At ten, tiredness pulled at my eyes. My door opened and Blake entered. He was in his robe.
“I’m sorry. I…”
“It’s okay. I just wish you gave me a longer heads up than a few seconds.” He pulled his hands through his hair.
“Are they hard on you?”
“I’m the Rubicon, Elena. I say when it’s enough.”
My lips curved on the one side as he sat down on the edge of my bed, hunching over and looked as if he carried the world on his shoulders.
“Is your dad okay?”
“Yeah, Etan is quite far from here. Besides, he was only a few minutes in the air when I caught up with him. So your timing wasn’t that bad.”
“Where is he now? I need to speak to him.”
“He is in the war room. King Helmut asked me to come and get you as they need to know exactly what you father had told you.”
I nodded and got up with Blake.
The walk to the war room felt like the walk a prisoner would take on the green mile.
Blake knocked on the door and opened it. We entered and Tanya rushed over to me. My mom was here too.
She wrapped her arms around me.
“When did you get here?”
“A few minutes ago. When I heard over the radio what had happened, I told them I have to go. I have no choice.”
“Are they okay with that?”
“Elena, I don’t care at the moment if they are okay. If your father is alive, they need all of us.”
I nodded as she let me go.
“You did that?” She looked at the mural and I nodded.
“It’s beautiful, Elena. A vision. Your grandfather on your mother’s side had this ability. He could make things out of air, just an expression, but you get what I mean.”
“Queen Maggie told me.”
The entire table was full of riders and dragons that were busy speaking about a plan of action. My gaze flickered over to Blake’s father, slumped in his chair.
My heart ached as I kept looking at him. He looked so lost, guilty even.
“Elena,” King Helmut addressed me and my gaze flickered to the king at the end.
“Before we start, may I please have a word with my father’s dragon?” I begged.
They all looked at Sir Robert, who looked at me. He nodded and got up from his chair.
We walked out the door and toward the side door. Blake came too, as it was dark outside, but kept his distance.
“Son, I’m okay?”
“Dad.”
“Don’t. Please, he is here on behalf of what I had told him and what my father begged when he told me.”
“Begged.”
“Blake knew you wouldn’t think twice, but he also knows what my father made me promise. So please, I want to keep it. He has lost so much, he can’t lose you too.”
Tears welled up in Sir Robert’s eyes.
I touched his arm. “I know you feel the urge to save him, but you need to think about you first. You can’t die now, not when you are so close to reunite with your rider. He won’t make it, please.”
“He told you this?”
I nodded. “He begged me to be gentle, and that revelation was everything but gentle. I don’t care about the title. My dragon was on the line. I know how my father feels, as I won’t be able to go on if something happens to him. So I beg, please, just follow the plan. He is going to need you the most when those creepers come down.”
He stared at the grass before he nodded. “I promise I will be alive for your father. I didn’t think, but now I know how irresponsible my actions were.” He looked at Blake. “We need to do this soon, Son.”
“Dad, we need soldiers. It’s Goran.”
“And he will die this time.”
“Not by your hand. You just promised.”
“He will die. We need to speed this up. A month at the most.”
“A month!” Both Blake and I questioned.
“It’s fifteen years, Elena. It’s time. I’m done with being this useless dragon. A month is more than enough. I’ll start the league again if I have to.”
“The league?”
What was the league?
“A month.” His entire demeanor had changed as he turned around and walked back to the castle. Blake just stared at him.
I walked over to him. “Is your dad nuts?”
“No, my dad just discovered a reason for him to return. You gave him that reason, Elena. We need to go.” He grabbed my hand and walked with huge strides toward the side door of the castle.
I felt that this mess was mine again. The way I handled all of it was not very Malone like at all.
When we entered, a huge ruckus of arguments broke out.
“Enough!” Blake yelled. His voice was distinct, and all the dragons kept quiet at once.
Even the riders kept quiet.
“Helmut, a month isn’t nearly enough and you know what happened that night,” King Caleb spoke.
“So we are back to Elena lying, Caleb?”
“I know what happened, what I saw with my own eyes. There was an explosion and Albert was in the middle of it.”
“What?” I said as Blake froze.
“Your father is not alive, Elena.”
“He told me he was alive, and that Goran is planning something that he doesn’t know, but it scares him shitless. So if that sounds like my dad being dead to you, then so be it. You don’t even believe that I’m their daughter, so it won’t surprise me at all if you don’t believe my word. But my father is going to come back home. We will be reunited and I hope when he asked you why, you would have a better answer than just your doubt.”
“If one person could survive that explosion, it’s him. We got out, the creepers sprouted from the ground after that explosion and I know it in my heart that it was Albert’s doing,” King Helmut said.
“He could’ve done it with his last breath, Helmut.”
“No, Goran wouldn’t have let him die. Albert is alive.” He looked at the others around his table. “As for Sir Robert’s plan, I agree. He has spent enough time behind those creepers. It’s time for our king to come home. Are you with us or not? Give Elena the benefit of doubt as you know what will happen if Albert is on the other side and you did nothing but doubt her, Caleb.”
“I can’t. I’ll take my chances.” Caleb got up and a few of the chairs next to him screeched against the floor as those people got up, too. They all left the war room.
“Unbelievable,” Blake mumbled.
“Come sit,” King Helmut said. “Tell us about your ascension, Elena.”
I went to Caleb’s seat and plopped down in the chair. Blake grabbed the one next to me.
“It was out of this world. Everything slowed down, and then my dad appeared wearing a black cloaked. He looked just like the recordings of him. There was no sign that he was involved in an explosion.” I looked at King Helmut. “Was there really an explosion?”
He nodded. “I’ll tell you about that later.”
“He didn’t understand Blake’s pose, the way he kneeled in front of me. We spoke about it and it surprised him Blake submitted. The fear that they won’t accept it was clear. He told me he was the alpha and they might try to annul it. But he also said that it showed him Blake was more Metallic than Chromatic. That he could submit. Then after that, it came out that he was still alive. Trapped and being Goran’s puppet. He is planning something big, but my father doesn’t know what. So it sounded urgent.”
The king’s eyes flickered to Blake.
“I gave you my reasons.”
He nodded.
“A month it is then. I won’t let your father and his men down. We need to free Etan, and in a month’s time, we will bring the king home.”
