“Where are we going?” I asked.
“To see my mother,” Jevyn replied.
“Yeah, I got that, but where in the palace?”
“Up there.” He pointed at the top of the cliff. “That is where my mother has her personal suite so she can be out of the way of all the hubbub of life in the palace.”
“Oh, I get privacy. We all need that.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure privacy is the main reason, but we’ll run with that for now.”
I looked over at him. There was obviously more to his mother’s isolation, but he didn’t want to share it. I was still too distracted by the cavernous space at the palace to worry too much about why his mother lived on top of a cliff.
“How do we get up there?” I asked, hoping he wasn’t going to say climb.
“Walk,” he said. “That’s how we all get around in here.”
“What about flying? I could hitch a ride on your back!” I asked brightly.
He set off walking and waved a hand over his shoulder. “Not allowed inside. Too dangerous. It’s either walk or stay down here.”
That decided it. My hopes for a ride on a dragon had been dashed, but I needed to speak to the queen. If she could help in the quest for dragon blood or an alternative that worked as well, then I owed it to everyone else to at least put one foot in front of the other up the cliff face.
As we walked, we passed people occasionally, and once I stopped gawking at what there was in the palace and how spectacularly amazing it was, I noticed how people behaved upon seeing Jevyn. Some almost scraped the floor with a bow as he approached, others simply averted their eyes.
He really is a prince, I thought as I saw everybody giving him a respectful wide berth. On the other hand, those same people glared at me, seemingly angry that I was there at all. It hit home that Jevyn and I could probably never truly be together. We were too different. He was a prince. I was a vamp—a mess, in a fight for survival, and a liability.
I tried to tell myself I hadn’t really given much thought to the idea anyway. Okay, he was physically attractive and everything, and I could certainly find myself liking him from that point of view, but he also seemed . . . arrogant somehow, although I had to concede he did seem determined to do the right thing for his people, just as I was. I really admired his determination. Maybe we were too similar from that respect. As I walked up god knows how many steps cut into the rock, that was what kept me going. That and regular stops to heave in some lungfuls of air. Every time I had to pause, Jevyn would stand looking down on the main atrium, arms crossed, looking all heroic, his jaw with just a little scruff on it jutting out, looking almost as if he was listening to something. Then he turned to me and told me we needed to hurry.
By the time we got to the level where his mom’s suite was, I was gasping and panting for air. Sweaty, with my hair sticking to my forehead and the back of my neck, I very nearly suggested that the next bit of technology they looked at was moving stairs or another elevator. I seriously didn’t think that I was in any fit state to meet a queen.
When we reached the door to get inside, two men were standing, waiting for us it seemed.
They whispered quiet words at Jevyn. I caught a hint that they were not pleased I was there with Jevyn. They looked at me like I was one of the birds that had just swooped in and pooped on their heads. The image made me smile, which made them look even more disapprovingly on me.
“She is with me, and she will see the queen,” Jasper growled in response to their questioning, clearly getting fed up.
“Very well, your highness, as you wish,” one of the men said, exuding insincerity from every pore in spite of his words.
The two men opened the double doors. Jevyn turned to me and winked and then walked inside. I followed with a nod to each of the men and a satisfied smile that didn’t do anything to improve their moods.
The doors shut behind me, and I looked into the room. “Wow.”
“What does wow mean?” Jevyn asked.
“It means . . . wow.” There was really no explaining the word.
The interior of the room mirrored the atrium downstairs with all kinds of things in there that paid homage to the elements the dragons so clearly identified with. Stone made up the walls and most of the ceiling, rising in great vaults like a huge cathedral, and the very top was glazed to allow a sight of blue sky and clouds. Great stone pillars held up the roof and were surrounded, almost overgrown with ivy and all manner of other climbing plants, giving the whole room a bright splash of color against the more somber gray stone. Throughout the room, fountains of various sizes sprayed water into the air, and in the center of the room, a round stone enclosure held what I guessed was an eternal flame, swaying and flickering in the breeze that seemed to waft through the room.
Right at the far end was a throne. I could just make out the figure of a woman sitting on it, but she was too far away for me to see any detail other than her head of white hair.
As we walked across the almost perfectly smooth stone floor, I could see her remaining seated, but as we approached, I could do nothing but marvel at her regal serenity and closer still at vivid blue eyes with which she regarded us both.
She was dressed in beautifully embroidered earth-brown robes, and even at a distance, I could see she would be tall when, and if, she stood up.
We stopped a few feet short of the woman on the throne who had kept her gaze fixed on me as we approached. Jevyn spoke first.
“Mother, you wished to see me?”
Her eyes left mine momentarily to look upon her son. When she spoke, her voice was high-pitched, soft, and feminine but seemed to bear little warmth.
“I did, Jevyn, my son, but first, who is our guest, and why is she here?”
“Mother, this is Katie. She represents her people on Earth.”
I didn’t know whether to bow or curtsey, so I just gave a small nod.
Her eyes flashed angrily. “You know that bringing people here from Earth is forbidden. You have taken a terrible risk by doing this!”
I decided it was time to speak up, but as I opened my mouth to say something, I heard a voice.
“Do not interrupt, I am speaking with my son.”
The sudden voice in my head made me jump.
It was the queen’s voice, of that there was no doubt, but she was still looking at her son, and unless she was the best ventriloquist ever, she had not moved her lips. I was absolutely certain of that.
I cast a furtive glance around me, just to make double-sure it wasn’t someone else who’d spoken.
“Katie is here in need of help, Mother. Help we can provide and which will help us in return.”
“How so, Katie? What can you provide for me that we cannot provide for ourselves?”
There it was again. I looked around. Nobody else in the room.
“How are you doing that?” I asked.
“What? Doing what?” Jevyn looked alarmed.
“Not you. Her. Talking inside my head.”
“Mother? Are you projecting on Katie?”
She didn’t say anything, but Jevyn nodded after a moment, so I assumed she was speaking silently to him too.
This was ridiculous, how was anyone supposed to have a conversation when you could only hear two-thirds of what was going on?
“Patience. I will get to you once I have finished with my son.”
“Whoa. Hang on. You just read my mind,” I said.
“Mother!” Jevyn said in exasperation.
“Look,” I said, starting to get a little annoyed at all the mind game stuff. “I need your help Queen, erm—”
“Lalnu.”
“I do need your help Queen Lalnu, but can we please have the conversation aloud, so I know what’s going on?”
“Very well, if we must,” she finally said aloud. She looked a bit smug about me asking for this favor.
“Thank you.”
“What help do you need, Katie? Tell me about yourself,” she said, shift
ing a little on her throne. She was clearly still irritated I was there, but curiosity also gleamed in her blue eyes.
“I’m from Earth, I’m a VAMP2 but not, as far as I know, contagious. I—”
“You refuse to have the implant because you are scared of being controlled by whoever is causing the virus to spread, and you have found something, namely dragon blood that will alleviate the symptoms, so you can continue your quest to find out who is behind the whole infection and maybe a cure.”
“Did you just read that in my mind?”
“I find it speeds things up a bit.” For the first time, a slight smile creased the corners of her mouth.
I was shocked she could find out all this stuff without me even thinking it. I suppose it was a useful skill to have if you were Queen and people were out to topple you.
“The problem I have, young woman, is that we are finding these rifts in the veil where people like you and your friend come through. But we also find rifts made by dragons from this world trying to get to Earth. Now, you say you are not contagious, but our concern is that any dragons going through may bring someone or something back with them that does carry the contagion. The danger isn’t just to us dragons. We have many non-dragon species here on Dracos, and if we start to lose them to a disease from your world, then it could be disastrous. And as Queen, I’m ultimately responsible for the welfare of everyone in Dracos.”
“All I need is dragon blood, and I’ll be out of your hair. Perhaps there is one among you who might be interested in coming to Earth to live with us, in exchange for—”
Her face twisted in distaste. “No, never. I couldn’t ask any of my people to do such a thing, to be suckled from in that way. Nor will I let you have a dragon egg to take back with you, in case that was your next plea.”
I hadn’t realized I’d had the thought about a dragon egg at all, but I must have at some stage.
“We need something, Queen Lalnu. Please.” Suddenly the exhaustion, the hunger, and the worry seemed to drape over me like a heavy blanket.
She was silent for a long moment, but her glare remained steady. “I see the toll it is having on you, Katie.”
A few more seconds passed in silence, and I wondered if Lalnu and Jevyn were discussing me.
She folded her hands on her lap. “You need dragon blood. I can’t allow you to have it, but I can pass you on to one of scientists who should be able to find out what it is in the blood that helps you. Once we know what that is, we can try to find a way to source it. Jevyn. Take her to Famil. She will help. Once you have had our help, you are to go back and never return, and you should do whatever you can to dissuade others from opening rifts. Jevyn, for you, I wanted to see how the investigation progresses about who is trying to create rifts from this side. I have everything I need from you. Go with Katie.”
Lalnu sat back in her seat. She dismissed us both with a wave of her hand.
As we walked away, Jevyn put a hand on my shoulder as if to console me. The weirdest sensation ran through me at that, and he pulled his hand away as if I’d given him an electric shock.
We walked in silence for a while until we reached the door, where the two advisors we’d seen earlier were still hanging around. I greeted them with a bright smile while Jevyn ignored them both.
“We need to get moving,” he said.
“I suppose you’re right.
His manner turned brusque. “We need to get you and your friends back before you infect anyone and for me to get on with my job of tracking down who is opening rips from this side. I haven’t any time to waste, Katie.”
I was a little surprised by his change in tone, as if I’d done something to upset him. All I did was talk to his mother to try and save my people. I felt a pang in my chest, once again realizing how different we were, but unable to ignore the growing attraction I felt for him.
Chapter Seventeen
Jevyn
Pathya Palace, Dracos
“BE CAREFUL WITH this one, Jevyn.”
That was what my mother had said to me. Telepathically of course, just before Katie and I left her presence.
“She will take what she wants and leave without thought once she gets what she needs for her people.”
“I will take care, Mother, but you are wrong about Katie. She has already said she will do whatever she can to stop the rifts being opened up back on Earth.”
It didn’t go unnoticed, by either me or my mother, that I had for the very first time, defended someone else from the barbs my mother so delighted in throwing around. All I had done was tell the truth. Katie had promised to help, and I believed that she would. It was still disconcerting to have reacted that way, though.
But I couldn’t deny that I liked Katie. She did what she said she would and was honest about what she wanted, even when she knew it might not go over well, which made a change from the hints and sneaky backsliding and blaming someone else for your failure that was so endemic around the court. It was what prompted me to spend so much time away. The palace might be a beautiful, incredible place—although familiarity had bred a certain amount of taking the place for granted on my part—but I couldn’t help but notice the wonder in Katie’s eyes when she was gazing around the place. Yet, it was still full of the slimiest characters that I found difficult—no, impossible—to trust. Too many of them were in the court for their own personal egos, not necessarily to be loyal to the queen. Maybe Dracos politics and those of Katie’s native land weren’t as different as I’d believed.
“Come on, Katie, let’s get out of here,” I said.
So, we did, back down in the elevator and down to street level. Katie still looked back at the palace as we walked away, her eyes bright with interest or amazement, I couldn’t tell which. I was more interested in rounding up her friends so we could go see Famil. I didn’t want them to be roaming around Pathya for any longer than was strictly necessary. Despite Katie’s claim about not being contagious, it was a chance I didn’t want to take, couldn’t afford to take. I had to think of my people. But I didn’t want harm to come to Katie’s people, either, I realized.
I was determined to help Katie, as I needed her on my side when she went back to Earth. And also . . . because I liked her, but it was best not to get too wrapped up in my feelings toward her. That would be unnecessarily confusing things.
“Do you have any way of getting in touch with Nova?” I asked as we walked.
“Hmm?” she asked absentmindedly. When I turned to look, she was walking backwards, her head craning up to the top of the palace still.
“Katie.”
“Yeah,” she said, still not turning.
“There’s Lynnette,” I said, injecting some urgency into my voice.
She whipped around quickly. “Where?”
I pointed and then said, “Oh. No. It’s just someone who looks a bit like her. Can you get hold of Nova? Do you two have a way of communicating?”
She looked at me suspiciously for a few moments and then at the crowd of people I’d pointed at. I did my best to suppress a grin. Hopefully she didn’t realize it was a ploy to get her to pay attention to the situation we found ourselves in.
Katie slid something out of her pack. Small and dark, I couldn’t really tell what it was.
“It’s a tracker. We each have a chip on our persons that we can track using this. Something Sparks came up with, in case of emergencies. Trouble is, this can also be tracked by other people if we use it for more than a few minutes at a time, so we don’t use it much anymore. I could try it.”
I nodded, anything to speed things along. If we had to find them the usual way, we could be there for hours.
Katie switched on her gizmo and waited. I expected lights and flashing stuff, but nothing happened. The thing just sat in her hand, dead as a dead thing.
“Sorry, nothing.”
Damn, that meant finding him the old-fashioned way. Slogging through the not-so-pleasant streets and back-alleys of Darkwaters again. After my earl
ier run-in with Truth, that was not something I was looking forward to, but he needn’t think for a moment that he’d intimidated me in any way. I knew him too well for that.
Truth had been one of those greasy advisors to my family at one time, but my father had him removed when he started to become a little too attached to my mother. I had only been young at the time, but I remember the fuss he made as he was led out of the palace and unceremoniously dumped on the street with nothing but his personal possessions and his native cunning to see him through what was left of his life.
Since then, he had used that craftiness and his towering physical presence to make the Darkwaters his own personal little fiefdom.
And just as we turned the corner into the Darkwaters, there he was, bold as brass, standing in the middle of the street, holding court with his own little band of courtiers. They might not have looked as well dressed and refined as those around my mother, but they were no less submissive toward their own leader. And they had their own brand of power there in the Darkwaters.
“Jevyn!” Truth bellowed as we approached him. “I thought we had discussed your ability to wander around my streets earlier. You need my permission to walk the Darkwaters.” He pulled himself up to his full height as he spoke.
The hangers-on around him muttered, and a couple of them stepped forward. Truth laid a hand on their shoulders and held them back. “Let’s hear what the boy-prince has to say, boys. Maybe then I’ll let you loose on him. Not the girl though.” He looked at Katie with a leer that suddenly provoked a sharp desire in me to protect her at all costs. When he licked his lips while looking at her, I had an overwhelming desire to flatten those lips against his face.
The problem was, none of that would help. I needed Truth to help find Nova and hopefully Lynnette and Derek. He might dislike my family, but he had no ax to grind with me personally. I had to hope that would be enough to get me through what I was about to do next.
“Truth. Listen. We got off on the wrong foot earlier. I’m doing nothing but trying to protect my own people from something, something that will, if it happens, affect you and your people even worse. I’m talking a lot of dead people . . . or even worse,” I added for good measure.
Chasing Legends Page 11
