She nodded as well. “Thank you.” She did look in better shape, in fact she looked more beautiful and radiant than I had ever seen her. Her cheeks were fuller, her complexion even more perfect. Even her red hair seemed to radiate out with the firelight. “George, I am intrigued by you asking to meet with me as you have avoided this interaction for so many years.”
“My son Robert was finally able to tell me the details of your meeting, and I am interested.”
The Regina’s gaze moved to fix on me before looking back to my grandfather. Her voice seemed just a little strained as she asked, “Why now?”
My grandfather paused for a long couple of seconds, and when he spoke, his words seemed to be selected very carefully. “I believe that an alliance between our families would be prudent.”
She leaned forward. “The contract I proposed for was between my brother Harrison and Dakota, is that what you have to offer?”
“Her contract with the Wyvern Rex has ended.”
“Harrison, come here.” Imogen smacked the seat beside her.
Harrison didn’t look at me as he passed and took a seat to Imogen’s left. His attention was fixed on her, too, after he sat. It was almost as if he was trying not to look over because I was pointedly trying to catch his attention.
“How long of a contract are you proposing?”
“For no longer than a year,” My grandfather said. He lifted his arm to wrap it around me. “There are some details that would need to be worked out as well, Dakota has a commitment to attend a series of occasions with the Wyvern Rex, and the acceptance of that would need to be written into the contract.”
She straightened. “The Rex’s brother’s engagement parties?”
“The same.”
“Harrison has been invited as well. I suppose there will be no embarrassment as long as Dakota behaves herself accordingly.”
“That is not one of her specialties.” My grandfather stated it like a fact. “She’s not trained as a wife… nor will she be. My granddaughter is precious to me. I am only offering this arrangement because of a very certain set of circumstances.”
Imogen showed no reaction on her face. “I expect allowances can be made for breaches of etiquette because of the circumstances.”
“Would you be able to ensure, under any doubt, that you, yours, and the entire Vrykolakas line would safeguard her through the length of the contract?”
“I can.”
“And they would honor an alliance between the families and to all members of my family?”
“We would. We would also expect the same of you. I have never been in breach of contract.” The words were an accusation, clear as day.
“We would honor the alliance.”
The silence was thick throughout the whole room as they stared each other down.
Without looking away, Imogen said, “Brother, what say you?”
Harrison’s bright blue gaze finally found mine. “I want to speak to Dakota, alone.”
Everyone’s attention immediately turned to Harrison, who kept his gaze on me.
“That’s unacceptable.” My grandfather shook his head.
“Then my answer is no,” Harrison said.
I turned to my grandfather and whispered, “Can I say something?”
He nodded.
“It’s okay, I trust Harrison. And worst comes to worst, I have the… you know.” I nodded down toward my portal purse.
He gave me a level look, but then turned to Imogen and Harrison. “Thirty minutes, no more.”
The Regina nodded, and Harrison immediately stood and crossed to me. When he offered me his hand, I took it. It wasn’t like holding Wyvern’s hand—no overwhelming tingly sensation—but his skin was soft and warm, interrupted with rough calluses. He didn’t release my hand after I stood and used it to lead me out of the room.
We said nothing as we followed the exact same path for the third time. Harrison stood next to me in the elevator, but stared forward. I practically had to crane my neck to look up at him. On the outer deck, we stepped out into the cloudy night. Harrison led me to the fireplace, and the couch, and released my hand to light the fire.
I sat on the couch, curling up my legs.
When Harrison sat beside me, he immediately turned to me. “You and Wyvern broke the contract?”
“I did, I had to. Wyvern’s father was going to use it to keep me at his keep in the Dragon Kingdoms.”
His brow furrowed, his bright blue gaze still searching mine. “But you’re not together anymore, you’re not a couple?”
“Not officially. Officially, we can’t be.”
He leaned back a little. “But unofficially… you are?”
I nodded.
He glared. “Why would I want to be in a contract with a girl who has a boyfriend?”
“Because you have a girlfriend.” I furrowed my brow right back at him.
His mouth opened slightly, and the glare dropped from his face. “Victoria.”
“I thought we could help each other out.”
He made a scoffing sound and turned away. “Don’t pretend you’re doing me any favors.”
“No, you would be doing me a big favor… my family needs this alliance, Harrison. I mean, we need it. I was going to ask if I could have my contract with someone else in your family—”
“Someone else?”
“Wyvern actually suggested you. He trusts you. You’re his friend… and you’re sort of mine too. You don’t have to say yes to this. I completely understand if you don’t want to sign a year of your life away to a fake contract. But, I’ll help you be with Victoria… I’ll cover for you.”
He didn’t respond, just looked to the fire.
“I’m sorry to ask this of you, it’s not fair of us. And I can completely be in a contract with someone else in your family if you say no.”
He turned a glare on me again. “At least if it was with me, I would know it is fake. I would not inflict your deception on my brothers or nephews.”
“I’m sorry, but this contract would buy my family a year of safety. After almost losing four people I love in a week, I’d do anything to get that promise of a year.”
He looked me dead in the eye and said. “You are determined to destroy my life.”
“I’m not as bad as you think, Harrison.”
“I think you are much worse.” He sighed. “You are so good at manipulating me, I can see that in every word you say.”
“I’m being honest. I’m not trying to manipulate you.”
“You will not read my emotions or my memories, ever, or any contract will end.”
“Sometimes I can’t help it. Like right now, your soul is sparking with anger. I can’t help but see that.”
“I’m talking about when you go into my head and know what I feel. I do not want that from you.”
“Okay.” I nodded.
“It would be poor repayment if you made a fool of me.”
“I won’t, but I’ll probably make a fool of myself, I can’t seem to help it, and I’m really bad about filtering what I think before it comes out of my mouth sometimes.”
He shook his head. “Only for a year.”
“Yeah, only a year… and then you’ll be free of me forever.”
He closed his eyes. “I’ll do it.”
Chapter Thirty-six
“So… this is our guest room. It’s yours. I mean this room is for you, for the next six months.” I squeezed my hands together as I babbled like a freaking idiot.
Harrison walked past me and threw his suitcase and sheathed sword onto the guestroom bed.
“You’re welcome to change it, or whatever.”
“It’s fine.” Harrison didn’t look at me as he responded, instead he just started digging in his bag.
I was pretty surprised when he’d automatically agreed to the terms that my grandfather had proposed of Harrison living with us on Mabi for the first six months, then me living with him in Oceania for the final six. It made
sense as both of us would have to be popping back and forth to parties on the mainland, I just assumed that he’d not want to be away from his girlfriend for that long.
And then I started feeling seriously guilty for that. I felt guilty that he’d now have to live in a house with two teenage girls and Glacier, at least until my mother returned. I felt guilty that I had somehow made him hate me again by manipulating him into this contract. I felt guilty for so many things.
I’d only been in a contract with Harrison for twenty-four hours, and I already felt sick and tired of feeling guilty about him.
“Okay, then. We should start to have food regularly. Glacier will be shopping and yeah, my bedroom is upstairs if you need anything.”
“I won’t.” He didn’t even look up as he said it.
“Good,” I said, but I immediately regretted saying it. I sighed. “I mean, not good. I want us to be friends again… but that’s up to you.”
He didn’t respond, and I got the distinct impression he was glaring at his clothing, so I left.
I kicked his door closed behind me and whispered, “Stupid boys.” But then I realized that stupid boy could probably hear me, which was incredibly annoying. Looks like I would have to be very careful in the conversations I had in the next six months.
There was a knock on my front door, and I walked through the dining room and past Glacier who was sitting at our table working on his laptop. “Let me get it, Dakota.” He didn’t even look up.
“Okay,” I said, standing over him.
The knock came again.
“I’m standing here, letting you get it.”
“I’m sitting here, watching the surveillance system, seeing that Sophie and the two other were-eagles are standing on our doorstep.”
“Oh, good.”
He did look up at me. “I thought they were being tried for treason.”
“Yesterday. And it wasn’t much of a trial. They confessed. I mean, only Sophie really did anything treasonous, the others were duped and then just refused to turn in Sarah.”
“A traitor who attempted murder on the Rex of New Anglo.”
“True.”
“Why are they here, Dakota?”
“Because I sort of claimed a life debt and asked for mercy from the court.”
“I didn’t think a life debt could be claimed for a non-dracon.”
I shrugged. “Wyvern honored it.”
“What was their sentence?”
“Imprisonment or exile—they chose imprisonment.”
“But they’re here.”
I grimaced. “I asked another favor.”
Glacier didn’t respond, he simply stood and crossed to the front door and threw it open. On the other side, framed in the doorway, stood Sophie, Annie and Brian.
I waved a flat handed wave over Glacier’s shoulder.
Glacier pivoted. “You can come in, Annie and Brian.”
They looked haggard as they squeezed past Glacier and into the house. Brian had sandy-colored stubble beard covering his cheeks.
Annie gave me what wasn’t quite a grin, but almost a grin as she stopped before me. “Hi there, Dakota.”
“Hey. You guys can go grab something to eat if you want from the kitchen.”
They nodded, walking into the house.
From the gap between Glacier and the door, I could see Sophie’s tall, thin frame. She stood with her head held high, but her soul was brimming with sadness as she observed my uncle.
“Dakota is the forgiving kind, but I am not. No matter what she says to you, do not think that you will ever be trusted by our family again.” His words held no emotion, but his soul overflowed with anger and distrust.
“I won’t make that mistake,” she said, her chin still held high.
“See that you don’t.” He shifted a little more so that she could walk inside.
“Actually, I think it’s better if we step outside.” I pointed past her.
Glacier started to walk out.
“Glacier. I need to talk to her, go away.”
“No.” He regarded me coolly.
“You can go watch us from your spy cameras, just turn off the sound or wear headphones or something,” I whispered the last part.
He glared at Sophie. “Do not attack her. I have more than cameras installed around this place.”
I narrowed my eyelids at him, wondering if he was lying. Knowing Glacier, he probably wasn’t.
Sophie walked outside, and I followed her out. The day was overcast, the clouds low and gray, though the heavy wet air seemed even warmer for it.
After closing the door, I led her a little way from the house. Even though the day was warm, I rubbed my hands over my arms. I glanced up my driveway, seeing a mango drop down from a tree a house down.
“I’m not going to tell you where she is,” Sophie said.
I turned to look at Sophie. She didn’t look much different, a little tired perhaps, but otherwise unchanged. “I know.”
She regarded me suspiciously. “You asked for me to be sent here?”
“Yes, as my tutor.”
“Why?”
“I’d rather have a known traitor at my back than an unknown one.”
She glared. “That doesn’t make any sense, Dakota.”
“Everyone is willing to turn traitor for something. I know I am. And now I know where your allegiances lie. I know now what you’re willing to betray me for, and I also know that you were willing to die to protect me.”
Her shoulders dropped little by little as I spoke. “So you want me to work for you? Just like that?”
“Well, I don’t trust you, I definitely don’t forgive you, and I kind of hate you… Your sister almost killed four of the people I love most, and you helped her. But right now, I can’t trust anybody. I’d rather know for sure I can’t trust you, than have a tutor that acts like my best friend while slipping poison in my soda.”
She looked away.
“Okay, correct me if I’m wrong here. Your sister was part of some harmless hippie organization back home, right? She was all about like, recycling and eating right, yeah?”
Her gaze snapped to mine.
“But when she moved here with you, things changed. Whatever organization she joined here was way more extreme, or more into the whole: ‘dragons should go extinct’ idea. Where before they just had an old abstract symbol, here they had the actual real painting that the symbol was inspired by. And then her organization, or maybe just Sarah, gets offered something huge, a weapon that can kill dragons.”
“Her organization,” Sophie whispered.
“But Sarah was essential to the plan, because she was guarding me. So, they told Sarah something like, she just helps them with access to me and my family, and then the organization would get this weapon, am I right?”
Sophie stared at me for a long moment, then nodded.
“That’s when she brought you in.”
“No.”
“Okay, not yet. So, she accepted the mission, worked with Benjamin and his vampires, infiltrated the ship along with some of her buddies. Benjamin repeatedly thumbed his nose at my grandfather knowing at some point, my grandfather was going to react. We have that meeting, and Sarah puts two and two together and figures out we’re going on the ship at the same time as Bobby’s meeting with the Regina.”
“I don’t know, maybe.”
“Let’s just assume yes.” I shrugged. “We know at least her buddies were in place for it. When we got into the room, she was told to force me to attack the Regina, and if that failed, force my sister to.”
“No.”
I cocked my head, confused. “Or she was told…”
“Only you, she was told to attack you with the cufflink. She was also told that the stone didn’t kill dracons… just put them out of commission for a while.”
“So I was the primary target even then? But, Sarah missed her chance, and decided to switch targets.”
“She decided that part on her own.
I guess they were very angry with her for doing it.”
“You know… Benjamin wasn’t there when I left with Harrison, so he probably didn’t know that she switched targets until she did it. She went in and hit Bobby and Lorelei with the stone. Then she was told to open the ring—”
“No,” she said again, then she sighed. “I guess the dracon didn’t know about the rings. He knew about the dampeners, but not about the rings.”
“But…” I looked up, “…who opened the ring?”
“Sarah did, she realized that Lorelei was dying.”
“Oh.” I shook my head, not wanting to feel grateful to Sarah for changing her mind halfway through killing my sister. “So, Benjamin releases the other members of the organization involved, giving them the weapon.”
“They were all in a holding cell together, he released all of them except Sarah, telling them they had another chance to earn the cufflink.”
“Attack the Dracs, taking out the coven who was onto Benjamin. Obviously, everyone in that attack died, leaving the cufflink behind. So why didn’t someone go get it?” I looked up suddenly and answered my own question, “The building was locked…”
“She found it.”
“And then she attacked the Rex, because?”
“I told her you knew right before. She thought you were signaling to kill her or attack her or something… she thought you told the Rex and you were waiting to attack.”
“When did you go over to her side?”
“Right then.” Her shoulders dropped as if releasing a heavy load.
“Not on the ship?”
She sighed and closed her eyes. “I knew—something. I suspected that she was planning something for a while. But, when she told me to put on earplugs in that room, I was more concerned that she was going to do something stupid and get herself killed than I was about what she was going to do. And then everything happened, and I saw her hit Bobby in the back of the head right before he vanished. I wasn’t really sure what happened, but I knew she was part of it.”
“And then you lied about it.”
“And then I lied.” She opened her eyes to stare directly at me. “But I tried to help you, I told you about everything I saw that night except for the part she played. I even told you about the tattoos, knowing that info might lead back to Sophie. And, I did everything I could to keep you alive.”
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 34