Page 83 of His Greatest Treasure

“Mother? I’m alright. I’m here.”

“Get outside!” said Lord Somerville. “If the hag gets in with her army, we’ll all be fighting for our lives.”

I looked up at him. His face was livid white and there was something in his eyes that I couldn’t place. I looked at our bond, feeling the way he drew my warmth and fire out of me in a slow trickle. It was cold but also… possessive. I was his to use. His to take power from, should he want it.

When I looked at my mother’s bond with me, it shone bright with love and protection and grief. Strange, that she should grieve me before I’d died, though.

Unless she thought I wasaboutto die.

That’s what made me decide.

I hadn’t been sure Lord Somerville was serious. That he really meant that our defences could be breached. After all, we’d had Glimmer laying those protections. We were Somervilles, which meant we were powerful.

I hadn’t realised that our territory was so badly defended.

“What does the hag want?”

Blaze was beside me. He’d snuck up to me, softly, unobtrusively getting as close to me as he could. He spoke softly, but we all heard him.

“You, Alfie. She wants you.”

Lord Somerville made a sound in his throat.

“She wants the golden dragon. You are very valuable. She knows that, if she wants to overpower you, she needs to do it now, before you learn to control your magic. Once you have reached full power, the Somervilles will be indomitable.”

“Fine. We need to get to the boundary. Come on, Blaze.”

Lord Somerville said, “The fire spirit will be locked away again.”

“Blaze is coming with me.” I moved to stand a bit in front of him. Still my dragon didn’t burst out of me or anything, and I began to worry that it wouldn’t appear again.

I shoved that worry aside. Of course I’d be able to shift again. I’d already done it twice.

Beside me, Blaze said, “I can help. Fire spirits are powerful, in our way.”

My father eyed Blaze distrustfully, and Blaze added, “She tried to take me. I will help you to stop her.”

“Very well. Now, hurry.”

We dashed outside and Blaze pointed to a place beyond the woods. “She’ll try to break in there. That’s where her spells weakened the defences.”

“Right. I’ll shift and you can ride me down there,” I said.

Chapter 34

Alfie

This was the moment when my dragon should have come out again. I stood there, waiting.

Blaze began to tug at my clothes. “To stop you ripping them,” he said, and I wanted to kiss him for making this moment less awkward. He helped me undress and it gave me an extra minute to shift before anyone realised that I was struggling to do it. Now that I was supposed to be some special golden dragon, I really, really didn’t want to disappoint them.

My father glared at me. “If the hag gets in, Alphonse, she will take the whole clan.”

My dragon shivered inside me. It didn’t like that.

“How could she get in? Why are our defences so weak?”

“The Guardian has let us down.”

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