Page 45 of Pierce

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Pierce

“There’s gotto be something we can do.” I stood in the center of the library, staring down at my brother.

He sat with his elbows on the arms of the chair, fingers tented under his chin as he stared into space. The way his forehead creased told me he wasn’t daydreaming.

I had told him the whole story, every bit of it. I wouldn’t normally have opened up like that—none of us would have, it wasn’t our nature—but he was my brother and probably the smartest man I knew, and I needed help.

The thought of flying straight to that mansion outside Roanoke and tearing it to the ground appealed to me more than I could say. Brick by brick. Crushing anyone or anything who dared stand in my way.

That would cause her pain, which was something the dragon didn’t understand. Subtleties of emotion were lost on a creature that relied on instinct to survive.

“I wish you would say something,” I muttered when Smoke remained silent for longer than I liked.

“I’m thinking,” he snapped.

“Could you think a little faster?”

“No, in fact. I can’t. This isn’t simple. There are too many moving pieces.”

“I have to have her.” I could barely choke the words out. “You know that, right?”

“I know it.”

“As long as we’re on the same page.”

His head snapped up, eyes meeting mine. “Page.”

“What?”

“Maybe there’s something about blood oaths in one of the scrolls or books. Something I can use.” He stood, elbowing his way past me. “I mean, there’s over a thousand years of wisdom in this room. There has to be an answer.”

“Can I help?”

“No.” He looked at me and grinned. “Make yourself scarce. You’ll only slow me down. I have a system here. I know where everything is.”

I felt less than hopeful as I looked around.

The library looked like a tornado had torn through and always did. Stacks of books piled as high as the eye could see, so many they covered up the books already lined up in double rows on the shelves which lined all four walls. Smoke used a ladder to get to the tops of the stacks.

“If you say so.”

“Stay close by,” he advised, hurrying up the ladder to examine one of his thick, dusty books.

“You couldn’t pay me to stay away,” I promised as I left.

Having him on the job gave me a measure of peace. I trusted him with more than my life. I trusted him with my fate.

I hadn’t spoken to Jasmine since that scene in her room earlier in the day. I wasn’t sure I trusted myself. Knowing her taste, her scent, could only make it more difficult to maintain a distance between us. The dragon could only handle so much rejection without lashing out.

I had to fly, to work off some energy. Nothing cleared my head the way that did. I broke into a run halfway down the tunnel. Anything to get away from there, away from her, away from the silent questions of the rest of my family. The dragon waited, anticipated his chance to take over for the second time in a single day. Unlike the others, I looked forward to the days when I spent twenty-four hours guarding the entrance to the cave and the treasure inside.

I peeled off my clothes and left them in a heap by the cave’s mouth. The dragon stretched, taking over my form, expanding until my body could no longer hold it. I closed my eyes and let the change move through me. When I opened them again, I saw as the dragon saw: sharper, clearer.

My wings unfolded, and I crouched, then sprang. In moments I was airborne, flapping the bulky-yet-delicate appendages to take myself higher. I was deliberate in my movements, working hard, determined to exhaust myself before I returned to the compound. It would be better that way. I couldn’t face her or any of them with a war raging inside me.

Jasmine would be mine. It was inevitable. I would spend the rest of my life with her. I had never felt complete before meeting her. I had never known what it was like to care for someone else more than I cared for myself—I knew duty, I knew honor, I knew the responsibility of protecting my family and the treasure we guarded. But I had never known what it meant to throw caution to the wind and go out of my way to help someone when it could mean destruction for me.

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