“I’m not breakable,” I said to him. “If I’m pregnant – and remember we haven’t confirmed this yet – then I’m only just pregnant. At least wait until I’m six months and the size of a house before you start treating me gently.”
In my younger years I’d always feared that if I let these guys start handling me like a “girl,” their chauvinistic brains would kick in and I’d always be separated from them, left to the side. It was something I had eventually stopped worrying about, realizing that even if I was female and a little different, I was one of them. We were pack and that would never change.
Of course, I somehow still knew that no matter what I said, I’d be handled like fine china by the big brutes.
“So it’s time for us to head back now, right?” I found myself turning to Louis, who was best at adulting in this group. “Where do we go? What’s the plan?”
“I think the best thing is to head to Stratford. It’s where your families are, and the Four. Even though you have the necklace and a plan, we need power on our side before we go up against Larkspur.”
“Who will go to the sanctuary and disable the mystics?”
His eyes shuttered. “I’ll do it. Quale trusts me, and I think I can get him to help. With him on board, it will be simple to take them unawares. I won’t hurt them, I’ll just disable them until after we take out the king.”
The sanctuary reminded me of something. “Does anyone know if the marked who were not in Drago or the sanctuary survived after the release of the king?”
Braxton answered. “When you got taken, our parents were on their way to the sanctuary with Nash, trying to get him to safety. Their plane was delayed, so they didn’t make the flight. Nash ended up being okay.” Thank the gods for that. “I’m guessing that was just a rumor started by his daughters, something to make sure that eventually the dragon mated female would get close enough for them to use her blood and open the tomb.”
That’s what I hated about rumors. They were like friggin’ Chinese whispers. The information by the end was ninety percent bullshit.
“That’s also why they waited so many years until they freed all those in the prisons,” Louis added. “Basically they started to get serious about their father’s plan from the moment Jessa and Mischa were born. Before that they spent their years running from the Four.”
“How did they know we were the ones they needed?” So many annoying unanswered questions.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I believe Larkspur left some sort of way for the curse to communicate with his helpers. And don’t forget that the twins mother would have had information to impart in their younger years. Of course, we’ll never know for sure since they’re all dead.”
I kicked out at some of the dirt and grass, clipping some debris from the destroyed table as I stomped. “We need to make sure that no more of Larky’s plans come to fruition, which means we’d better get back and gather our army.”
I didn’t really want to. Staying here in this tranquil, home-like world was much more appealing, but there was no way I’d ever abandon my family. I was missing them a lot, especially Mischa. Even with her stupidity, she had wormed her way into my heart.
Wait a damn minute.
“Did you say the Four were in Stratford?” I must have blocked that part out for a moment or some shit. But seriously, what were those assholes doing in my town? I knew that the Compass quads had said they ran into them, and that some sort of asinine plan was hatched to fight together. But why in the good name of fuck were those douchebags hanging around in Stratford?
Louis looked cautious as he reiterated the quads winning argument: “They’re going to help us fight the king. Their energy can hold the marked at bay, and teamed with the Compass’ power, which we’re hoping can hold the king at bay, there might be a shot at truly defeating him.”
The sorcerer was right to be cautious, even with the previous heads up from my boys, I wasn’t happy about this at all. “Sounds like we’re asking for trouble just letting them hang around our town. With our families. What if this is just a ploy to get to me? Or the other marked?”
Jacob shrugged. “Then we kill them. Easy.”
I snorted. “Great plan, tough guy.” Fuck. There was really no other option here. “Okay, for now I’m willing to let this one play out, but if they do anything suspicious … one chance is all they get with me.”
I hadn’t forgotten their creepy fuckery when they tried to take me from Stratford. I still owed them some sort of ass kicking for that, but since they had been able to use their powers against me, I wasn’t sure that opportunity would easily present itself. My dragon lifted her head then and let out a snort of smoke and heat. She remembered too, and our connection was much stronger now. She felt that this time we could take them.
I gave her a mental pat. We’ll see what happens, I promised.
“So how do we get out of here?” Tyson was pulling energy. I could see the gold threading his eyes, similar in color actually to the golden dragon queen. I was reminded of her words, that all magic was from Faerie. All supes were connected to this land and the golden energy threading through it. This was information we all learned in basic Intro to Magic classes. But seeing it first hand, well, everything felt more real.
“I don’t think I can get us out of this part of Faerie,” Louis said. “This world is locked down. The shining ones control the ability to step through and they aren’t sharing.”