by Alicia Banks
“You didn't get into trouble without me, did you, boss?”
Antonio just kind of shrugged. “I guess it depends on what you mean by trouble.”
“Trouble with humans?”
Antonio had been hoping that his indiscretions would be kept quiet, but that did not seem to be the case. If Tommy knew about it, and the council knew about it, he was going to have to go in front of them and explain the situation. They were not going to believe that it was self-defense. Saving one human from another was not a defense, either. Antonio knew that he was supposed to stay out of it.
“Yeah, well, it wouldn’t be the first time that you did something to piss them off.”
“Yeah, but usually not this badly.”
“Yeah, and there isn’t usually a human in your bed, either, huh?”
Tommy was laughing and joking about it, but Antonio didn’t find anything funny about his current set of circumstances. The council was not going to be happy, not at all. They were going to ask some hard questions and some of them, Antonio didn’t really have the answers to. He was already wracking his brain for answers. What was he going to tell them?
“Is Tiffany going to be there?”
“The seer?”
“Yeah.”
Tommy agreed. “You know that they like to bring her, because they don’t believe anything that is said without her. You are going to have to come with your A-game.”
“You know this is all your fault, Tommy.”
He sighed. “How the hell is it my fault you burn a bunch of humans alive and start banging the lone survivor of the family?”
Antonio shrugged, though he didn’t like the accusation, or at least not how Tommy made it all sound.
“Because you got me involved. You knew that I was going to fall in love with that damn human. That’s why you have a smirk on your face like that!”
He hadn’t realized that he had raised his voice so loud, until Josselin came to the doorway with a sheet wrapped around her naked form. He could see everything, the material too thin, and he didn’t like the way that Tommy was looking at her. He had desire in his eyes, and Antonio nudged him hard with his elbow.
“Eyes back in their socket.”
“Sorry, Josselin, Tommy was just leaving.”
“Is everything okay?”
He agreed that it was, the whole time trying to push her back into the bedroom.
“Why are you pushing me back in?”
“Your body is showing, Josselin. I don’t want to have to take out my second for looking at you.”
He was saying it only halfway as a joke, but her eyes got wide and she went back in almost immediately. He wasn’t sure why she took it so seriously, but he didn’t want to get into it now. He had enough on his plate.
“So, is that all they said, that they want me to answer for the human deaths?”
Tommy shook his head that it wasn’t. Antonio’s stomach knotted up. What more could they want?
“They want her to go, as well. They want the seer to read her.”
Antonio shook his head. “There is no way. She can’t go.”
He leaned closer and lowered his voice. “She is an unknowing human. Why do they want her to go?”
“I don’t know, something about you being alpha of so many. They want assurances.”
Antonio blew out a breath. “Assurances of what?”
Tommy said he didn’t know. “She is unknowing, so it will be fine. As long as she doesn’t know anything, the seer won’t see anything. Right?”
Antonio agreed, right. So why did it all make him so uneasy?
Chapter 19
Josselin didn't mean to hear the conversation. She didn't want to overhear it, but Antonio was being loud, and it was kind of hard not to. At first, she didn't know what exactly it was that she was hearing, but then it started to make sense and that terrified Josselin. There was somebody there that could read minds, something that she had read about in Antonio's journal. Josselin was going to have to go in front of those people and they were going to know that she knew. And they were going to take care of her like they did all the other humans.
Josselin was shaking inside and before she could really think it through, she was getting dressed and leaving. All she had to do was get to the front door, get outside, and then she could figure out what to do from there. The castle was situated high up on a bluff, from what Antonio had told her. She didn’t want to break the rules or leave, but Josselin didn't have a choice. If she didn't leave, they were going to kill her. It didn't matter how she felt about Antonio. He wouldn't be able to stop it. He hadn't been able to stop it before.
She was frantic because she heard Antonio and the other man's voice. Tommy had been the good guy in her mind, but now she realized that he must be just like Antonio. They were both dragons and once they knew that she knew, they wouldn't be near as accommodating as they had been. Antonio wouldn’t look at her the same way.
Josselin had known that it was impossible the whole time. She had known that the two of them could never be together, once she realized he was a dragon; she knew the writing on the wall. Of course, she wanted to believe that love could conquer all, but that wasn't the case, not when it came to dragons. They were very particular about who knew what and she was not supposed to know. It was one thing that Josselin had put it all together. She knew they'd kill her. It was just that simple.
Josselin was trembling inside with the possibilities. Would they just let her disappear? Would Antonio? It was strange, because as much as his secret was so much bigger than hers, she knew that hers would get her killed. The curiosity had pushed her to find out and now it would kill her because of it.
There were so many things that she would do differently if she could go back, but Josselin knew that she couldn't go back.
She got to the front door, and it was just as locked as it had been when Josselin tried to get Ophelia help. She cursed it, banged on it, and did her best to get it open, but it wouldn't budge. Josselin was growing desperate. She knew what was going to happen if she stayed. If she stayed, there was going to be a reckoning. The seer was going to see into her mind, and she was going to know that Josselin knew their secret. Not only did she know that they were dragons, and that dragons were actually a thing, but she knew quite a bit of details from reading the book. Antonio's journal had a lot of intricate details that Josselin was quite sure she was not to know.
What did she have to do to get out of there? She remembered the wing that was forbidden to her. She also remembered that there was a secondary way to leave from there that led to the roof, so it must lead to the ground. That was her thinking anyway, so even though Josselin had told herself again and again that she would not under any circumstances go into the forbidden wing without him, she now did exactly that.
Before, she was worried about losing her job. Now, she was worried about losing her life. Things had definitely taking a step upward. She had to question if she was doing the right thing. Josselin wanted to believe that if she told Antonio the truth, he would save her somehow, but then the words in the diary told her otherwise. He would not be able to save her. it didn't matter that he was a powerful leader of hundreds of dragons. There were people over him, a council that would come in and do what needed to be done. What needed to be done in this circumstance was to kill her.
Josselin rushed to the other side of the house and when she got about halfway there, she realized that there were other people. She could hear other people moving around, cleaning up and getting things ready for the next day. She never saw them before; they were always up only at night, hiding from the rest of the house.
She saw one of them from behind, polishing silverware. She didn't want to disturb her; Josselin really just wanted to go past quickly and see what exactly was going on. Josselin had a bit of curiosity to her, a trait that found her in hot water over and over again, but she couldn't help it. How strange was it that she had never seen another soul in the house besides Antoni
o and Ophelia? It seemed strange to her. It felt like she should have seen one of them in her nightly walks to the kitchen. Nobody ever turned up, though, now everybody was bustling about. How was this going on every night and she didn't know about it?
“Hello?”
The woman jumped a little bit, her shoulders surged, and then she turned around. Josselin gasped softly. The woman had green eyes and they were reddish as well. There were other features of her face that didn't quite go right. She looked different, animal-like almost. Like a cat? Josselin wasn't sure what to think. The woman didn't have fur or anything, but there was definitely a feline quality to her.
“I'm sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you. I just never see anybody, and I wanted to say hello.”
The woman smiled at Josselin. “Hello.”
Josselin mumbled something about going to the bathroom and waved at her. It was just another piece of a never-ending puzzle. There weren't just dragons in the world, there were all kinds of other magical mythical creatures that humans had been writing stories about. Nobody believed the stories now, but Josselin could see why. It was all so fantastical. Whether they believed them or not, though, didn’t matter. It was all true. Josselin didn't know what the woman was, but she wasn't human.
Josselin's fears compounded as she went toward the forbidden wing. It took her exactly where she knew she wasn't supposed to be. It didn't matter anymore, Josselin told herself. She just needed to get out of there. It no longer mattered if she had a job or not. She didn't have a family to crawl back to, anyway. Josselin had absolutely no idea what she was going to do, but she wasn't going to let some mind-reading dragon kill her. Not when she knew it was coming.
She had been to the forbidden wing before, it had just been awhile, and even though it had only been a couple of days, it felt like a lifetime ago. What she had learned in one day had aged her many years. The knowledge changed her fundamentally and she had a feeling that she would never go back to what she had once been.
The darkness enveloped her and even though she could hear several people moving around in the rooms, there was nobody visible inside. There were also very few lights turned on, like the people didn’t need them. It was quite possible that they weren't people at all.
Josselin didn't pay attention to any of that. She kept her eyes forward and kept walking down the long hallway. It was unfortunate that she was so far out. Anybody could see her from the other part of the house. Josselin would have liked something to duck and dodge behind.
She got up to the part where the helipad was. Obviously, it was on top of some kind of cliff or something, because there was nothing above. Josselin couldn't imagine that there was another way off. She went back out and tried the first door but saw only darkness. She did not have the guts to go in there to find out what was there. She couldn't see anything, anyway. Unlike the people that were presently working in the house, Josselin needed light.
She heard her name and jumped. She was on the edge of the concrete, still not sure what she was doing. Josselin needed to get away, desperately.
“What are you doing up here, Josselin?”
“I want to leave, Antonio. I quit.”
Josselin was shaking and Antonio asked her why she would want to do such a thing. “I thought that things were getting good between us?”
“They are, it's just, I don't think I can do this anymore, Antonio. I think that we are not compatible and the best thing you can do is walk away now, before it gets worse later for both of us.”
“So, why are you up here?”
“I thought there was a way down. There has to be a way out of this place. I want to leave.”
“You’re breaking the rules.”
“Because I want to leave. Just let me go and I will never break another rule that you have. You'll never have to see me again. I will go as far away as I possibly can.”
Antonio was confused and he took a step toward her. Josselin took a step away, but she was already on the edge. There was nothing but fog and darkness around her.
“You don't know what you're doing, Josselin. This is not what you need to be doing. It is dangerous up here. There is no ground for a long way.”
She looked confused. “What does that even mean?”
Antonio sighed. “Why are you acting this way? What happened?”
“I heard what you two said.”
“So what? We were just talking about business.”
“Am I now your business?”
“In this situation, you are.”
Josselin didn't know what that meant, but it didn't sound good. It sounded like he was starting to realize that she knew. They were close enough that Josselin started to get really nervous.
“I don't want to be your business friend. I want to leave. You told me when I took the job, that I could leave if I wanted to.”
“That was before.”
“Before what?”
“Before you read my diary and found out the truth. Before you overheard too much and before you came out here trying to escape. How much did you read?”
Josselin was silent for quite a time. Josselin didn't want him to know that she had read any of it. She had been so careful.
“How did you know?”
“I wouldn't have. You were very good at replacing it, exactly how I would leave it. Never once did I even question it.”
“Then how?”
“Because you cried when you found out, Josselin. You read what I was and you cried. There were a couple of pages that were still wet from your tears. That’s what made me suspect you and now you have made it clear I was right.”
Josselin pressed her lips together and did not want to lose the battle that she had inside of her. She had gotten upset when she had learned the truth. When she had learned how truly impossible it was always supposed to be. It had depressed her, and she had accidentally let one tear drop down on his book. She hadn't wanted to wipe it away, because of the ink and then it would have surely spread and been so obvious. That line of thinking hadn't been enough.
She looked behind her and knew that she didn't have anywhere to go. There was nowhere to go. Josselin felt desperate and knew that there was no good option. She was expected to make a decision out of a heap of bad ones.
“I just want to leave, Antonio. I will disappear and you'll never see me again. I will never say anything. Can’t that be enough?”
“If my people found out that you knew, which they will because you have to come with me to the council, something has to happen.”
Josselin made a choking sound. She was obviously fighting back emotions.
“I know what has to happen. I've read enough to know that I don't get to live. I also read enough to know that the act of choosing, is one of the most important parts.”
“I'm not going to let anything happen to you.”
“You won't have a choice. You weren't able to stop it before.”
Josselin almost felt guilty immediately for saying it. His face faltered and he was obviously reliving a very painful memory. Was that all she was going to soon be for him, just another painful memory that he was going to have to push into the back of his mind?
“I am not going to put that on your conscience, Antonio.”
She kissed him and really put some feeling into it. Josselin knew that it was going to be the last kiss that they ever had, that she ever had period.
Then she pushed away from him and did the only thing that she could do. She went over the edge into the fog and waited for whatever was going to come her way from it.
Josselin didn't even close her eyes because it was so dark and it didn’t matter, anyway. She just kept falling, falling. Seconds turned into minutes that felt like days. The scream that had been coming out of her mouth, that she hadn't even realized was coming from her, stopped. It was just quiet, darkness, falling. How high up was the castle?
About the time she was going to get the answer, Josselin heard something coming toward her and then felt a wa
ve as she was lifted upward instead of in the same downward trajectory. She found out somewhere within those few seconds that she didn't want to be there and the relief that came over her was immediate and breathtaking. Josselin didn’t want to die.
She didn't want to leave Antonio and she knew that he’d saved her. Josselin knew that it was him that had saved her life, again.
It took another minute or two to get back up to where they were. He put her back on her feet and Josselin heard a loud flapping noise, her eyes unable to stop from going upward to see what was making that sound. Josselin did need to know what she already knew. But, she considered that if she was going to die for it, she should at least see him in all of his glory.
He was glorious, too. Josselin was shocked at how big and beautiful Antonio was. Even in that state, she felt the stirrings for him, the love for him that had grown with their time together, ever stronger.
“It’s a real shame I have to die, Antonio. I would have accepted you. I know that you wondered. I do accept you, even if it is going to cost me everything.”
Chapter 20
Antonio sighed and then shifted to his human form. He couldn’t believe that she had just jumped off the edge like that. She had done it like she had no fear, totally giving up and giving in. She’d mentioned how she had to die, and Antonio worried about what all she had read and learned. He felt much like he did when a seer had gotten into his head on occasion, like nothing was safe.
“What the hell were you thinking, Josselin? Didn’t you read the part about how the castle is floating? Like really floating?! We are five thousand feet over the earth. You can’t just jump like that. What if I hadn’t caught you?”
Josselin shrugged. “You weren’t supposed to. I know what comes next and I think it would be easier to go over the edge again. I know what comes next, Antonio. Like you said, I have read too much.”
He was finding it hard to look at her. She was defiant and it was clear that Josselin had her mind made up. Why, though?
