Page 22 of Storm In The Sky

Jarvis appeared a few moments later. He looked around, frowning, so Keylon quickly reassured him.

“Everyone’s fine. Simon opened a portal and left.”

“He’s human,” Ansley said as he walked out of the cottage, looking disgusted. He shook his hand, then cleaned it on his jeans.

“As far as I know, both he and his brother are,” Keylon confirmed. “He used this,” he said as he threw the stone in Jarvis’s direction.

Jarvis easily caught it and examined it. He hummed as he did so, and since it looked like it would take a while, Keylon turned his attention to Ansley. “Anything?”

Ansley shook his head. “Beyond spiderwebs and dirt, nothing. There’s not even a way to tell if this actually belonged to Carlyle. We did find that Simon had to tear out part of what remained of the wooden floor and dig into the earth under it to find what he was looking for.”

“Do you know what it was?”

“Could be anything.”

Winter cleared his throat. “I found this earlier. I think Simon dropped it,” he said, holding out his hand.

Keylon blinked down at the small ceramic cat. It was pretty and looked fragile, and there was nothing special about it that he could see.

He couldfeelit was special, though. The little cat almost vibrated with magic. There was a spell on it, but Keylon didn’t want to touch it to find out what that spell was.

“It’s best if none of the mages touch it, just in case,” Jarvis quickly said. “The dragons shouldn’t be a problem, but I don’t trust whatever that is.”

Winter nodded and put the cat back in his pocket. Keylon was tempted to ask him to take it out again because it might be their only way to find Carlyle, but right now, it would be useless. It would need to be examined so they could tell what it was and what it did, and they’d probably have to release the spell, because if Carlyle had been the one to place it there, it couldn’t be a good thing.

“Tyne will want to see it, so don’t lose it,” Jarvis said.

Winter frowned. “You said the mages shouldn’t touch it.”

“That would be best, but we might not have a choice. Tyne’s specialty is psychometry, so hopefully he’ll find something. If he can’t, Dallin will deal with it.”

The sound of voices made them turn. Keylon tensed, only to relax when he realized the dragons and Tyne had rejoined them. The woman was gone. Keylon had only seen the end of what hadhappened, but they couldn’t afford to draw the attention of the human authorities. None of them liked messing with people’s memories, especially after what had happened to their dragons, but Tyne had probably used a spell to ensure that the woman wouldn’t talk.

“What were you thinking?” Jarvis asked when Marlow reached him.

“I should have stayed behind to protect you,” Marlow said with a grimace before leaning closer and kissing Jarvis’s cheek.

Keylon looked away. He was happy for Jarvis, Ansley, and Penley, but part of him ached every time he saw them with their shields.

He glanced in Winter’s direction, surprised to see that Winter was watching him. For a moment, he couldn’t look away. There was something in Winter’s gaze that took away Keylon’s breath, but Keylon couldn’t afford to dream.

Winter had made it very clear that he didn’t want to be with Keylon. He might have changed his mind, but Keylon couldn’t put himself out there again. The last time he had, his heart had been left shattered, and he hadn’t even started to put the pieces back together.

He couldn’t take the first step. If Winter wanted something, he’d have to ask for it.

Chapter Eight

Keylon was avoiding Winter, and he didn’t even feel guilty about it. He doubted anyone would blame him, considering the state of things between him and Winter, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to do this forever.

That was why he wasn’t surprised when there was a knock on his office door. He sighed and looked at the door, wondering if he could stay silent and hope that whoever was there would think he wasn’t in.

There was another knock, and he heard Winter’s voice.

“I know you’re in there.”

Keylon glared at the door. Winter couldn’t know for sure that he was there. He was bluffing.

“I can stay here all day,” Winter said. “You’re going to have to come out of the office eventually.”

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