Page 66 of Dragon Unleashed

“Picketing?”

“Picketing, Lorelei. Activism. By the goddesses, I didn’t think my Chano would fall for anidiota.”

I glare at her hard, age-lined face for a long moment before I turn away. There’s no point in this.She despises me.Slowly I walk away.

“We knew something was wrong.” Her voice is so quiet I almost don’t hear it, but her wheels roll across the ground after me, snapping twigs. I slow my pace. “I’d lost Chano’s dad to that atrocious new law by the royals. He was banished. Gone. I pulled myself together and wrangled the gang under control. Everything was going along nicely. Too nicely. I had nothing todistract me from my husband’s absence. I needed to be involved in something. Something to make me feel alive.”

I face her, perching myself on a rock at the edge of the clearing, and let her continue. I was wrong. She trusts me enough to talk.

“The vegetation was dying, animals were dying, and as the local environmental group we were sure it was affecting the villagers too. Stripping their magic somehow.”

“Wait, what village?”

“Gone. Abandoned. The press made us out to be hippy nutters, but the villagers? They were freaked enough to move their whole families. It wasn’t until then I realized I had to cultivate a relationship with the press to get my voice heard. At least now we own NewShift.”

Gently I try to steer her back on track. “So you protested. By what, strapping yourselves to machinery?”

“Pretty much.”

“Huh, I see where Chano gets his stubbornness.” The words are out before I can stop them.

But instead of looking annoyed, his mom grins. She is one badass lady.

“So you think you just being here was enough to cause your health problems?” I gesture at her wheelchair.

She blinks then focuses somewhere over my shoulder. “You know, I wasn’t sure. It was a gradual thing, slowly losing feeling in my legs, then the power. It didn’t happen until a few years later. So part of me always wondered if it had nothing to do with this site, but was instead one of my brothers, desperate for a shot at leading the Mavericks. Now I’m here though, I remember…the workers had these odd little badges. The longer they worked here, the more the color crept up the badge, once it was ninety percent full we’d never see the worker again.”

“Like radiation badges?”

She looks at me blankly.

“You…you didn’t stop even though the workers were obviously being monitored for safe levels of some toxic substance? You kept coming back?”

“Day after day. How else could we make our point?”

“And did they listen?”

She screws her nose up. “I thought they had. But maybe the mine just ran dry. Never did understand why amethyst was suddenly worth so much. Production ramped up then just stopped, overnight. The Angel Kingstillpays top dollar for any amethyst he can get his grubby little hands on.” She shakes her head then claps her hands decisively. “Now. About you and Chano. What exactly are your intentions with my son?”

Before I can start to explain myself a creeping sensation up the back of my neck makes me pause. Someone, maybe many someones, are watching us. Is it Silas? The pines rustle as if the wind has picked up, but despite being late November it’s deadly calm. I search the tree line nervously.

One by one, camouflaged soldiers step out from the trees.Shit. Shit. Shit.Standing in front of Chano’smami, I hold my hands up, ready to cast. But as they get closer, I recognize a few of the faces. These are Silas’ men. Men I trained with. I let my hands fall to my sides.

In unison the men drop to one knee, heads bowed. Sanders, the soldier who seems to be Silas’ second, steps forward another two paces. “We were honored to help you, princess.”

This is worse than if they were attacking. In front of Chano’s mom too. I chew my lip and frantically gesture for them to rise. Silas strides toward us all from the road, a scowl marring his face. This was obviously not his doing; he looks pissed.

I address Sanders quickly. I don’t want them getting in trouble with Silas, but at the same time this is awful freaking timing. “I was grateful you found a lead.”

One sideways glance at Chano’s mom and I know, I just know she’s fuming. She holds herself completely rigid in the chair. Her nostrils flare and her eyes are narrowed as she stares at the soldiers kneeling in front of me.

“Get up,” I hiss, before remembering myself. I hold my voice steady and say loudly, “You may rise.”

The soldiers shuffle to their feet, and I turn to Chano’s mom, biting my lip.

“They were my only contacts outside the academy, my only way of finding out where this place might be. Of finding others like it. I had to try.”

Sanders places a hand on my arm and addresses Chano’s mom. “We’re here to show support. If Lorelei is to lead the rebellion instead of Farrell, she’ll need her Aeternum. She’ll need Chano. We wanted to show we help our own. Your battles are our battles.”

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