Chapter Five
MEYER WAS STILL REELING from everything Tyne had told him by the time he landed on top of the mansion.
It was clear that this place was built for dragons, and everything around had been thought with them in mind.
The landing pad was wide enough that Meyer didn’t have trouble landing the way he sometimes did when he had to do so in the courtyards at the castle.
He still hated this place.
He hadn’t even seen it, but it held too much pain for Tyne.
Meyer understood that, technically, he was the one who’d hurt Tyne, but at the same time, he wasn’t.
He resented Peyton for hurting Tyne and ruining the chances Meyer might have with him.
He couldn’t understand how someone could leave someone who was supposed to be the most important person in their life.
A bond between a dragon and their mage wasn’t just a relationship.
As far as Meyer was concerned and from everything he’d seen, it was sacred, and Peyton had betrayed that.
He’d kick his own ass if he could.
He folded his wings against his body as soon as his feet were on the ground.
He waited until Tyne climbed off his back, then shifted, even though he wished he could stay in his dragon form.
He had no idea what was waiting for him, but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t like it.
“Holy shit,”
a man said. “Peyton?”
Meyer took a step back when the man came running toward him.
He couldn’t tell if the man was a mage or a dragon, and he didn’t really care.
When the man tried to throw his arms around Meyer, Meyer shook his head and raised his hands.
“I’m sorry, but can you please not?” he asked.
The man looked confused.
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know who you are.”
Meyer couldn’t ignore the fact that they were gathering attention.
The man had been yelling, and everyone who’d been present on the landing pad was looking at them.
Other people were stepping out through the door, probably to see what was happening.
Meyer had half a mind to shift back, grab Tyne, and fly away, but unfortunately, they were here for a reason.
“What do you mean, you don’t know who I am?”
the man asked.
“It’s Mark. I know it’s been decades, but I don’t look that different.”
“We’re here on business,”
Tyne snapped, moving his body so he’d be between Meyer and Mark.
“It’s urgent.”
He turned toward Meyer.
“Let’s go.”
Meyer nodded and hurried after him when he walked away.
Tyne was being rude, but Meyer didn’t care.
In fact, he quite liked it.
It gave him a reason not to have to talk to Mark or any of the other people who were still staring at him.
He didn’t want anything to do with them.
He couldn’t help but wonder if they’d been on Tyne or on Peyton’s side.
Meyer would always be on Tyne’s side, even though he’d been Peyton.
He didn’t remember that guy, and he didn’t want to remember him.
After what Tyne had said, Meyer was fine with never getting his memories back.
Tyne walked off the landing pad and into the mansion.
He strode down the hallway as if he belonged there, and in a way, he did.
This had been his home before he moved into the castle with the other mages.
It had been Meyer’s home, too, but he didn’t remember any of it. He might have been born here, but this wasn’t home. The castle was, and he desperately wanted to go back.
“I’m hoping that they’re still freaking out and won’t follow us,”
Tyne murmured.
“We’re going to the room where the clan keeps all of the ingredients. As long as nothing’s changed, someone should have prepared a package for us. We can grab it and leave, and hopefully, there will be no drama.”
Meyer hoped things would go like that, but he knew better, so he wasn’t surprised when they turned the corner and Tyne suddenly stopped walking.
Meyer stepped closer to him, ready to defend him, even though the woman standing in the middle of the hallway didn’t look dangerous.
She had long dark hair and freckles on her nose.
Her brown eyes were wide as she stared, and she was pressing a hand against her heart.
It looked a little dramatic, but considering everyone here had thought that Meyer was dead, maybe it was okay for her to behave like that.
Tyne swore under his breath.
He tried to step back, but he bumped against Meyer.
Meyer reached out and squeezed Tyne’s elbow, but he didn’t know what Tyne would be comfortable with.
Would he be okay with Meyer touching him in front of this woman?
“Mark called me,”
she said in a trembling voice.
“He told me that Peyton was back.”
Tyne’s body was rigid. He nodded curtly, and while Meyer didn’t expect him to have anything to say to the woman, he should have known better.
“Peyton isn’t back,”
Tyne said.
“He’s lost his memories, and he won’t ever recover them. Peyton is as good as dead, even though his body is standing here.”
“You’re lying,”
the woman said. She was still pressing a hand against her heart.
“You’re never getting him back, Amber.”
Meyer sucked in a breath. He wasn’t surprised to find out that this was Amber, but he hadn’t expected Tyne to be so blunt with her. He should have. Tyne wasn’t one to be careful with his words, and he clearly still resented his cousin.
So did Meyer.
TYNE HAD KNOWN THEY would see Amber.
There was no way people wouldn’t tell her that Peyton was back, and of course, she’d run to find him as soon as she’d found out.
She had to know that Tyne was there to pick up a package from the ingredients room, so she’d intercepted them before they could reach it.
Tyne had hoped this wouldn’t get messy, but it would.
This was Amber they were talking about.
She’d taken great pleasure in explaining to him that she and Peyton were in love and that it wouldn’t be right for Tyne to keep them apart.
There had always been some rivalry between the two of them because they were the same age, but Tyne had never expected it to come to that.
In fact, he’d been happy when she moved in with the clan.
She was family.
Until she wasn’t anymore.
Amber had always been dramatic, and Tyne hoped Meyer would see through it.
He had no idea what Amber had been up to since everything had happened, and he didn’t care beyond wanting to know whether or not she would try to take Meyer from him the way she’d taken Peyton.
She had to have found someone else, right? There were plenty of dragons who lived with the clan.
She had to have a shield by now, maybe even children.
Tyne had never moved on from Peyton, but he expected Amber to have done so.
Amber rushed forward.
Tyne tensed, but Amber ignored him.
She pushed him aside and threw her arms around Meyer’s neck, sobbing as she settled against him.
Tyne felt savage satisfaction when Meyer didn’t hug her back.
She clung to him, but he wasn’t even touching her with his hands.
Instead, he was holding them up and staring at Tyne with what looked like wariness in his expression.
He had no reason to be afraid of Amber, but it was clear that he was uncomfortable and that Amber didn’t care or hadn’t noticed.
“I can’t believe you’re back,”
she said against Meyer’s neck.
Meyer tried to take a step back, but Amber didn’t let go.
Surprisingly, it was easy for Tyne to focus on helping Meyer.
He’d thought that if this ever happened, he’d have to leave because he didn’t want to see the two reunite, but he didn’t think that Meyer wanted to be a part of it.
He looked like he was ready to push Amber away and might have done just that if she hadn’t been clinging to him so hard.
Tyne grabbed Amber’s arm and tried to pull her away.
She suddenly turned toward him, her eyes blazing.
“You didn’t tell me that he was alive,”
she snapped.
“How long have you known? How long have you been keeping Peyton away from me?”
Meyer used her distraction and her focus on Tyne to take a step back. She let go, but Tyne wasn’t sure it was a good thing anymore. She looked like she was about to hit him, and he wouldn’t put it past her to do just that.
“I haven’t been keeping Peyton away from you,”
he said. He didn’t want to be cruel—okay, maybe a part of him did want to hurt her—but she needed to understand this.
“He’s not Peyton anymore, and he never will be again.
When we found the dragons, all of them had lost their memories.
Carlyle took them, and there’s no way for them to remember.
He doesn’t remember you, Amber.
He didn’t even remember me. He might look like Peyton, but he isn’t Peyton.”
Amber screeched and tried to throw herself at Tyne.
He expected a slap, maybe some scratches, but Meyer was faster.
He pulled Amber back, then placed himself between her and Tyne with his back to Tyne.
She blinked at him, clearly surprised that Meyer would take Tyne’s side instead of hers.
Tyne didn’t think she believed him about Meyer’s memories. She probably thought that he was lying so he could keep Meyer to himself.
“What’s going on here?”
a voice Tyne recognized all too well asked.
He turned to see his mother striding down the hallway. This was the second thing he’d been hoping to avoid, so of course she was here. Could Tyne’s day go any worse?
“Peyton is back,”
Amber announced, reaching for Meyer’s hand.
Meyer moved away and bumped into Tyne’s chest.
Tyne didn’t think twice about cupping a hand around Meyer’s hip and holding him close.
Even though they weren’t together, Meyer didn’t want anything to do with Amber, and Tyne wasn’t going to force him to interact with her.
Hell, he’d protect Meyer from her if he had to.
Tyne squared his shoulders and faced his mother.
“Peyton isn’t back. As I was telling Amber, he’s lost his memories and doesn’t remember any of us or this place. His name is Meyer now, so please, call him that.”
Tyne didn’t expect his mother to hug him. She’d never been the warm and loving type, and they hadn’t spoken in decades.
She stared at him for a moment. She didn’t ask why he was there because she knew. Jarvis had to have talked to her personally to get the authorization to send someone to pick up their ingredients.
“It seems like you have many things to tell me,”
she eventually said.
“I have nothing to tell you. We’re here to pick up ingredients, and as soon as we have them, we’ll be on our way.”
“You’ll stay the night. I already cleared that up with your clan leader. I called him as soon as I got confirmation that you arrived.”
Tyne wasn’t angry at Jarvis. They didn’t know how many allies they would need to fight Carlyle, and making an enemy out of Tyne’s birth clan wouldn’t be a good idea.
Tyne was angry at his mother, though. She wouldn’t take no for an answer, and she knew that Tyne would give in. The clan was powerful enough to give him and the other mages trouble if she decided to make Tyne pay.
“I’m sure that you know we’re in the middle of a fight,”
Tyne tried anyway.
“I do, but staying one night won’t hurt. I’ll see you at dinner. Amber, with me.”
Amber looked like she wanted to argue, but she had to obey Tyne’s mother. Everyone did.
She wasn’t the clan leader for nothing.