Page 40 of Guardian's Dilemma

It was just that, of everyone in the clan, we both knew that I was the only one (other than Lord Somerville himself) who could protect the territory. It hurt more than I wanted to admit to hear him question that. My duty. My skill. Two things I had dedicated my life to.

I couldn’t get any words up my throat to reply to him, which was probably for the best. He dismissed me with a wave of his hand and I retreated, relieved and hurt and angry and confused.

My instinct was tugging at me and I made sure I slipped into the edges of the long corridor so that nobody would see me. From there, I walked the entire place, slipping from room to room, adding layers of spells around the doors and windows to ensure they were protected, and setting my eyes on every member of my clan. My dragon needed to see them all, to see for itself that they were safe. Only then would it believe it had done its duty.

Alfie was with his mother, and they were both reading silently. Well, both were pretending to read silently. I could see Lady Somerville’s eyes slide across to her son every thirty seconds or so, verifying he was alive and safe and noridirehad touched him.

For his part, Alfie’s eyes kept drifting to the window. He hadn’t been out today and he probably wouldn’t be allowed out for days now. The whole clan would be on edge about this for weeks. Poor little Alfie was going to be watched closely and he wouldn’t be able to sneak off to play.

I left them to it, after placing another protection spell over the door to Alfie’s room. For a second, it seemed that he looked up at the door just as I began to form the spell, almost as though he could sense it, but then he went back to looking out the window longingly.

I finished my protections and carried on, leaving a trail of them behind me.

Annoyingly, they weren’t as strong as I wanted them to be. The fact was, that I was too tired. The sharp spells that theridirehad blasted at me were still lodged inside me like barbed arrows and they no longer felt like they were cutting me apart but they were distracting. I’d have to come back soon and layer up these protections.

For a mad second, I wondered if it would be possible to bring Kingsley in here so he could add his own protections. Hisridiremagic was different to mine and any extra layer of armour that I could give my clan made my dragon happy.

I dismissed the thought quickly. No, I could not bring myridiremate waltzing into the castle after hisridirecoven just attacked my family.

Seriously. That would not work.

It was only when the door opened that I realised that I was working on the door to the medical room and Glenwise was looking round.

He scanned the area slowly, searching, and I made sure I had shimmered out of sight.

“Is that you, Glimmer?”

Ah. Busted.

I revealed myself and Glenwise’s sharp blue eyes took me in. He was a cold man, unfeeling, but brilliantly analytical and with a talent for magic that meant he could sometimes identify me. One of the few who could.

Glenwise could sense heartbeats. And, on the basis that I couldn’t stop mine from beating without fatal consequences, it meant he could sense me when he tried. Normally he wasn’t trying, though. He had to be actively using his magic to do it.

“Were you listening for me?”

He moved back into the medical room, leaving the door open.

“I wondered if you would come to check on everyone. Come in. You look like shit.”

I slipped into the room and closed the door. I didn’t want anyone else to see me looking, and I quote, ‘like shit’ or they might wonder how close a call this actually was. I didn’t know what line Lord Somerville was going to spin them. He could tell them it was nothing, reassure them, try to make them feel safe… or he could let them know just how close they’d come to being killed byridirewith dragon blood infusing their power, make them scared, encourage them to train harder.

I had no idea, so I didn’t want to say or do anything.

“Sit,” said Glenwise, and pointed to the examination table with a roll of paper towel on it.

“I’m not staying,” I said.

“You’ve got three poisoned arrows in you, Glimmer. Stop being such a baby.”

I sat. If Glenwise could stop thoseridirespells from thrumming inside me and making me want to squirm with discomfort, I suppose I would let him.

“I take it nobody died, then,” said Glenwise, pulling on some surgical gloves and lifting my t-shirt so he could look at my stomach. I was glad I’d cleaned the blood off.

“That’s remarkably caring of you, Glenwise.”

“I assumed I’d be called if someone was injured. Nothing I can do for dead, though.”

Glenwise’s compassion and empathy were non-existent.

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