Before he finished drawing a breath, the room erupted into shouts.
“A Halfling female!”
“What’s the dragon’s name?”
“Where is the boy Halfling now?”
Questions flew faster than Thoren and Enar could answer, rendering both silent as a defense. Given enough time, Alviss would call for order to let them finish their report. And he didn’t disappoint. His cane thumped against the marble floors as he shouted above the ruckus.
“Silence!”
Thud, thud, thud.
Voices died, vanishing into the room’s dark shadows.
“First things first. How did you find the boy Halfling?” Alviss pointed the tip of his cane at them.
“When he wandered out of Thoren’s containment spell. He’s been wandering ever since.” Enar fought to contain the weariness in his voice and gave up. Thinking about Jamie’s escapades made him want to pull up a mattress and dive between the sheets.
A bushy white eyebrow popped up as Alviss stared at Thoren. “You are two of our best reconnaissance specialists. How could you not ward an area to contain a Halfling?”
Thoren shifted his weight. “We didn’t realize what he was.”
“Pardon? Are your eyes giving you trouble?”
“No sir. The boy does not have the typical Halfling coloring. He has brown hair and gray eyes.”
Another round of murmuring followed by a thumping cane.
“We knew Bjorn had a Halfling boy, but we did not know about this.”
Bjorn was Jamie’s father? Bjorn and Thoren had been close as children, which meant he had been one of Enar’s closest friends too. At least while they were younger. As the years strode onward, the three grew apart, Enar and Thoren becoming reconnaissance specialists and Bjorn moving onto things Enar knew nothing about. Last he’d heard, Bjorn disappeared several months ago.
Having Bjorn for a father would explain Jamie’s mischievous behavior.
“Does he use magic?” Alviss asked.
“None that I saw. What about you?” Thoren turned to Enar.
“Not unless you consider a penchant for climbing trees and falling out of them magic.”
And disobeying orders. Along with other imp-like actions.
“Maybe you didn’t give him the right incentive. We’ll question him ourselves.”
“He’s injured—”
“Falling out of a tree. He thought he could fly,” Enar added.
“He broke his leg and arm and is being tended by the Halfling female we found.”
“And my claim.” Enar stood a little taller.
Take that Father.
The Watchers’ gazes landed on Enar and Viktor snarled. He felt their shock like cold water thrown over his skin. Wait until they saw Lily. They’d regret everything they ever said. All the teasing. All the jokes.
With Lily by his side, he could prove once and for all he was every bit as much of a warrior as they. Even better since he found the perfect woman.
Alviss’s questioning continued, rolling right over their words.
“Draconi heal fast. We’ll speak with him tomorrow or the next day. Tell us about the female. How did we not hear of a mature Halfling?”
“I don’t know the answer to that. But the town we found them in is full of superstitious people who convinced her magic was evil and she was too. Don’t worry, I’ve convinced her otherwise. Her name is Keara and she was…is…an apothecary. Annaliese has taken her on as an apprentice.”
“You’ve been here long enough for her to meet Annaliese?”
“I returned with Keara several days ago. I went through the Change while on the mission and gave her a crash course on helping me, but she absorbed the magic and went into a coma.”
As one, the Draconi wore horrified expressions, while puzzlement settled over the Watcher’s faces. Enar and the other Watchers didn’t know what was so bad about absorbing magic, but he remembered Thoren’s face in the wooded clearing and Keara’s still form. Clearly absorbing magic was not on a Draconi’s pleasure list.
“She lived despite absorbing magic?” Alviss’s coloring matched his hair.
“She did. I turned and flew her back. Figured it was an extenuating circumstance.”
“Of course, of course. Are you sure she absorbed your energy?”
“Both she, the High Priestess, and Annaliese said that’s what she did. She’s tending Jamie, the boy Halfling.”
“We need to speak with her too. Now about the dragon.” Alviss made a circular motion with his hand.
“We found him in a dungeon—”
“What were you doing in a dungeon?”
“Rescuing Keara. She’d been captured. Oh, speaking of which,” Thoren shook his head as if trying to get his thoughts in line. “One of her captors was a Draconi.”
“A Draconi?” Alviss gripped his chair’s arms in a white-knuckled grasp. “Who? Did you see this male?”
“I did not. Keara said she recognized him by his mark.”
“She was also drugged up but good,” Enar pointed out.
“So it’s possible she did not really see a Draconi?” Alviss asked.
“I suppose,” Thoren said. “But she was insistent on that fact and she remembered everything that happened to her. The drug didn’t affect her memory. She said the Draconi wanted to use her for revenge.”
“We will question her about that. It’s very disturbing. Continue with the dragon.”
“As I said, we were in a dungeon and there he was. Apparently, he’d been captured many years ago while in human form and he Changed while in the dungeon,” as one, the Draconi shuddered, eyes wide, “and is now stuck in dragon form. He arrived at the Temple earlier today.”
Viktor glared at Enar, as if it was his fault Fafnir spent the last however many years in captivity.
“Why did he not come back with you?”
Thoren shrugged and looked to Enar.
Enar mirrored the shrug and ignored Viktor. “I don’t know why, but he came with me, not Thoren.”
But it probably had to do with the fact the bloody beast was crazier than a drunk dragon growling at the moon.
“He’ll also be questioned. How was he captured?”
Thoren shrugged. “I don’t know, but the bars of the cell were made out of titanium.”
“Titanium? How can a mere human know titanium renders a Draconi’s powers useless?”
“I don’t know. Oh, Enar discovered Jamie’s father is dead.”
Enar glanced at Thoren. What was up with his friend being forgetful? Thoren usually nailed these mission wrap-ups, not forgot half the items he should be speaking on. The image of a red-haired Halfling popped into his mind. Oh yes, Keara. No wonder his friend was forgetful. Mated males made lovesick fools look intelligent.
Alviss’s eyes widened, his mouth tightening. “How?”
Enar related what he knew about Bjorn’s death and his speculations regarding the rogue Draconi trying to capture Jamie before he tried capturing Keara.
“That is a major security threat. We cannot have humans working with Draconi to capture Halflings. We will send a team tomorrow to eradicate the problem. Do you know anything else about this dragon?”
“Sir, I discovered how the dragon was captured,” Enar said. Save the best for last, thanks to Lily and the gossip-vine.
“Well, we’re waiting.” Alviss leaned forward.
“He was visiting River’s Run and ran afoul of one of the nobles there who somehow knew of titanium’s effect on Draconi. I’m not sure why the noble captured him, but Fafnir cast a spell on the noble before he was thrown in the cell and the man went crazy.”
“Serves the human right. Do you know more than that?”
“No sir. I didn’t discover more about his story.”
“Very well. We’ll question all involved and find out the answers ourselves. First we’ll talk to the female, you said her name was Keara?” Thoren nodded. “We’ll try to discover who her father was. Please bring her to us.”
A few seconds later and Keara stood beside Thoren, her face pale. But she straightened her shoulders, staring Alviss in the eyes. As Alviss began her interview, Enar’s focus drifted to Lily, despite the stare and glare Viktor turned his direction.
Where was his woman now? Still in the infirmary? Taking a tour of the Temple grounds? Waiting in a room half-naked for his arrival? That image made Viktor’s glare vanish like snow in the sun.
And then Lily’s image disappeared as Thoren snarled at Alviss. What just happened? Why was he so busy daydreaming he missed the trigger setting off Thoren’s rage?
Enar took in the scene. Thoren held an unmoving Keara around the waist, his lip peeled into a snarl. Alviss’s eyes stood at attention, white brows faded into his hairline. Balthor, Thoren’s father, paused halfway out of his chair. Whatever just happened, Thoren reacted like the mated male he was, primed and ready to rip apart whatever threatened his mate. Even if said threat was the most powerful Draconi around.
Not very bright, but then newly mated males weren’t exactly known for their intelligence.
“Hey, now. That was rather exciting, eh?” Enar slapped a palm against Thoren’s shoulder and stepped between Thoren and Alviss, using mind-speak to project his voice into Thoren’s head.
Goddess’s teeth, Thoren, what do you think you’re doing? You can’t fight Alviss. Do you have a bloody death wish?
Thoren blinked, steam curling around his ears. He glanced at Keara as she pressed a hand against his chest and took a deep breath. The steam circling his head dissipated and Enar breathed a sigh of relief. His friend managed to pull it together before he was turned into charred dragon shish-kabob.
“I apologize. I’m not sure what came over me.”
He thumped Thoren on the shoulder and went to stand where he had been before Thoren started the mated male dragon posturing. Which he then proceeded to lie to the Council about.
Clearly his friend had issues.
He was a fine one to be talking about issues. He had a claim who liked him but wouldn’t tomorrow, a father who despised him, and all he wanted to do was remain in a Draconi village.
Put into perspective, Thoren’s refusal to acknowledge Keara as his mate seemed rather trivial.
Alviss continued to ask Keara if she wanted to discover her ancestry. Apparently Thoren’s dragon posturing had something to do with Alviss discovering Keara’s family. Like the rest of the Council, Enar stood with his mouth hanging open as Alviss announced he was Keara’s grandfather.
And then the two transported out of the Chamber, leaving Thoren and Enar alone before the remaining Council members for further questioning.
After that little revelation, the Council members’ questions came in starts and stops, before fluttering out, their astonishment overwhelming their curiosity.
The words, “You are dismissed,” had to be the happiest ones in his life.
Ignoring Viktor—perhaps that snarl of his froze into a permanent fixture—he yanked open the doors and stepped out into the late afternoon light where the air no longer suffocated him. Freedom.
Thoren stepped beside him, looking from side to side. “Where do you think they went?”
“When do you think you’ll tell her she’s your mate?”
“You know, when someone asks you a question, it’s polite to respond with the answer and not another question.”
Enar grinned, spotting Keara and Alviss behind Thoren, tiny spots on a bench at the edge of the property. “You should tell her, you know.”
Thoren ran a hand through his hair. “It means I can no longer do my job. I like being a reconnaissance specialist.”
“The rule makes sense. We do have some danger each time we go into the field. No one wants the responsibility of telling a male’s mate he was killed in action.”
“I know. It’s just, what will I do?”
“You’ll figure something out. You can’t live without her and you need to let her know.”
“What about you?”
“I’m taking Lily back to my village tomorrow.”
“When will you be back?”
“Not long. By the way, your mate is that way.” Enar pointed to where Keara sat.
Thoren turned his head, running a hand through his hair. “You’re right. I’ll let her know.” He started walking in the direction of Keara, waving over his shoulder at Enar.
Thoren and Keara made a good match. Just like Lily made him a good match.
The thought sucker punched him in the gut. She belonged to him. His to cherish. His to l...He choked on the word.
He wasn’t Draconi. He was a Watcher. Watchers did not bond with their claims. Therefore, the almost slip of the “L” word meant nothing.
Liar
. And dragons didn’t know how to use magic.
He needed to find Lily. To find her and tell her what he felt. Maybe then her sparkling blue eyes wouldn’t shine hatred when he returned her to his village.
It never hurt to hope.
Chapter 17
Lily rested her chin on her knees, arms wrapped around her legs. Jamie slept in the other bed, his breathing even from the potion Keara gave him before she set his broken bones. Right when she opened her mouth to tell her friend about her vision and ask what it meant, Keara’s eyes grew distant. With a “Gotta go, Thoren needs me,” Keara disappeared, leaving Lily alone with an unconscious ten-year-old.
Lily lost track of how long she sat on the bed, her thoughts spinning through her mind like eddies in a stream. Did the High Priestess really come to her in the dream and offer a position at the Temple? No matter what the future held with Enar, it had to be better than seeing visions all day.