Hard Boiled

by T L Christianson

  “You left my house without saying goodbye. Is everything okay?”

  This is how he’s going to play it? Okay, let’s do this.

  “Everything’s fine,” I told him, tightening my mental shields.

  Evgeni closed the space before reaching his hand out for the bottle. I gave it to him, and he checked the label before real laughter escaped his mouth. “Drinking this shit isn’t fine…” his tone turned serious. “I’ve been looking for you.”

  Evgeni’s presence had my knee bouncing even through my weariness. I still felt… itchy, uncomfortable, frustrated.

  “Is Sydney here?” I asked, my eyebrows up. She’d blocked our connection, leaving me with the feeling that something important was missing.

  “Sydney? No.” Instead of sitting next to me as Corbin had, Evgeni leaned against the railing of the gazebo. Staring down at me, he pondered, “What to do about you…” he trailed off. “I solved your problem, and you threw it in my face.”

  Lev, one of Evgeni’s crew, neared, speaking in Russian, “Garin, do you want me to stay?”

  He replied in the same language, “Stay nearby. This won’t take long.”

  Lev wandered off, standing near the gazebo, but not close enough to be obviously listening.

  I gazed at Evgeni, but waited to speak until he met my eye. “I’m only trying to do what’s best for her.”

  He nodded, holding a finger beside his nose. “If you were anyone else, you would be either in the hospital or the morgue right now. Not too many people go against me, but I believe you…”

  I swallowed in relief, knowing that this man did not make idle threats.

  “What did Syd say?” I asked, trying to read what I could from his poker face.

  He watched me as he spoke, “Well, she doesn’t want to get married either, thanks to you…” He sighed heavily. “Why couldn’t you have just made it romantic… She would’ve done whatever you wanted.”

  I ground my teeth. “She’s not like that…”

  He cut me off, “She is with you.”

  I leaned back into the bench. “I’m not going to argue about this.”

  Evgeni stared at me, a frown curving his mouth. “The two of you are in an untenable situation. A Tetrad is usually completed within minutes, if not hours, of being initiated. Not days, not weeks, and certainly not months like the two of you have done. And you are risking everything by continuing to wait.”

  “What do you mean, I’m risking everything?” I asked.

  “Writings on Tetrads claim all kinds of things if the bond is left unfinished.” he sighed, “Anything from nightmares to insanity… to even murder.”

  I pressed my lips together and didn’t answer. Both Syd and I had dreams… about each other, but they were definitely not nightmares.

  He continued, “The Tetrad will pull at you until one of two things happens—either you complete the bond or… who knows… go crazy? The Tetrad. Most people don’t understand what it is or what it means.” He hesitated, his eyes searching mine. “I do.”

  My brows came together. “Why are you telling me this now?”

  “Lev told me about your conversation with Sydney.”

  A cold shiver ran the length of my spine. “Our private conversation?”

  “You told her that she could make a bond with someone else, and that’s just untrue.” He shook his head. “Not unless you die. Don’t you get it? This thing is for life. Haven’t you ever wondered why if it were so easy, Arthur and Elise didn’t just vote against you when you were tried in front of the Council? Instead, they voted for your bond—why? Because they have one! Get it into your head that the two of you have already begun the Tetrad. And it’s not like a marriage. You can’t change your mind, you can’t back out, and you shouldn’t have told Sydney that she can have it with someone else. There won’t be any other bond. So, you telling Sydney to take a break from you is ridiculous.” He turned toward his bodyguard and called out, “Lev? What else did he say?”

  “He wants her to live a normal life…” Lev answered in his thick accent.

  “A normal life? Seriously Ashe? Sydney is not a normal girl, and she’ll never be one… she’ll never be treated like one. She’s a Prime.” Evgeni shook his head.

  “She’s not ready,” I told him.

  “You think it’s about sex? Completing the bond is not about sex at all. It’s about a connection that’s deeper than what you have even now. There’s an understanding and a partnership.” He smiled. “Yeah. You know what I mean. Do you understand me now? This is forever. It’s unbreakable.”

  Prime Garin stood there, his brow wrinkled as he waited for his words to sink in.

  He spoke the truth, of that I was absolutely certain.

  Looking up at him, I said, “You told Syd this?”

  One side of his mouth curved up into his usual sardonic expression. “No. You made this mess, you fix it. But, I am working on something to help you do just that,” he said, standing.

  “Help us out? How? She won’t talk to me,” I asked.

  “Not right now, but she will. She won’t be able to help herself, you’ll see.”

  I pulled at my neck as I watched him begin to walk away.

  “Evgeni? What can I do?” I called out.

  He turned and shook his head. “Go back to Briony, Ashe,” he told me, ignoring my question.

  Squeezing my eyes closed, I inwardly groaned.

  2

  Sydney: 1 month later

  My body settled at the bottom of the pool like a leaf fluttering from a tree. The sunlight shimmered in the water, making wavy patterns above me. The gurgling of the filter filled my ears, and I watched the bubbles from my nose rise up through the blue water.

  I closed my eyes, and I saw his face—Ashe.

  My eyes open—I saw his face.

  No matter what I did or how hard I tried, I couldn't get him out of my mind.

  Ashe was my almost bondmate.

  We were connected in a way more profound than I could've ever imagined. When our bond was forged, we'd lived each other's lives in a mashup of images and sensations, and from that point on, we could feel each other through this connection. I could sense his emotions whether he was mad, happy, or just focused.

  But our bond was incomplete, and to complete it we had to… do it. But Ashe and his damn moral compass refused. I'd offered him everything, and he pushed me away.

  Did age really matter? Because that's what it came down to.

  My parents had been sixteen when they'd bonded.

  But Ashe held firm to his refusal out of some misguided attempt to protect me or whatever the hell went through his mind.

  When Ashe said those words to me, "I need to end this—our relationship," it broke something inside me. Those words were like tendrils of ice, burrowing into my soul and making me numb.

  Ashe had gone over all the reasons why he was leaving—but he never stayed to hear me out. He'd just made the decision for both of us, without even listening to anything I had to say.

  Then he walked away, his long strides eating up the distance until he disappeared through my doorway.

  Now, after nearly a month had gone by since that day, Ashe had closed himself off to me. Our bond was like an amputated limb—itchy and painful—but for all intents and purposes, gone.

  I couldn't feel him at all, and that slender string that tied us together felt even thinner and more tenuous than ever.

  I exhaled an angry stream of bubbles into the water and followed them with my eyes as they rose to the surface.

  My lungs screamed for air, but even that couldn't stop my mind from spiraling back to him.

  Above me, something blocked the sun. It was Katie, my bio dad's girlfriend, as she stood at the edge of the pool. Her large blonde head made her recognizable through the water.

  "Sydney!" Came her distorted and muffled words through her oversized, injected lips.

  Still, above me, she bent—probably pulling off her stripper
heels. She never went into the pool, so I figured if I just ignored her, then she'd go away.

  Suddenly the water erupted in an explosion of bubbles, startling me and nearly making me drown. Katie had jumped in, her eyes angry as they met mine. She clawed at the water, diving down toward me. This pool hovered above the lower deck, so it wasn't very deep.

  When she neared me, she reached out with her long, sparkling talon-tipped hands and gripped my shirt, heaving me upward. I kicked, struggling against her weirdly strong grasp, but she pressed my face against her fake boobs and pulled me to the surface.

  I came up coughing, and once I could get a breath in, I yelled, "What the hell, Katie?!"

  The sound of the water as it cascaded off the far edge of the pool seemed loud against the faded noise of traffic in the distance.

  "What the hell were you doing? Are you trying to kill yourself?” she spat, wading over to the steps at the far end.

  She turned back toward me for an answer, her mascara running down her face in rivulets and her hair hanging in thin strings around her bony shoulders.

  "No! That's ridiculous!" I shouted, trudging up the opposite steps. My t-shirt and shorts were heavy with water as I stepped up out of the pool.

  "You're in your fricking clothes! I thought you'd finally cracked!" She wiped beneath her eyes with her middle fingers. "I get it, your boyfriend broke up with you. You're sad! But I'm sick of all your shit, and this is the last straw!"

  "He wasn't just a boyfriend—Katie."

  Water dripped from me, creating a pool beneath my feet.

  Just then, the Babushkas appeared from the shadows of the house. I privately called my bio dad’s Russian grandmother and her sister, #1 and #2. Neither spoke English, but using my translator app or dragon, Aaraeth, we managed. Besides, our relationship consisted of them offering me food, sometimes good, sometimes stinky, and me eating it… or since Ashe carved my heart out with a spoon—me pretending to eat it.

  #1 stood there, arms crossed as if waiting to hear my answer. I had guessed by this point that the Babushkas could understand a lot more English than they let on. As usual, both their heads were covered in scarves, but instead of their typical Soviet-era dresses, they wore matching Gucci jogging suits covered with the obligatory aprons.

  Babushka #1 still waited, her orthopedic shoes planted wide as she gestured between us, rattling off something in Russian.

  "What is she saying?" Katie asked impatiently as she dabbed herself with a large white towel.

  I lifted my shoulders and shook my head. "I don't know."

  Yes, this was a dick answer. As a Prime, I could easily ask my dragon, Aaraeth, to explain what she said, but I didn't want to.

  Anger boiled inside me—anger at Ashe, anger at Katie, even at my bio dad, Evgeni.

  I held on to that anger because if I gave in… if I cried, and let myself feel, then it would be real, and he would be gone.

  Come play the game with us, Babushka #1's dragon, Oirsoid, hissed into my mind, breaking me from my thoughts.

  The Babushkas had gotten me to play almost every day. Every day I refused, and every day they won.

  Uh, hard pass, I retorted irritably. I'm not in the mood.

  I twisted the hem of my t-shirt, then squeezed the sides of my shorts, adding to the puddle of water at my feet before pulling one of the pool towels around me.

  "You're a brat! I tried to be nice to you," Katie spat at me before sighing dramatically, spinning on her heel, and trying to stomp away.

  I nearly smiled at the attempt. My dad's girlfriend was a small woman who reminded me of a toy dog at the best of times. At the worst of times, I felt sorry for her.

  She doesn't deserve your derision, Aaraeth chided.

  I know, I answered my dragon. I'm an asshole…

  #2 neared me, a deep frown lining her face, but I turned and walked away into the house.

  I didn't want to lash out at them too.

  I was acting like a brat, and I was well aware, but I couldn't pretend that everything was okay.

  Besides, everyone in this house knew what was going on. Evgeni, Katie, both Babushkas—I didn't need to translate their expressions of pity for me. And, of course, probably the entire house staff.

  For God's sake! I had freaking cameras in my room! According to bio dad, they were only checked in case something 'happened.'

  I kind of understood it after the kidnapping attempt, but still—cameras in my freaking bedroom? It was bullshit.

  Picking up my pace, I hurried through the modern glass and concrete monstrosity, up the floating staircase, and to my room. Once inside, I pushed the oversized double doors closed. Leaving a trail of water into my bathroom, I stripped down and stepped under the spray. I used to enjoy hot showers, and I'd stay in there forever. Now, nothing seemed to have any meaning.

  Showering was just another chore now, and after a quick rinse, I stepped out of the spray and turned the faucet off. Wrapping a dry towel around myself, I strode back to my bedroom and collapsed on the bed.

  My hair lay splayed out on the pristine white duvet.

  I'd made my bed this morning, but like every day, the housekeeper entered my room and meticulously remade it while I'd been away.

  I hadn't given up. Every day I tried to imitate her careful edges and folds. I hadn't been raised like this, and having someone in my personal space felt like a mix between invasion of my privacy and annoyance that someone's job was to make my bed—a bed that I was perfectly capable of making.

  I'd been raised on a shoestring budget by a man named George Miller, and until not too long ago, I thought he was my dad.

  Turns out, he wasn't.

  But it was weird. He still felt like my dad… even after all his lies.

  Now, I was wary. Wary of everyone except Ashe…

  And even he'd gone and ruined that.

  Which left me numb—too numb.

  And it left me here—in my biological father's house that overlooked Los Angeles and the ocean.

  I sat up, the towel bunching around me, and I stared at the ceiling where the small bubble of a security camera sat nestled into the corner of the high ceiling.

  I'd been free before, with George. We traveled continuously for his job as a scientist, only returning to our small apartment in Queens when absolutely necessary and never for very long. I thought George just needed to work and liked to travel. Little did I know he'd been running from the Dragonborn.

  Running with me, the girl destined to be a Prime.

  Staring up at the ceiling, I considered his last partially shredded letter that had been written to me in code. Once I decrypted it, it read: y o u r m o m i s a l i… I could read it as either: your mom is a liar, or your mom is alive.

  I didn't know what the missing letters were. He also mentioned that Evgeni had something that he wanted, and for some unforeseen reason, he thought I could and would bring it to him—even after all his lies and mean treatment when I'd visited him in New York.

  I sucked in a deep breath. Could my mother, Celine, actually be alive? If she was alive, then where was she?

  I squeezed my eyes closed.

  I'd been abandoned by George, my grandparents, and now Ashe—I couldn't bear the thought that my mother was still alive and had left me as well. I couldn't imagine a world where a woman could just walk away from her baby. If that was true, then it meant I was the reason.

  My brain refused to accept that as a possibility.

  I chewed my bottom lip and tugged my towel around my body tighter as I shifted to lay on my side.

  No… I had to believe that Celine didn't abandon me on purpose. Was she a prisoner somewhere? Held against her will? Could she be trapped somewhere? Somewhere she'd been researching?

  “Where on earth could she be?” I mumbled to myself.

  Maybe she isn’t on Earth… Aaraeth broke into my thoughts. She’d been living more and more in the dragon realm—the place dragons came from and the place they lived when not in o
ur world.

  “That’s not funny.” I told her.

  If she were a dragon, I would think her in the dragon realm, Aaraeth snorted and seemed to shrug as she shifted in her tattoo form along my skin—her iridescent blue-green scales shimmering in the sunlight.

  “Aaraeth? Are there any people in the dragon realm?” I asked. “Because according to Evgeni, Celine had been researching the dragon realm and the rituals. Could she possibly have gone through the other way, accidentally? Could humans even survive there?”

  When my beast didn't answer immediately, I ran my fingers over my thigh where I could see her tail. As a Dragonborn, my body acted like a gateway to Aaraeth. Her egg acted like an anchor in the dragon realm, which tethered her to her own world. The tattoo-like marks left on my skin worked as a sort of window into her world and a doorway into ours.

  “Aaraeth? Are there humans in the dragon realm?” I asked again.

  Humans? In the Dragon realm? She asked. There….

  Before she could continue, Evgeni's distinctive knock sounded at my door—four times, then two more.

  I scrambled to a sitting position before adjusting the towel over my knees.

  "What is it?" I called out.

  I heard the door open and footsteps on the tile before he strolled into the room, his lazy gaze sweeping the space before landing on me.

  "You're going to your grandparents' house," he told me, frowning as he took in my towel.

  I pursed my lips together in an angry smile before asking, "Is this because of Katie? Did she tell you that she almost drowned me in the pool today?"

  He rocked back on his heels, his gaze searching the room before coming back to me. "This has actually been in the works for a while. It's part of the custody agreement. Your grandparents get visitation… however, your attitude and little stunts aren't endearing you to anyone in the house."

  "So, you're sending me away?" I asked sadly, sinking back into the pillows.

  Evgeni leaned against the wall and sighed. "I'm not sending you away. I'm allowing you to visit Briony and maybe come to terms with Ashe."