“Not if we’re careful.”
“You don’t think the demons will be there searching for you, too? Where do you think your cousin went to after he could not find you here? He won’t stop hunting you. None of them will.”
I ground my teeth and imagined grabbing him by the neck and throwing him over my shoulder to thud down the stairs. He might even break a few bones, if I was lucky. “Let me worry about my family troubles.”
“As you wish.”
“And if we get caught that means Kate is caught as well. Do you truly want your father to know she’s a Darrah?”
Forrest’s shoulders stiffened as we hit the hall and moved down looking for the bathroom. “As I said, I will plead her case, and once we explain what we have seen, I have no doubt my father will see reason and let her live.”
“For how long?” I grunted. “I doubt he’ll let her keep breathing after she helps return this plague to its cage, if he lets her live that long. For all you know, his men might have orders to kill Darrahs on sight.”
“He would not do that.”
“No? Then explain to me how her father and mother wound up dead,” I snapped.
I glanced to the right, and grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
He shrugged me off, whipping around with a growl, but I jabbed a finger into the bathroom then flipped on the light.
“Get cleaned up. I’ll be right out here.”
He held up his wrists, but I shook my head.
“Don’t understand how I’m to properly tend to myself if my hands are bound.”
“I managed.” I gave him a wide grin, and he sulked into the bathroom, slamming the door shut in my face. “Touchy.”
The chains would hold Forrest without a problem, so I pushed away from the door and wandered down the hall. It wasn’t hard to sniff out Kate’s room.
Her cherry vanilla scent from some lotion or another stuck with me, and I pushed open a door in the middle of the hall. Her room was small, but cozy looking. There was a hanging hammock in the corner; I could imagine her sitting and reading there. The bed was a mess, and there were clothes scattered around the floor and tossed carelessly over the bed. I peeked towards the stairs, but there was no sign of her or Lucy yet, so I stepped further in.
Shelves of books hung over a tiny writing desk with a laptop and stack of textbooks. A sketchbook sat open beside them and gently I turned it so I could see the images better. Most were of a garden, and a greenhouse. A few were of kids, probably the others that lived here.
When I reached the back of the sketchbook, my fingers stilled to see images of a half-destroyed castle, ruins, and dark destruction left behind by an unseen tragedy.
I flipped to another page, and another and my chest tightened with apprehension when I came to the final few sketches. Images of Boshen stared back at me.
Images of it burning and shrouded in darkness.
The floor creaked out in the hall, and I turned around to find Lucy watching me closely.
“Going to give me a lecture on snooping?” I asked, unwilling to leave the sketches alone.
“It’s not my room, but if Kate finds you in here, she might deck you. Or set you on fire.” Her lips twitched in a soft smile. “What were you studying so intently?”
I hesitated to show her if Kate hadn’t yet, but needed to know. “These.” I held up the sketches to her and Lucy let out a strangled noise of surprise and fear. “Exactly what I was thinking. How would she know what my world looks like if she’s never been there?”
“I don’t know, but these images, these look as if they haven’t happened yet.”
“That’s what worries me,” I sighed. “You think she glimpsed the future somehow?”
“Anything is possible. The Darrahs are a strong family given a task of great importance. There may have been a buried ability to predict when this plague would strike.”
“Then Boshen doesn’t have much time.” I tore out the sketch and folded it up to ask her about later.
Lucy arched a brow at me, but said nothing.
“I came up to fetch you both some clean clothes,” she said and headed off down the hall.
I waited in the hall as she disappeared in a room at the end then returned a few minutes later with two shirts and two pairs of cargo pants.
“Did you kill the previous owners of these?” I teased, and she tossed them at me with a mischievous grin.
“You’ll never know. Now then, I’m running into town to gather supplies with Harry. And to see if I can’t replicate the potion you used against the plague, but it will take time, so I doubt I’ll have any for you today. Kate is in the greenhouse. I suggest the two of you give her some peace and quiet for a few moments at least. I would prefer to return to a house that’s still standing.”
She turned to go, but I stopped her as I called her name.
“After we went through the portal here, what happened? What of the others? My cousin?”
“Those who enter a witch’s house against her permission always get what’s coming to them,” she said quietly. “Your cousin will be feeling the beating for a few days at least.”
“And the dragons?”
“They ran off once their Prince, along with their target, was gone,.”
I shifted uneasily on my feet. “I’m sorry, truly I am, for whatever harm I caused.”
Lucy spun around and bobbed her head. “I appreciate that, I do, but something tells me you were meant to find Kate that day. Otherwise, she never would’ve started on this journey and that horrible plague, it would keep spreading.” Her bright eyes glimmered as she held my gaze. “Fate is funny sometimes, acting in ways you don’t expect. All I ask is you do your best to keep her safe.”
I scuffed the toe of my boot across the floor. “I don’t have the best track record for staying out of trouble, as I’m sure you’ve noticed.”
“You care for her.”
Not a question, so I didn’t answer.
“You’ll keep her safe because you are more than just the bastard son of a demon king,” she said firmly.
I was compelled to meet her eyes again. They shone with power, and I had no doubt she’d been able to hold her own against my cousin long enough to chase him off.
“You are meant for great things, Craig, do not let anyone tell you differently.”
Swallowing hard, I fiddled with the clothes in my hands ,and felt a surge of knowing flow through my being. What it meant, I had no idea. “I will do my best to keep her safe, I swear it to you.”
“Good.” Her voice was thick with worry, but she said nothing else, and left me alone.
I stood in the same spot for a long while before getting my feet to move again.
Whatever happened once we reached the dragon territories, I would not be the one to let Kate down.
Chapter 3
Kate
I hoped being in the greenhouse would calm my quickly fraying, nerves, but as Mama Lucy and I worked at gathering the herbs we would need for our journey, all my thoughts turned to what we would face once we left the safety of her home.
My gut was in full rebellion, and I sipped at the soothing tea Mama Lucy brewed for me before she left. We needed salves and a few enchantments, things to aid us on our journey.
A journey to the cursed lands of my family.
I drained the tea and waited impatiently for it to take effect, but after a few minutes it seemed futile, and I gave up. I’d have to face my future at some point.
As I cleaned up the tea and the cut-up herbs, the tattoos on my arms gave a pulse of blue light.
I stopped what I was doing to watch, but it didn’t happen again, though the faint outline of the marks remained. Gently, I traced my fingers over the patterns on my right forearm, feeling the power in my body.
The beast shifted and moved as if sensing its time to break free and spread its wings was close.
“Not here,” I whispered to it, pleading for it to wait. “Mama Lucy would kill me if I destr
oyed the greenhouse and garden.”
The beast huffed in annoyance, but I felt it settle back down—alert, but calm.
Once the herbs were in my leather satchel, I left the greenhouse and ducked inside. I heard the water running upstairs, and assumed the guys were still cleaning up and changing. Mama Lucy always kept spare clothes left behind by the previous kids in her care, just in case.
I set the leather satchel on the dining room table and headed upstairs to find a fresh change of clothes of my own, my boots, and anything else I could think of that might be useful.
Which wasn’t much. I’d never planned on going on some portal jumping adventure.
Ever.
I opened my bedroom door and froze when it was halfway open.
My jaw went slack, and all I could do was stare at the shirtless half-demon in my room. Either he hadn’t heard me open the door, or he didn’t care that I was getting a full view of his muscular back and broad shoulders.
I nibbled my bottom lip and studied every inch of that bare skin I could see.
Craig was already attractive in my opinion, but now he was even more so. Tattoos ran down the right side, intricate runes that looked similar to the ones on my arms. They were beautiful and dangerous.
But it was when he shifted, and the light changed on his back that I noticed the crisscrossing of scars along his back. They ran from his shoulder blade down to the top of his cargo pants.
The skin was mangled towards the center of his back, and I covered my mouth so as not to make a sound. The pain he must’ve gone through to get those had to be immense.
Another long-jagged scar ran horizontally, starting near the first set of scars and disappeared around his left side.
“Consequences of a demon learning to use magic.”
His growling voice startled me, and then he turned. There was a smile on his lips, but it didn’t meet his eyes. His chest was as sculpted as his back, and he held the clean shirt in his fist, not yet pulling it over his head.
The scar that started on his back ran around to his navel, as well as the tattoos that covered part of his chest.
“See something you like?”
I shook my head, face burning hot, and quickly turned away. “Sorry, I uh, I didn’t expect you to be in my room.”
“Closest to the bathroom to keep an ear out for Forrest,” he explained, still not putting his shirt on. “I don’t mind you staring at them. The scars.”
I nodded, but didn’t move from the doorway or look up.
His boots thudded across the floor and appeared in my vision.
“Kate, really, it’s fine.” With two fingers under my chin, he gently lifted my head, so our eyes locked.
The first time we met, I was amazed at how intense his gaze was, but now I saw so much emotion roiling around in there, lost in a swirling storm of pain, hate, and something else I wasn’t sure I understood.
My breath caught, seeing how close we stood together. I felt the heat from his body hit mine, and my eyes darted to his lips.
His smirk told me he caught the movement and I cleared my throat, taking a large step away before I did something stupid.
Like, kiss the crap out of him.
“You weren’t supposed to learn magic?” I said, trying to distract myself.
“No. It’s seen as cheating.”
“But you did it anyway?” I swallowed hard, and mentally yelled at him to put his shirt on, but he seemed extremely comfortable walking around without it.
“I had to do something to stay alive.”
“And when they found out, they what, whipped you?”
He arched a brow, and I felt worse than I had a few minutes before.
“That’s horrible. I’m so sorry.” Unsure why I did it, my hand reached out and traced the length of the long pale scar at his side. Goosebumps broke out on his skin, and I heard him suck in a deep breath, but he didn’t pull away.
“And this one?”
“That was courtesy of my cousin, Reginald. Don’t worry, I paid him back in kind before I left.”
My hand stayed on its path, around to his back and up the mangled scars. From there, my fingertips glided over the tattoos.
The runes on my arms pulsed with power as if in recognition of the markings.
His body shifted, and he pressed his back into my hand.
In that moment, I wished the rest of the world would go away. Facing down a plague and saving the world was not as appealing as staying here in this spot with Craig. When I made it around his shoulder and to his chest again, his free hand caught mine, holding it flat over his heart where the tattoos stretched across. His pulse was quick, but strong, matching the rhythm of my own.
We had a connection. It was warm and inviting, like curling up on the couch for a cozy day by a fire. Even the dragon within me lifted her head and seemed to growl in approval.
I was comfortable around him, and I’d never been like that around any guy, not that I ever dated anyone.
Ever.
“Kate.” He growled my name, and though his voice was rough, it moved like a light feather touch over me.
He leaned in, bending lower as I lifted my head and stood on my toes. His lips brushed mine sweetly, and I kissed him back, lingering until reality crashed back into me and I pulled away.
“Sorry, I uh… I’m not sure what got into me.” I roughly cleared my throat and ran my hands through my hair. “I should let you finish getting dressed and all.”
He smiled. “I’ll go to a different room so you can have your space.”
I managed a nod, not trusting myself to say anything else.
His shirt in hand, he walked out, but not before throwing me a look over his shoulder. One filled with promise that whatever we started here was far from over.
I closed the door behind him and hurried to my closet. I pulled out a pair of dark khaki pants, my brown hiking boots that laced, a t-shirt and a light green and brown flannel to go over it.
I had no idea what the weather would be like in the dragon world and decided I’d rather be over-prepared than not. I set out a few extra shirts and pairs of thick socks to take with me. I hoped we wouldn’t be gone for more than a day, but there was no telling what we’d find.
Once I was changed, and my boots were laced up, I pulled my hair back in a tight, long braid that hung down my back to keep it out of the way. I made sure to grab the shard of the shield, and found an old velvet pouch that used to hold a necklace, and tucked the shard in it before shoving it deep into the knapsack.
Smoothing my hands over my head as I wracked my brain for anything else I might forget, I studied my reflection, my green eyes that reminded me so much of my dad’s.
“I hope this is right,” I whispered to my reflection, but I was really talking to him.
I longed for a way to talk to him again, but Mama Lucy said if he reached out to me once, he might do so again, but I couldn’t go looking for him. That could open a whole other can of problems we weren’t ready to deal with.
Glancing around my room, my gaze fell on my sketchbook. It was moved. I reached out and moved it back, wondering what else Craig had looked at while he was in my room. Thinking of him and our brief kiss made my lips tingle.
I touched them with my fingertips, and smiled. If only this was a normal situation between a guy and a girl, and not a dragon and a half-demon. Giving myself a shake, I crammed my spare clothes in my knapsack and glanced around my room one more time. I wasn’t sure why, but I felt like I wasn’t going to see it for a while.
My bag slung over my shoulder, I stepped out of my room at the same time Forrest stepped out of the bathroom, cleaned up, and wearing fresh clothes. “I’m assuming Craig let you out of the chains long enough to change?”
“Don’t worry. Your witch’s magic is strong,” he assured me with a growl and held up the chain, tugging on it for emphasis. “I’m still your prisoner.”
“I’d take the chain off if I knew you weren’t going to
try and drag my ass to your dad.”
“I admit I was a bit rash at saying so, but you have to understand the position I’m in, Kate. I’m a prince of my people and you, by the laws of our land, are a traitor.”
Grabbing the chain between his wrists, I dragged him along behind me towards the stairs. “And you expect me to be okay with that? I didn’t even know what I was until a few days ago and you’re going to be judge and jury? And what about this plague? You seem to keep forgetting what’s coming to kill everyone.”
“I have not forgotten, nor can I forget my duty.”
“Screw your duty,” I muttered, secretly hoping he’d trip as we went down the stairs.
“My duty is the same as yours.”
I froze, the dragon in my lifting its head to snort in anger at him. “Don’t,” I warned.
“I’m merely pointing out that since you are a Darrah, your first concern should be to your clan, to the dragons,” he insisted. “You might have grown up here with the humans, but you were meant to be with your own kind. Not running around with a witch and a bastard half-demon.”
I tugged the chain harder, and with a curse, he stumbled over his feet down the last few stairs. “Mama Lucy saved my life. She’s the one that kept me safe all these years from my own kind.”
“We don’t know for certain what happened that night with your father. It could have been an accident.”
“An accident?” I laughed sharply. “How could it have been an accident?” I wanted to jerk on that chain so hard it made him land on his ass, or worse, hit his head on something hard.
His blank stare told me he had no idea either, and was grasping at straws. “Whether you believe me or not, I am sorry for the loss of your parents. I truly am. I do not wish to see a dragon harmed, and if you continue to let Craig guide you, you will find yourself neck deep in trouble.”
“Why don’t you like him?” I asked, walking to the dining table so I could pack the herbs in my knapsack. “What did he ever do to you?”
“He’s a half-demon. That’s enough,” he scoffed, rolling his shoulders as if he could catch something from being in the same house as Craig. “And I do not approve of you being so close to him. It’s not natural.”
Rivals (Dragon Reign Book 1) Page 14