Cassarah
My guardians burst into action. Izel grabbed me and yanked me away from the woman, putting himself in front of me as a shield.
Zan and Jade held her at knife point while Abbott had his sword drawn.
May and Paxton searched the room, ensuring another person wasn’t lurking in the shadows.
I felt a burst of magic pulse through the room, and the woman changed yet again to be one of the palace attendants who had escorted us down to the feast.
The man snarled, looking around the room. “Who has nullification magic?”
“Why would we tell you that?” Jade asked, pressing the blade against his neck to make him bleed. “You’re not in the position to be asking us anything.”
I slipped out from Izel’s hold and marched right up to the man. “Do you have my father?” I demanded.
“That’s the question, isn’t it? Is the man still alive, or is he dead?
Was what I did an illusion, or did I steal the man’s face?
One means he could be alive, and the other he is most certainly dead,” he said before he started to cackle, his eyes betraying just how crazy he was.
“The true king of this world has his army full of people with special talents. In fact, he had your Grim Reaper doing his dirty work before he found you, little bird.”
Jade roared as he slammed the butt of his dagger into the man’s head, knocking him unconscious, making him crumple to the floor. I stood there stunned, unsure what, if any of that to believe. What did he mean about Jade? Was my father alive? Could he be here?
“Becka, send one of our dragon riders to my home now. I need to know if they are still alive from a source I trust,” I ordered without taking my eyes off the man at my feet.
“Someone needs to alert King Thomas that he needs to be vigilant in every word that comes out of his mouth of those of his family. Nothing is as it seems here in Creisal. The Lost King has had more of a stronghold here than we assumed.”
Jade stepped up to me, reaching out to grasp my arm, but I shifted back, not meeting his gaze.
“Please, just give me a moment.” I lifted my head to see his pale green eyes filled with worry and fear at my rejection.
“We will discuss this. I just need a moment to gather my thoughts. Tonight has been one surprise after another.”
Turning on my heel, I walked to the balcony and flung open the door. “Vasin, I need you.”
“I will be right there.” Vasin’s voice echoed through my mind. “Are you in danger?”
“No… I don’t know. One of the palace attendants just tried to pose as my father hiding in my room. He was spewing all this nonsense that I can’t even begin to wrap my head around. I just need to be in the one place I know I’m safe from it all.”
The whoosh of wind hitting me in the face alerted me to Vasin’s arrival.
He hovered just under the balcony the best he could, allowing me to drop down onto his back.
The moment I was settled, he dropped down the cliffside but thrust his wings down before we reached the beach, shooting up into the dark, starlit sky.
“Tell me, unless you want me to see it for myself so you don’t have to repeat it?”
“There is so much to tell it might be faster for you to see it,” I explained as I started to funnel my memories from the feast to the moment I looked into Jade’s eyes.
“It seems the Lost King wasn’t ignoring Creisal like we once thought.
Instead, he’s been working in the shadows much like he did in Errit.
I’ve heard of each of the skills that man was referring to.
One can take the likeness of another and create almost an illusion in your mind of what he or she looks like.
The latter, though, is dark, evil magic that they literally steal the face of their victim, using it as a foundation for him to create a likeness. ”
“Do you think my family is dead?”
“Should we go look for ourselves?”
“How long would it take us to get there from here?”
“I can get you there before the sun starts to rise.”
“I can’t leave without telling the others. That would be wrong.”
“Agreed, it would be best if two of them came with you and the others covered for you. We don’t want anyone to know you’ve left.
It might be wise for one of them in the morning to go to the king and let him know you still need more rest after traveling since you planned to have breakfast. I will make sure to have you back for lunch instead. ”
“All right, take me back, and I’ll grab Zan and Paxton to come with.”
“No, not Paxton. You need Jade for this. He can keep us hidden from sight as we fly.”
“Are you sure you’re not just trying to fix things between us?”
“Would I do such a thing?”
“Yes.”
“Either way, it fixes both problems. I’ve called Tahir and Ifra to gather their riders.”
“Bossy dragon,” I muttered.
“Benefit of being your pair-bond. We are of equal status, and you know I’m right.”
Vasin dropped me off at the balcony, and I was greeted by Zan and Jade waiting for me. “We’re going to check on my family. Vasin said we can be there before dawn and back by lunch,” I said hurriedly as I strode into the room to speak with the others.
Gathering by the looks of the others, they’d obviously caught part of what I’d said, and many were not at all pleased.
“You can’t be serious, Cassarah,” Cole snapped. “There’s no way you can just take off right now. What are we going to do with him?”
I looked at the man now tied up and still unconscious on the floor.
“I’m sure you will find a way to get information out of him once he’s awake.
I believe Izel will be quite helpful, and with Paxton here, he won’t be able to use whatever magic he has.
Zan and Jade are going with me, so I won’t be on my own.
I need to know if they are dead or not. I won’t be able to move on without the truth. ”
“What if the truth is they are dead? That they were skinned like he alluded to? What good will that do you except give you nightmares?” Gavin demanded, anger clear on his face.
“Is there anything I can say that would help any of you accept this choice I’m making?
” I asked, to which all of them just grumbled and looked away from me.
“I didn’t think so. Now, I’m doing my best to respect your wishes that I don’t go off and do things on my own.
I’m informing all of you what my plan is and bringing backup.
Becka, I will need you to contact King Thomas and let him know I’m in need of my rest, but lunch would be lovely to share together. ”
Becka begrudgingly agreed with a nod. “Fine, but you better make it back, or I’ll tell him what really happened.”
“That would probably be wise because if I’m not back in time, it means I need help or something went terribly wrong.
Gavin, you’re in charge as my heir. If anything happens with Sheca or here that I would have needed to respond to, I trust you to make the right judgment.
” Pausing, I gave them all a sad smile. “I love you all, and I’ll be back as fast as I can. I promise.”
Having settled things, I removed my crown and placed it in the velvet box it traveled in.
For this, I was going as Lady Cassarah, first born of Baron Charles and Baroness Adeline, not as the Dragon Queen.
May helped me get out of my dress so I could put on more appropriate clothes for the journey.
Dressed all in black, I wanted to ensure I wouldn’t be easily recognized as I twisted my hair into a tight bun.
Jade and Zan were already on their dragons, circling the air above while I dropped once more onto Vasin’s back.
We took off, Vasin leading the way, flying faster than we’d ever flown before.
I had to lean down as close as I could to his body so the wind didn’t pull me off as it buffeted against me.
I prayed to the fates that we would make it there in time, and I would find my family alive.
If they were, I would force them to come with me, no longer giving them the option.
This no longer just affected them. If the Lost King was going to use them against me, I needed to put a stop to that.
With the world dark and quiet around us, the journey seemed to drag on.
It was hard to see anything except for the lanterns in villages as we passed over.
When we neared any of the more populated areas, Jade would cloak us in shadow.
When it happened, everything turned black and white, his powers removing all sources of color from the world.
It was nice to know that if he ever did that to me without me asking, I would know what was happening.
Then I saw it, the home I grew up in. The mansion looked as if nothing was wrong, but I got a sense of foreboding when the grounds looked ill-maintained.
I knew having the Lost King ruling Norden would change things, but I hadn’t expected Henry to be all that interested in the lives of his new subjects.
Could it be that he demanded more taxes, stripping people of what wealth they had?
There was only one way to find out what was going on, and that was to land.
It had only been three days since my dragon riders had been here.
Granted, they didn’t get a chance to do anything other than get yelled at by my mother or at least someone claiming to be my mother.
Now that I know people can change their appearance, who’s to say this hasn’t happened before?
They wouldn’t have noticed if the grounds were looking rundown because they wouldn’t have known what they should look like.
As Vasin landed, I couldn’t hear anything coming from the stables—the horses normally reacted to dragons if they hadn’t been raised around them.
Sliding off his back, I stood for a moment, taking in the sights and sounds but heard nothing other than the chirping of crickets and the cold breeze rustling the trees.