I squinted. “Keep Cassy safe, please,” he begged again and I nodded.
“I promise,” I said and took the heavy parcel from him. It was a weapon.
I closed my eyes. The old man never bought any of my stories. He knew I was lying, and somehow he knew that I was the real deal, a Dragonian, a trained Dragonian.
Still, I would speak to him tonight and find out what the hell he knew. Maybe the truth would come out and I would know where the hell I was.
I found an open latch in the floor and Tom was standing next to August.
“They search the grounds every time, Elle. They’ve never found this place. Please, don’t be afraid.”
“Afraid?” I raised my eyebrow playfully.
“Fine, whatever. Just keep quiet and try to keep the little ones quiet. If they know they are here…”
“Shhh, don’t. I’ll keep them quiet.”
August nodded and took a deep breath.
“See you later.”
“Okay.”
I went in and closed the door from the inside. Something slid over the latch, to hide it.
A faint light showed an entire play area, like a small library, and coloring books were strewn everywhere.
I smiled at everyone and took a seat near Cassy who was grabbing a coloring book and starting to draw.
Hours went by, none of us made a sound.
Then I heard it.
It was a language, one that made all the hairs on my body stand up.
They were still far away but my enhanced hearing heard them as if they were right above us.
“What is it?” Nicky whispered.
“Keep them quiet,” I said, not knowing why the hell Wyverns were here.
“They are here?”
“Almost, now shh.”
All their hearts were beating like crazy. The noises of men coming closer drove me mad and the looks on the girls’ faces said they were still trying to figure out what it was that I could hear.
None of them had enhanced hearing, which meant that none of them ever had warning.
“Keep the little ones close. If they have to panic, let them panic while they are still far away.”
“You can hear that?”
“I was part of a Dent. I can hear that.”
They all gestured for the little ones who started to show fear. It was good, rather now than when they were right upon us.
I wrapped my arms around Cassy and put her teddy in her arms. She sat on my lap. Her little heart was beating like crazy. I started paging through the book and Daisy was right, it calmed her down.
The footsteps were getting closer and everyone started to hear them.
“It’s going to be okay, shhh.”
Cassy smiled as I made faces at her for a short while and then she closed her eyes.
They were right above us now and it felt as if they were right here with us in the facility.
One was walking right on top of us. I closed my eyes and started to open the laces of the parcel. I felt the curve of the blade. I knew what sort of weapon Charles had given me. The question was how the hell had he known I was good with axes?
The one spoke. And all I could recognize was the word THIS. It was one of the words that I’d learned and remembered.
My heart beat like crazy. They had nowhere to hide.
My shield. It was a magic shield, one of invisibility. I could do that much for them.
I gestured for them to come closer and the girls did. They just saw me as the one to look up to.
I wielded my shield and their eyes widened.
“Be quiet,” I said. “Take Cassy and no matter what you do, keep her safe,” I told Nicky. She nodded as she kept staring at the small sparks off my shield. “I’m going to wield something stronger but I can only do this from the outside. They won’t see you, but they will see me.”
“No, this is stupid.” Max looked petrified. “Nobody can do magic.”
“I can. My dragon showed me how.”
“Elle,” Max started again.
“It’s the only way. They know there is something here. Just in case.” I spoke again and Max nodded with tears in her eyes.
“Thanks.”
“Be quiet.”
They all nodded and I walked out of my shield and enchanted the invisible spell.
It was a bitch of a spell too, as it was not meant for me, but for others, others you wanted to protect. At first I thought I was wasting my time learning it, but right now, I was glad that I had.
They all disappeared one by one until it was only me that remained.
The latch opened and light streamed in.
“What is this?” one of them asked. His voice didn’t sound familiar but it didn’t matter.
I dropped the weapon. If I killed him, they would kill me and my shield would vanish.
I put the axe on the ground and got up.
The light was hurting my eyes as I stared at him. He started to smile.
“And who are you?”
“My name is Elle. As you can see, I’m the only one here.”
He looked around and huffed.
“Thought they could hide you from us, did they?”
“This wasn’t part of the treaty,” I said.
“And what do you know about the treaty? Here, we are law. Not some pretty face that thinks she knows stuff about treaties.”
I smiled too. “Oh, I know much more, believe me. But guess you were too clever this time. So take me. As that is clearly what you want.”
“You know how to get out of here, move,” he said that last part with ice in his voice.
I climbed the steps and saw five men. They wore some sort of a uniform, but one I didn’t recognize. Three of them, including the one that had found the hiding place after five years, were tall, with dark hair and cold eyes.
The latch closed and it felt as if I could breathe again. One was short with light hair. The way he scanned me was disgusting. Another was big, fat, and slow. All sorts of ways of how to beat the living crap out of them entered my mind but then something on the other side of the trees moved. I turned my head and found a mother of a Wyvern waiting.
My body froze as my eyes lingered on its brown, reddish body. I’d never really seen a Wyvern up close. That night at the Academy, it was too dark and we’d had to fight for our lives.
The one that found me had to push me to walk forward.
I did and he then tied my hands up with rope.
I just stared at him with warning as he tied them tighter. He found my gaze and smiled. As if it was some sort of joke.
“You are quite different from the others. No tears, nothing. You are not afraid. I have to say, I really like that. It turns me on.”
“Stay the hell away from me.”
“Or what?” He laughed and pulled the rope attached to my hands hard and I smacked straight into his body. His lips were on mine immediately and his tongue moved into my mouth hard. I bit him and he slapped me hard across the face.
I fell to the floor and felt arms grab me and throw me over a shoulder.
The one that’d kissed me lifted up my head by my hair to look at him.
“You will pay for that, once we get to my father’s place.”
He pushed my head away and they all walked fast.
I stared back at the latch and knew that my spell would soon wear off. They were safe, that was all that mattered. I’d kept my promise.
The idiot that’d kissed me climbed on the Wyvern and I was thankful that he flew away. I hated that guy, whoever he was.
They plopped me onto a wagon, Marcus’s wagon, and the horses immediately started to move.
I tuned in again to all the other farmers and could hear Marcus and Charles begging. Begging for what? If August tried something I would never ever forgive myself for not trying to help him harness his ability.
I should’ve taught him everything I knew.
I was so stupid.
We finally reached the ot
hers and one started to speak Wyvic. He was fluent and all I could pick up was something like they found me.
Please don’t freak out, I prayed. The others are safe.
Then they grabbed me again and Daisy cried the hardest. Olivia was next, yelling “No.”
The other faces were searching for their children and looked back at me. I shook my head at Charles; he needed to calm them down.
“Shhh.” He grabbed Daisy. “Calm down.”
She finally realized that it was just me.
The Wyvic conversation still carried on as I searched for August. He just stared at me.
“Please, I’m begging you. Don’t take my granddaughter.”
“Another one?” Another man went to Charles. “Why were you hiding this one?”
More eyes were on me. Olivia was still crying, but the other mothers and fathers didn’t understand any of this. August neither. He carried a look of gratitude and betrayal all at once, as he knew I was holding back. But at least they kept their mouths shut.
The heads for the families quickly put two and two together as mothers started to panic slightly and they calmed them down. Their children were safe.
“She is special. The only granddaughter I have. This was not part of the treaty!” Charles yelled at them.
“We decide what is part of the treaty and what isn’t. If you don’t like it, you can take it up with the Wyvern King.”
Wyverns. I was in a Wyvern city.
“Now grab the other two and let’s go.”
I saw Annie.
“Billy, please,” she begged someone. The person she knew and I followed her direction.
I gasped as I found him sitting on top of a Wyvern. Blake?
“You guys really want the half breed?” he said trying to protect her. It didn’t sound like him, but he was the spitting image of him.
I couldn’t stop staring at him.
He found my gaze as tears lingered in my eyes. His eyes were wrong. They were dark. Blake had peacock blue eyes. It wasn’t him, just someone that looked like him. I looked away as the other man answered his question.
“She has female body parts. That’s all we need.”
Daisy was removed from Charles too. “No, please. You are taking three of my family members. I’m begging you.” Charles started to cry.
“Leave her. Please. Her family needs her. Take me,” I begged.
One laughed.
“Sweetheart, we are already taking you.” The others laughed with him.
“I know but there is a huge difference between me going willingly and me not going willingly.”
“Ohhh,” they joked and all laughed again.
Then the one that was clearly calling the shots, the one with short spiky dark blond hair stared at me with a wicked, lustful grin. “I like this one, so feisty.” He looked at Charles. “She will be my little bird.”
I didn’t like the way he said bird.
“This is going to be fun,” he said. “Fine, leave the old bitch. She isn’t much for the eye anyway.”
They let Daisy go and she ran straight into Charles’s arms, who had tears in his eyes as he just stared at me.
I was dragged from Charles’s direction and I turned my head to look at Daisy. All of them stared at me. They are safe, I mouthed.
Thank you, she mouthed back.
Annie looked defeated as we reached one another. She didn’t look at me and I knew she was angry, angry that I wasn’t telling the truth.
They took us toward a carriage and shoved us inside. I just glared at them and saw the guy that looked like Blake. He had a smile on his face too. I hated that so much.
I had no idea where this carriage was going to take us, but something told me I was in deeper than I’d thought.
If Paul found me, that would be the last of me, and I had no idea what the hell he looked like.
WO HUGE WYVERNS pulled the carriage.
Annie didn’t want to cry, she tried not to but tears lingered in her eyes.
Wyverns, freaking Wyverns. It explained everything. I’d just never imagined in a million years that their cities were this big and that there were actual humans fighting their side. Guess I was wrong that they could be tamed. Still I wanted to meet this Wyvern King. Could it have been Paul’s father? I couldn’t remember anything they’d spoken about in that cavern the day Lucian had died. Something about a Cain…
The other thing was that some Wyvern breeds could read minds. I had to be careful.
Men who spoke Wyvic surrounded us.
They were speaking about Annie but what they said exactly I didn’t pick up. They spoke way too fast.
The Wyverns flew low to the ground, as if they couldn’t really carry the weight.
Why couldn’t dragons fight them? There still had to be plenty around. Wyverns were vicious but dragons were much bigger and stronger.
Nothing made any sense.
The other question was that the Council I knew wasn’t behind this. This was a Wyvern council, and that scared me even more. I should’ve never run away.
If Paul saw me, found me, I was screwed. And it was too late to change my appearance. Way too late. They would know that I could do magic, which was my secret for now.
Annie just stared at me. I knew what was going on in that mind of hers. She was wondering how I’d kept the others safe.
I just stared at my lap and out the window, flying over the rooftops; barely missing them was more like it.
The flight wasn’t that long and when we landed, two huge women grabbed us. They pulled Annie and me into another carriage, one pulled by horses.
They started to speak to one another. One had a strong European accent, another, a slight Scottish accent. I could take her, but the European, she reminded me of a female wrestler.
She had a clipboard in her hand and was starting to discuss where they were going to place us as if we were some kind of order that needed to be dropped off.
“I’m not going anywhere without her,” I said to the European, gesturing to Annie.
“Sweetheart, I don’t care what you want. You will go where I tell you to.”
“Not if I’m dead.”
She stared at me.
“I promise you, if you split us up, I will kill myself.”
“You are bluffing.”
I chuckled. “I have no more reason to live, so call my bluff, I don’t care.”
“Elle, shhh.” Annie bumped me.
I ignored her. “I think the consequences will be much worse for you if I’m dead, so the choice is yours.”
“Who are you, how do you know about our affairs?”
I didn’t but clearly something I’d said made her worry that I knew how their organization worked.
“I’m someone that should’ve killed a bastard when I had the chance.” I made my voice sound venomous and the European jumped slightly as she saw something, or someone that I reminded her of. Maybe my mother but then again, I looked like my father.
She snapped out of it and scratched Annie’s name off the one board and added her to mine.
Annie just stared at me again.
My heart dropped into my stomach. Who would’ve thought that in real danger I was seriously becoming the shining star?
When the carriage stopped we were in some sort of city. It was nighttime and we were pushed up onto a set of stairs leading up to a huge building.
When doors opened we found a staircase that was lined with red carpet, it smelled awful and Annie winced.
“It’s one of the best bordello houses in Eikenborough. I can’t believe I’m back here.”
“Eikenborough, this is where we are?”
She nodded.
“The guy that let Daisy go, his father runs Eikenborough.”
I remembered the guy. Lucky for me it wasn’t the other guy.
“Get them into a bath. They are going to Lord Creptone’s.”
“Oh, no,” Annie uttered softly.
It wasn’t good
news.
“Both of them?” a younger woman said.
“Don’t ask questions stupid. You are paid for sucking dick not your opinion.”
She rolled her eyes. “Come,” she said and we both followed her. She smelled sickly sweet, but at least she was clean. I hated that European woman, she was so mean and vulgar, and it reminded me of the words Blake used to utter into Tabitha’s ears.
I felt bad when her name popped out of nowhere. I’d killed her boyfriend, and while he was cheating on her, which was ironic as he’d cheated on her so many times with Arianna.
Still, he didn’t deserve to die.
We were taken to another room. It had two huge bathtubs with sofas lined against the wall. There was even a stage way up front. What the hell was this place?
The girl ordered it to be filled up.
“You need to get dressed in proper dresses for the Lord.” She looked at Annie. “We’ll figure out what to do with you. You are hardly Lord material.”
She disappeared and apart from the girl that was pouring the bath, it was only Annie and me.
“Everything will be okay.”
“How did you keep them safe?” Annie asked.
“It doesn’t matter how, they are safe.”
She stared at me and flung her arms around me. The hug felt good. “I’ll keep you safe too. Whatever it takes.”
She broke the hug. “I can actually take care of myself, Elle. I was born here, almost died here too. But thanks.”
I didn’t like that part. It was as if she was used to all of this. Nobody should be used to all of this.
The door opened up and the woman that had left reappeared with the most beautiful princess dresses. I huffed slightly.
For what they were planning to do with us, princess dresses were hardly the right attire.
Then another group of girls entered and started ripping off my clothes. I pushed them away.
“I don’t need people to help me get out of my clothes,” I said through gritted teeth.
“She is a feisty one, isn’t she?”
“Uh-huh. Whoever she is, she’s got Madam Mesousa jumping like a bag of beans,” the one that brought us here said.
“Who are you?” the one girl asked.
“Nobody, now can we have a bit of privacy?”