Page 21 of His Greatest Treasure

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that,” I said.

Alfie was stamping on the floorboards and patting out the first smouldering hint of fire that had taken hold of the ceiling.

“That’s okay,” he said as he patted. “I like that you’re angry about me. I mean, that you care. It means we’re really friends, aren’t we?”

As I looked into Alfie’s eyes, those beautiful silver eyes that seemed to shine with lustre like they’d been polished, I realised two things.

The first was that I did not want us to be friends. I wanted us to bemorethan friends.

The second was that I absolutely couldn’t tell Alfie that. He was so damned innocent, and he’d probably run screaming if I suggested it. Besides, we were practically strangers. I’d never felt this intense desire for someone before, and it frightened me a little. More than I wanted to move towards him, be held by him, taste those lips at last, I was frightened of losing him. Alfie was the one person I knew. He was my only friend in the world. I couldn’t do anything that would frighten him away.

No, I’d keep my sudden desire to myself and take the friendship that was offered.

It would be enough.

“Yes, we’re friends.”

“Best friends?” he asked, and he sounded so hopeful that I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Absolute best friends,” I assured him.

Chapter 10

Alfie

Isat on my bed, propped against my headboard and talking to my brother on the phone. I’d thought about ringing him from the den but I didn’t want Morgan to hear Blaze there in case he asked about it. I glanced almost compulsively out of the window, searching for Blaze.

I couldn’t see him because I couldn’t even see the woods from here and even if I could, I wouldn’t have been able to spot Blaze. That was the whole point: that he was hidden and nobody would notice him. Even Glimmer hadn’t found him yet, and while I was pleased, I was also surprised. I’d always worked on the assumption that Glimmer could track anybody inside the territory.

Turning my head back to my own room, I concentrated on what Morgan was saying. I couldn’t look out my window for long or I’d end up sneaking out of my room and downstairs so I could slip over to the woods and be with Blaze.

Morgan said, “They shift into their dragon forms all the time.”

“Really?” That was interesting. It was only really Glimmer who shifted at all in our clan, and we hardly ever saw him. “What do they look like?”

“They’re… big.”

“Uh huh.”

“And grey.”

“Do they look like us, other than being bigger and grey?”

“Yes.”

Morgan wasn’t telling me something. I might be the chatterbox of the two of us, but Morgan was normally more forthcoming than that. It was only when he went tense and worried that he started replying in monosyllables.

“Morgan, have they done something? Do I need to tell Lord Somerville? Are you hurt?”

“No! No, don’t tell Father. I’m fine, Alfie. Ipromise.”

“What about thecuraidhwhen they shift?”

“They’re… very solid.”

“I—”

Actually, I had no reply to that. Solid? Of course they were solid. They existed. Feeling a little twist of anxiety inside me, I gripped my phone tighter and said, “That’s good.”

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