Page 15 of Guardian's Dilemma

I stayed very still and used my magic to shimmer out of sight.

He walked right past me. His eyes didn’t snag on me at all and I hadn’t realised until that moment that I’d actually been worried that my magic was faulty, but I had been. My mate had seen me so easily and nothing I’d done had worked. It was good to know that I did still have my magic. Bit awkward that it didn’t work on my mate, though.

When Conley had disappeared round the corner, I moved again and made my way upstairs to the second floor to where I knew Alfie should be.

It was a relief to see him in there. His door was wide open, as it always was during the day, and so I slid inside the room and got a good look at my little cousin sitting at his school desk. He was sulking. His lips pouted and he kept casting baleful looks at Rhod, who was sitting in the corner of the room with a laptop and tapping away on it while Alfie pretended to study.

Normally, I would have found it funny to watch Alfie like that, since I knew he wanted to get outside and go to his little den and play and he was annoyed that Rhod was there to keep an eye on him. Today, however, I was just overwhelmingly glad that Rhod had listened to me.

He’d been worried enough to want to make sure Alfie was safe, but not scared enough to actually report it to Lord Somerville. To be fair to him, I had given him the choice and neither of us had known at the time that there actually was an intruder, let alone aridire.

God, if my mate had come here instead of to the vault… he could have come across Rhod wandering round with his little clipboard and his yes-sir-three-bags-full-sir obedience and he could have killed him without any trouble whatsoever. Rhod was a dragon, yes, but he wasn’t a fighter. My mate was powerful. Even I’d been hit. The little ripples of pain were diminishing but they still made me want to squirm to try and ease them out of my limbs.

Or maybe my mate would have come across Lord Somerville himself and then he would be the one lying dead and Lord Somerville would have called me to reprimand me about the boundaries.

My dragon reared up inside me so suddenly that I actually jolted. Just the thought of my mate being killed made it panicked in a way I’d never experienced. I backed away hurriedly in case I made a sound and either of them saw me. I stuck to the edges of the corridors, not wanting to be seen. Try as I might, I couldn’t see a good way out of this situation.

I headed back to the vault. A part of me wanted to get eyes on my mate again, just to be sure he was ok.

By the time I got back, I had a message from Rhod on my phone.

RHOD: Any news?

ME: None yet. Keep eyes on Alfie.

I slid my phone into my pocket. I didn’t like lying to my clan but there wasn’t a good way to do this. I just needed a little while to think, that was all. I needed some time.

Maybe I could talk to my mate and he’d realise we were meant to be together and thatridirewere evil and he’d renounce his place as one of them and swear allegiance to my clan and Lord Somerville would bless our mating and we could stay here forever, guarding our treasure.

Even in the privacy of my own mind, that sounded like the least likely scenario ever. Why couldn’t I be more convincing when I lied to myself, huh?

Chapter 8: Kingsley

The dragon actually left me alone. That surprised me. Any other time, I’d have said it was a stupid thing to do but, in this instance, he’d well and truly bested me. That rankled. There was no denying it, though. He was currently wandering around the vault, counting his gold coins or whatever it was he wanted to do, and I was tied to a bed. Without any magic.

I was helpless.

That didn’t stop me from trying to escape. There was no point in just waiting for the dragon to decide to kill me, was there? The least I could do was get out, find a weapon, execute the dragon and then alert the Council.

Or just alert the Council.

If I could get to my phone, I could do it. I wouldn’t even need to call anyone, just press a button. It was a built-in safeguard. One button, that was all I needed.

He’d tied me well, actually, which was annoying. I couldn’t manoeuvre my hands enough to reach the binds so there was no chance I could unpick the knots. It surprised me that he’d just used a tie. No handcuffs? I’d have thought cable ties were a minimum.

I was twisting my torso round and craning my neck to get to the ties around my wrists with my teeth when the dragon came back. I stopped what I was doing. It wasn’t like he’d be surprised – we both knew I’d do anything to escape – but there was no point in escaping while he was watching and prepared.

He studied me for a while and I ignored him. I didn’t know why he’d left me alive but whatever reason he had, I probably wouldn’t like it.

A ringtone sounded suddenly in the silence, making me jump. It was high-pitched and shrill and persistent. Glimmer reached into his pocket and slid his phone out, glancing at the screen. Without saying a word, he hurried away to the other side of the room, turning his back on me.

I didn’t like him trying to block me out.

On the other hand, he was only ten feet away. He hadn’t even left the room.

He answered with a laid-back, “Hey Seren.”

Whoever this Seren was, they talked for a moment before Glimmer spoke over them, radiating calm. “Don’t panic, Seren, I know. I know about theridire.”

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