Chapter 24
ROARK
She’s long vanished up the stairs, but Evander and I are still standing in the dragon’s eye foyer.
“I’m going to the den for a drink.” Evander pivots away.
I follow him. The click of Evander’s dress shoes has me on edge.
But everything has me on edge these days.
Not being at Kieren’s side to protect him.
My damn near obsession with the new candidate.
Oh, I like females. Riding me. Hell, there was a woman from town two weeks ago . . . Sex—that’s all it is.
When we have a candidate in the castle, we’re not allowed to touch another female.
There have been great spans of time that I’ve gone without sex.
Before the lightning happens, we aren’t allowed to share a female.
There have been plenty of candidates who were basically having a relationship with only one of us until they weren’t having a relationship with any of us.
Even more who never received more than a hug from any of us.
I still don’t know what Raine wants. But Evander? Yeah, I can tell he wants to be the one warming her bed.
The fire in the fireplace is going. Even though the warm August breeze from the valley keeps the castle warm, it’s not warm by dragon standards.
Evander goes straight for the bar cart and pours us both a drink. I sit in the overstuffed brown chair by the fire—the one I always sit in. Evander takes the one on the other side of the fire. The couch is empty.
I point at the couch. “Is he coming back tonight?”
“No, I don’t think so. It’s bad at Crest Wing. The king and queen didn’t think this through.”
“They’re manipulating Kieren and us into taking a mate. If we can’t find our thunder’s fated mate, they want us to just take any mate.” I’d rather live without a mate, but the Crest Wing royals aren’t going to allow that.
Evander takes a long pull on his Dragon Ale.
“Oh, that part they thought through. But Kieren’s gotten word from spies in Firested and Rivulet.
The other clans all think Crest Wing is up to something.
Why else would they pull the princess from the academy halfway through the year?
There’s low-level rumbling and panic among the courts of the other clans. ”
“Have other students been called home yet?” I’m studying my Dragon Ale like it might give me the answers.
“No, but my contact at the academy says it’s only a matter of time. The head of school has sent out numerous scrolls trying to calm anxious parents, but it’s not going to be enough.”
“They have to send her back, or it’s going to end in war,” I say and lean forward. My elbows are on my knees. There’s just a sliver of light coming through the curtains, and the long, low shadows of the fireplace dance around the shadows of the furniture.
“It might be too late. But Kieren is trying to talk some sense into his parents. The academy has always been one of the safest places in the realm. No clan would dare attack there.”
“Wars start because people live in the belief that others wouldn’t dare. People always dare. That’s the ugly nature of the realm, and this world too. Boundaries are made to be broken.” I fucking hate it, but it’s the truth.
Evander leans back in his chair, a tendril of smoke coming from his nose.
The same comes from me. We sit in silence, our dragons letting off steam, and smoke gathers at the ceiling.
Leopold will be frustrated with us in the morning.
But right now, it’s keeping me from rushing upstairs and doing more than Evander’s make-out session with Raine.
“You’re going with her, sir?” Percy blinks up at me.
He’s a loyal, mated, Crest Wing dragon. His mate is the head of housekeeping.
They’re among the few who choose to live as Earthbound Crest Wing dragons.
His other form is small—tiny. The longer you live in this realm, the weaker your dragon becomes.
“Indeed. I’ll be driving her.” I place the lunch that Leopold handed me on my way out on the front seat.
“You, sir? Forgive me, but Leopold said . . . Yes, of course. The keys are in the car.” His shoulders slump, and I remember what Leopold told me a few years back, how much Percy enjoys driving, that he didn’t mind driving me to Zurich so I could do clan business.
Percy pivots on the gravel and walks toward the back entrance.
I shake my head, wondering what a sap I’ve become and what my father would think of me now. “Percy,” I shout, “I’ve changed my mind.”
“Okay.” Percy shuffles back to the car, getting into the front seat. I take the lunch box and move it into the back seat, closing the privacy screen while I’m there.
I’m leaning against the town car when Raine comes out the front door. Fuck me. She’s a vision. Dark trousers that hug her waist. A white button-up blouse with a simple tie at the neck that begs to be yanked off. I’m in trouble.
She has a ragged rucksack on her shoulder and a stack of binders hugged to her chest. She hasn’t spotted me yet.
She is too busy staring at her phone. There’s a definite possibility that she’s going to run into the curb.
I stand up straight, ready to dive for her when she does.
But at the last minute she looks up, her eyes go wide, and she stumbles forward at the shock of seeing me instead.
“Whoa.” She lands on her feet after a few long steps. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I thought I would keep you company on the trip.” I smile.
“Oh, right.” She hugs the binders to her chest like a shield. “I hope I didn’t keep you waiting too long? I normally don’t take so long to get ready. I tried on a half-dozen things, dresses, skirts. I was trying to find the perfect thing that says ‘don’t kick me out of the country.’”
“Your outfit is perfect.” A small kernel of guilt pokes at me, that I’ve caused her distress by setting up this meeting.
“Looks like you were planning on keeping busy.” I take the binders and her bag from her and open the door.
I’m tempted to put the work in the boot so I can have all of her attention, but I decide that if I can’t compete with a notebook, I’m already out of the game.
She gets in, and I shut the car door, jog around to the other side, and close the other door behind me with a thud.
I place the notebooks on the floor between us, her bag on top, then push the intercom. “We’re set, Percy.”
The car engine starts, and I notice Raine isn’t buckled in. I reach across her and pull the belt over her. I’m careful to not touch her like I want to.
“I guess we weren’t ready. Sorry, I was getting to it. Safety first.”
“Yes, safety first.” My dragon’s pushing at my skin.
“You didn’t need to come with me . . . but it’s nice to have company on a long car trip.”
“I’m glad I’m better than work.”
“Yes, much better than work. But . . .”
“But you want to work anyhow?” She really does remind me of Kieren.
“Well, yes, but I wanted to ask you about the collection. Do you know anything about it? There are not many records in the banquet hall about it. A few packing slips and a couple of older ledgers—that’s all I’ve been able to find.
And I have emails out to some of the bigger houses, asking if they have records I could use. ”
“I’m afraid not. We buy what we like.”
“‘We.’ So Evander and you too.”
“Yes . . .” I’m not supposed to tell her anything until after the ceremony, but what’s going on at home is taking too damn long. “Yes, Kieren, Evander, and I are what’s called a thunder.”
“A group of dragons.”
“Yes, a group. A very specific group in many ways.”
“The three of you?”
“Yes.” I nod, the end of my marking visible amongst the rest of my tattoos on my left arm.
I’m the designated muscle of the thunder.
Kieren’s marking goes down his back. Evander’s marking is on his right arm.
He’s the charm—the so-called wisdom of the thunder.
But fate has no rules: some thunders are two, others five.
It’s generally thought that the males of a thunder will find each other within a year of the first two meeting.
“Kieren, Evander, and I met at the academy. They were two years behind me.”
“The upperclassman with all the knowledge and power.”
“Power maybe. Knowledge? I’m not sure about that. But I can give a pretty good tour of the surrounding area.” Percy has us down the driveway and into the local village. “Did you see the town on the way in?”
“A little bit when I got off the train. But I was too worried about how the driver was acting when he saw the address on the rideshare app. He was already at the train station curb when he accepted the trip. I don’t think he really looked at the address until I was sitting in his car with my two giant bags. ”
“You shouldn’t get into a stranger’s car.” I don’t mean to growl when I say it, but it still comes out that way. A thin tendril of smoke twirls out of my nose as well.