Page 44 of Eliza's Cursed Dragon

“You didn’t even know her name,” my father pointed out.

I wanted to scream in frustration. “So what?” I said louder than I had intended to. But I couldn’t help it, my patience was wearing thin, and yes… there was a hint of uncertainty inside me. Could any of this be true?

No, no, no, I shook my head to convince myself. Eliza had been nothing but loving and loyal. True, I didn’t know much about her, but she knew all my secrets. Secrets my father had no idea about, and she had never breathed anything to a soul about it. She had never even so much as tried to blackmail me with it. She had helped me conceal it from my father.

I loved her.

I loved her with every fiber of my being.

Something else became clear to me just then. I truly loved her, no matter what. Even if Lucy was right, I would follow Eliza to the end of the world, down into hell if I had to. If I was under her spell, then so be it, I wouldn’t want it any other way, because dammit, I knew for certain that she loved me just as strongly.

“Son.” My father walked toward me as well.

“Edward, please,” Lucy pleaded. A demonic kind of smile I didn’t like tugged her lips. “Let’s go ask her then. And if she won’t answer you, it will be her admission that I’m right. She can’t speak because she would lose her power.”

“No,” I said. Eliza and I had a deal and I would stick to it.

“No?” My father repeated, looking stunned.

“No,” I confirmed.

“See how much he is under her spell?” Lucy triumphed.

“I do,” my father agreed, actually looking sad. “I’m sorry, son.” Before I could grasp what he was doing, he pushed me down on the couch, grabbed Lucy by the elbow, and pulled her out of the library.

I barely reached the door, before I heard the lock engage. I rattled the door, then I remembered the other one to my office and hastened to that side, but that door too closed right in my face.

I hammered against it. “Dammit, let me out!”

“It’s for your own good,” my father yelled.

The door was solid oak overlaying thick metal, the locks reinforced, I knew, because I had designed them to be intruder safe.

I turned to the windows, but they were barred. Incidentally, the library and office were the safe rooms in this house. Once the doors were locked, nobody got in or out without the key.

Infuriated and afraid of what my father would do to Eliza, I grabbed a chair and threw it against the door. The chair shattered into a hundred pieces, the door showed a few scratches, but that was it.

I couldn’t give up though. Fear for Eliza pushed me forward and I grabbed one of the fire pokers and began ramming it against the wall. The hit reverberated all the way up into my shoulder, but I repeated it over and over.

“Edward?” I heard my friend Henry’s voice. “Ed, what’s going on?”

“Henry? Open the door,” I yelled, hope flaring through me.

“There’s no key,” Henry replied.

“Go find my father. I’m afraid he is with Eliza right now and will harm her. He has the key. Go, Henry!” I yelled through the door.

There was some whispering and arguing on the other side, but then Henry’s voice sounded out again, “We’ll be right back.”

“Protect Eliza,” I screamed after him, hoping he had heard me.

Eliza

“What happened?” Daisy asked as if waking up from a coma.

I went to the door to indicate that it was locked. With a groan, Daisy rose. “That woman is crazy,” she tsked. “Come on, honey, let’s try the balcony. We ought to catch someone’s attention, they’ll let us out.”

Encouraged by her calm presence and plan, I followed her to the balcony, that overlooked the entire park.

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