by Avril Sabine
When they arrived home, Kade sent Brann to tell Amber’s mother that they were already asleep and would see her in the morning. Amber dropped onto the bed, wishing it was true, but it didn’t take long for exhaustion to overtake her and she fell into dreams filled with blood. This time it was blood creeping across the floor, coming closer and closer no matter how far she retreated.
The sound of the bedroom door opening had Amber sitting up, launching a fireball before she could register it was her mother in the doorway. At the same time Kade turned into his human form and disappeared into the Void, reappearing in front of Donna who was screaming.
Swearing, Amber threw herself across the room as the fireball impacted with Kade’s back, pressing her hands against him as she healed him. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” Keeping a hand on Kade, she reached out to hug her mother with a single arm. “You shouldn’t have come in here like that. I was asleep. I didn’t know it was you.” She could feel the tremble in her mother’s body. “Say something, Mum.”
Donna’s mouth opened, then closed.
“Mum?”
“I thought I got here in time. She didn’t get hit, did she?” Kade eyed Donna.
“Mum?” She let go of Kade to take her mother’s hand, still keeping her arm around her. “Maybe you should get Gary.”
“I sent Brann for him.”
Maira entered the hallway stopping in the doorway behind Donna. “Can I help? Is she okay?” There was the sound of running footsteps and Gary and Brann joined her.
“Donna?” Gary tugged her away from Amber, sliding an arm around her waist. “Come back to our room and I’ll check you over.”
They were partway down the hallway before Donna pulled away from him. She met Amber’s eyes. “You’re grounded.”
Amber laughed, running forward to throw her arms around her mother. “I love you.”
Donna hugged her tightly. “You’re still grounded.”
“No I’m not.”
“This isn’t up for discussion.”
“Are we going to school today?” Maira asked. “Because if we are, we better get ready or we’re going to be late.”
Amber pulled away from her mother, then stepped forward again to hug her fiercely. “Never do that again. Knock first. And I’m not grounded.” She strode back to the bedroom.
“For a month,” Donna called after her.
Amber closed the door as soon as Kade was in the room and her smile faded as she sagged against the door. Kade drew her close, wrapping his arms around her. “Thank you for saving my mum.”
“Maybe I should have Brann and Maira take turns at guarding the door.”
“I thought she’d be safe here.” Amber couldn’t keep the images from her dream out of her mind. The last thing she needed was a return of her nightmares. “I thought I could keep her safe.” Over and over she saw the fireball headed for her mother.
“Do you want me to find somewhere else for her to stay?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t have to decide straight away.”
She couldn’t kick her mother out. Actually, she doubted she’d go. Maybe she could send her to stay with her brother. That thought nearly brought a smile to her lips. He’d probably kill her. What her mother needed was something to keep her from interfering. Something time consuming. Like a job. Amber thought of Miles, rocking in the corner. “I’ve got it.”
“Are you going to share?”
Amber grinned. “It’s perfect. Right up Gary’s alley.”
Kade laughed. “The prisoner who lost his mind.”
“Yeah. Miles.”
There was a tap on the bedroom door. “Breakfast is ready,” Maira called out.
“We’ll be there shortly,” Kade called before he lowered his voice. “Do you want me to get Maira to organise it?”
Amber shook her head. “I’ll ask Rian. He’ll probably do a better job at convincing mum than anyone else would.” She drew away from Kade, fireballs ready when she felt someone step out of the Void and into the bedroom. Her heart raced as she remembered the sensation of throwing fireballs at her mother. “Will everyone stop bursting in on me like this?”
“Chait said you tried to kill your mother.”
Amber glared at him, extinguishing the fire. “It was an accident.”
“Don’t screw up. I don’t need you ending up as useless as Miles.”
“About Miles.”
“What are you planning? I don’t like that look you’ve got in your eye.”
Amber laughed, trying to act normal. She couldn’t show Ronan any weakness. No matter how close to losing it she felt right now. “I think you’ll love it. Not only will it get Miles out of your way, it’ll keep my mum from messing with your plans as often.”
“Spit it out. I haven’t got all day.”
Neither did she, not if she wanted to get to school on time. Maybe she didn’t need to, but Kade should if he didn’t want to draw unwanted attention.
Chapter Twenty-One
The past week had been busy. Rian had arranged a place in town for Donna and Gary to stay at with Miles. Donna had readily agreed to help Miles when she saw the condition he was in. The downside was that she now expected Amber and Jasper to end up in the same state. Amber had rung Shylah on the weekend and said that she couldn’t even think about helping Roger until after Ronan’s lands had been returned to him. Shylah had offered to help and was now pestering Amber to take her to meet their grandparents.
Amber kept putting that task off. She didn’t need threats against her life to help bring back the nightmares. Instead of telling Shylah about her fears, she promised to take her to visit them the following weekend. On Saturday morning, Amber reluctantly let Kade take her to their castle, where they had agreed to meet Shylah and Ronan. From there they planned to take her to Ronan’s place.
Ronan arrived first. “You were too nice to Cooper. The boy is useless now. Complains I make him work too hard. Sleeps ridiculously large amounts of time and still hasn’t finished a single drawing. You need to sort him out before I have to. I doubt you’ll like the methods I’ll use.”
“Fine. I’ll do it tomorrow.”
“After we’ve been to see your Knights.”
Amber shook her head. The last thing she was going to feel like doing was sort out more dramas after seeing her grandparents. “Tomorrow.”
“By then I may have removed a limb or two. He doesn’t need his legs to draw.”
Amber opened her mouth to argue, but Kade interrupted her.
“We’ll see how long this takes. Stay away from Cooper for the rest of the day and it won’t be a problem.”
“The longer it takes him to draw his pictures the more likely it is someone will find him and we’ll never know who made him. Do you want that?” Ronan demanded.
This time it was Shylah’s arrival that prevented Amber from answering.
“Who’s taking me there?” Shylah looked at each of them.
Kade stepped forward. “I am.”
Amber moved to Ronan’s side. After discussing it with Kade, they’d decided it was the safest option. Ronan needed her, he didn’t need Shylah. “I’ll meet you there.” Her eyes met Kade’s and held them for a moment before he nodded and vanished into the Void. She turned to Ronan. “Let’s go.” With a grin, Ronan took her through the Void, arriving in the plywood room that Cooper was being kept in. “Damn it, Ronan!”
“Deal with him.” Ronan stalked out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Copper leapt up from the mattress on the floor, rubbing at his eyes. “What’s happening?”
“Shut up for a minute,” Amber growled at him as she pulled out her phone and rang Kade.
“Where are you?”
“Ronan decided Cooper couldn’t wait. Don’t let Shylah see our grandparents until I get there.” Although knowing Ronan, she guessed the door was probably locked.
“Do you want me to come and get you?”
Amber shook her head even though Kade couldn’t see her. “No. I might as well get this over and done with.”
“I’ll see you soon.”
“Yeah.” She hung up, returning her phone to her pocket, frowning at Cooper.
He took a step backwards. “What’s going on?”
His action annoyed her and she could only imagine how much it must annoy Ronan. “Stop acting so weak. You won’t last long if you don’t get your act together.”
He cringed away from her. “You said you’d protect me.”
“I can only do so much. I don’t control Ronan. No one does. You need to get the drawings finished before he decides to start removing limbs.”
Cooper stumbled to the chair, collapsing onto it. “You said you’d protect me.”
She wanted to yell at him, but he looked too fragile. Why had Ronan thought she could deal with Cooper? She was one of the least diplomatic people in the world. “Look Cooper, you aren’t safe here. I can’t get you to a safer place until you get those drawings done. This is serious. You’re still in danger.”
“But no one knows I’m here.”
“They can still find you. Trust me on this. I know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“How?”
She hesitated. “I had an assassin after me.”
“What happened to them?”
“I killed the one who sent the assassin.”
Cooper dropped his head into his hands. “I’m dead. I might as well let you kill me now.”
She fought the urge to shake him, then wondered what was the point. She recoiled from that idea. There was no way she was going to start thinking like that. She’d obviously been hanging out with dragons too long. Taking a deep breath, she crossed the room and pulled his hands from his face. “You’re not dead yet. Now why haven’t you finished your drawings?”
“They’re not right. I don’t want to accuse the wrong people. I don’t want the death of an innocent person on my shoulders.”
“Okay, you draw your pictures as best as you can. We’ll get photos to you of dragons that look like those pictures and you can tell us if that’s them. How does that sound?”
“Okay.” He spoke hesitantly. “What about the castle where I was kept?”
“Focus on the people first, then the castle. Okay?”
He nodded. When she didn’t speak for several minutes, he did. “Now?”
“Of course now. Ronan isn’t a patient man. At least not about some things.”
Cooper turned in his chair and pulled up one of his images on his computer. He looked over his shoulder. “You’re not going to watch me, are you?”
“No.” The word was said through gritted teeth. “I’m actually meant to be somewhere else, not here trying to keep Ronan from killing you. As soon as you get this done and we find who made you, you can return to your life.”
Panic crossed Cooper’s face.
“What now?” She didn’t even bother keeping the exasperation she felt from filling her voice.
“How can I do that? I thought I could. I want to. But how can I go back? They’ll have questions. The dragons made me send them a message that I was taking off with a girl I’d met at the convention. What do I tell them about her?”
“You don’t have to go home if you don’t want to.”
“Then where do I go instead?” He held out his hands, forming balls of ice in them. “What good will this do me?”
She thought of Kade and Shylah waiting for her. “I don’t bloody know. Look, we’ll sort it out somehow. You won’t be ditched by the side of the road. Is that why you’re being so slow? Because you’ve got nowhere to stay once you’re finished here.”
“No.” Cooper frowned. “I don’t think so. I was worried I’d get an innocent person killed.”
Good thing he hadn’t met any Knights. They’d soon tell him there was no such thing as an innocent dragon. She pushed that thought aside, trying to focus on getting Cooper back to work so she could see her grandparents. Not that she really wanted to see them. “Do you have a phone?”
He nodded. “There isn’t much credit left on it.”
“That I can deal with.” Or at least get Rian to deal with it. She needed easier access to her money. “Get rid of that ice.”
Cooper turned his hand like he was about to throw them.
“Stop! What are you doing?”
“Getting rid of them.”
“I meant like this.” She brought fire to her hands then extinguished it.
“I can’t do that. Mine is ice.”
“Crystal can.”
“Who’s Crystal?”
Amber shook her head. “Forget it.” She reached out, calling fire to her hands, and melted his ice.
Cooper jumped to his feet, brushing water from his clothes. “What did you do that for?”
“Because you couldn’t.”
“I’m wet.” He stared down at himself.
“Just get back to work.”
“You were asking me about my phone.”
“Oh, yeah. I’ll give you my number.” She waited for him to pull out his phone and rattled it off, taking out her own phone when he offered her his number. “Now get back to work. I’ve got other things to deal with.” She didn’t wait for his answer, striding from the room as she mentally searched for Ronan. Finding him in the other room, she crossed the warehouse, ignoring the couple of dragons in human form that were guarding the place. Entering the other room, she stayed by the door. “Let’s go.”
Ronan remained seated in the faded armchair, not looking up from his phone. His finger flicked across the screen. “Did you sort him out?”
“Yes. Now let’s go.” Her tone was curt.
Ronan finally looked up. “I had him working until you arrived and screwed everything up.” He rose to his feet, putting his phone away. “There’s no need to take that tone with me, you’ve only got yourself to blame.” He reached for her.
Amber stepped back, almost out of the room. “I was going to deal with him. Later. Stop dragging me around the countryside for your convenience.”
“Are you finished?” His tone was glacial.
She supposed she better be, before she alienated him any further. “Yes.” Stepping forward, this time she let Ronan take her arm when he reached for her. They arrived in his house. Kade was sitting in a lounge chair while Shylah paced back and forth in front of him, since most of the space in the lounge room was filled by large comfortable chairs.
Shylah stopped in mid step, turning to face them. “About time. I didn’t agree to this. The plan was to come straight here and see my father’s parents.”
“An emergency came up that needed to be dealt with immediately.” Amber ignored the noise Ronan made. It had sounded suspiciously like a snort. “We can see them now.” She mentally searched for them, trying to figure out where their new suite was in comparison to the lounge room. Unable to find them, she guessed the new suite was made from the same material as their prison had been.
“This way.” Ronan strode from the room and they trailed behind him. He led them to a hallway that ended with a locked, reinforced door. Unlocking it, he swung it open, checking the room before he entered, everyone following him inside.
Charles and Helen were both seated at a large dinning table, pages of writing and faded maps spread out between them. On the other side of the room was a pair of armchairs and a television. On the far side of the room were two doors. One was open, showing a king-sized bed. The other was closed.
“About time you got here.” Charles looked at the watch he now wore. “In future I expect you to be more punctual.”
Amber barely stopped herself from telling him that he didn’t have anywhere else to go. “Grandad, Grandma, I want you to meet Shylah. Roger’s daughter.”
“A dragon,” Charles spat the words out, his expression one of disgust.
“Why did you bring her here?” Helen demanded. Her expression mirrored her husband’s.
Obviously surprising them with the visit hadn’t been a good plan, but letting them know in advance probably wouldn’t have helped either. Amber didn’t know what to say to them.
“I don’t know why he’s bothered to protect you two all these years.” Shylah’s own expression wasn’t much better than her grandparents. “He’s obviously wasted his time.”
Charles jumped to his feet, his chair tipping back before it righted itself. “Lies.”
Helen rose slower. “How did he protect us? He was a child.”
“When they set him free. He had to promise never to see his human family or they’d be killed.”
“Who made him promise?” Charles demanded.
“It doesn’t matter. He wasted his time. Just like I’ve wasted mine.” Shylah spun on her heel and started to stride from the room.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Kade. Grab her.” Amber told Kade, who was closest to the door.
“Let me go.” Shylah glared at him as she tried to pull away.
“Don’t run off,” Amber said.
“I wish you lot would stop grabbing me. You’d think after I saved your life in that battle two weeks ago you’d be a little nicer to me.” Shylah turned her glare on Amber.
“You didn’t save my life. I had plenty of help.”
At the same time as Amber spoke, Charles demanded, “What battle?”
“You have us reading all these stupid documents while you’ve been out there killing dragons?” Helen asked.
Amber nearly swore. It’d have to be a dragon causing her problems. Yet again. “It was a test. Kade is still doing his warrior tests.”
“I don’t care what battle it is, you’re not leaving us in this prison. We didn’t agree to that,” Charles said.
“It’s not a prison. It’s a proper room,” Amber argued.
“There’s bars on the windows and the door is locked. No matter how you fancy it up, it’s still a prison,” Helen said. “I can’t believe my own granddaughter would do this to me.”