Page 73 of Guardian's Dilemma

There was a knock on the office door and Lord Somerville snapped, “Enter,” again.

Conley walked in and, behind him, Rhod stood in the doorway, unsure whether he should come in or not. I could understand him not wanting to get involved in this. This was above his paygrade.

Anyone with an ounce of sense would be afraid to walk into that office. With the elder of our clan and the Guardian in one room, all the power in there would have scared away braver men than Rhod. It was just that Conley was too arrogant to think he was in danger. He walked into the office and said, “You wanted to see me?”

I felt a vicious surge of satisfaction when he made the mistake of trying to look Lord Somerville in the eyes and flinched back. If evenIcouldn’t do that, Conley didn’t stand a chance.

“You will take over from Glimmer,” Lord Somerville told him. “You’re the Guardian now.”

We were both stunned.

I stood there with my mouth open and Conley was the first to recover. He bowed to Lord Somerville and I heard the pride in his voice as he said, “Yes, Lord Somerville.”

That jolted me into action. I turned to face my elder. “I don’t think Conley should do it.”

Seriously, almost anyone would be a better choice than Conley. Yes, he was strong, but he wasn’t qualified to be the Guardian. I briefly considered Rhod. No, no way would he be strong enough. Matilda? She might do. If I could spend some time training her, at least. She hadn’t come into her power yet, so she had potential. I was mentally making a note to call Dane and ask him to come and train her, see if he could draw Matilda’s power out of her the way he’d drawn mine out of me, when Lord Somerville cut through my thoughts.

“How dare you question me.”

I dropped my gaze. Damn, that had been stupid of me. I should have found a better way to suggest someone else.

“I have chosen Conley,” he said. “He will protect our treasure from now on.”

That was too much for me. I looked up, meeting those eyes and feeling all kinds of squirming dread inside me.

“But Conley doesn’t love him.”

Lord Somerville pulled back his lip. “He doesn’t need to be loved; he needs to be guarded. He will be useful when he comes into his power.”

“Conley has never—”

I’d been about to say that Conley had never been disciplined enough to maintain his training. He fought viciously, when he fought, but he never maintained a routine. He wasn’t any better at fighting or magic than he had been two years ago.

I didn’t get that far.

I had pushed Lord Somerville too far.

An icy blast of magic smashed into me, lifting me from the floor and slamming me into the wall. I felt the shards of it pierce my skin, particularly two large dagger-like pieces that embedded, one in my shoulder and the other in the side of my stomach.

When I dropped to the floor, I landed badly and stumbled. I caught a glimpse of Conley’s face, awed and pleased at the same time, and then focused back on my elder. He had drawn himself up tall and my dragon wanted to shrink down in front of him. I’d never been faced with the sheer power of a dragon elder before. I’d always known that Lord Somerville was powerful but he rarely used his magic. He rarely went to the effort. We all just obeyed him out of habit and the fear that hewoulduse his magic.

Right then, I finally felt what it was like and my dragon was overwhelmed and filled with respect for that power. I wasn’t sure whether that’s what Ishouldfeel or not. Somehow, Dane had always given the impression that he loved his elder. I had no idea whatthatfelt like.

“How dare you challenge me? I say Conley is the Guardian.”

Even in the face of all that power, my stupid mouth opened. “He can’t protect our treasure. You need me to do that.”

I barely managed to throw myself to the side in time. The icy blast of magic punched straight through the wall and I felt more shards of it slice through my skin, but at least I’d avoided most of it.

Conley had backed up against the far wall, as afraid as I was, and Rhod was nowhere to be seen.

Lord Somerville spoke through clenched teeth, teeth which were sharper than usual.

“You will get out of my territory right now. You are disowned. Banished. Get out. Out. I will not be questioned.”

Maybe my brain was having a day off but I didn’t run like I should have. I couldn’t believe it. No way could he mean that. He needed me. I was the only one in his whole clan who could hope to protect the territory, and he knew it. He was letting his anger sway him.

I stood there for maybe two seconds and it was enough for Lord Somerville to be sure that I was challenging him again.

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