Page 43 of His Greatest Treasure

“Shouldn’t I be learning to shift, though?”

Aunt Silvia might have answered but Mother got there first. She said, “You’re still young. You’ll learn when you’re ready. You can’t rush it.”

That answer bothered me. I’d got used to doing things with Blaze, things like taking charge and making decisions, even if they were just smallthings. It was a shock to suddenly be back to feeling small and useless and a baby.

Glenwise pushed up to us. He looked as close to dishevelled as I’d ever seen him. His bonds were flaring up, almost in the same way Glimmer’s did, only Glenwise wasn’t looking to protect us, he was looking to heal us.

“Where is he?” he asked Silvia.

Her voice was tight as she spoke. “I don’t know.”

“I’ll find him,” said Glenwise, and turned away.

Finally, I saw Father. He strode through the room, looking alert and tall. He stopped to speak to Glenwise and then I heard his next words. We all heard them.

“The Guardian has reportedridireattempting to breach our borders.”

The fear was tangible.

I’d never thought for a second thatridirewould get into our territory. Who thought that? Even theridirewouldn’t dare to attack the Somervilles. We might be a small clan, compared to some, but we were great. I’d been told over and over again that we were powerful.

Then again, I’d heard that we had treasure that nobody else had. Treasure I couldn’t imagine.

I had tried to imagine it, but all I came up with was piles of gold, crowns studded with emeralds and rubies, and ancient texts in languages nobody could read any more. I couldn’t imagine anything else. I assumed it was probably something like that, then.

Perhaps theridirehad heard about our treasure.

At the word ‘ridire’, the bonds surrounding me flared up again and I blinked in their bright light. Whatever illness I was suffering from, it became suddenly worse. I thought I heard a rumbling in my ears and shook my head to the side to try and dislodge the sound.

Nothing I did stopped it, and the sound frightened me.

It was a growl unlike anything I’d ever heard before. Deep and possessive and fierce. I felt sure that, whatever was making that sound, it was a cold-blooded killer, and I wanted to press against Mother and let her protective bonds encircle me forever.

The twisting inside me reminded me that I couldn’t do that. If theridiregot in, I’d have to fight.

Me. With no dragon.

To calm myself, and to reassure myself that he was alive, I focused on my bond with Blaze. He was content and safe and I reminded myself that theridirewouldn’t harm him. They killed dragons, not fire spirits. Even if they got inside – which they wouldn’t because, hello, we had Glimmer – they wouldn’t harm Blaze.

The weird twisting and twitching inside me calmed down a bit and I didn’t feel like I was going to drop whole clumps of my own flesh on the floor.

Lord Somerville spoke to the whole room. He sounded calm, clear and authoritative, and he did it somehow without raising his voice.

“My Guardian is doing his duty and dealing with the intruders. The rest of you will stay here andguard our treasure.”

Our treasure. They really were obsessed with it.

I didn’t really care about treasure. I cared about my family. I cared about Blaze.

Even though I knew it was logical to stay inside, a part of me wanted to go out and check on him. Even though I knew he was okay, I wanted to set eyes on him. Just to be sure.

I had to be content with watching our bond and checking on the bonds I had with the rest of theclan. Glimmer’s were as sharp as steel, thin blades that could cut open anyridire, and although all of the bonds went tight with fear and anxiety, they all stayed there. All my family stayed safe. They were alive and they were well.

Chapter 18

Blaze

I’d snuck up to the castle because I’d been so worried about Alfie. I hadn’t been able to get inside, though. There were thick layers of protections all around it, barbed spells that kept me out and kept Alfie inside. Those spells were new and they’d been building up over the past few weeks, since Alfie had been hurt.

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