Lu looked pretty constipated when he came back from the foyer with two glasses of eggnog in his hand.
He plopped one glass in front of me on the coffee table as I had the remote in my hands, trying to beat this level of Magic and Mayhem’s latest game.
“Seriously, I can’t win these last few days.”
“What now?” I asked without taking my eyes off the screen.
“Elena. I’m in shit again and I don’t even know why.”
“Elena?”
“Yeah, she is all tiffy about something. I just wanted to know if Tabitha was okay. She looked miserable today.”
“Oh, that. Yeah, it’s her parents. Don’t worry.”
“How do you know?” There was that snide tone in his voice, and I understood why Elena had told me to not say a thing. Fuck.
“Elena told me.”
“But she can’t tell me?”
I shrugged as an enormous sigh expelled from Lucian’s body.
“What about her parents?”
“Ask her, Lu. It might open up a bit of communication between the two of you.”
“I’m asking you.”
“They live in a colony. They don’t believe in the modern world the way Emanual and my dad do.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning that she can never go home. They disowned her when you claimed her.”
“What?”
“It’s what happens when you belong in a colony, Lu. Please tell me you know that.”
“How would I know about this. You don’t belong to a colony. Nobody I know belongs to one.”
“Well, now you do.”
“So they just disowned her?”
“Yes. According to Elena, it’s not an easy Christmas for her.”
He huffed.
“Why, what did you think was up with her?”
“I thought it had something to do with Annie.”
“Annie? What does my cousin have to do with this?”
Lu moved a bit restlessly on the couch.
“Speak.”
“We kissed, okay?”
“You and Annie?” I pretended I didn’t know.
“Yeah.”
“Did Tabitha find out about this?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t see her when Constance walked in on us.”
I laughed. “You were caught by Constance?”
“Yes. She lost it on Anouk and they left.”
“When was this?”
“Tonight, while you and Elena went on your flight.”
“You need to be careful with Tabitha, Lu. She is your Dent, and dragons feel different from certain things. She could easily devour my cousin just for that kiss.”
“You know we are not like that.”
“Still, she sort of sees you as her property.”
“I’m no one’s property, Blake.”
“Oh, c’mon. You guys see us as your properties, too. Your dragons, not some dragon, right? I know Elena does.”
“Of course I see her as my dragon, but I don’t see her as my property.”
“There is a bit of possession in there, Lu. Your dragon has a bit of a small sign to property. Dragons feel ten thousand times stronger about these things.”
“I know that.”
“Then think next time before you push your tongue down someone else’s throat.”
“You think she knows?”
“I don’t know. You need to ask her that.”
“What does Elena say?”
“Nothing.” I hated lying, but she’d begged me not to say anything.
“Fine.” He picked up the remote and his character appeared on the split screen. “Where are you?”
“On the ninth floor.”
“Okay, I’ll be with you soon.”
He pushed a couple of buttons in sequence, and then his avatar appeared magically next to me.
I looked at him.
“What?”
“That’s cheating.”
“It’s not that type of game. Let’s go.”
We played until eleven-thirty, when we both lost our lives.
Lu growled.
“It’s okay. We can try again tomorrow.”
“You sure?”
“Yes, I would like to catch my wife awake.”
Lu laughed. “Don’t let her fathers find out.”
“I won’t.”
I got up and helped Lu switch off the lights. We walked up the stairs and found the hallway empty.
I was sharing a room with Lu and heard him snigger when I sneaked past his door, toward Elena’s room.
I opened her door and slipped into her room.
She was already in bed, watching TV.
“Finally,” she whispered and opened the bed for me. I jumped in and pulled her closer to me. My hands brushed over the lacy garments of her naughty nightie, and I pulled the covers over our heads to see what she looked like.
Laughter slipped from her lips as I admired how tight it hugged her figure. She was a goddess, and mine to devour whenever I wanted. My lips grabbed hers, and the kiss grew stormy fast.
The best Christmas ever.
ELENA
We had class on the twenty-seventh again, and I could pick up that Lucian was a bit more talkative to Tabitha, or at least her dragon form. The girl was going to become a dragon twenty-four seven with the way he treated her dragon form compared to her human form.
But she seemed to be okay with it for now.
Maybe it was a step to trusting the human form.
We celebrated Blake’s birthday on the first of January in Etan. All his friends came, the band included, and we had an enormous party for him in the ballroom, with the queen’s help.
Annie was there too, and I saw her speaking to Tabitha.
“Let them sort it out, Elena. You do not want to get in the middle of that. It’s still civil,” Sammy said as I kept staring at them.
I nodded.
I cared for both of them, and it would be hard to choose if anyone asked me to.
Sammy laughed.
“Who would’ve thought that you’d become best friends with the girl that wanted to kill you twice?”
“Shush, it’s in the past.”
“I never thought that sweetness hid behind all the ice.”
“Me neither.”
Tabitha hugged Annie, and together they came over to us.
“Relax, it’s sorted,” Annie said.
“Still, Annie, you know he is a Dent.”
“Shush,” she said and made us all laugh, including Tabitha.
“I get it. You don’t have to explain,” Tabitha said.
“See, she gets it.”
“Maybe I should just grab and kiss the living crap out of him.”
“In your human form, Tabitha, please,” Sammy said, and all of us burst out laughing.
“It’s a step forward.”
“So he is only nice to your dragon?” Annie asked.
She nodded.
“He is an idiot. You are the dragon.”
We all laughed at Annie’s reply.
“Just imagine how he is going to feel if that truly sinks in,” I said.
“Lu knows it. He relates to the dragon. He doesn’t relate to me.”
“Just don’t be a dragon twenty-four seven because of him, please,” Sammy begged.
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Where is Becky?”
“Probably with George.”
“Well, at least two Dents are on the right track. It’s just for the last Dent to get there. I would love to know the reason for three Dents,” Tabitha said.
“Yeah, I don’t. I’m happy with how things are now.”
Blake came over and pulled me away from the girls, dragging me to their band.
The girls followed, and Ty was so funny again. Lucian was still explaining something when he interrupted and flirted with Tabitha.
She just looked at him, and I saw Lu’s jaw muscles pump slightly.
Blake shook with silent laughter, and I got a feeling he’d put Ty up to this to wake something up in Lucian.
“In what world do you live, Ty.” Tabitha pushed his face away, making everyone laugh, Lu included.
She sat down next to me.
“Don’t be like that. I know things with you and Lucian aren’t like that.”
“I don’t care, no. You would be the last guy on earth that I would ever want to be with.”
“Why?”
“You are a boar.”
“Blake was worse than me.”
“I was an idiot back then.”
“Thanks, Tabitha,” Blake said.
“Sorry, you treated me like crap and I loved it. Something was seriously wrong with me back then.”
I high fived her.”
“Excuse me,” Blake said, staring at me with an open mouth.
“You are not like that anymore, chill.”
Tabitha climbed out of her shell a bit, but Lu was still distant with her.
When was he going to wake up?
I woke up early the next morning and literally pushed Blake out of my bed before my fathers were going to wake up.
He sidestepped the creaking floors, and I took a shower.
My entire body ached at how rough he was last night, but at least there were no bruises. Not that I complained either. It was heaven and also thank heavens both our shields hold.
Blake left after that to go back to Dragonia.
The next morning, I almost walked in on a hearing. There was a guy asking for something and Dad had just said no.
“My king, he is not like the others,” a voice next to the guy spoke.
“I’m sorry, my answer is no. I wish I could grant you this, but I won’t play with other lives. His kind took too many lives. Way too many.”
“It wasn’t him.”
“I do apologize.”
The guy was more or less my age and had dark brown hair and blue eyes. He was a beaut of a guy, not Blake’s league, but still a beaut.
I hid behind the curtain as they both walked the other direction.
When their footsteps disappeared, Sir Robert spoke. “You did the right thing, Al. Not just for Helmut’s sake, but for Elena’s too.”
“What if he was different?”
“Don’t,” Dad Herbert spoke. “The dungeons are full of wyverns that worked for Goran, but it’s not all of them. He left with a lot of wyverns that night.”
“Wyverns?” I whispered.
“Elena,” Dad Herbert said, and I froze. His hearing had become twenty times better since we came back.
I walked out of my hiding place.
“How much did you hear?”
“Enough, who was he?”
“A wyvern, your age, that wanted to attend Dragonia. I’m sorry, I can’t,” Dad Albert said.
I shook my head. “You don’t have to apologize. Lucian lost his sister when King Helmut trusted them. We lost too much of our family, Dad.”
He nodded and smiled.
“Breakfast is ready,” I said.
My father laughed. “We have staff to announce that.”
“I wanted to call you,” I said, and Dad Hebert gave me a hug from behind as he passed.
“That’s my girl.” He planted his lips on my head, and I walked beside him to the dining area.
After lunch, I went back to Dragonia.
That Monday we fell back into our normal routine.
Around eight, I met Blake on the roof. My eyes caught a figure on the grounds as Blake still spoke.
“Shush,” I said and the guy on the ground turned around and searched for us.
Blake looked in his direction as the guy ran into the forest.
“Who is that?”
“A wyvern. I saw him yesterday at the palace, asking my father to attend Dragonia.”
“What?”
“My dad said no. What is he doing here?”
“Go back to your room and stay there.”
“Blake?”
“Elena, I’m the Rubicon. It’s my duty to keep the school and you safe. Go, now.”
I nodded and left for my room. What was the guy doing here? My dad had told him no. I should phone my father.
The girls saw the worry on my face as I entered.
“You okay?” Tabitha asked as I grabbed my Cammy.
“There is a wyvern here. Your brother followed him,” I said, looking at Sammy.
“A wyvern? How do you know?”
“Because he’d asked my father if he could attend Dragonia saying he wasn’t like the others.” I dialed my father’s Cammy, and Dad Albert’s figure appeared.
“Hey, sweet pea.”
“Dad,” I said.
“Elena, what is wrong?”
“It’s that wyvern kid. He’s here, lurking on the school grounds. Blake followed him.”
“He is there?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know? It’s like eight at night.”
“Because we were going over a spell we need to practice,” I lied.
“Okay, I’ll be there soon. Where is Blake now?”
“He followed him. He told me to go back to my room.”
“Okay, stay there. I’ll be there soon.”
The hologram disappeared.
“Wyverns are not good,” Becky said.
“One wanted to attend?” Tabitha asked.
I nodded. “He begged my dad, but he said that he doesn’t trust them. He couldn’t, even when the guy said that he isn’t like the other wyverns.”
“What is one doing here?”
“I don’t know, Sammy.”
“Call Lu, Elena,” Tabitha said.
I nodded and called Lucian. She didn’t even have his number.
“Hey.”
“There is a wyvern on the grounds, Lucian. Blake went after him.”
“Where is Tabitha?”
“She is with me.”
“Tell her to meet me below.”
“Okay.”
She had already left before I could tell her.
“She usually shies away from things like this,” Sammy said.
“Lucian rubbed off on her, that is for sure.”
Becky was on her Cammy with George, and he told her he would try to track them down.
We saw George with Lucian and Tabitha’s dragon form, heading in the direction Blake had gone, and then the waiting game started.
We waited for a long time. Sir Robert flew past our window with a Moon-Bolt in the forest’s direction.
A knock came at my door, and I rushed to open it. Both my fathers stepped inside.
“You girls okay?”
We nodded.
“Are you sure it was him?” Dad Albert asked as Dad Herbert checked the windows.
“It was him, Dad.”
The worry was embedded inside the creases on his face.
“What does he want?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but Jako had a feeling that he wanted something that is on this ground. Guess he wasn’t wrong.”
“I know wyverns, Al. They don’t change even if you think there is good in some of them. They kill all the good in those that show any. Even Theodore, the one that gave you that ride?”
Dad Albert nodded. “We need to find what he wants. Hopefully, Blake will find him.”
“If he can’t, no one would,” Dad Herbert said.
I left with them to Master Longwei’s office. The news that a wyvern wanted to attend Dragonia was new to Master Longwei.
“You should’ve talked to me, Albert.”
“Chong, it’s a wyvern.”
“Which we know nothing about. We could’ve learned from him, kept an eye on him. Blake would’ve known. I could’ve warned Lucian.”
“I’m not taking chances with children.”
“They are stronger than what you think. Who do you think helps me to keep Dragonia safe? The Rubicon is one of them.”
“You put way too much on him, Chong,” Dad Albert said.
“At least we would’ve known what he was after.”
“We will find him.”
The door opened and Blake walked in, wearing his jeans and pulling on his shirt.
“And?” Dad Herbert asked.
“He got away. Don’t ask me how. The one second I was chasing him and the next he was gone. I found Lu and them in the forest. He is definitely searching for something. What I don’t know.”
“You’ve done great, Blake,” Dad Herbert said.
“Done great? He got away.”
“Blake,” Dad Albert said. “It’s not on you to keep this school safe. Let us do our job.” He touched his face. “You did great, all of you did. Brave to follow when none of you knew the risk.”
“You think he is with Goran?”
“They don’t call him the wyvern king for nothing. I don’t want you to follow him again if Goran is behind this. He is the last person I want to get his claws on you.”
“He will meet my pink kiss.”
Dad nodded. “Still, I’m not taking that chance. Go back to your dorms. Thanks for calling me. It was the right thing to bring this under my attention.”
He kissed me on top of my head, and we left.
“You called your father?”
“Yes, he had to know, Blake.”
“So what? Are you going to call him with every little thing we have trouble with?”
“Blake,” Lu said.
“Stay out of it, Lu.”
“Let’s go. We can talk about this later,” Lu whispered.
I stared at Blake as he walked with Lucian toward the boys’ dorms.
“Don’t, you did the right thing. Blake thinks he can sort everything out. Sometimes you need backup,” Tabitha said.
We entered the room and a part of me was starting to feel like crap again because of Blake’s words.
I sent him a message explaining why I’d called my father. He would not make me feel like shit about doing that. If that wyvern was from Goran, my father was right. Blake needed to stay away from him.
I threw my Cammy on my bed when no text came back and went to take a shower.
Later that night, I lay in bed, waiting for Blake. Tiredness won before he came.
The next morning, it felt as if I was walking on eggshells again.
I found him with Lu around a table, speaking about the wyvern, and went to dish up a plate of oatmeal.
I plopped on the pillow next to him and to my surprise he planted his lips on my temple.
“Sorry about last night.”
I smiled and shook my head, telling him not to worry.
“No, that was uncalled for, Elena. It’s just that I hated that he’d gotten away.”
“I can relate.”
“I should’ve just burned him then whatever he was looking for would’ve been in the past.”
I didn’t reprimand him for that thought, even if I should. I just didn’t want to fight with him about stupid things. It wasn’t worth it.
The bell rang just as I finished my oatmeal, and we walked hand in hand to our first period with Professor Pheizer.
Everywhere I looked, guards wearing some sort of op-gear paraded the school yard.
“What is this?”
“Your dad. He is not taking any chances. I found them early this morning on my flight, searching through the forest, hoping to see the wyvern.”
“Blake?”
“Elena, I can’t just sit and do nothing, knowing that a wyvern is here somewhere doing God-knows-what.”
“Still, if he is from Goran, my father is right, you need to stay away from him.”
He nodded, but the slight pump in his jaw told me that my words fell on deaf ears.
I didn’t like all the guards. Why was my father being so paranoid?
