by Susan Illene
The tension in the room thickened as Nanoq and Aidan exchanged glances.
“And what did she ask of you yesterday?” the pendragon asked.
This was going to take some explaining.
“First, you have to understand I owe Verena a favor. My friend, Conrad, got shot by some human looters a while back. He was close to dying. At the time, Danae didn’t know she was a sorceress yet, and the hospitals were a mess. Verena was the only person I knew who might have been able to help. She saved his life, but in return, I had to owe her an unspecified favor. She didn’t ask for it until yesterday.” I wished I could say I regretted the decision, but I hadn’t had a choice at the time. Keeping Conrad alive was all I cared about.
“And what does she want?” Nanoq asked in a menacing tone.
“Some lost orb, but she wouldn’t tell me what it’s for.”
The air thickened, and when I met the pendragon’s gaze it was thunderous. “Did you tell her you would give it to her?”
I shook my head. “I refused. She said that if I didn’t, I would pay a price for breaking my word, but I still didn’t agree to it.”
“Do you know what breaking your promise to her will mean?” His tone was quiet and deadly.
“I’m guessing whatever she is planning with that orb is not good. No matter what happens, I won’t give it to her,” I said.
“You can’t know that for certain.” Nanoq turned to Aidan. “Get Xanath in here now.”
“You can’t mean to…” Aidan began. There was a look of outrage in his eyes.
“Now!”
He hesitated. For a moment, I thought he’d refuse the order, but then a resolved expression came over his eyes, and he left the room. A cold chill ran through me. Something told me I wasn’t going to like this Xanath person.
Chapter 6
Aidan
Aidan escorted Xanath down the dark tunnel passage, both of them moving stiffly. The most powerful sorcerer in the fortress wasn’t called to the dungeons often and never for anything good. Aidan would have liked to say all of this man’s kind were evil, but Xanath had a kind heart, and he didn’t like hurting anyone. He only did it when ordered, and if lives were at stake. Otherwise, he preferred reading in his room at the sorcerer’s tower at the far rear of the keep.
At two-hundred and thirty years old, the aging man claimed to have seen more than his fair share of death. Sorcerers usually didn’t live much longer than humans, but Xanath didn’t practice magic often, so he was able to focus most of his powers on prolonging his life. Still, he’d aged in the past few decades. His body had gotten leaner, and he had a stooped back, resulting in him shuffling his feet when he walked. Aidan had to slow his steps considerably to keep pace.
“You say I am to probe the mind of a dragon slayer?” Xanath asked, peering over at him through a fall of gray, curly hair.
“Yes.”
The sorcerer’s blue eyes turned thoughtful. “I am getting the impression you are not pleased about this.”
Aidan needed to choose his words carefully. “The slayer was open and forthcoming during questioning, and she has never posed a threat to the Taugud. I am not comfortable forcing her to endure a mind probe. She willingly came here after we promised no harm would come to her. It is not right for us to return her trust by invading her mind in a way that could potentially destroy it.”
“There is much you are not saying.” Xanath stopped in the middle of the corridor and put a hand on Aidan’s arm. “How close are you to this slayer?”
“I have trained her and fought alongside her in battle,” he answered.
Xanath gave him a knowing look. “That is not what I asked.”
Aidan had to take a chance because the sorcerer would soon know everything, whether he liked it or not. “Most would say we are closer than what is appropriate. I would ask that you keep those details to yourself, as they bear no relevance to the matter at hand.”
“If I am to understand your uncle and his prophecy correctly…” Xanath paused, and his eyes took on a slight glaze. “The closeness of your relationship to the slayer may very well be what allows you to recover the orb.”
Kade had said something similar, though never in front of the pendragon. “I would still prefer you not reveal any intimacies you discover in her mind. Whatever has happened between us, it is not anyone else’s business.”
The sorcerer chuckled. “I have not met this slayer yet, but I can see you care for her very much. You’ve already risked more than others would for her. The question you must ask yourself is how would your behavior differ if there was no attraction between the two of you?”
Aidan looked away. He didn’t have an easy answer for that, though Zorya knew he’d asked it of himself enough times.
“I gathered as much. Something tells me her weakness for you is just as great.” Xanath gestured, and they resumed walking.
“How can you be so certain?” Aidan asked.
“Because your inner dragon has accepted the slayer—I can sense his protectiveness of her—and he would not do that if she did not feel just as strongly about you. The beast can discern things you cannot.”
Aidan allowed silence to fall between them. The underground tunnel was long, and it took time to reach the section where they brought prisoners for questioning. Sconces holding lit torches were positioned about every twenty feet, barely penetrating the thick darkness. A shifter could see well enough to walk, but the human servants had to carry their own torch or lamp when they traversed down here. Their eyesight wasn’t strong enough for them to see much farther than their hands in front of their faces.
When they got close to the door where Bailey was being held, Xanath slowed and murmured to Aidan. “Whatever is in this slayer’s mind, I will only tell the pendragon what he needs to know. As long as your relationship with her does not pose a threat to anyone, your secret will remain safe.”
“I would ask that you not harm her, either,” Aidan said, not bothering to add what he might do if that happened.
Xanath’s expression turned grim. “If it were up to me, I would not be here at all. You must help convince her not to fight me. I’m afraid that is the only way this will go well.”
“Of course.” Aidan dipped his chin.
They reached the chamber and entered. Nanoq had moved to stand by the wall, but he stared at Bailey with only a hint of civility in his expression. He’d lost a few relatives to dragon slayers over the years, causing him to have an even greater bias against them. It didn’t matter what Bailey said or did to prove herself. Nanoq must have been planning to have the slayer’s mind probed all along. That was the real reason he made his promise of safety contingent on each woman cooperating—because he knew it would come down to this.
How had Aidan not seen it before? He’d been a fool to think Nanoq would simply question Bailey and let her go afterward. The pendragon had no compunction about doing whatever it took to protect his people.
Of the times Aidan had watched the process before, it had not gone smoothly in any of them. Xanath might have reassured him that Bailey would be fine as long as she didn’t fight the mind probe, but they couldn’t be certain about that. The one thing Aidan did know was that the moment it appeared Bailey was being seriously hurt by it, he would put a stop to the process. Consequences be damned.
“What is it you wish me to search for?” Xanath asked the pendragon.
Nanoq’s expression hardened. “Anything relating to the sorceress, Verena. I also want to know the slayer’s intentions toward the Taugud. Does she mean us any harm, and would she betray us if it meant she could save herself.”
Xanath’s brows drew together. “Has she sworn an oath of fealty to you?”
“No, but she has made a pact with Aidan. That is nearly as binding.”
The sorcerer glanced at Aidan. “A full pact?”
“All except her half of the blood ceremony.”
Bailey made a disgruntled sound. “Look, I’m not trying to
hurt any of you. The fact that I allowed you guys to fly me here—in your dragon forms—should have proved that. Not to mention I let you guys shackle me, and I’ve answered every question you’ve asked. What more do you want from me?”
“You brought her here in your dragon forms?” Xanath asked, giving them a look of incredulity. “And she did not give you any trouble?”
It was well known that slayers had no control over their instincts, and they would attack any dragon they saw that came near them. Some could show restraint if a shifter were in human form, but even that didn’t happen often. Xanath had not been fully informed of Bailey’s ability to contain herself.
Nanoq grunted. “She did not give us any trouble.”
It must have killed him to make that admission.
“Are you certain she is a dragon slayer?” Xanath asked.
“Many of our warriors have seen her survive the flames and kill dragons. She is a slayer,” Nanoq reassured the sorcerer.
“How is this possible?”
Bailey smiled at Xanath. “I let Aidan chain me to trees and make me get used to seeing him in his dragon form until I didn’t try to break free anymore. Then I practiced my control while out hunting the pure dragons. It took a while, but I got the hang of it.”
There was even more to it than that, but he wasn’t about to admit he’d held Bailey close during the days it took for her to transition into a full slayer. She’d learned to find his scent comforting and safe, which helped to desensitize her to the scent of his kind. Aidan knew the pendragon wouldn’t be pleased to hear about those details, though.
“Why would you care to control yourself?” Xanath asked her.
Bailey glanced between the sorcerer and pendragon. “Aidan saved my life the day the dragons started coming to Earth. It didn’t totally make me trust him at first, but he can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be, and he made a good argument that it was easier working with each other than against. Besides, I only saw the green dragons hurting people, not shifters. That helped convince me.”
Everyone stared at the tiny woman who sat in the chair with her arms shackled behind her back. She didn’t look like she could hurt much of anything. Bailey had gained some muscle through her training, but she was still unusually small for a slayer.
The pendragon’s gaze turned thoughtful. “There was no one else to train you?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I didn’t even know I was a slayer until Aidan told me. One day I was a normal woman with a normal life, and the next I found out I was born to do a job that would get me killed sooner rather than later. It’s not like I had much choice in the matter.”
“You could have chosen not to complete the rite of passage,” Nanoq said, crossing his arms. “The urge to fight dragons would have faded eventually.”
She gave him a questioning look. “And watch people I care about die while the town was being torn apart? Could you have done that?”
A range of emotions crossed the pendragon’s face, but he said nothing.
Until that moment, Aidan suspected Nanoq had not fully considered what Bailey had faced in recent months, and the difficult choices she’d been forced to make. Before their arrival, the slayer was a young woman with a bright future before her—one that she’d spoken to him about during their training sessions. Then she was thrust into a new world where it was her sole responsibility to take on hoards of dragons that attacked the territory where she lived. If not for Aidan, she would have had no one to help or teach her. Even with his assistance, she’d had to take on a great deal by herself. He couldn’t be with her all the time.
Nanoq cleared his throat. “She is unusual for her kind, which is the only reason I’m considering her assistance with the orb.”
“And you wish me to probe her mind anyway?” Xanath lifted a brow.
The pendragon hesitated for only a moment. “I do. Until I can be reassured of her motives, I cannot trust her with this task.”
Aidan ground his teeth. For a brief moment, he’d thought Nanoq might relent.
Xanath turned his gaze to Bailey. “Do you know what it means to have your mind probed by a sorcerer?”
“You’re going to dig around in my head.” She gave Aidan a nervous glance. “And find whatever information you want in there.”
The sorcerer nodded. “But you must cooperate. If you fight me at all, there could be irreparable damage done to your mind.”
She swallowed. “Will it hurt?”
Aidan wished he could wrap his arms around her right then, rather than just stand there doing nothing. He wanted to protect her from this. It killed him to stand by without intervening, but he had to trust that she was strong enough to handle the probe. To interfere before giving her a chance would risk the mission to recover the orb and endanger their lives in more ways than one. Aidan would only step in if it appeared she could not handle the sorcerer’s intrusion.
“It will only hurt if you fight it.” The sorcerer gave her a reassuring look. “Otherwise, there will be some discomfort at the beginning when I enter your mind, but it will fade as you grow used to my presence there.”
Bailey looked at Aidan, and he did his best to reveal his thoughts in his eyes. It was a decision she had to make for herself. She wavered for a moment, and fear overtook her expression. Aidan realized she needed to see his confidence in her if she was to agree to this. He gave her a curt nod. That was all it took for the panic rising in her to abate and for her to regain her courage.
“Do it.” Resolve filled her gaze. “I can handle it.”
Xanath came around the table, bringing the chair with him so he could sit while he worked. The beast within Aidan growled. His inner dragon did not like what was about to happen, and now that it was coming to pass, Aidan had to fight to keep control of his body.
The sorcerer put his hands on Bailey’s head. “Prepare to open your mind to me.”
She shuddered, but then she took several calming breaths. Aidan had worked with her a few times on meditation to assist with her discipline exercises. That would be useful now. With each breath, her body relaxed until even her eyelids fluttered shut. Her face took on an almost serene appearance.
“Good,” Xanath said in an approving tone. “You are doing very well.”
“What should I think about?” Bailey asked.
“Think about Verena. Let me see her, and the meetings you’ve had with her.”
The sorcerer’s fingertips tightened against Bailey’s head, and he scrunched his brows as his magic began to swell around her. Aidan tensed. This was the most dangerous time when Bailey had to either accept or reject the invasion. How she handled it would decide whether she’d be hurt or not. He prepared to leap forward if necessary and push Xanath away. The pendragon took a step closer as well, as if he anticipated exactly what Aidan might do. Nanoq was strong and one of the toriq’s best warriors, but he would not win this fight. Aidan would let his beast reign free and do whatever it took to protect Bailey if it came down to it.
“That’s it. You’ve let me in, and I see her.” The strain on Xanath’s face eased. “Good girl.”
Bailey didn’t appear in any pain. She continued breathing in and out as if nothing harmful was happening to her. Aidan had been almost certain she would have at least resisted in the beginning. She opened her eyes and looked at him. The message there was clear—she knew he would have stepped in if she fought the mind probe. She’d also understood what the consequences would have been if that happened. To protect Aidan, she would endure this. His chest tightened, and he couldn’t even name the emotions he felt at her sacrifice.
The minutes dragged by as Xanath worked inside her mind. Bailey flinched once, but a calm word from the sorcerer, telling her that she had nothing to fear settled her back down. Toward the end, a tear trailed down her cheek. Aidan had no idea what memory Xanath had examined, but it must have been a painful one. Her gaze was clear, though, and her mind was still intact.
Finally, the sor
cerer let go and pulled away. “I have learned all I need to know.”
“Tell me,” Nanoq commanded.
“The slayer is no threat to us.” He sat back in his chair, worn from using his powers. “The deal she made with Verena was done under duress. Bailey would have returned the favor, though, if the sorceress had asked for something more reasonable. She has no intention of giving the orb to Verena—no matter the cost to her.”
Nanoq and Aidan exchanged alarmed glances. They had confirmation now that they were not the only ones seeking the orb. This did not bode well.
“She will not hand it over even if it means her friends could be hurt or killed?” the pendragon asked.
Bailey bowed her head, and a shuddering breath escaped her. Once again, Aidan wished he could take her in his arms and make everything go away. Instead, he kept his expression stoic. Appearing not to care was the best way to protect her for the moment.
“I honestly believe once the slayer knows the orb’s purpose, she will not give it to Verena, even at the risk of her friends’ lives,” Xanath said and turned his gaze to Bailey. “She is a smart woman capable of seeing how high the cost would be if she did so.”
The slayer looked up at Nanoq, her gaze hardening. “I’ll kill her first if that’s what I have to do.”
Xanath patted her shoulder. “From what I can see, this sorceress is elusive. It may not be that easy.”
“We’ll see,” Bailey vowed.
The pendragon asked the sorcerer a few more questions before appearing satisfied. “Very well. I am almost convinced she will suit our needs, but we still need to test her friend.”
“Is anyone going to tell me why this orb is dangerous?” Bailey asked, giving them all annoyed looks. “I’d love to know what has you so worried you’d drag someone like me—a slayer—into this.”
Now that she’d cooperated in every way they’d asked, she was getting testy. Aidan couldn’t blame her.
“The orb Verena wishes you to obtain for her can control dragons…” Nanoq said, tone ominous, “…and slayers.”