Page 16 of Guardian's Dilemma

I sat up straighter. Was he going to tell someone about me?

I was starting to suspect that he hadn’t alerted his clan to my presence yet, which would explain why none of them had come down to check on me or why there was only him guarding me. Not that I wanted a load of dragons watching my every move because then I would be less likely to escape, but it was logical. If I’d been in their position, I’d have at least two guards watching me at all times.

Then again,Iknew how dangerous I was. Maybe Glimmer hadn’t realised that yet.

His next words were spoken breezily, but they made me fairly sure that hedidknow how dangerous I was. “One of them tried to kill me.”

The person on the other end of the phone screeched something. I couldn’t hear the words but I could hear the tone.

Glimmer said, “Yes. I said theytriedto kill me, didn’t I? Otherwise I’m doing a pretty good job of answering my phone for a dead guy.”

There was more talking and then Glimmer muttered, “Fine, fine, I won’t. Is this an… official warning?”

I began to mouth at my bonds again, trying to untie the knot with my teeth. He knew I’d been doing that while he’d been gone but I was trying to lull him into a false sense of security here and blatantly trying to escape didn’t seem to me to strike the right note. While his back was turned, though…

“So how doyouknow about theridire?”

He was asking as though I was an interesting programme on television or a new pop group he’d just heard of. It irritated me that he was being so casual about it. About the fact that I – a dragon-hunter – was inside his vault. I’d managed to find his territory and get through his weak protections; I felt that I was owed a bit more respect than that.

Then he said, “I’m safe,” and I was really annoyed. He wasnotsafe. I was going to trick him into relaxing and then I was going to escape and alert the Council to this territory and—

My mind ran into a road block then. For some reason, the next logical step made me shudder. Because the next logical step was to kill this dragon.

The knot around my wrists was tight and trying to ease it apart with my teeth was not going well. I heard the dragon say goodbye and hang up, so I lowered my hands back down, letting them rest, locked around the bedpost. Who tied someone to a bedpost, anyway?

When he stood right over me, I looked up at his face, trying to show him that I was unafraid – even though I was practically helpless, all tied up and without my magic – but he was staring at my chest.

“What is that?”

“What?” I glanced down.

“This.”

He reached out a hand that was delicate and long-fingered and almost touched my chest but he pulled his hand back at the last moment.

“It’s my armour.”

“It’s- it’s dragon skin.”

I stared at him, a half-smile forming on my lips. “No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.” I was sure about that. Why would aridirewear dragon skin? The thought was disgusting.

He went to the bedside table and opened the top drawer, pulling out a sharp knife. Good to know that was there. With any luck, this dragon would turn out to be the kind who kept weapons stashed all over the place.

I couldn’t help but flinch when he lifted that knife in front of me, though. My body just took over.

He paused and, quietly, said, “I won’t harm you.”

I snorted. Yeah, right.

He lowered the knife and looked me in the eyes. “I know you don’t believe me right now but I’ll tell you anyway: I won’t harm you. You’ll come to realise why.”

For some reason, my body believed him, even when my brain was yelling that it was a lie. He raised the knife again and I didn’t flinch.

He pushed the tip of the knife into my armour. It barely made a scratch.

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