you didn’t eat people. It was bad enough that she had to wear the skin of them.
“Hang that phone up now.” Stanley pointed a finger at her, coming closer. “No phone calls during class time.”
“They’re trying to weaken you,” Ronan said.
“What?”
“I’m not going to repeat myself,” Stanley warned.
Amber kept an eye on him and the kids who fanned out around him. “You better hurry up and explain yourself before all hell breaks lose, Ronan.”
“Dragons can’t eat dragon bone. That includes mages. Blood, flesh, organs, but no bone. It weakens us. They would know that. Tell them if they force something harmful on you it’s an act of war. We’ll bring two castles full of warriors against them. Their Brisbane headquarters would be rubble within hours.”
“That’s it.” Stanley started to step forward, his hand reaching for the phone.
Amber disconnected, slid her phone into her pocket and side stepped him. “You better wait for the High Protector before you begin a war he might not want to start.” Her phone rang and she ignored it. “Back away.”
The door burst open and Jennifer entered the room, followed by Martin and Charles. Amber’s phone continued to ring.
“Turn that phone off,” Martin ordered.
“Actually you might want me to answer it.” Amber kept the fireball in her hand. “Otherwise you’ll have two castles worth of dragons attacking very soon.” The phone stopped ringing and immediately started again.
“What have you done?” Charles demanded.
“Protected myself.”
“Get these children out of here,” Martin ordered Stanley before he turned to Amber. “Answer that phone.”
Amber smiled as Jennifer was sent from the room, protesting. As soon as it was only her and the three men, she extinguished the fireball and answered the phone. “Yeah?”
“What’s going on?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
Martin held out his hand. “Give me the phone.”
“I’ll take it.” Charles also held out a hand.
“You’re no longer the High Protector. This is my concern. You brought her here and put everyone at risk.”
“Who do you want to speak to, Ronan? My grandfather or Martin, the High Protector? There’s some arguing going on over who’s running the show.”
“In that case put Charles on the phone.”
She almost laughed, but the situation was still too dangerous for that. She held out her phone to her grandfather. “He wants to talk to you.”
“This is outrageous,” Martin said.
Stanley stood by quietly, watching everything carefully. Amber didn’t blame him. She was warily watching everyone too. Especially Stanley. Her stomach growled and she bit back the growl the panther wanted her to make. They better sort this out quickly or she’d be finding her own meal.
After saying yes a couple of times and no once, Charles handed the phone back to Amber. “Yes?”
“You will ring me in an hour and tell me if everything has been sorted to your satisfaction.”
“Okay.”
“And whatever you do, don’t have any of the dragon bone.”
“You could have told me about that earlier.”
“You had already refused it. I didn’t expect them to force the issue. Especially since harming you means they lose your time.”
“So if I had eaten it I-”
“Would have been a willing participant. It’s only if they’d managed to force you. Now go and finish sorting them out, kitten. I’ll hear from you in an hour.”
When Ronan hung up, she returned her phone to her pocket. “I need breakfast.”
“You will eat once we sort this out,” Martin said.
“If I’m not fed soon, I’ll be hunting down my own breakfast and I don’t think the wild animal I turn into will care what gets in the way.”
“Stanley, serve her breakfast,” Charles ordered.
“Stanley, don’t move until this is sorted.” Martin kept his gaze on Amber. “A bird isn’t going to hunt down anything that can be found within this building.”
Amber grinned, trying to imitate Ronan’s predatory one. “I wasn’t planning to turn into a bird.”
“Panther,” Charles said.
Martin rounded on him. “What?”
“She turns into a damned panther.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I couldn’t volunteer any information about her or the dragons, but since she’s about to disclose it herself it doesn’t matter.” Charles’ gaze went to Stanley. “Get her food. Immediately!”
Stanley nodded, returning to his counter. Amber followed him, taking the plate he held out, breathing in the scent of the food. It was safe. No dragon bone at all. She sat at one of the tables, quickly finishing what was on her plate and returning for seconds. Skipping din
ner hadn’t been a good idea. But it had meant she’d learned some valuable information. Her grandfather wouldn’t break his word and Martin wasn’t to be trusted no matter what he said.
Leaving the dirty plate on the table, Amber rejoined the three men who were arguing in hushed tones near the door. She was tempted to tell them they’d have to talk quieter than that if they didn’t want her to hear.
“Ring your dragon,” Charles ordered. “Tell him you’re safe.”
“Am I?”
Charles nodded abruptly.
She turned her gaze to Martin. “Well?”
“For now.”
She held Martin’s gaze a moment longer before she took out her phone and rang Ronan.
“All sorted?”
“I’m safe. For now.”
“I want regular calls. If anything else happens you’ll have bodyguards.”
“They won’t let dragons in here, Ronan.”
“Human ones. Ex military.”
“Isn’t that a bit overkill?”
“I love some of the words you humans come up with. Overkill. You can never kill too much. Ring me at midday.”
Ronan hung up before Amber could tell him that wasn’t what she’d meant. She didn’t want anyone killed. Holding back a sigh, she returned her phone to her pocket, her gaze travelling to each man who still stared at her. “What now?”
“Classes.” Charles said.
“Who’s going to want a mage in their class?” Martin asked. “It’s a bad idea. She’s already made up her mind which side she’s on.”
“I’m on my side. That’ll never change,” Amber said.
“I’ll take her.” Stanley smiled.
Amber was glad she’d had plenty of practice at not retreating from Ronan’s smiles. Stanley’s smile promised revenge. She met his gaze without flinching. “What do you think you can teach me?”
“How to treat your superiors with respect. Eventually. But we’ll start with hand to hand combat.”
“Hand to hand combat sounds okay.” Especially with the amount of people who tended to put her on their list of people they wanted dead. And unlike the handful of kids who’d told her to drop dead over the years, these people had the means to make her death a possibility.
