Page 41 of The Alliance

I realised I’d sounded terse, so I tried to smooth things over. Didn’t want the Hoskins elder to burn me for making her mate cry or something.

“I’ve already spoken to Arram Elm. And I believe Anthony Beckinsale was interested in learning more aboutridiremagic, training and culture.”

John gave me a sympathetic look. “He means well.”

“He’s an expert in the cultures and biology of magical creatures. Even I’ve heard of Professor Beckinsale. He’s well-known among theridire. Don’t worry,” I added at his alarmed look. “Theridirehave no interest in him. Their focus is only on dragons. Sorry.”

“No need to apologise for other people, Kingsley. Now, what do you say to—?”

Whatever John was going to suggest, he never got to say it. He was cut off by Darren’s sudden growl of, “The armoury.”

John’s voice became sharp. “Has something happened?”

“Someone just broke into it.”

“Can you tell who?” John was already standing, heading for the door.

Darren was right beside him. “I only know it’s been breached.”

Whatever they might normally do when someone tried to enter their armoury, today they were going to check it out. And that was because the armoury was at the heart of their territory, the place where the weapons were kept, the place that symbolised how the dragons would defend their clan to the death.

I suspected the two androgynous Hoskins dragons might actually be the ones who’d broken in, since it was clear they loved to cause trouble, but I wasn’t going to speculate out loud. At least if they were off causing other mischief, they were leaving me alone. Yesterday had been a long, long day of keeping my temper.

Whether it was because I was curious, whether it was because my instinct was to make sure that Glimmer’s treasures were safe if any of them had been the ones causing trouble, or whether I wanted to ensure John was protected, I couldn’t say. All I knew was I followed the two of them along the corridors as they hurried towards the armoury.

By the time we arrived, Cuthbert and Anthony were already there along with Glimmer. Severalpeople were rushing down the corridor from the other side. They all looked at each other.

“Who was it?”

“What happened?”

I knew it couldn’t have been Cuthbert and Anthony who’d broken in. If nothing else, they wereallowedinside.

Had they been showing Glimmer and forgotten to disable the defences?

They didn’t talk to him or look at him, which made me start to suspect I knew exactly who had broken into the armoury. I should have realised he would.

As more people arrived, I studied my mate. Sure enough, as I’d started to suspect, there was a soft sunset-orange glow of magic around him, the shade it went when he was using his magic to conceal himself. Everyone walked straight past him, completely unaware that he was even there.

As the corridor filled with people, he shimmered into sight and began to mill around with the rest of them, blending in. Nobody would know it had been him.

I relaxed a fraction. I didn’t want my mate in trouble. My instinct was to protect him, eventhough I knew he’d rarely need my protection. That didn’t stop mewantingto keep him safe, especially from dragons, with their dark magic surrounding me and the feel of them so close and palpable.

When Edith stalked through the crowd and they parted, letting her through, my instincts shrieked. She had her dragon simmering under the surface, obviously spooked by the attack on the armoury. I found myself gathering power to me automatically and began to spread it over myself, layering it up over my chest and neck, my two most vulnerable areas.

“What happened?” she asked.

Cuthbert stepped forward. “Someone opened the armoury door, Nana.”

I began to shuffle through the crowd, not wanting to put myself in the middle of the dragons but needing to be near my mate.

“It must have been someone without authorisation,” said Edith.

I tried not to look guilty as she swept her eyes over the gathered crowd.

Nobody would know, I reminded myself. Nobody had seen Glimmer.

Then my mate did what I’d been dreading. He stepped towards Edith.

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