Dragon Heartstring

by Cross, Juliette

  “Hello, Ms. Weber. Good to see you again. How is your hand?”

  “Fine. Much better, thank you. Doesn’t hurt at all.”

  She lifted her hand and showed me the shining, starburst-patterned scar spanning from her knuckles to her wrist where an overturned pot of scalding water had given her a severe burn. After I’d healed her with cold-fire, the pain had vanished, but I’d certainly left my mark.

  “And Daniel, it seems you have some sort of stomach bug?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he mumbled.

  His face was pale, and his palms were cold when I knelt and took hold of his hands.

  “Okay, Daniel. I want you to look at me and relax,” I said, placing one palm on his belly and the other on his forehead. “I’m just going to see what’s going on with your tummy. You won’t feel a thing.”

  He nodded.

  I closed my eyes and lit that part of me inside that sought out sickness and injury. The cold burn flared in my chest. Trickling like water through my veins, threads of electric energy spread outward through my hands and into Daniel.

  “That’s it. Just one more minute.”

  Energy pulsed along the connection to seek the source of the boy’s illness. Finally, I found it. The resulting reverberation that came back to me tasted of bitterness, which always meant a virus. I opened my eyes and smiled at Mrs. Weber who watched in awe.

  “Well, the good news is it’s only a stomach virus. Nothing too serious.”

  I opened the cabinet behind me and found the medicine that had been shipped from the Icewing clan north of Singing Wind Wood in the Feygreir Mountains. The clan thrived there, still cultivating home remedies of the forest and infusing their healing magic into the medicine. Thankfully, with my father’s influence, they had agreed to ship me medicine each month, such as woundwort paste, an antiseptic, and comfrey juice for joint pain.

  “Here. Drink one spoonful diluted in warm water three times a day until the symptoms stop.”

  “Oh,” said Mrs. Weber, taking the bottle. “You don’t need to…well, you know.”

  “No,” I said with a little laugh. “We can’t heal viruses with cold-fire, I’m afraid. But this medicine comes from my home clan. I can promise you it is the best remedy for this kind of illness.” I opened the door to walk them out. “I’d keep Daniel indoors at least one day more after the symptoms stop. Lots of rest. And keep him hydrated.”

  “Yes. Thank you, Ms. Icewing.”

  As I escorted them to the lobby, I heard Carra talking to someone. I wanted nothing more than to call it a day, but the patients seemed to keep piling up.

  “Here she is now, Mr. Cade.”

  My stomach flipped at the sound of his name. Then it looped a second time when he came into view. While Carra straightened her desk, she glanced nervously at the dapper Demetrius Cade. Standing tall and looking like perfection in a dark navy suit, white starched shirt, and a silver tie, he greeted me with a slight nod, his black locks sliding forward over his brow. I pretended my knees weren’t about to buckle and sauntered casually forward.

  “Have a good day Mrs. Weber and remember to give him the medicine as directed.”

  “Yes, I will,” she said, ushering Daniel out the door.

  “Well, hello,” I said, greeting him beside Carra’s desk and clasping my hands in front of me. “What brings you here? You’re not ill, I hope.”

  “Not at all,” he said with a tilted smile. The man probably rarely smiled, and so it seemed his mouth was having trouble forming a proper one. “I had hoped to speak with you if I could. Perhaps over lunch?”

  Carra knocked over a cylinder, spilling pens across her desk, a few falling off the edge onto the carpet. “I’m sorry,” she said, flustered.

  “It’s all right, Carra,” I said before turning back to him. “Sure, I was about to break for lunch anyway. Let me get my bag in the back.”

  I walked down the hall past the examination rooms into my office. Carra was on my heels the instant I stepped through the door. “Do you know who that is?” she asked in a yelling whisper, her eyes alight with glee.

  “Yes,” I said, pulling open the filing cabinet where I kept my purse. “That’s Demetrius Cade. Jessen’s brother.”

  She laughed hysterically. “That is Demetrius Cade. Most eligible and delicious and wealthy and beautiful bachelor in all of Gladium.”

  “Good Lord, Carra. He doesn’t have all those titles, does he?”

  She shook her head in disbelief. “You have no idea. I’ve never seen him in person. Only in the social event columns. But wow, he’s even lovelier up close. And he smells like heaven.”

  “Please don’t faint and hit your head. I’m too tired to do a healing to stitch you up.” I shouldered my bag and walked into the hall.

  Carra scooted along behind me. “I can’t believe you’re going on a lunch date with him,” she yell-whispered again.

  I spun and stopped. “It is not a date. Just lunch. You heard him. He wants to talk to me about something. Most probably the parliament hearing or a family issue.”

  Carra propped a hand on her hip and smirked. “If he just wanted to speak with you, he could do it right here in the clinic. No. Conversation plus food plus two attractive single adults equals a date.”

  Carra was doing nothing for my nerves. Her date-labeling this casual lunch amped my anxiety to red alert. I smoothed my skirt and my hair hurriedly.

  “You look great,” she said with a grin. “And I want all the details tomorrow.”

  “Okay,” I said back in the same girlish whispering, feeling ridiculous. “I’ll give you all the details if you don’t swoon over him and embarrass the both of us.”

  She giggled. “I won’t. It’s just that…it’s Demetrius Cade.”

  “Yes, we’ve established that.” I lifted my chin and marched out into the lobby as calm as I could. “Ready?”

  “Ready.” He held the door open for me. “It was nice meeting you, Carra,” he added with a smile.

  “It was nice, too,” she said, giggling neurotically. “For me to meet you, I mean. Also.”

  I gave her a look and hurried out the door. “So, where to?” I asked once out on the street.

  “Wherever you like,” he said. “Sicero’s is not far from here.”

  Sicero’s was an elegant, posh, and crazy expensive restaurant I’d never stepped foot in.

  “Hmm, why don’t we go a bit more casual if you don’t mind? The bistro on the corner is quite good.”

  “The bistro it is then.”

  We walked along Sable Street in silence. I glanced over and caught him staring. “Mr. Cade, you’re examining me. And it’s a little unnerving.”

  More like a lot.

  “Sorry. I guess I was just expecting different attire for a healer.”

  I glanced down at my v-cut sapphire blouse and A-line black skirt that swished just above my knees. “I suppose you expected a white cloak and comfy, ugly shoes.”

  “Perhaps I did.”

  He opened the door for me when we stepped up to the bistro. I took the lead to the corner booth that had more privacy. He slid into the seat across from me as I shifted my wings to a comfortable position.

  “Well, if you’re not going to ask me, then I’ll tell you.”

  “Tell me what?” he asked.

  “You’re wondering about the healing process, I imagine. And why I might choose to wear regular clothes rather than a protective coat.”

  He nodded and waited.

  “First of all, we rarely get serious injuries in the clinic. The people of Gladium still prefer the larger hospitals for such injuries. But even those that come in with heavy bleeding, you must understand that an Icewing healer is not a surgeon. There is no need for protective wear.”

  Our clan had kept our ability to heal a secret for a long time. And while the fact that we were open to human patients was still rather unknown, the secret was slowly leaking out about our extraordinary gifts. It wasn’t that we were tryi
ng to be mysterious. Only, we knew that our supernatural healing ability would not be accepted by everyone, and it was better to be as quiet as possible not to draw unwanted attention.

  “I suppose the idea is just so foreign from what I know,” he admitted.

  “I understand.”

  A pretty brunette stepped up to the table. “Hi, how are you?” she greeted robotically till her gaze landed on Demetrius. She did a double-take then pulled out her comm tablet. “Um, may I get you something to drink?” Her stylus trembled in her hand as she smiled brightly.

  “Berry tea, please,” I said.

  “Water is fine.”

  She tapped on her comm and said, “I’ll just give you a few minutes to look at the menu.” Then she vanished behind the deli bar in a flash.

  “Does that always happen to you?” I asked. “Everywhere you go?”

  He picked up the menu and opened it. “What’s that?”

  I did the same but scoffed. “For a smart man, you seem to be unaware of your surroundings.”

  He paused, a familiar frown pinching his brow as he glanced around the room. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, the poor waitress. You nearly gave her a heart attack.”

  “Me? What did I do?”

  I laughed. “You cannot be so oblivious to your effect on women.”

  Why did I say that? Now he was honing in on me with that heavy stare.

  “What effect might that be?” he asked casually, while his gaze was anything but casual.

  “I think you’re playing dumb, but since you’re being persistently ignorant about it, that waitress just about died when she saw who you were.”

  He laughed. “That? It’s nothing. It’s just because of my family name. And yes, I get that reaction from time to time.”

  “It’s not because of your family name,” I mumbled behind my menu.

  That was a mistake. He stretched an arm across the table and flattened my menu on the table. “So what is it?”

  “I think you know.”

  “I thought I did, but you’re saying I’m wrong. Speak up.”

  Wondering why I’d opened my big mouth, I shrugged with a nervous laugh. Not answering would be rude, but I couldn’t think up anything to say other than the truth. It was just stuck in my throat.

  His expression darkened. “I can’t separate myself from my name or my money, and I know what most people think of both. If it bothers you so much, I’m not sure why you decided to come to lunch with me.”

  How did this turn so bad so fast? He truly didn’t know. Time to enlighten Mr. Demetrius Cade.

  “It’s not your name or your money. Well, maybe it is, but it’s more than that.”

  He arched a dark brow and waited.

  “It’s all of you. You’re rather…intriguing. And sort of, well, handsome.”

  Clearing my throat, I went back to perusing for what I wanted to order. He made absolutely no reply, which made me more anxious than if he’d teased me for it. “And how were you so sure I’d be free for lunch?” I asked, distracting him from the other point of the conversation.

  “I wasn’t.”

  “How did you know I’d even join you if I was free?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “What if I was unavailable?”

  “Then I suppose I would’ve dined alone.” He leveled his dark eyes at me. “But I’m glad you did come.”

  This is not a date.

  “And, how about you, Shakara?”

  “How about me, what?”

  “Do you find me intriguing? Handsome?” he asked, wiggling his way back to the conversation I was trying to leave behind.

  I busied myself unfolding my napkin. “I suppose you didn’t notice those two boutique girls at Julian’s party. The ones ogling you without shame.”

  He shook his head, saying nothing, just observing in that extremely uncomfortable way of his.

  I tried to focus on the lunch specials to make a decision and was having a damned hard time at that. Demetrius had gone silent again. I stole a glance to find him staring at me. My heart lurched. The way he used those dark eyes sent a tingle down my back and straight to my wings. It was like he had a direct line to my inner dragon. She liked him. And that made it hard for me to determine whether he was the pretentious jerk all the papers proclaimed him to be or whether he was actually the caring but sometimes overbearing guy Jessen had claimed he was.

  “What?” I asked.

  “So you noticed these other women noticing me?”

  I shrugged. “It was kind of hard not to. They couldn’t shut up about the gorgeous Demetrius Cade. And you nearly made my poor receptionist faint. You really didn’t notice?”

  A half-smile tilted his lovely lips in a way that made me want to behave as badly as Carra. I refused to do so.

  “I can’t believe you don’t see it,” I said casually.

  “I suppose it’s just that I’m not very attuned to a room full of people. I tend to focus on whatever is on my mind, even when in the company of larger groups.”

  “And what held your attention so well this morning that you didn’t notice Carra falling all over herself when the most eligible bachelor in Gladium strode into our lobby?”

  “You.” His answer was clear and steady.

  That shut me up. I turned back to the menu, unable to keep his heavy gaze another moment.

  “Have you guys made a decision?” Our perky but nervous waitress was back.

  “I’ll just take the bistro special,” I piped up.

  “I’ll have the same.”

  She took the menus and disappeared again.

  “And do you often surprise girls at their workplace for lunch?”

  “No. Never actually.”

  That’s when I realized something about Demetrius. He was always alone. Every time I saw him in person, he was alone. Even in the society columns and the pics posted by stalking paparazzi, he was always alone—on a jog in the park, out to a business dinner, strolling into Cade Enterprises. A solitary man, like no other.

  “Oh. I see.”

  And I did see. Demetrius was a very private man. And slightly oblivious to his effect on the rest of the world. At least the female population residing in it.

  “So, now you have me here, please keep me in suspense no longer. What is this lunch all about? You said you wanted to talk to me about something.”

  He drank his water, and I couldn’t help but watch his throat as he took three gulps before setting it down.

  “I wanted to ask you about the hearing if you don’t mind.”

  “I don’t mind. Ask whatever you want.”

  He slid off his jacket, draped it on the back of the chair, and then leaned forward over the table. “Has your father and your aunt thought this through carefully? This proposal to parliament?”

  “We all have. The Morgon Guild has approved the proposal.” While the Morgon Guild operated out of Drakos where each clan’s guild leader met monthly, the happenings in Gladium were still of importance to the Morgons worldwide. And they fully supported the Icewing’s pursuit of this prohibition. “Why do you ask?”

  “It’s just that I’m not sure you’ve considered how dangerous this could be.”

  “I know it’s going to stir up controversy and hate-mongering. I’m not afraid of that.”

  He scoffed. “There may be more than hate-mongering, Shakara.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’m sure you’re aware that the Grayson family will be the hardest hit if this ban is approved. They have distributors who will feel the loss, but ultimately it will be them who suffer.”

  “Yes. I know that.” His defense of the Grayson family lit a fuse inside of me. “I don’t care about the Grayson’s financial loss. They’ve created a machine that is an abomination to Morgonkind.”

  He flinched. “Shakara.” He said my name low and deep, stirring me toward wayward thoughts. I wondered what it would be like to hear my name on his lips—in a dark
room, alone.

  He leaned forward over the table to speak intimately. “I don’t give a fuck about the Grayson family fortune. And I’d like nothing more than to see those weapons removed from the market and destroyed.”

  “Then why—”

  “Because what you don’t understand is that the Graysons aren’t just ruthless in their business dealings. They’re dangerous. And powerful. What you threaten to take away with the banning of the Volt gun is enough to put your own life at risk. Are you willing to do that?”

  I believed what he said was true and that he warned me out of compassion. “Yes. I’m willing.”

  “Even your own father is willing to risk your life, all your lives, whoever stands up for this cause?”

  “Demetrius. I have mended men with broken bones, lacerations, open gashes, severe burns. All kinds of wounds and injuries. I can help them all. But if a Morgon man or woman is shot by a Volt gun, he dies. There is no coming back. This weapon was created for one purpose—to kill Morgons. I’m a healer. I must do what is right. No matter the danger it may put me in.”

  He stared at me for a moment, seeming to understand the sincerity of my words. “I see.”

  We sat in silence, both absorbed in our own thoughts when the waitress walked up with our plates.

  “Here you are. Two house specials.”

  The sandwiches were stacked with deli meats and cheese on a fresh roll with chips.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  “Can I get you anything else?” she asked, smiling at Demetrius.

  “I think we’re good,” he said, barely glancing up.

  She nodded and left us alone. We set to eating in tension-filled silence. Until finally, I said, “Don’t worry, Demetrius. I know my father is taking precautions. More of the clan is coming up from the Feygreir Mountains for the hearing as a show of force. It will be fine.”

  He studied me with his sandwich halfway to his mouth. I could see the wheels spinning in that handsome head of his.

  “Yes,” he assured me with a small smile. “It will be fine.”

  Chapter 5

  “Mr. Grayson is here to see you,” said Nadine through the desk comm.