Page 88 of The Heart of the Dragon

"Aww, honey. That’s not?—"

"Stop!" I rounded on the meddling sprite. "Don't pretend you aren't enjoying this. While I appreciate whatever help you might be offering, I can clearly see that you have no love lost for Magnus. But that glee you're feeling right now over his misery is just as twisted as everything else I'm hearing. If I'd known whatkind of peopleandcreatures I'd be faced with, I doubt I would have come."

"And I doubt that," Ensley said, looking as if she didn't have a care in the world. And as far as I knew she might not. I knew nothing about her other than what little Kitra had told me. Which was that I could trust her. I took a deep breath and swallowed some of my pride.

"I haven't even met the king yet and I really don't like him. And as for you." I rounded on Magnus. "I thought we were past lies and secrets." When he started to say something, I held up my hand to stop him. "No. Don't do it. This is not the time or the place to hash this out." My back was itching more than before, and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. "I don't think we're out here alone, are we?"

Magnus shook his head, a grim expression on his face and Ensley said nothing. But she did start fussing about my appearance.

"We have to fix this," she said, snapping her fingers again.

I jerked my hands to the side of my head and felt my normal ears back into place. I sighed in relief. I wasn't sure about my body changing, but I certainly didn't care for it in front of an audience. I needed some time on my own to figure all of this out.

"These too," she said, walking behind me and placing her tiny hand on my back.

To my relief, the itching ceased.

"How do you do that?" I asked.

"Glamour is as easy as breathing once you figure out how to use it."

"Will I be able to do that?"

She shrugged. "Not any time soon. Only time will tell what your true gifts are. You've been bound a very long time."

"Time," I said. "That seems to be the hot commodity around here. As in you've got a lot more of it than we do."

"Notwe. Them. You aren't any more human than I am. This is your world."

I glanced around the forest, looking for as many signs of differences that I could find. It seemed similar enough, but I could sense the strange and unusual lurking behind the trees and under the earth. Not to mention the smell. Everything seemed more potent here.

"Shall we go then?" Magnus had quietly appeared at my side and his hand gently pressed against my back.

"Sure," I said, following him when he took the lead. "But don't think you're off the hook. I want some answers about the dark fae."

"Of course you do," he grumbled. I turned back to say something similar to Ensley to discover she was nowhere to be found.

How was I going to get used to anything if everyone kept disappearing?

“You aren't”.

That answer whispered through my head, and that was most certainly not Magnus talking to me.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

Magnus

It didn't takeus long to reach the village, and I had to admit, by the time we arrived I was grateful for the glamour from Ensley. As a dragon I was not gifted with that kind of power. And while brute strength and fire worked wonders in most situations, I preferred a little subtlety for now.

At least this way, the remaining sprites following us had lost interest, and no new creatures had taken any particular interest either. Even Rose had kept quiet, and I could feel the tension between us growing. And it was getting worse by the second. I had no doubt that when she found out my role in her family's deaths that it would create a rift that would be impossible to repair.

Unless by then she was bound to me in ways that couldn't be revoked.

Ensley had planted the idea in my head and now I couldn't get it out. Rose pregnant with my dragonling was all I could think about. Well, that and the sweet taste of revenge for my uncle.The big plan had been to confront and kill him. But trapping him in his own dungeon held more appeal than I cared to admit.

It was the punishment he deserved. I'd put him in the cell that Kitra had resided in and see how he enjoyed a taste of his own medicine for a while. If we were all lucky, the other inmates would ensure he never saw another sunrise.

---