Fractured Sky (Mages & Dragons #5)

Chapter One

DALLIN WAS THE ONLY mage without a dragon.

Initially, it had been easy for him not to feel left out.

They’d found the dragons one by one, so Dallin had been able to focus on everyone else and ignore the fact that he still didn’t know what had happened to his shield.

Now that everyone had found their dragons, though, there was no ignoring the massive hole in Dallin’s life.

It was made worse by the fact that they’d almost found Sol.

If they’d been just five minutes faster, they could have reached him before Carlyle.

They could have saved him from whatever Carlyle was doing to him.

Dallin pressed his forehead harder against the cool window.

Nothing about thinking about Sol was easy.

For one, he only knew Sol’s new name because Sol’s best friend had been at the apartment when they’d gotten there.

She was the only one of them who knew who Sol was now.

He wasn’t Dallin’s Kent anymore.

He hadn’t been in a long time.

Dallin didn’t know Sol, but he’d been forcing himself to think of him that way.

He wanted to be ready when they got Sol back.

He couldn’t think that they wouldn’t, and getting to know Sol through Pippa was the only way for him to keep hope.

Sometimes, he wasn’t sure he could, anyway.

Dallin knew what Carlyle was capable of.

They had no idea what the mage was doing to Sol, but they knew it couldn’t be good, and there was nothing any of them could do.

Ansley hadn’t been able to locate Carlyle or Sol, and until he could, they couldn’t go to Sol’s rescue.

There was nothing they could do but wait, and Dallin had been waiting for so long that he wasn’t sure he could continue doing so for much longer.

The feeling of powerlessness made him want to scream.

He eyed the lake outside his window, wondering if he had it in him to head out there to scream at the sky.

It would feel ridiculous, but maybe it would help him feel better, and he sorely needed that.

He just wasn’t sure that anything he could do would achieve that.

The only thing that would was getting Sol back, and that wasn’t about to happen unless Carlyle made a massive mistake.

Dallin sighed and got up from his armchair.

He was supposed to be working, but instead, he’d been curled up there and staring out the window for the past half hour.

His focus was shot, and nothing he did made it better.

Every time he tried to get to work, his thoughts drifted to Sol and stayed firmly stuck on him.

Trying to force himself to work wouldn’t help anyone because Dallin would make a mess out of it, so he might as well leave his office and find something productive to do.

He didn’t want to talk to his brothers, even though they might help.

He already knew what they’d say, and he didn’t want their pity or their fussiness.

They were doing everything they could to help, and that was enough.

It wasn’t their fault that none of them knew how to find Sol.

Screaming at the lake was out because it wasn’t Dallin’s style, as was spending time with his brothers, so Dallin did the next best thing—he went to find Pippa.

He didn’t know what she thought of him.

When they’d found her at Sol’s apartment, she’d been terrified.

She’d seen Carlyle attack and take Sol away, and even though she’d known about Sol being a dragon shifter, neither of them had been aware that magic existed.

Pippa had been slowly making her way through all the new information that had been thrown at her, but a lot of the time, she stayed in her new room at the castle, isolating herself.

Dallin suspected that she was overwhelmed, but it could also be because she didn’t know if she could fully trust them.

After all, she didn’t know them.

They hadn’t hurt her, but they were mages, just like Carlyle.

There was no way for Pippa to know they were the good guys, although she’d relaxed after Dallin had shown her old pictures of him and Sol.

The pictures had made it obvious that Sol and Dallin had been close.

It seemed to have helped Dallin to earn Pippa’s trust enough that she’d answered his questions about Sol and his new life.

Dallin knew where to find Pippa.

If she wasn’t in her room, she’d be in the kitchen with Jillian.

Jillian was human, so Pippa probably felt more comfortable with her than with most of the people at the castle.

She’d never refused him entry when he’d knocked on her door, though, and he hoped she wouldn’t start today.

He wanted to be alone, but at the same time, he didn’t want to be.

He knew it would be better if he stopped obsessing over Sol and what was happening to him, but he also couldn’t.

After so many years of looking for his dragon, he’d almost found him.

He’d almost managed to rescue Sol from Carlyle.

He’d failed.

Something massive was missing from Dallin’s life. Before, he’d had his brothers, but now, everyone was focused on their relationship with their dragon—as it should be. Even Tyne had better things to do than to comfort Dallin, and he was still actively avoiding Meyer.

Dallin wanted to know what had happened between them, but he didn’t think he’d have the strength not to give Tyne a piece of his mind if they talked about this, and he didn’t want to fight with any of his brothers, especially not Tyne. He could be a dickhead when he wanted to, and that was most of the time.

Pippa’s door was closed when Dallin reached it, so he knocked. He could hear music inside, and he smiled when the door opened. Pippa looked wary for a moment, but she smiled back when she saw Dallin.

“It’s been a few days,”

she said as she stepped aside and gestured for him to come in.

“I wouldn’t want to bother you.”

“You’re not bothering me. Honestly, you’re a nice distraction. There’s not much for me to do here.”

Dallin looked around the room. Pippa had already made the place hers. It helped that Dallin and the other mages had gone back to the apartment a few times to get her things. She’d only gone once, but after that, she’d refused to step foot in the place, and Dallin didn’t blame her. That was where Carlyle had attacked her and had taken her best friend. Because of him, she’d lost Sol, her home, and her job.

But she was settling in. It was clear that she wasn’t planning on going anywhere, which was what Dallin and the other mages had hoped for. Once they got Sol back, this would be his home, and he’d want his best friend with him.

Unless he decided he wanted nothing to do with mages, grabbed Pippa, and flew as far away as he could. Dallin supposed that was a possibility. Whatever Carlyle was doing to him, it couldn’t be good. He was the first mage Sol would remember meeting, and that might taint what he thought of every mage.

Dallin couldn’t think like that, though. He had to think that whatever Carlyle was doing, Sol wouldn’t hold it against him. He had to hope that Sol would feel the bond between them.

He had to hope that they would get Sol back and that when they did, he’d be in one piece.

NO ONE HAD TOLD SOL why he was stuck in this fucking cell.

He’d tried everything to get out. He’d rattled the bars, had poked at the lock, and had called out for someone to help him. Nothing had changed. The only people he saw ignored him.

By now, he’d found out their names. It hadn’t been easy, but the fact that the three of them behaved as if he were a piece of furniture had helped. Unfortunately for him, knowing these guys’ names didn’t do him any good. He was still stuck in a fucking cell.

Sol huffed and pushed a strand of dark hair away from his eyes. He glanced at the bars, wondering if he should try to rattle them again. It wouldn’t change anything, but it would give him a distraction for a few minutes, which was something he sorely needed.

He was bored.

He was also terrified, confused, and worried. He had no idea why these people had grabbed him. If he had to guess, it had to do with the fact that he was a dragon shifter. It would be too big of a coincidence if that wasn’t the case, but none of the questions he’d asked had been answered, so he couldn’t be sure.

Why was his being a dragon shifter important? He’d never met other shifters, and he thought there weren’t a lot of them around. Hell, sometimes, he wondered if he was the only one. The three guys who’d taken him had never shifted in front of him, so he wasn’t sure what they were, but one kept poking at him and doing weird stuff. If Sol hadn’t been a human who turned into a massive dragon, he would’ve thought he was going nuts when he saw Carlyle do magic. He hadn’t known that magic existed outside of books and movies, but he’d seen the proof that it did.

He wished he hadn’t.

Sol had no idea what Carlyle was trying to do to him, but it couldn’t be good. He wished he didn’t have to stick around to find out, but unfortunately, no one was coming to rescue him. Pippa would try, but what could she do against a mage? She probably didn’t even know where Sol was. He didn’t know where he was.

So, no one was coming. That meant that Sol would have to get out of this mess on his own, and he had no idea how to do that.

The sound of footsteps on the stairs that led to Sol’s cell made him jump. He moved away from the bars and pressed his back against the wall on the other side of the cell. So far, no one had hurt him, but he didn’t trust any of these people.

He wasn’t surprised when Carlyle was the one who appeared. The other two guys, Graham and Simon, only came around to feed Sol. Carlyle, on the other hand, kept doing his weird magic stuff. Sol could tell he was the dangerous one.

He’d been right to step away from the bars.

Carlyle barely even looked at Sol. He was carrying a plastic container, which he put down on a table he’d had Simon place there the day they’d captured Sol. From where he was, Sol couldn’t see what he was doing, but he already knew how things would go. He’d seen it before.

He’d been right. Carlyle stayed for about half an hour, mixing things in his container and using his magic on Sol. Sol had no clue what the magic was supposed to do, but he didn’t think it was working because Carlyle looked frustrated. As far as Sol could tell, he always used the same spell, but it never worked.

Carlyle threw the container on the floor with a shout. The sound was loud and made Sol jump. He waited, expecting Carlyle to take his anger out on him. After all, if the spell wasn’t working, it was probably Sol’s fault.

But Carlyle didn’t hurt him. He kicked the container, then turned around and stomped away. He gave the impression of a toddler pitching a fit, but there was nothing cute or funny about this situation.

Sol slid down the wall and settled on the floor. He pulled his legs against his chest and wrapped his arms around them, pressing his cheek against his knee. Okay, what did he know for sure? He was a dragon shifter, and Carlyle was a mage or a witch or whatever he called himself. Carlyle was trying to cast a spell on him, but it wasn’t working. Carlyle was getting more and more frustrated as time passed, and his attempts continued to fail. Sol didn’t want to read too much into it, but he suspected that things would take a turn for the worse if the spell continued not to work.

That meant that soon, he’d be in trouble. So far, Carlyle hadn’t hurt him, but he might if he couldn’t get what he needed from him. That meant that Sol had to get out of there before that happened.

But how?

Sol thought he had his answer when about half an hour later, someone else came down the stairs. Graham was carrying a tray, and he wrinkled his nose at the sight of the container still on the ground.

“Hey,”

Sol said, unfolding himself and getting to his feet.

Graham didn’t say anything, but when Sol stretched, he caught Graham staring at him and blushing furiously. Simon never gave him that kind of reaction. Simon never gave Sol any kind of reaction. It was like the guy was made of ice. No matter how many times Sol begged him to help or at least tell him what was going on, Simon didn’t give him anything.

Graham was the weakest link here. If Sol wanted to leave, he’d have to rely on Graham.

Graham didn’t answer, but Sol knew he was watching him as he pushed the tray into the cell through the opening under the door and started cleaning up the mess Carlyle had left behind.

“Carlyle was here earlier,”

Sol said as he glanced at the food on the tray.

He should sit down to eat, but his ass felt numb from where he’d been sitting on the hard floor, so instead, he picked up the sandwich and paced as he ate.

“I still have no idea what he’s trying to do,”

he continued. The sandwich was good, which meant that Graham had been the one to make it. He always put more care into Sol’s meals than Simon.

“But maybe if you tell me, I could help.”

Graham made a strangled sound. Sol grinned, happy to know he’d gotten to him. He had no idea how, but that didn’t matter.

“Do you think you could tell me?” he asked.

Graham didn’t speak, but he shook his head. Sol sighed. It had been worth a try, but he hadn’t actually expected Graham to say anything.

“This is getting boring,”

he complained.

“No one’s talking to me. I’m fine spending time on my own, but not usually for this long. I’m bored, Graham.”

He noticed Graham jerk at the sound of his name, but the man still didn’t say anything.

He finished picking up the stuff Carlyle had messed up, then scurried toward the stairs.

He’d be back for the tray, but Sol didn’t think he’d get any more answers than he had just now.

He was fucked, wasn’t he?