“I see,” Joseph said.
“I have one request. My intended is not a lady of business; she is a woman of emotion. I do not want to upset her with the more practical side of our dealings when her family is so distressingly involved.”
“I understand. One of my family will watch over your intended while we conclude our duties,” Joseph said.
“Could I ask that it is Harrison? He is like a brother to me and there is no man I trust more with what is most cherished to me,” Wyvern said, his arm tightening around me.
When I looked up, I saw Harrison still standing across from us. His expression was not obviously angry anymore, but I could not read his look.
“Harrison, take Ms. Kekoa outside and guard her. You can show her the ship if she likes,” Joseph ordered.
All the men stood as I stood. With a deep breath, I looked up into vibrantly blue eyes and made my way across the room to Harrison.
It had all gone so much quicker and easier than I expected, as if Joseph had been happy for a reasonable explanation to get him out of a conflict with my family.
As Harrison closed the door between us and the rest of the dracons, I resisted the urge to look up at him. Part of me wanted to take off my dampener and touch him, just so I could read his emotions. I knew that if I did anything like that, he’d assume I was attacking him, though.
Not looking back, I began walking down the lit path along the empty dining area. After a second, I heard his footsteps behind me. Determined, I walked on.
When I reached the doors at the end of the hall, I had to use all of my strength to pull them open. The strength needed to open and close the doors said a lot about who controlled access to the different parts of the ship. In the empty host area, I walked to the last elevator and pressed the button to summon it.
Harrison said nothing. I was so ready for him to object, a queasy anticipation started building in my stomach. When the elevator opened, I stepped in and turned towards him, but I didn’t meet his eyes.
He stood with one hand holding the elevator open, obviously contemplating whether he should enter or not. The elevator door pushed against his hand and he smacked it so it went back.
Keeping my breathing even, I waited for him to decide in silence. I could not help releasing a small sigh of relief when he joined me in the elevator. Standing beside him, the short journey up felt like forever. When the doors opened and I walked onto the rooftop patio, I found the fires unlit and the area empty.
I knew he was standing behind me, I could practically feel his eyes on my back, but I could not make myself turn around. I had memorized the script, known exactly what I had to say to Harrison, but the words vanished as if they had been ripped away from the pages of my mind.
Inhaling deeply, I turned around. His gaze immediately found mine. His look was again unreadable, though he seemed to be looking for something in my expression.
“What Wyvern told your brothers, it was mostly the truth, but not all of it,” I said. “He told them what they wished to hear, that my grandfather was responsible and my sister lost control in some tragic accident. But, the truth is, someone else planned all of this. There was a third party, and someone from my family gave them information on us. I believe it’s safe to assume there was an information leak from your family too.”
He showed no reaction to this, but he was obviously listening.
Encouraged by his silence, I dropped the information I knew would change everything. “Your sister’s soul is still intact. My uncle, the new patriarch, is controlling access to my grandfather, but before he could stop me, I snuck in and examined their souls. As far as I could tell, they were undamaged. Is the Regina’s body still alive?”
He gave no answer, no words or decipherable expression.
“If her body is still alive, I think I could save them both. If we laid them side by side, I could feed her soul through me and back into her body. I think… I think if I did this, they would both be okay. We would just need to find some way to get their bodies…together.”
Stepping toward him, I planned to give him all the details, all the evidence I’d built up about the tattooed attackers and my uncle’s disappearance.
“If I gave you my sister’s unconscious body, would you let me bite you again?” Harrison whispered, staring intently into my eyes. He took a step forward, so we were only a foot or so apart. “If I betrayed my Regina to her death, would you let me kiss your lying lips?”
“That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” I said, keeping my voice calm though I wanted to shout my answer.
He huffed out a scathing laugh. “You convinced your intended to give you this opportunity to have me alone? Lead me up here…” He shook his head.
“It was Wyvern’s idea. He thinks you’re smart, he thinks you would listen to reason,” I said, unable to keep the annoyance from my voice.
“And what do you think? Do you think I’m smart, Dakota?” He reached forward, and though I wanted to move away, I stayed stock-still. His finger brushed over my neck where there was no longer a mark from his bite. “You think you can play us both so easily, don’t you?”
“No,” I said. “But if you think about what happened that night, how things happened, it’s obvious that—”
“What’s obvious to me is that you are a master manipulator. I feel sorry that my friend has chosen to spend the rest of his life with such a devious woman,” he spat the insults at me, his eyes blazing with anger.
“What I told you about Wyvern and me that night was true. We’re not together like that,” I said.
His head lowered toward mine and his words grew louder and louder, “The fact that you think I would care whether or not you are available, just tells me that you are insane as well as manipulative.”
“I’m trying to tell you the truth!” I shouted back.
“I doubt you’ve ever spoken the truth in your life,” he snapped. “Was it your intention to get between my friendship with the Rex as well as destroy my family?”
“I had no idea you were his friend,” I said, “I’m not going to tell him what happened.”
“Oh, I believe that part, probably the only true thing you’ve said to me,” he jeered.
“Just put your anger aside for one minute and listen to reason,” I begged.
“I am not listening to another one of your lies!” He turned away from me, striding toward the elevator.
I didn’t think, I just ran after him. When I caught up to him, I launched myself onto his back.
He was so tall that even though I jumped, I only managed to wrap my arms around his chest. I don’t know if he was shocked or just honor-bound not to hurt me, but I managed to lock my arms in a circus hold around him before he could react.
“Get off me!” he growled.
Squeezing tighter I yelled, “No!”
He walked forward, dragging me behind him.
Hooking my legs around his, I halted his progress forward. It was the most awkward hold I had ever put on anyone, made even more awkward by the copious material of my evening gown.
“This is your last warning, let go of me!” he yelled.
“No.” My voice cracked. “You’re either going to have to break my fingers and legs, or you’re going to have to listen to me.”
His heavy breath reverberated through me. “Say your piece, woman,” he grumbled.
“You’re right about me, Harrison. I am a master manipulator. It’s my aspect; it’s what I’ve been trained to do my whole life. I do lie. I lie all the time. But if you think that I’m the one manipulating Wyvern, then you don’t know your friend very well.” I took a deep breath. “Think what you want about me, hate me, make what happened between us cheap if you want to. Just believe me when I say that my sister is innocent!”
Harrison stood rigid for another minute, then his tension released and I had to reinforce my hold so I didn’t slip down his body.
“If I agree to listen to you, will you get off me?”
“Okay then, get down,” he said.
Setting my feet back on the ship, I slowly released my arms from around his chest and stepped back.
He glanced over his shoulder at me, then his gaze looked out to the sea while I stared at his profile. Finally, he spoke, “What evidence do you have that she’s innocent?”
“My security guards were in the room when Lorelei was attacked. The other servers who attacked my sister were organized; they knew each other. They knew about my sister’s dampener; they knew where on her body it was. Her dampener didn’t fall off; it was ripped off. Have you seen her ears?”
After a pause, he said, “When I examined her power, her head was down, hair obscuring her face. She’s been in ordered seclusion ever since, her power is too dangerous.”
“Have you…have you fed her?” my voice broke with the question.
He turned fully to glare at me. “Of course we’ve fed her.”
“Okay. Well, only a few people in my family even know that she has a dampener, even less know where on her body it is.”
“You grandfather being one of them,” Harrison said.
“Do you really think that my grandfather would orchestrate something to kill himself? Instead of keeping your focus on the people left holding the gun, look at the people benefitting from the assassinations.”
His expression didn’t soften, but his eyes lowered and moved back and forth in thought. “You have a way with words and I don’t trust you,” he said simply.
“Then go look at her ears,” I whispered.
“You’re asking me to go against my patriarch’s orders and put my soul at risk,” he said, darkly.
“I’m asking you to think for yourself. I am going against my patriarch’s wishes right now, and I would risk anything to save the people I love. Even by just coming up here, or coming back to this ship, I knew you might kill me. And think about it, doesn’t it seem wrong that you would have to betray your patriarch to save your matriarch?”
“What about Robert? I’ve noticed that everyone has avoided mentioning him,” he barked.
“My uncle Bobby is unquestionably loyal to my grandfather, Lorelei and me. He vanished right before they attacked Lorelei and hasn’t been seen since,” I said. “If Bobby was free, don’t you think Lorelei would be too?”
Harrison shook his head.
I looked away from him. “Your family will settle with Wyvern. They may or may not release my sister. He’s trying to arrange it. Before they release her, go see her, look at her ears, ask her what happened that night.” I inhaled, then said, “Don’t let them take the Regina away. Don’t let them kill or bury her body. I would bet good money that anyone who benefits from the Regina being gone will try to do just that. Especially if they discover that I can fix her. I can save them.”
“How do I know that you’re not sending me to your sister to get me out of the way?” Harrison’s voice was filled with suspicion.
“Out of the way for what?” I snapped. “Look past your anger, Harrison. Your sister has been deposed. My sister will probably soon be free. Why would I go to so much effort to kill a dying woman? If I don’t get her soul out of my grandfather, my grandfather will die. My uncle’s his first action as the new patriarch was to shatter my cheek for questioning him; that’s why I was magically healed, that’s why your bite mark is gone.”
His eyes went back to my neck, then up to look at my cheek. “I have orders.”
“Sometimes, you have to go against orders,” I said.
“The risk of your sister’s attack—”
I held up my hand with my bracelet. “Take my dampener to her. If she wears it, she can’t access her power. Just plug your ears before you enter, then clasp the bracelet around her wrist.”
Suspicion flashed across his face.
“I promise not to touch you again,” I whispered.
For a moment, I saw his gaze flit over behind me to where I knew the couch where he had held me sat. I had been all too aware of where it was this whole time.
“Are you going to tell your patriarch what I told you?” I asked.
If Joseph was behind the plot, what would he do if he knew I could restore his sister?
“It is my duty to,” he muttered. “If this is all a manipulation…”
“If you want me to, I will swear it in blood,” I said.
“And have me return you to the Rex stained in blood?” He scoffed.
“If I must,” I said.
Harrison turned back to face the sea. Where he was looking, colored lights flit across the black waves. Clouds had rolled in and above was an expanse of complete blackness.
Harrison reached down and pulled a folded piece of white cloth from his pocket. He held it out to me. “This doesn’t mean I believe you,” he said.
“I’m not asking you to believe me. I’m asking you to look for the truth yourself.” I unclasped my bracelet.
As the power of his soul hit me, I staggered. This close, his soul was like drowning in waves of black silk. Closing my eyes, I let his deep dark power settle over my senses.
When I could finally open my eyes, I found him watching me. Reaching up, I set my dampener into the napkin in his hand. Slowly, I pulled away and surprisingly, he did not move away from me.
He took in a long inhale. “Your magic is different from your sister’s, subtly different.”
I nodded. “It’s pretty different.” I opened my mouth but I didn’t know what I wanted to say. I wanted to say something to him, but I couldn’t find the words. In some way, I wanted him to know that Wyvern and I were trying to just be friends. But, he already told me he didn’t care and saying something like that would just make me pathetic.
He looked expectantly at me, as if he knew I was full of unspoken words for him.
Finally, I said, “You might not believe me, but I promise I won’t try to get in between your friendship with Wyvern. That was not my intention the other night. That night I just—I...” I shook my head, “It doesn’t matter. But we can both just forget that it happened.”
His expression once again grew unreadable. He pushed my napkin-wrapped bracelet into his pocket. “Easy enough to forget what I ate for dinner a couple nights ago,” he said.
I used my years of training to wipe all expression from my face. “I’m glad to hear it,” I said.
He turned. “Come with me, I’ll take you back to your intended.”
Clenching my jaw, I followed.
Chapter Fourteen
“What are you thinking about?” Wyvern asked from beside me.
“Huh?” I turned away from the undulating black water to look at Wyvern.
He gave me a half smile. “You’ve been lost in thought since we got back into the boat.”
“I’m just worried they’re not actually going to release Lorelei and Sarah,” I lied. That should have been what I was lost in thought over, but it hadn’t been.
“Come here,” Wyvern said, holding an arm out to me.
“I’m not going to sit in your lap, Wyvern,” I whispered, curling my knees into my chest and hugging them as my gown draped around me.
Wyvern gave me a smirk, but his voice was soothing when he said, “They’ll release her, they just need to make a show of debating it amongst themselves. They’re just trying to convince each other that they’re distressed about what happened to Imogen, and that it wasn’t actually to their advantage. They have twenty-four hours to debate my offer, but there is no doubt in my mind that they’ll take it. Did you get any other information out of Harrison?”
“He doesn’t think much of me. He made that abundantly clear,” I paused. The words felt acidic in my mouth. Usually, I never cared whether some random person liked me or not. Tons of people disliked me, and I couldn’t care less.
But for some reason, the fact that Harrison hated me stuck like a bur in my mind. I couldn’t get the anger from his bright blue eyes out of my thoughts.
�
��There you go, leaving me again,” Wyvern said. “Are you sure you don’t want to come over into my lap?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle as I said, “I’m sure.”
“I will try to find some way to get Harrison to your grandfather. I know Harrison. He will need to sense Imogen’s power in your grandfather for himself before he consents to help us.”
“Do you think he’ll help us?”
“I don’t know,” Wyvern said. “What did it sound like to you?”
“He didn’t trust me, and he seemed very uncomfortable about not following orders,” I said.
“That sounds like him. He’s loyal to a fault, but it’s hard to say which way he’ll go now that his loyalties are split between his sister and brother.”
“Oh gods!” I covered my face. I’d just screwed up big time. “I just realized that I gave away my dampener to your friend to give to Lorelei. I needed it to get that information from Ailani on who those humans are.” I smacked my forehead. “I’m such an idiot.
“It’s not a problem,” Wyvern said.
I pointed at him. “If you say it’s not a problem because you weren’t going to let me go anyway, I will kill you.”
“I’ve got it covered,” Wyvern said. “We’re going in there tomorrow.”
“Wyvern, the building is surrounded in three water wards,” I said. “And where is this ‘we’ coming from? You can’t cross water wards… can you?”
Wyvern unclasped his watch from around his wrist and handed it to me. It was an elegant watch with a thick metal wristband. “A watch,” I said.
“Press the button on the side,” Wyvern said.
When I did, the metal backing of the watch slipped into the watch, pushing forward a blue stone. When I touched the blue stone, the power wreathing Wyvern immediately receded.
“You had the water witch make you a dampener?”
“I had her make me five,” he said.
“You freaking hypocrite!” I smiled at him and smacked his arm, too happy by the news to be too annoyed. “Why did you order me not to wear mine?”
“Sarah was not sufficient protection with Keanu Hale on the loose; I didn’t want you passing any water wards.”
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 13