Page 54 of His Greatest Treasure

“Yes, I do. It’s the same reason you’ve had bonds with everyone, even from birth. You and he were born the same, though you have become a very different person from him.”

I almost squealed in excitement. “You know about the bonds?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Really? You can see them too? I didn’t know that. I was starting to think I was the only one.”

“You see the world the same way I did.”

“Do I? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“We were forbidden from talking to you about it. A clan must obey their elder’s orders, or they will descend into chaos.”

I stepped closer and lowered my voice instinctively. “Forbidden to tell me about what?”

“What you are. What is expected of you.”

“Then why are you telling me now?”

“Because Lord Somerville has decided the time is right for you to learn it. He has summoned the hag once again.”

I shuffled closer until my toes almost touched her walking stick. “I didn’t realise anything was expected of me. Nobody seems to expect me to do anything.”

“They were forbidden to talk about it. And they were grieving the loss of the- of Alexander. And they were frightened. Our clan came very close to extinction, the night Alexander died. That memory lives deep within us all.”

“I didn’t realise,” I said again. I felt so stupid, so ignorant. Why did everyone else know about this and not me?

Great Aunt Evangeline must have seen something of my thoughts on my face, since I was never very good at concealing them. She reached out ahand and touched my cheek gently, just for a moment.

“I know what you are, Alfie. And you will know in time. There was no need for anyone else to find out so soon.”

“Nobody tells me anything. I’m not a child any longer.” I sounded sullen, even to my own ears.

“No, you are not. Your father has set this in motion. Once the hag arrives, the truth will come out. She will see to that.”

“If you know what I am, why don’t you tell Father? That way, he won’t need to hire Madame Trevellian.”

“Your father has no respect for my power. He does not believe in bonds.”

“But they’re right there,” I said, gesturing between us. “Can’t you persuade him?”

“I am old, child.”

“Not that old,” I said, even though it was a lie. She was absolutely ancient.

I nearly fell over in a dead faint when I saw her smile. I couldn’t remember ever seeing it before, and her whole face cracked like a mask, breaking into a web of lines and wrinkles. Despite the wrinkles, she looked suddenlyso much younger.

“Your father wishes you to be tutored. Knowing what is inside you and accessing it are two very different things.”

“So… I dohavea dragon inside me?”

I was surprised by how small my voice was right then. It almost sounded as though it was coming from someone else, and my face flushed with embarrassment. I hadn’t meant to sound so timid. It was just that I’d never dared to ask the question before, and it seemed so shameful, to stand in front of such a powerful dragon and ask whether I was one of them.

“Yes, Alfie, you are a dragon.”

“Are you sure? Because I’ve never felt a dragon inside me. Not the way other people describe it. Father says I should have been talking to it, but I don’t know how.”

“You were trained in infancy to ignore it. Those teachings and the magic which accompanied them reached deep inside you, child. That is why M—”

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