Page 39 of Storm In The Sky

Jillian and Thorne took charge as soon as the mages and dragons reached the castle.

“All of you go to your rooms,” Jillian ordered. “I’ll have food brought up. I don’t want to see any of you until tomorrow. Shower, eat, and sleep.”

Jarvis looked like he was about to fall asleep right there in the courtyard, but he still tried to argue. “We have to check the protection spells around the castle, and someone should keep an eye on the forest to make sure Carlyle doesn’t try anything else.”

“We’ll take care of that,” Thorne said as he gently pushed Jarvis toward the closest door that would lead him inside the castle. “I’m sure the protection spells on the castle are fine, and I doubt Carlyle will try attacking us again today.”

“It would be the best way for him to take us down,” Jarvis grumbled.

“He can try, but we’re protected inside the castle. Get some rest, and I promise that if anything happens, I’ll fetch you and the other mages.”

Keylon knew Jarvis was right, but Thorne wasn’t wrong, either. The mages and dragons wouldn’t be any good if they had to defend the castle right now. They were too tired. They needed food and rest, and hopefully, by tomorrow, they’d be back to fighting strength.

They would need to be if they wanted to take Carlyle down.

Chapter Thirteen

Winter was happy to obey Jillian and Thorne’s orders. There was nothing he wanted more than to collapse in bed, but he’d need a shower first. He was sweaty and dirty, and he didn’t want to wake up in this state.

He wasn’t even sure he’d have the energy to eat before falling asleep. Running around the burning forest had taken a lot out of him, and he hadn’t even been hurt. He’d noticed a few of the mages had burns on their arms and hands, but it didn’t look like it was too bad, so hopefully all of them would manage to get some rest.

He just hoped that Carlyle wouldn’t take advantage of the time they needed to rest to attack the castle. It might be why he’d burned the forest. What if Carlyle had been planning to attack while the mages and their dragons were asleep? It was something to consider, but Winter wasn’t sure he could put enough thought into it. He was so tired he couldn’t think straight. Besides, Thorne had promised he’d wake them up if anything happened.

Jarvis looked like he wanted to argue, but Marlow hooked an arm around his shoulders and pulled him toward the stairs. His son clung to him as if he expected Marlow to disappear, but Marlow didn’t say anything. The three of them disappeared up the stairs.

“Go,” Jillian gently said. “Get a shower and change into comfortable clothes. Your food will be in your rooms when you’re done. We’ll leave a tray on your dresser, all right?”

Winter didn’t really care where she left the food as long as he had easy access to it. He nodded and trudged toward the stairs, but he stopped before getting far. He turned toward Samuel to check in on him before they went their separate ways and saw him talking to Meyer. That made him wonder whatwas happening between them. Tyne looked like he wanted to drag Samuel away from Meyer, but Winter would have been surprised if he did. After everything Tyne had said and done, there was no way he’d show Meyer he had any interest in him.

Winter didn’t think anyone would try to hurt Samuel, not even Tyne, but he made a mental note to talk to Samuel once all of them were rested. If something was happening between him and Meyer, Samuel needed to be careful.

Winter wouldn’t tell him to stay away, though. He wanted Samuel to be happy, and if he was happy with Meyer, that was fine with Winter. Things between Tyne and Meyer weren’t like things had been between Winter and Keylon. For some reason, Tyne seemed to hate Meyer. Meyer had been trying to talk to him, but Winter didn’t think he’d succeeded. Maybe it was time for him to accept the obvious.

Winter suspected that the main reason Tyne hadn’t broken their bond was that they were fighting Carlyle. He could be wrong. Tyne kept to himself. He barely even spoke to the mages, let alone the dragons he didn’t know. As far as Winter knew, no one knew what had happened between him and Meyer that had made him so angry, but things couldn’t continue like this. If Tyne didn’t want Meyer, he needed to let him go. It would hurt, but at least both of them could find someone else.

And maybe for Meyer, that someone else would be Samuel.

Or maybe not. It was none of Winter’s business, but he wanted to make sure his best friend wouldn’t be hurt. He couldn’t remember a life without Samuel, and he had no intention of finding out what it was like.

Winter turned to look for Keylon, who was talking to Dallin. Dallin was nodding, and when Winter looked down, he noticed he was holding the small box in which he’d put the ceramic dragon. Part of Winter wanted to ask how Dallin would deal withit, but another part wanted nothing to do with the thing. It could have killed them all.

They really needed to do something about Carlyle. The problem was that they had no idea where he was, even though they’d been following Simon and his brother. Until they found a way to get to Carlyle, they had to wait for him to come out, and Winter doubted that would happen until Carlyle was sure he could beat them in a fight. The thought made him uneasy, but there was nothing he could do.

“I’ll see all of you tomorrow,” Winter said, keeping his attention on Keylon.

Keylon looked up and smiled at him. Winter still felt unsteady with him, but the smile reassured him. He wasn’t quite sure where the two of them stood, but he’d already decided he’d let Keylon take the first step. At the moment, Keylon had better things to do than worry about Winter and his feelings.

Winter made his way upstairs. He could hear voices behind him, so he knew he wasn’t the only one, but he didn’t stop. He didn’t have it in him to talk to anyone right now.

Every time he walked past a window, he could see the still-smoking forest. Penley had said that he’d work with the forest so it would regrow faster, but it was still heartbreaking to see the destruction Carlyle had left behind.

They still had no idea why he’d done it, but Winter wouldn’t put it past Carlyle to have found a way to sneak into the castle. Was he hiding somewhere? Winter wanted to know more about the castle’s protection. He knew there were spells, but he didn’t have any details. He doubted he would understand much even if Keylon explained what spells he’d used, but at least he’d know more. He despised feeling powerless.

Once he was in his room, he went straight to the bathroom. He left his clothes in a pile on the floor to deal with tomorrow. He wasn’t sure that washing them would be enough to get thesmell of smoke out, but he hadn’t brought a lot of clothes with him when he’d moved into the castle, so he might have to return home to grab more stuff.

He’d have to do that eventually, anyway. Since this was Keylon’s home, it would be Winter’s, too. Winter wasn’t willing to compromise on that. He’d almost lost Keylon because he’d been an idiot. He wasn’t going to do it again, which meant moving into the castle and being close to his mage. It would take a while to get used to everything changing so quickly, but this was where Winter was supposed to be.

He took his time in the shower, getting as clean as possible. He felt better once he was done, and he thought about getting into bed without eating. He’d be starving when he woke up, though, so maybe he’d check what Jillian had left for him and decide.

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