Page 55 of The Misplaced Warrior

Gen nodded, pooling her courage in that moment. She was used to storming castle walls. This felt similar…and very, very different. “So, Emperor and I have to be fast. We have to do it before the authorities can respond and defend.”

Alicia nodded. “It will get a little more complicated than that, I’m afraid. But yes, that’s your first concern. Then you need to get craftier with each demolition, otherwise they’ll know how to take you out, so you need to surprise them.”

“We can do that,” Gen said with conviction.

“Good,” King Rudolf stated, pointing at the fifth and final transmitter located in central Los Angeles. “This one will show you the location of the headquarters, where the mother beam is coming from, if you will.”

Alicia nodded. “Yes, and if you follow that, it has to be where Charlie Sloane is operating, which is the one location that I can’t pinpoint here. I know where the transmitters are but not where their broadcast is coming from. Find the final one, and you’ll find the headquarters.”

“Okay, we can do this,” Gen said, trying to inject a new resolve into her bones. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in her and her dragon. It was that she wasn’t ready for this new challenge.

Sherlock Holmes stepped forward, looking down at her with a serious expression. “But are you ready for what comes next?”

She smiled, sincerely. “Well, you cleared my name with what you discovered, right?”

King Rudolf nodded with a toothy grin, holding up a small zip drive. “This proves your innocence beyond any measurable doubt. It has all of the footage on you. All accounts of the quantum-entangled silicon and pretty much records of all bathroom breaks during the day. It clears you, completely.”

“Then, I just have to go after Charlie Sloane and carefully plan the next phase for the person I need to take down,” Gen said, pulling in a breath, trying to loosen the fear building in her chest.

Sherlock Holmes gave her a look of confidence. “When the time is right, you’ll know how to bring down your enemy. But waiting to judge the best way to attack is better than letting them know you’re aware of them. Wait. Plan. Then attack before they know you know they were ever a threat.”

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

A DRAGON’S DEVOTION

Beaufont Residence, West Hollywood, California, United States

“You’re doubting yourself,” Liv said, like a statue reading Gen’s thoughts, echoing her heart and the feelings in her inner being and also confirming the gaze in her eyes for the last hour.

“I’m fine,” Gen lied. She didn’t know how to tell the truth in that scenario. How did she say that she worried on so many levels and simply by voicing her doubt, she felt that she gave power to them? All Gen wanted to do was pretend that her fears were smaller than they were. She couldn’t tell anyone that they were more than insurmountable. She couldn’t say how she really felt—that she felt crushed before she even began. But she knew that one being knew how she felt right then and that was enough.

It’s going to be okay, Emperor implored in her mind.

But how do you know, she asked, real despair in her thoughts as they raced.

Because, he said simply.

You can’t say because it always has been okay, like some dragons can say to their riders, because they’ve been together for eons, she argued. You can’t say that we’ve been through worse, because we haven’t. You and me, Emperor, are brand new. We are untested. We are untried. We haven’t been to the gallows and escaped. We’ve hardly been to the supermarket and back. You don’t know that we will be okay in this scenario or others…

Gen, I do, he encouraged. Because you don’t need time to test a bond. You only need resolve. And I would do anything for you. I knew that from the moment I met you. I know that now. You don’t test a relationship by the good times. You test it by the bad ones. I waited six hundred years for you. For you. Only you. I could have chosen any other rider. Any one. But you were mine. And you know why?

Why? she dared to answer.

Because of the way you behave when times get tough, he answered.

What?

Everyone can be happy when things are good, he replied. But you have always stood by the side of those you love when they were ill. When they were mad. When they were cross. When they were grumpy. You, Gen Beaufont, love everyone for who they are despite the one off day. You are the true friend. You are my true rider. Because no matter what, you will be there for everyone. And you want to know why?

Why?

Because justice isn’t mood dependent, he said with a slight giggle. You actually taught me that. Can you imagine that?

She shook her head. Hardly.

Imagine being the first dragon and learning from a lonely human that love was something that you gave no matter what, he continued in awe. I was…well, magnetized. You don’t know this about you, but I do. You were one of the first—one of the first people to love regardless. And in that moment, well, I was done. It didn’t matter what gender or race or ability you had. You were mine…

Can you please stop, Gen encouraged.

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