He took all four of us to his office and gave us the biggest scolding of our lives.
Blake was never going to yield and even though George did speak to me that day, telling me that I could never, ever do that again, it didn’t change the way I felt about everything.
He didn’t tell me anything about what the bond was. Master Longwei was right about how a dragon that was part of a Dent would never reveal what the bond really consisted of, and I couldn’t stop thinking that George had no idea what caused his affection toward Becky at all.
I wished that I could say that it was the breaking point and that Blake changed after that, but he didn’t.
He ignored me for so many weeks that buying the stupid bike was all I could think of.
It was where I’d been the day of the entire cafeteria incident.
Monique had given me Andy’s number and I went to see him. There was the most beautiful black number that he said Blake used to have his eye on, but that it had been on the floor for a long time, as it was a bit pricy and nobody could really afford it. I told him to wait till I was certain, and yesterday I’d made the call and bought the damn thing.
THIS AFTERNOON ANDY would deliver the bike. My stomach was in knots. Monique was sure that it would work but now that I’d actually bought the damn thing and I knew it was on its way, I was nervous as hell.
He said that he would drop it off after school, a delivery straight from the bike shop to the Academy with a beautiful bow and a card with Blake’s name on it.
The entire ordeal sounded so stupid now.
“Okay, out with it,” Becky said. We were having lunch and I’d hardly touched my food.
“It’s nothing.” I stood up. “I need to make a call.”
I had to cancel this order before Andy brought the stupid bike here. What had I been thinking? I should have noticed the way Jimmy had reacted, he knew Blake better than Monique. He used to play at Longbottoms so many times, and the way Jimmy laughed that day should’ve told me that…
“Elena.” Blake’s voice interrupted my thoughts, and I closed my eyes as a bike key dangled from his fingers. “What is this?”
“What do you think it is?”
He chuckled as he walked closer and stroked his face hard.
Okay, so maybe Monique hadn’t been wrong.
He looked at me again with a small curve around his mouth. “You think you can buy my affection?”
Shit. “You’re not giving me any options here, Blake.”
“I don’t want to be your dragon, or anybody’s dragon. Why can’t you get that?” he roared again.
“We have no choice. We still have to fulfill our destiny Blake. We have to free the people of Etan.” I didn’t know why I’d just said that. I wasn’t going to but I had to say something to make him try.
“They can rot in Etan for all I care,” he spat in my face and turned around right after he threw the key back at me. “My affection can’t be bought.”
I picked up the key and plenty of eyes were just staring at me, my friends included.
George got up. “Okay, what did you buy him?”
“It doesn’t matter. It was stupid, I know.”
George smiled. “If it’s what I think it is, Elena, that wasn’t easy for him at all.”
“Yeah, well, it didn’t work.”
“Elena.” Master Longwei’s voice came from down the hall. He had a slight grin on his face.
Oh man, how many people heard about this.
“You need to get that distraction back to Andy’s shop or ask someone to come and fetch it. My courtyard is filled with students and a couple of the professors.”
George smiled and rushed to the courtyard.
“A bike?” Master Longwei had a raised eyebrow.
“I didn’t know what else to do.”
“You must be patient Elena and not bestow gifts on him that he doesn’t deserve.”
“Yeah, he made that pretty clear about how his affection cannot be bought.”
A bigger ignore came after that. He didn’t treat me like vermin anymore, he didn’t treat me like anything. It was like I didn’t exist at all.
That bike was a stupid idea and next time I went to see Monique I would tell her just how bad it was.
THE COUNCIL WANTED to see me again and Sir Robert went with me. He was back at my side whenever the Council wanted to meet.
“You bought him a Ducati?” he asked with a hint of a smile.
“Don’t look at me like that, it was stupid, I know.”
“It’s sweet, Elena. And it shows me that you would do anything in order for him to succumb. I just think it was the wrong time. Blake has eyed that specific bike for a long time.”
“Then why didn’t he just take it?”
“Because it came from you.”
“Wait, how do you even know about this?”
He chuckled. “Andy phoned me after he went to pick up the bike from Dragonia. It’s in a safe place for now, until the manor is completely done.”
“When will the manor be finished?”
“A couple of weeks, give or take.”
“Wow,” I said. “That’s fast.”
“It’s almost ready.” He had a huge grin on his face. “It’s really something, Elena.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” I said as we walked up the stairs that led to the city hall in Tith.
Sir Robert opened the door of the hall and we found a small group of Council members. Constance was there along with Master Longwei and the two kings.
Sir Robert and I each took a chair right at one of the tables. It was a different set up, a long oblong table, and I didn’t like the fact that Irene was sitting next to Master Longwei.
I didn’t know what she was doing here.
“Good day, Princess, Sir Robert.” King Helmut addressed the meeting. “We have summoned you here today, Elena to speak to you about a different matter.”
King Helmut was confident, and everything I wished I was when I was in front of these people.
“Irene has brought to my attention that she is feeling something pulling her toward your foretelling.”
I squinted. “My foretelling?”
“The one concerning you and Blake. Freeing the people of Etan.”
“Oh, I see. That one.” I pinched my nose and sniffed lightly. I could hear Stan’s voice in my head that it wasn’t princess-like but I didn’t care. It wasn’t my responsibility alone to make that foretelling turn red. It was my dragon’s too, and if he didn’t want to succumb then what the hell was I supposed to do? I couldn’t force him.
“What is happening with Blake?”
“He’s the Rubicon and doesn’t believe that he needs a rider, so he’s not anywhere near where he needs to be.”
“Well, the Ancients want you to try harder, Elena. Blake needs to help you fulfil this foretelling and if not, I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you what is at stake here.”
I shook my head.
“How long do we have?”
“Just try your best.”
The meeting ended, that was it, and we left. They seriously couldn’t have sent me an email or a crow?
To make matters worse, it was now my responsibility to find a way to make him co-operate, as if that was ever going to happen. I didn’t even know where to start with operation ‘Getting Blake Leaf to Join team Elena.’ All I knew was that everyone was counting on me, and they had just added the freedom of Etan to my already weighty shoulders. As if they didn’t carry enough already.
Sir Robert went his separate way as we took one of the elevators back to Elm. Thankfully, the carriage ride that waited for Constance, me and Master Longwei didn’t take very long.
“Elena.” Master Longwei called my name as I was looking down at the scenery from the carriage window.
I looked at him.
“Irene only felt something. It could still be months, even a year before Etan is lost to us.”
A faint smile appeared
on my lips. That was why King Helmut couldn’t tell me the exact period of time I had to try and get Blake over on my side.
“You sure?”
“With a foretelling as big as this one, she usually gives plenty of notice.”
“Thanks.”
“But don’t take the Ancients’ warning lightly. He needs to Dent, Elena. The faster the better.”
FOR DAYS I about what the Council had asked of me. The task they’d bestowed upon me, to find ways for Blake to pick up his responsibility. I knew neither Master Longwei nor Sir Robert liked it, but they were also worried about what it was Irene had started to feel. I hadn’t thought our Destiny would’ve had a time frame as well.
It made my job so much harder, but then again, when the time came, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. It would mean that I hadn’t broken my promise, but yesterday’s crow from my Pappi, told me that they were watching me from under Master Longwei’s nose.
I didn’t have any more choices, but one more idea.
Lately, he’d seem to do whatever Tabitha wanted. A part of me thought that he had Dented, but with his girlfriend. He wasn’t as mean to her anymore and they been inseparable since he’d gotten back.
I still had my doubts about this one too, but I had to try everything that was in my power for him to agree to become my dragon.
I knew if I could get Tabitha on my side then he might change his mind somehow.
I found her in the cafeteria, alone, which was a miracle in itself, and dropped down onto the pillow next to her.
She was having a conversation with one of her friends and just stared at me with a raised eyebrow and a slightly gaped mouth.
“Can I please have a word in private with you?”
“Why would I ever want to speak to you?”
“Enough, Tabitha,” I begged. “I never wanted this, but it happened.”
She just looked at me.
“I don’t want him like that, okay. I just need him because the Council is breathing down my neck because of what it is we have to do. Irene is feeling that it’s almost time for our foretelling to be put into action.” I sighed. I didn’t want to do this but I had no choice. “Don’t you want to free the people of Etan?”
She looked downright guilty when I asked her that.
“I just need his dragon form, that’s it. I promise I will stay out of both your way. I don’t want him like that.”
She was contemplating this. I could see it in her face.
“I know what the Dent is, okay, I’m not stupid, and if you think that I’m okay with enslaving someone, putting a spell on them, then you have no idea who I am.”
She looked up, straight into my eyes. “You promise?” she said again.
“On my mother’s grave.”
“Fine, what do you want me to do?”
“Speak to him. Tell him that I don’t want him like that, since that seems to be the problem he has. I just need his dragon to fulfill this stupid foretelling and after we free the people, I’ll set him free.”
She just stared at me. “You would do that?”
“Yes.” I didn’t think twice answering that. I knew he would never want to stay with me. The Rubicon can’t be tamed, well not like that.
“I’ll try my best to speak to him. Make it a bit easier for you to learn with his dragon form, and only his dragon form, Elena.”
I nodded.
“Just remember your promise,” she said, before she got up and left.
I didn’t like the way she’d said that. Why would she ask me to remember my promise? As if Blake and I would ever….okay so that almost happened once, but I wasn’t that stupid.
I took a deep breath. Maybe that wasn’t such a stupid idea and who knows, maybe Blake would, just maybe, start participating and the Council might back off a little.
When I entered the room, the girls were talking non-stop about Sammy’s upcoming birthday party. It was her eighteenth and it was a big deal, even for dragons.
I’d completely forgotten about it and felt bad that I was so preoccupied lately.
I would just have to make it up to her in her gift. I knew she wanted a leather jacket really badly, and not just any leather jacket, the expensive kind. Last year I didn’t have that kind of money, but this year, I could get that jacket for her. I would speak to Becky when Sammy wasn’t around, maybe both of us could get it for her.
T’D BEEN ALMOST an entire week, and nothing major had happened in the Blake department.
I knew that I’d gotten through to Tabitha, but whether she had talked to him about it or not, I didn’t know.
The only thing that seemed to change was the pressure of the Council, still wanting to know how far I’d come towards persuading him.
Sir Robert didn’t like the kind of pressure they were putting on me. It wasn’t the rider’s responsibility to make the dragon take up his duties. He feared them not giving him space and time would only drive us further apart, as if we were some estranged couple.
Another thing that had set in, was I was finally starting to become more active in decisions regarding Paegeia than I was used to.
King Helmut and to my surprise, King Caleb too, had agreed to let me not just sit in the meetings when they concerned Paegeia’s future, but have a vote too, which had never happened before now
I was freed from the boring everyday details, but I’d also learned that it was crucial to know what was said in those meetings since it clearly helped with making decisions regarding granting them what they wanted or not.
But I had a say in the matter. So it wasn’t just two that made these decisions anymore, it was back to three. I had taken my father’s place.
The first choice was some sort of an expansion decision. They wanted to take on another deal on the other side of the world.
The little I’d learned in those horrible three weeks during my summer break, was that Paegeia was enriched with oil.
It made me think about the Ewings from Dallas, even though I knew JR and Bobby didn’t really exist, I kept seeing a JR somewhere on the other side trying to get his hands on Paegeia’s oil.
My father used to love Dallas, and I’d actually started liking JR, the day he died.
“Helmut, you would be stupid not to take this on,” King Caleb said.
“I don’t like this. Have you even considered the consequences?”
“Consequences. We are protected by a wall; they can’t come in, unless they want to stay here forever.”
“I can’t believe that you went behind my back—”
“I told you before,” King Caleb interrupted. “I didn’t. They somehow knew about Paegeia and the oil.”
“How, Caleb?”
“A dragon might have enlightened them.”
King Helmut started to laugh, as if it was the biggest bull he’d ever heard.
Was King Caleb really spreading the word about the existence of Paegeia to the other side? Why? That was my major concern.
“We can expand, Helmut.”
“At what cost, Caleb?” He shook his head. “The oil rigs this side have done more than enough for Paegeia. Going and finding new rigs in places that don’t want anything to do with money or give a damn that they are sitting on a gold mine is a waste of time.”
“And that is exactly why we have to make them see. They can enrich the cities. Make them better.”
“They don’t care about those things. I have thought about this and they just want to be left alone.”
I squinted. “What places are we talking about?”
King Caleb sighed as King Helmut looked at me with a soft smile. “The Dragon cities.”
I raised my eyebrows and looked at King Caleb.
“Elena, don’t. You don’t know what this could mean to Paegeia.”
“What can this mean to Paegeia? The only thing I see in my mind is forcing dragons that still want nothing to do with humans to let humans into their everyday lives, drilling for oil. That is what you are seeing
, right?”
His lips thinned out. He didn’t like my reply and I knew he didn’t like granting me any sort of choice in this matter.
“So I take it your vote is going to be a no, and yours too Helmut.” He smiled. “Just like the old days,” he said, then got up and left.
“Caleb, don’t be like that.”
The door to the consulting room in King Helmut’s Palace slammed. It made me jump.
“How could he not see that what he is asking is wrong?”
“Elena, Caleb is a good king but sometimes I just think he has lost his reason.”
I giggled softly. “Yeah, the more I’m hearing some of these things, the more I can see that.”
“Still, it’s a brave decision you’ve made. Your father would’ve been proud. As for Caleb, he really wanted this to go through, so I can’t say what this is going to mean for you in the long run.”
“It doesn’t matter what he is going to try to do, he needs to deal with the fact that I am part of this world, and it is part of me. I’m my father’s daughter and even though he doesn’t like it, he needs to find a way to accept it.”
King Helmut smiled. “If only you could have that confidence in a hall filled with Council members.”
“I’m still working on that one.” I giggled.
We sat at the table for the next couple of hours and the two of us worked through the rest of the choices. He let me make up my own mind, presented them to me and we discussed the outcome rationally. We granted a couple of things and declined a couple. There were even a couple that I disagreed with him about and he put them into the pile until we had a third voice back.
When the pile was finished, I was transported back to the Academy.
My spirit felt lifted. For the first time ever since the truth came out, I was being treated like a princess. I was given a chance to be heard and from all the smiles and nods from Helmut, even if we didn’t agree, I could tell that I reminded him of my father, or maybe my mother. Whichever one, it made me feel good. It meant I was finally filling their shoes, large shoes I might add, but I was stepping into them.
I had a good day, not one filled with a pesky dragon who loved to complain about how unfair this claim was blah, blah, blah. I had bigger things to be concerned about and for once, Blake wasn’t one of them.