by Hati Bell
Drake rolled up his sleeve and turned one finger into a sharp claw. The goblins made way for him as he walked towards Zacharias.
Amber couldn’t see what they were doing, but it was easy to guess.
NINE
Once they had made it home, Bryan was the one raging about her almost being abducted to their father. She was too stunned and hurt to say much herself. By the end of Bryan’s story, her dad had grabbed and hugged her. Then he’d taken the phone and asked them to give him some alone time. She suspected he wanted to yell at Meg in private.
Fifteen minutes later Amber heard the front door open and close. She quickly left her room and moved into the hall so she could eavesdrop without them seeing her.
“How could you be so irresponsible? What kind of person sells her own grandchild, and to a dragon no less?” her father roared.
“Sometimes things take a different turn than you had foreseen and a hobby costs more than you had anticipated,” Meg said stiffly.
“What hobby? Even if you would redecorate that cursed palace of yours, you wouldn’t be able to make such debts.”
Meg cleared her throat. “Well, actually, it all began with a game of bridge with the girls during brunch. After a while we got bored and decided to visit a casino.”
“A casino, sure why not,” her father snarled. “The gambling halls in Somerset weren’t satisfying you anymore?”
“Not everyone wants to spend their entire lives in a small town like you. The casino owner happened to be an old acquaintance and he gave me a loan. I had doubled my money in a week. There’s so much to do outside Somerset once you’re open to it.”
There was a stretch of silence and Amber pictured her father praying for patience. She’d seen him doing it quite often with Ian. “And what a wonderful life it is that you lead,” he said.
“Yes, well, some people actually see a good thing when it’s staring at them and take a chance on it. Especially when they can, let’s say-” she cleared her throat ”-would make seven figures with it.”
“Don’t try to change the subject. This isn’t about my choice to specialize in burn care instead of going into plastics.”
“You don’t have to get all riled up. I’m merely pointing out that if you had, not only would you have been able to give Emily a better life, but you would have also been able to pay off Amber’s debt.”
She heard her father make a choking sound. “Amber’s debt?”
“That might have been a poor choice of words,” Meg hastily said. “But try to see this from my perspective. I’m about to lose my villa and even Armand left me when he found out about my contract with Zacharias. Pawning Amber’s gift for a few days was an act of desperation.”
Amber didn’t believe that Meg’s apology-that is, if it could even be called one-registered with her father. “Have you forgotten what we promised Emily? How could you put Amber in harm’s way like that?”
“A promise that wouldn’t have been necessary had a certain zealot not treated my daughter as if she were a monster, when he found out she was a dryad,” Meg fired back. “Emily would have never left the cabin that night.”
Amber waited for her father to deny that horrible accusation. She jumped up when she heard something crash against the wall.
“Don’t you dare compare your mistake with mine!” her father yelled. “I’ve paid for what I did. I still am. What you did, however, was unforgivable.”
It felt like a kick to the guts when her father didn’t flat-out deny the accusation. She knew Meg had had a vision about her mother’s death and, by Meg’s own admission, no one could have prevented it. So it wasn’t fair to put that on her father. But it sounded as if there was more to it.
“I did everything in my power to pay off my debt,” she heard Meg say, sounding exhausted.
“Everything in your power, you say?” her father bellowed. “I can’t imagine what a sacrifice that must have been for you. What else did you do except take another loan on your precious house? Canceled a mani-pedi? Fired a few servants? Sold a fur coat or some of your jewels?”
There was a stretch of silence. “I did all of that and then went to the Scale,” Meg said stiffly. “It still wasn’t enough.”
The second stretch of silence took longer. Whatever it was that Meg had done, it was serious, for her father didn’t have a snappy comeback this time.
“You sold your gift and it wasn’t enough,” she heard him say in a weird tone of voice.
“You know what this means, William. We have only one option left to keep Amber from Zacharias’ clutches. You will have to contact him after all these years, just as he had predicted. I know you despise him but…”
“That’s an understatement,” her father said in an icy tone he rarely used. “There is nothing and no one on this Earth I hate and despise more.”
Meg cleared her throat again. “You know he’s our only option.”
“No! I will not give him an excuse to contact Amber. There has to be another way.”
Those were the last words they spoke. A few beats later Amber heard the front door shut.
She crawled back into bed, her head filled with questions. It was another night filled with dreams that ended in a nightmare. She saw a huge building with a big, shiny dome dominating it. She recognized it from a picture she’d seen in the Somerset Gazette: it was the Kincaid estate.
She woke up by the early morning light that seeped through the spaces between the slats in the shutters covering her bedroom window. The ray of light was nothing compared to the heat that surrounded her and made her body tingle.
Drake was sleeping next to her, an arm placed around her waist. The only thing separating them the covers that he lay on.
There were a hundred reasons why he shouldn’t be here. Right now, she couldn’t name one. Their faces were turned to each other. She almost touched his chin with the tip of her nose. He was gorgeous, in a fierce way, like a tornado or a snowed mountain top. Not as breathtaking as his brother, who could star in a perfume commercial, but in a different way. Rugged, lonely, and dangerous. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed his perfect eyebrows. In her vision he’d had a wound there. She searched his face for more anomalies, but stopped when she was suddenly looking into his eyes.
“I heard you scream,” he said softly. “At first I thought Zacharias had broken the deal and you were being kidnapped, but then I discovered you were having another nightmare. I’ve been listening to it for half an hour hoping that it would stop or someone would wake you up, but that didn’t happen. Apparently, your family sleeps right through it.”
Obviously he didn’t hold her family in high esteem. Though she couldn’t really blame him after what Meg had done. Didn’t mean he could just insult them all, though. “If they wake me it only gets worse. Then it continues while I’m awake. So you see, there’s really nothing they can do for me.”
“You only calmed down when I tried to shake you awake. I tried to leave, but you started wailing the minute I let you go. Just like the last time. The only way I could end your nightmare was by holding you in my arms.” He sounded hostile, as if she had seduced him to get into her bed.
She was starting to get pissed off. “I didn’t ask you to-”
“You didn’t have to,” he cut her off. “You gave me the excuse to hold you without uttering a word. You asked me why I followed you that day while I’d promised to stay away from you.”
Amber was all ears, pleasantly surprised that he not only remembered the question, but was willing to answer it.
Drake looked torn. “Everything you’ve ever heard about my kind is probably true. What we are most known for, however, is that we love pretty, shiny objects. Diamonds, pearls, sapphires. You. It’s in our blood.”
“What does this have to do with-”
“You’re the prettiest shining thing I’ve ever encountered. Every fiber of my being screams for me to hide you from evil eyes, to lock you behind closed doors. Safe, cherished, but most
of all mine, because that’s our nature. Possessive to the core and incapable of making any compromise about our treasure. Till the day I met you I thought I was immune to this weakness, but as they say, pride come before a fall.” He sounded quite unhappy about that. “You can’t imagine what it took me to return you to your brother that first day, while I had promised to take you home. Me, no one else. Dragons never give up a treasure without putting up a fight. Never.”
A treasure. Amber was both shocked and flattered by his words. She got sick when she was reminded of the vision. An improbable doom scenario that seemed to become more real by the minute. Another part of her, and she didn’t know which part was bigger, sang a wonderful melody to her heart.
He feels it too.
I’m going to burn…
“But you let me go,” she reminded him.
“And came back with a vengeance. Just look at where I’m at,” Drake said wryly.
“You can let go of me now,” she stated. It wasn’t like she had dragged him into her bed.
She didn’t have to say that again. He jumped from her bed and went to the window. He stopped when he passed her bookcase which was filled with DVDs and CDs. “A bookcase without any books,” he noted, somewhat surprised.
“Books don’t help with the headaches. When I try to read right after, the letters swim before my eyes. For some reason, sound helps, so I usually put on a movie after a bad night. A normal migraine is said to abhor light or sound but with me, it’s the other way around. According to Nurse Croft’s theory the sound waves diminish the pain. Which is the reason I’ve seen most of these movies, like, a dozen times. I started with my father’s old movie collection and it has just kept growing.” She knew she was rambling, but her mouth kept moving, like a loose accordion.
“Unfortunately, we don’t live in a movie,” he said, his voice tight.
She knew what he was trying to say: there’s no happy ending for us. Yeah, she never thought there would be. “I dreamed about goblins and Kincaid´s Dome,” she said to change the subject. The muscles in his back tensed, but he didn’t turn around.
He’d already cracked open the window, as if he couldn’t get away fast enough. “I have to leave before someone finds out I spend the night.”
It felt weird to have to talk to his back. She knew he was regretting his confession though. “I have to tell my dad about it. He usually takes it up with the Council to see if there’s anything they can do to prevent damage,” she quickly said. She didn’t want him to think she was asking for his help. “Just watch your back, okay?”
A short nod and then he disappeared.
TEN
Drake jumped out the window and landed in Amber’s backyard. He took a look at his watch, as he walked to the forest behind the O’Neill house. He had less than ten hours to find a huge sum of money. The only person he knew with that kind of cash would ask a high price in return. Dark thoughts took a hold of his mind when he realized he would gladly pay the price to keep her with him. He wasn’t ready yet to let her go. Also, her gift couldn’t fall into the wrong hands. She was the only weapon he had in his battle against Kincaid. Somehow he had to convince Kincaid to give him the money without revealing why he needed it.
He stopped when he saw a tall shadow at the edge of the woods. Logan strolled towards him. “What the hell are you doing here?” Drake barked at him.
Logan raised his hands in a placating gesture. “Such hostility and the sun has barely risen yet,” he said, sounding amused. “Obviously you’re not a morning person. You didn’t answer my call, so I thought maybe someone had caught you in the Woods and clipped your wings. Did I just saw you jump out of the window of that dryad? I thought the deal was we would keep an eye on her, outside?”
“She had a nightmare,” Drake growled.
“So? We all do.”
Drake glared at his brother. “Yeah, well, do you remember yours knowing that it yet has to happen? Do you live it inside your head so bad you keep kicking and screaming all night?” He immediately regretted his words, when Logan’s eyes turned to ice. He knew that had he been someone else they would be kicking and scratching each other full throttle in the woods.
“I only have one nightmare,” Logan said tightly. “One I happened to already have lived through. Repeatedly.”
“We all have our demons, but it’s different with her. She’s defenseless against them.”
“You spent the night in a dryad’s room, with her father and brothers under the same roof,” Logan said, disgust in his voice. “Kudos to you. Anyone could have walked into her room and you would have been busted. All alone, without me to have your back with dryads who would love to put you down.”
“It’s not like that.”
A cunning smile appeared on Logan’s face. “Know what? It’s fine with me. I’ll remember it for the next time when it’s my turn to watch over her. I’m actually quite relieved to know I no longer have to spend the night in the cold outside. It must be nice lying between her warm, pink… pillows. Maybe I can even talk her into a game of strip poker, to pass the time.”
“Stay out of her room, Logan,” Drake warned.
Logan sported a cocky smile. “Now, which one is it? Either she needs you so badly you have to spend the night in her room or she didn’t need you so badly, but you did. Wink. Wink.”
Drake started walking. “What do you want me to say? That I made a mistake? I already know that. It won’t happen again.”
Logan was right on his heels. “Now why don’t I believe that, brother. I want you to think about what Kincaid would do to her if he found out about your unhealthy interest in her. He would simply devour her and spit out her remains.”
“He won’t find out. No one knows I’m here but you.”
“I’m not the only one who knows.” Logan nodded to a group of trees with a shadow between them. “He was already waiting for you when I arrived. I took a look around, he came alone. Seems to me you’re the one he’s been waiting for,” he said, and he left.
Drake tensed. Sometimes his life felt as if he was surrounded by an ever-present fog bank, while he was trudging through murky waters.
The shadowy figure turned his back to him and walked back into the woods. He stopped when they could no longer be spotted from the house. It was a distinguished man with a short, gray beard and an iron cane. He had razor-sharp eyes and a French accent.
“Armand Dubois, former housekeeper of Meg Garden,” the stranger introduced himself. “I have what you are looking for.” When Drake cocked an eyebrow he clarified, “a pile of money.”
News sure travelled fast. “You’re a dragon,” Drake remarked, a bit flustered by the fact that this Armand guy claimed to have worked for a dryad.
“So are you,” Armand said sharply. “That doesn’t seem to keep you away from the dryad girl either.”
“Touché,” Drake admitted. “What will your help cost me?” He wasn’t sure if his proposal would be less bad than the alternative.
Armand took a business card from his pocket and gave it to him. “Not a thing. Call this number and mention my name. The money will be delivered wherever you choose. There will be an added bonus, so you and your friend can continue to keep an eye on her. These are perilous times and she shouldn’t be without protection.”
It sounded too good to be true. “Who’s the money from? And why don’t you do it yourself?”
“The money is from an account Emily O’Neill opened after Amber was born. It was meant for emergencies only. I think this qualifies as one.”
“Then why don’t you just tell Amber’s father to use the account?”
“William O’Neill is old-fashioned. He’s too proud to use his wife’s money. Besides, I’m not the one who struck a deal with Zacharias.”
“You haven’t told me yet why you’re doing this. Why would a dragon want to help a dryad?”
Armand smirked. “Oh, right. How does the saying go? All the gold in Kincaid’s vault couldn’t make a d
ragon lift a finger to help a dryad. I could answer this question the same way I did your first remark, but let’s not repeat ourselves. I made a promise to the girl’s mother, before she died.”
“That seems to happen a lot around here,” Drake grumbled, reminded of Gregor’s promise to his grandmother.
“As for my personal reason: I don’t want the girl’s gift to fall into the hands of a goblin lover. As Kincaid’s grandson you shouldn’t want that either, despite your feelings towards your grandfather.”
“Zacharias is a dragon. You can hardly call him a goblin lover.”
Armand snorted. “Do not be mistaken in Zacharias’ loyalties or rank. He is the one working for the goblin leader, not the other way around. In case you haven’t already figured it out by your girlfriend’s nightmares, there’s a war going on. Every so often a goblin master rises who tries to dethrone a Kincaid. The last time was during the previous century by one Magnus Kent. He owned a factory near Exmoor beach.”
“Never heard of him,” Drake said skeptically.
“Of course you haven’t. His entire family was wiped out.”
This bit of information raised even more questions, but Drake had heard enough. He could care less that Kincaid would get his ass kicked. He would be the first one cheering at that. Still, he heard himself ask: “Who’s going to win this war?”
Armand cocked an eyebrow. “Kincaid, of course. He’s the titan among us. The goblins aren’t even in his league.”
“Weren’t the titans defeated?”
