Poison

One

SIR ROBERT

y mind was stuffed with questions, things I just couldn’t comprehend: why Al had never told me about Elena, what he must have gone through.

In the old days we had shared everything, and I mean everything. I wasn’t just his dragon, I was his companion, his confidant, a shoulder to cry on when nobody was watching, especially when Katie had rejected him. When she’d giving up on life crying all the time, fighting with him constantly.

His men and I always thought it was because of Tanya. I even thought that Al had asked her to choose between him and her dragon, and that she’d chosen him, letting Tanya go free.

It was an easy thing to think as he’d never gotten along with Tanya and it was difficult for him that Katie shared a dent with her, a bond so strong that we would never be able to comprehend exactly how it worked. I was furious with him, none of us could grasp what it would mean if a Dragonian set their dragon, especially sharing that kind of bond, free, but I’d never questioned him as he was also my king.

Now I knew better; it hadn’t been just for Katie that he’d cried, but for Elena too.

He made me so angry, thinking of those times he’d tried to tell me, I could sense it and had asked him more than once what was weighing on his mind. He’d contemplated it a few times, but he’d always send me away, telling me he wanted to be alone.

I should’ve seen it, the way he used to look at Sammy’s dragon figure, staring at her for hours. That one-second warning in his eyes before it turned soft, when he looked at Blake.

I thought it was longing for an offspring he could never have, not the one he’d had to give up because of Goran.

How didn’t I see it? That it was Goran that had betrayed them?

When Blake and Elena found a way to get past those deathly snatchers, I would find him, I would kill him, and I would laugh and spit in his face while my blade stuck in his chest. My acid would burn him alive.

I didn’t care who his brother was, he’d betrayed us all. He would die, even if it was the last thing I ever did.

Footsteps entering the house brought me out of my train of thoughts.

I closed my eyes and let the swift come. I could hear everything, someone breathing, a faint heart beating. It was him.

What the ...

I switched on the light. Hello, son.

He spun around. Dad? A confused look was plastered on his face as he looked around, bewildered. What happened here?

I smiled. We don’t live here anymore. I bought ground and we are rebuilding the manor.

He narrowed his eyes, thinking hard, and then huffed. She gave you money?

No, I had left some money in the King’s vault a long time ago. I never knew he’d transferred it to the new one, I lied. My son would never accept any of it if he knew it came from her father.

The corners of his mouth twitched. No more scraping around, turning each pagoleon over twice?

I learned my lesson, Blake, it will be spent wisely.

He nodded.

So you’re back?

Blake shook his head. I came because you need to get Elena out of there. She’s feeling trapped and I can’t deal with her emotions right now.

My eyebrows knitted together. How did you know about her, and what do you mean she’s feeling trapped?

Seriously? He gave me a raised eyebrow. Dad, she is royalty, by blood. He chuckled. You really think they were going to take it easy on her? They’re forcing this stinking world on her. He stared at the empty spot where the table in the kitchen used to be. They took away her Cammy, she can’t even call for help. Well, except me and to be honest, I don’t care much at the moment, I just can’t deal with her right now.

Blake, you can feel Elena’s emotions?

He looked at the ceiling and shook his head slightly. He was really getting annoyed. She asked for you tonight, for Becky, Sammy, Mom, anyone that knows her, but they refused. He huffed. They even got her birthday wrong, he mumbled. So he did care, but wasn’t ready to show it yet.

Yes, it’s tomorrow, not today.

Just get her out of there, before I lose my mind and who knows what I will do.

Blake come home. We’re staying at—

I’m not coming home, Dad, he said through gritted teeth. She’s not my rider. I’m the Rubicon! I can’t be tamed. He roared. His eyes, the same as his mother’s blue peacock irises, turned red.

It was the only way I could tell Issy and Constance apart. Just get her out of there. He turned around and left.

I could hear the transformation, he was becoming silent in ways that I never could have imagined.

He needed to dent, but at what cost?

Elena! Robert, she needs you.

I pulled out my Cammy. Helmut.

We’d paired phones a couple of weeks back when Elena was still with us. If you need anything, just phone. Well, I was going to need a shitload from my old friend.

His face appeared, sleep had frozen his features. Robert? It’s two—

What the hell are you guys doing to Elena? I told you Helmut, no pushing this on her. She’s not ready.

It’s not like that. She is merely learning about her duty to Paegeia.

Her duty! Forcing her is more like it.

What? No. He shook his head.

Don’t lie to me. Blake was here.

His face woke up in an instant. Blake’s back?

Not entirely, but he passed by, asking me to free her. Why would he use those words if she was there of her own free will?

What do you mean, free her?

You tell me Helmut.

Look, they told me they will take it easy on her, introducing her to all the advisers and teaching her about her people and kingdom. I still don’t understand why you think she needs to be freed. We saw her tonight and—

Blake is feeling her emotions. Their bond is stronger than any of us anticipated. If they dent, we are going to see something we’ve never seen before in all of dragon and rider history.

He’s feeling her emotions? She’s not trapped, she is here out of her own free will.

By taking her Cammy away, cutting her off from the people that matter to her? Yes, that sounds a lot like free will to me.

No!

They threw her a huge party tonight in honor of her birthday. Not one of us was invited, Helmut.

Margerite’s face and shoulders appeared from behind her husband’s holograph. No, I sent out the invites. None of you replied, Margerite said. Elena was devastated about that.

Are you sure? Helmut looked over his shoulder at Margerite. Did you speak to her tonight?

I said hi, but she had so many friends around her. She enjoyed tonight, but not the way she would’ve if Becky and Sammy had been there. She really looked forward to seeing them. She gave me a stern look.

We didn’t get any invitation, Margerite.

I gave them to Stan— She trailed off and stared into space, her eyes closed. Her face assumed the old Margerite’s expression. The one she used when someone stepped on one of her children. That fucking bastard. She got out of the bed. I could hear her searching for something and finally heard Stanley’s name.

She was right, he was a bastard. Ever since he’d gotten his clutches into Elena, her old life didn’t matter anymore.

You promised me this wasn’t going to happen. This thing is over. She’s coming home.

Robert she needs—

No, she needs people around her who know her well. They even got her birthday wrong.

What! Both Margerite and Helmut said as she was still waiting for Stan’s face to disappear.

It’s tomorrow and they are making her go to Areeth. They’ll have to kill me first before they drag her to that place. Get her out of there or I will, and you don’t want me to do it my way.

I switched off the Cammy and both their faces disappeared.

Lucille, she needed to know what was going on. Becky and Sammy would be beyond upset about all of this. The three of them had been inseparable since the day Elena arrived in Paegeia.

They thought that Elena had changed. That her new royal status had turned her into the worst kind of person.

A couple of pictures of her having fun were plastered all over magazines with new girls at her side. It did the trick, but it wasn’t like that at all.

I felt like a failure again. I’d failed her father as I’d given my dragon oath to succumb to his every wish, and that night, he’d sent me away just like that, for the Rubicon’s sake.

I tried to ignore it, but it was his wish, and no matter how hard I’d fought against the pain that boiled through my veins, my core, every inch of my existence, I couldn’t stay. There were too many forces working that night to get me safely to my Isabel who was taking care of her dying mother in Tith.

I rolled up my sleeping bag and left. The drive to Lucille took about fifteen minutes.

It was going to be less soon, now that I’d purchased a lot just a mile from her. It was a gorgeous piece of land with the most beautiful view of the mountains in Tith. My family would feel free, not cramped up in that wretched piece of crap we had called home for so long.

We were going to rebuild the manor, the one we used to live in, now lost behind those Creepers.

Just a few more months and our home would be ready. It would have the old kitchen with the old fire place, big cupboards and a huge dining table, the fridge would have so much food, the pantry would always be full. We were never going back to scraping and begging for anything anymore.

There would be seven rooms, each one would have their own entry, a huge open balcony with no railing from the outside, so they could just fly in whenever they wanted.

Issy would have her library again, and me, I’d have my training room.

I hadn’t trained for a long time, but now that I had a reason to kill again, to protect, I needed to prepare.

The children could have whatever they wanted. Samantha could finally see and experience the old life her brother used to tell her about when they were little.

And Blake...I smiled. Blake would be king one day.

When he dented, and he would dent whether he