by Riley Storm
“I know,” Damien said, hearing the same feeling of helplessness in Rokh’s voice as he’d heard in his own. “I know.”
He spied Anna in the back behind the front row of witches, pacing them as they walked. She didn’t look happy about anything either, her normally happy features pulled tight. There was almost a sadness in her eyes.
She must not like the way the dragons were being treated by some of her comrades either. The most unfortunate part of it all was that Damien had no idea just what he was going to do about it. What any of them were going to do about it. For now, they just needed time. Time for the witches to get used to the presence of the dragons, and for the dragons to show that they were friends, not enemies, of the witches.
I just hope they give us enough time to do that before something goes wrong.
Chapter Twelve
Anna
She approached the blank slate of wall, her footsteps slowing rapidly until they barely moved, each step forward a struggle, as if she was walking through thick mud, the sludge hauling at her heel with every stride.
It had been so easy to get down here that she’d almost had a skip in her step when she’d set off. Now though, trepidation and worry had set in, and she didn’t know if she could go any closer.
What’s the matter with you? You suggested this meeting! It was your blasted idea, and now you’re getting second thoughts?
Was it second thoughts she was having, or just nervous anticipation of what would come of such a secret meeting? Anna hadn’t really had a plan in mind when she’d asked Damien to meet her, and she still didn’t.
Would he have a plan? What would it consist of? What did she expect to gain from seeing him like this? Truthfully, she had no idea, because she barely knew Damien!
Isn’t that the point of meeting him like this? To get to know him more, outside of the confines that the Coven has put on him interacting with you and the others?
Despite all her doubts, insecurities and worries, Anna felt an overriding sense of need to open the wall panel, to once again look upon Damien’s face, to see the clean-shaven lines of his jaw as he smiled. To look into those ultra-wild-blue eyes of his and watch them dance with laughter. It was a pull she couldn’t ignore.
Reaching up, she pushed the stone inward, letting the secret door slide open. Her face was a wide grin as she waited for it to clear past her eye level, so that she could see him. Just him. No others, none of the tension that had inhabited the landing field earlier. Just him, and her.
But the door slid down, and there was no Damien.
Cautiously, she leaned forward, peering out into the hallway beyond. It too was empty.
“Damien?” she hissed, terrified of how loud her voice sounded. But maybe he’d forgotten the exact spot of wall and was lost nearby.
She didn’t want to call any louder. If someone else happened by and found her, Anna would have a lot of explaining to do. Discretion was necessary.
After several minutes of waiting, she was forced to retreat as footsteps sounded down the hallway, far too light to be him. The stone wall slid into place without a whisper, and the person, whoever it was, walked on past without so much as a blink.
Where was Damien though? Could he have forgotten? Maybe he was just delayed.
She waited patiently for a knock, a thud on the stone that would signify someone was outside hoping to be let in, but it never came. Ten full minutes passed since he was supposed to be there, and Anna’s faith was gone.
He wasn’t coming.
Why isn’t he here?
Had he perhaps taken her presence on the field earlier to mean that she sided with Master Loiner and those who disliked the dragon presence at Winterspell? She’d tried to tell him with her expression that she disagreed but making it too obvious would have had her noticed by the others. Maybe Damien had thought she was disagreeing with him, with the idea of bringing more dragons to the Academy?
She slumped back against the wall, furiously trying to puzzle out just why he wouldn’t make their rendezvous when she heard a faint noise. Frowning, she listened harder. It sounded like…like a thump. Like a fist would make on stone.
Nervously, she reached out and pushed the stone to open the door yet again. It slid down silently to reveal a familiar set of eyes, then the same full lips and mouth she’d hoped to see the first time around.
“Damien!” she hissed as he hurriedly stepped inside, waiting as the door slid closed behind him. “Where have you been?”
“I’m so sorry,” he apologized, sweeping her up into a hug. Though he didn’t lift her from the floor this time, she was no less excited to feel his arms around her. “I didn’t mean to be late.”
“What happened?” she asked, squeezing his shoulders tight, enjoying the closeness more than she’d anticipated. It felt…good, to be near him. In a way she still didn’t quite understand. But neither did she fear it.
“Rokh is a bit temperamental,” Damien explained. “I’ve had to calm him down a number of times today every time he discovered a new rule put in place. This latest one was…yeah, anyway. I’m very sorry, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to be here.”
“It’s okay,” she said, waving it off. “I figured something had held you up. So, I waited a bit.”
It was a lie, but she didn’t want him to know how close she’d been to leaving, assuming that he didn’t want to see her.
“Thank you for that. I could…I could use this, after today,” Damien said, letting one arm linger around her as he stepped away.
Anna found herself feeling somewhat sad as it eventually slipped off her shoulder as the two separated. A longing for physical contact nearly had her reaching out to grab his hand, but she quickly nixed that idea. That was taking things a bit too far for her comfort.
“Was it really that bad? You can talk to me about it,” she offered. “Maybe I can try to work on things from my end, find a way to help mitigate Loiner and her followers.”
“She’s got a lot, hasn’t she?” Damien muttered angrily.
“Yes, she does,” Anna agreed. “But she’s one of the most senior non-Coven members in Winterspell, so it’s to be expected, I suppose. People naturally gravitate toward those with power, and Loiner has a lot of it.”
“She’s a bitch.”
Anna snorted while trying to suppress a laugh, which only made her laugh more while trying to hold it in, and so she snorted several times in succession. It was the most embarrassing moment she could recall from her recent memory, and she stood upright, appalled at herself.
But Damien wasn’t looking at her with disgust. He was too busy shaking with laughter himself. “Are you okay?” he asked through the chuckles.
“I’m fine,” she said, actively fighting the tugging at her lips. “I promise.”
“Okay,” he said. “That was too cute.”
Cute? How the hell was that cute? Anna was positive he was going to say something else, anything else, but cute? She’d not expected that.
“Anyway,” he continued, sparing her the need to talk while she recovered some of her dignity. “I’d really rather talk about something else. Something happier, if that’s okay with you?”
Anna shrugged, then nodded as she realized that wasn’t an answer. Get yourself together. Maintain some composure, he’s just a man! “Sure. Like what?”
“How about you?”
There was the slightest of hesitations before he spoke the last word, so tiny Anna thought she was imagining it.
Was Damien nervous too? That seemed…improbable. But she didn’t know either way. There was so much about him she didn’t know.
“What about me?” she found herself asking. How am I a happier topic?
“I don’t know much about you really. Or this place, to be honest,” he said, gesturing at the walls as they wandered the secret passages of Winterspell.
“About me,” she echoed. “Um, I don’t know. Can you be more specific? I’m not used to talking about myself. Wh
at would interest you to know?”
“Well, how about your past? Who are you, what part of this world do you come from? Or what drives you? You’ve said that you don’t have the natural power that many of these witches do, but yet you’re ultra-driven, it seems. What’s the story behind that?”
“Oh, my,” she said, laughing nervously. “Getting right to the deep stuff, are we? I thought you were going to ask me something easy. Like what’s my middle name or something.” She laughed again, trying to stall to come up with answers.
“Middle…name?” Damien said.
“Yeah. You know, between your first and last. Hey, speaking of which, I don’t even know your last name! So come on, spill!” she said, smacking him playfully in the arm.
“My name is Damien. I am of the Storm clan.”
Anna slowed, turning to face him head on. “That’s it? Damien Storm?”
“No. Just Damien.” He looked confused.
“No other name?”
“Why would I need another name?” he asked, unsure of things.
“Well, because. It helps make you unique. What do you do when you meet another Damien?”
The big man frowned. “But I am Damien.”
Anna buried her face in her hands, a half-stifled groan escaping. “There are no other Damiens on your planet? You are the only one?”
“I don’t know. I’d not met everyone before…before.”
Shit. So much for happy subjects. Come on, Anna, get your mind together!
“Sorry,” she said, reaching out to squeeze that same arm. Her fingers lingered around his bicep, feeling the muscle, feeling him for several seconds before she dropped her hand to her side. “I wasn’t thinking. Um, well, the reason we have two names here, is because there is another Anna here at Winterspell. There are many, many more Annas out in the world. So, having a last name—mine is Sturgis, yes almost like the fish. Don’t make the joke, I’ve heard it a million times—helps to differentiate us from one another.”
Damien was nodding along, though he’d looked blank at her mention of the fish, but he seemed to understand. “How many people are on your planet?” he asked calmly.
“I’m not sure exactly,” she said. “I don’t know if anyone knows. But I believe it’s near seven and a half billion.”
The huge man gaped in shock. “Seven and a half, billion,” he echoed. “Yes, I can see why names would be reused. That is a lot of people.”
“We know,” she said quietly. “Too many, really.”
“Anna Sturgis,” Damien said, getting back on topic. “What is your middle name then?”
“Elizabeth.”
“And why a middle name? What does this purpose serve?”
“Again, it helps to differentiate us. While my last name isn’t popular, there are many people who do have the same first and last name. This is another way of keeping them separate, I guess.”
“Right.” He fell silent. “I have so much to learn.”
Anna laughed lightly, leaning against him, trying to reassure him. “It’s okay. We have time. I’ll bring you up to speed on everything. As similar as we are, it appears we have quite a few differences as well.”
“Indeed.” He sounded thoughtful. “I like talking to you, Anna Elizabeth Sturgis.”
The way her name rolled off his lips sent a shiver down her spine, bringing up goosebumps after it. It sounded nice. Very nice.
“I like talking to you too, Damien of the Storm clan.”
And looking at you isn’t so bad either, she thought to herself, craning her neck up to gaze at him once more, this time letting her eyes linger. Every time she did that, it was harder and harder to tear her gaze away.
This is going to be trouble for you if you aren’t careful.
Anna knew that. The thing was, she wasn’t sure she cared any longer.
She opened her mouth to say something else, but it clamped shut as a distant sound reached them. Damien’s head whipped down to look at hers, and she saw the worry there.
“You heard that too,” she said. “What was it?”
It came again, along with a slight tremor in the earth.
“Whatever it was, it wasn’t good,” Damien said. “Come on, we need to go. Where’s the nearest way to the surface?”
Anna spun around, getting her bearings, trying to think. Although she had made considerable use of the passages over the years, like any student who discovered them, she hadn’t memorized much of this area.
“Over here!” she called, making a decision. It may not be the closest, but it was one she knew, and so they didn’t have to delay any longer.
The two of them took off, as around them the walls shook again.
Chapter Thirteen
Damien
He tapped impatiently, waiting as the door slid open, retracting into the ground. Whether it was as silent as the others or not he didn’t know, because the instant it opened, he heard angry roaring followed by a familiar bellow of rage.
“You have got to be joking!” he snapped, diving through the opening, not waiting for it to open all the way.
“What are you talking about?” Anna called from behind as she hopped over the last of the door and came after him, her short legs unable to keep up, dropping her farther and farther behind.
Damien didn’t answer though. He didn’t need to. They rounded the corner just in time to see a tremendous column of flame sweep skyward.
“Damien. What’s going on?” Anna asked as the red-orange glow cast wild shadows across the courtyard and buildings around them.
“I’m not entirely sure what is going on, but I certainly know who is at that center of it,” he raged, stomping out into the main courtyard. “The question I need to know, is why.”
In front of him, Rokh stood with several of the other newcomer dragons who had arrived with him that day. All of them were angry and ready to fight.
Arrayed against them were, to no one’s surprise, Master Loiner and a number of her followers.
“What the hell is going on here?” Damien roared, entering the circle from off to one side, turning it into more of a triangle.
“Get back to your rooms!” Master Loiner shouted.
Rokh rumbled and fire appeared in his hands once more.
“What the hell is going on?” Damien repeated now that he was closer, his angry gaze flicking back and forth between the two sides. He was pissed, and lightning flickered between his fingers, a warning sign for any who knew him.
The other dragons, two flame dragons and a member of the Jade clan backed off, not eager to fight one of their own.
“We’re going out to find them!” Rokh bellowed.
“You will do no such thing!” Master Loiner called back. “Return to your quarters at once or face the consequences!”
Damien was getting really tired of this, and it hadn’t even been an entire day.
“Rokh? What are you trying to do?” he asked calmly, putting himself directly in front of the flame dragon.
“We’re going out looking for the others,” he said. “To find the rest of our people. They’re out there, Damien, and they need us.”
“The witches have patrols out non-stop, Rokh. They are looking for them.”
“They don’t know how to find them.”
Damien rolled his eyes. “They found you, didn’t they? This is their land, Rokh, they know these mountains better than any of us. Don’t try to tell me otherwise.”
The flame dragon glared at him. “You side with them?”
Steeling himself, Damien stood up tall, forcing himself to confront the angry flame dragon. He had to tilt his head back ever so slightly to meet Rokh’s eyes, but he didn’t let that deter him.
“I side with peace. Like I said, most of the witches here are good people, who welcome us. You saw that in the ones who are helping look after the young, who feed us and clothe us. This one and her sycophants dislike us, yes. But they can’t do anything unless you provoke them. Like now.”
“I will not be chained to my quarters like a prisoner in a cage!” Rokh rumbled, his eyes glowing dangerously.
“We are not on Dracia anymore, Rokh,” Damien ground out. “This is not our planet. We are in their territory, and we stay here at their mercy. We need to respect that. Just like we would expect the same from them if they had come to Dracia.”
“If they had come to Dracia, we would have eliminated them for their insolence,” Rokh snarled.
Damien blinked. “Did you…did you really just say that? While you’re out here, breaking the very lenient rules that they asked us to follow in return for shelter? You call them insolent, while being the very definition of it yourself?”
Rokh’s glare intensified, but he couldn’t argue Damien’s point. Instead, he just stood there, smoldering intensely, with no one to direct his anger at.
“This is her fault!” he snapped, pointing a finger at Master Loiner. “All we want to do is go find our kin, but she insists we are not allowed to leave.”
“You are not! You are to get back to your quarters now. Or I will make you.”
“Fuck me,” Damien moaned a moment before flame billowed out at the mages as Rokh launched an attack.
Loiner gestured with her wand and something invisible blocked the flames, sending them roaring skyward yet again. Damien didn’t know how many people were watching the ongoing theatrics, but in his opinion, it was too many. But he didn’t have a choice on what to do next. He had to end this, now.
His fist flashed out and he cold-cocked Rokh right in the temple. The flame went out and the fire dragon crumpled to the ground. Damien caught him before he hit, and lowered Rokh gently to the stone of the courtyard.
“Take him back to his quarters, and make sure he stays there. Got it?” he snapped at the other dragons. They nodded abruptly and scooped up Rokh’s body, heading back inside.
“The Coven will hear about this!” Master Loiner snapped as Damien came closer.
Lightning flickered in his hands once more, and high above, the skies rumbled ominously.