Page 5 of The Alliance

Then I realised.

“Oh, you mean me!”

Beside me, Blaze sniggered and all my tension whooshed out of me. I gave him a playful shove. “Shut up, I’m just not used to the title, that’s all.” Turning back to Lady Hoskins, I asked, “Can you call me Alfie, please? I like it better.”

She gave a gracious incline of her head and said, “Yes, I can Alfie. Perhaps you’d like to call me Edith?”

I smiled. Edith sounded much nicer than Lady Hoskins.

As I stepped inside, I felt a strange pull in my core and a new bond flickered into being. I gaped at it.

Blaze was suddenly beside me, his warm little body pressed close to me and his woodsmoke scent was in my nostrils.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

I pointed at the bond, and then realised nobody else would see it. I still found that strange. How did nobody see what was right there?

“We- we formed a bond. It’s new, but… there. I don’t understand how, though. I’m not her clan.”

Edith didn’t seem as perturbed by it as I was. She turned and began to lead us through the large entrance hall towards what I assumed would be a parlour. She spoke over her shoulder.

“You are a guest in my territory, Alfie. It is my duty to guard you while you are here. And you are an ally. It is my honour to protect you.”

Inside me, my dragon snuffled a bit. I got the impression that it liked having Edith as an ally but it wanted to be the one doing the guarding.

“Do I get to protect you, too?”

Edith turned to me sharply and her black eyes locked on mine. I thought I’d offended her until she said, “Yes, you do. That is what creates our bond.”

“Oh. That’s okay then. I like that.” And then, because I’d never been able to get my mouth to stop once it had started, I carried on. “I was awfully worried about Morgan, you know, but I’m glad he was with you. I want him to be protected. Do youthink we can do anything to help strengthen your boundaries while we’re here? You know, just to help. Can I leave any protections around him if he’s in your territory? Seren said he has protections over Morgan and Seren’s part of my clan, so it doesn’t seem like it would be a problem, and besides, I’m Morgan’s brother.”

Edith said, “That is a lot of questions, and it will take time to answer them. Perhaps we can do it later.”

She phrased it as a suggestion, but I got the impression it was an order.

“Yes, that’s fine.”

As soon as we walked into a large room with solid furniture and a large fireplace, I was almost dazzled by a bond. It was obviously many hundreds of years old, and as bright and strong as anything I’d ever seen, and it was strung directly between Edith and… nobody?

She moved in that direction and stood between me and whoever was on the other end of that bond. “Please, make yourselves comfortable.”

My Uncle George, Glenwise’s father, moved into the room. He always looked so put-together and in-control that it instantly made mefeel scruffy and small. I don’t think he even meant to do it, so I tried not to mind.

Uncle George had Great Aunt Evangeline on his arm, and they walked in stately procession across the room, like a royal couple.

As they neared Edith, she gave a bow of her head to Great Aunt Evangeline, which made me gawp right up until I remembered to shut my mouth and try to pretend I hadn’t just seen a dragon elder bow to another dragon.

Edith said, “It’s a pleasure to see you again, Lady Evangeline.”

Great Aunt Evangeline said, in her quivery old voice, “And you, Edith. It’s been a long time.”

Behind me, Morgan’s mate, Lew, asked, “Wait, you know a Somerville, Nana?”

Edith gave him the sort of glare that would make me want to scurry away, and I was glad she hadn’t turned it on me. Yet.

“Yes, Lew, I do. Lady Evangeline and I knew each other a long time ago, when her mate was Lord Somerville. We had a strong alliance.”

It might have been my imagination but Great Aunt Evangeline stood a little taller and walked alittle stronger as she made her way across the large room.

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