Page 11 of Her Dragon Defender

He looked only a few years older than Eden, as he tucked that unusual hair under the crown of his costume. He was dressed like Prince Charming, in a sort of faux military uniform that emphasized his broad shoulders and narrow waist. His expression definitely wasn't charming, though – he looked more annoyed than anything. Nothing like Diana at all, whose perpetual smile lit up any room.

Wherever Diana was now, Eden sure hoped she had plenty to smile about. Because if whoever had taken her was making her miserable, Eden would make sure he had hell to pay for it.

She half wished Prince Less-Than-Charming was the man responsible. He was the most ridiculously handsome man she'd ever seen, even with a half-snarl on his face, and judging by the stares he was getting, every other woman in the room thought so too. Even Candace's gaze had been dragged away from the master of the house, which he didn't seem too pleased about, either.

Whoever he was, he was about to get mobbed by women wanting to dance with him, so Eden turned her attention to the men clustered around the tables. Men with more money than sense or social skills, who'd be so gratified to get any girl's attention, they'd jump at the chance to talk to her, even if it meant funding hers and Diana's animal sanctuary.

That's what she was here for, after all, she told herself. Not attaching herself to the hottest or even the richest guy in the room, like Candace.

ELEVEN

Blaze breezed through the gates with all the confidence of a king, even if he was only dressed as a prince. Between the crown, the costume and the mask, no one recognised him. Tremotino's security staff were bigger fools than the man himself.

And there he was, the king of this castle, making a spectacle of himself on the dance floor with some girl wearing a wedding dress and glitter all over her face.

Blaze debated whether he should tell Tremotino's bride that the man might seem rich, but all his ill-gotten gains were the result of dodgy dealings, and if Blaze had his way, Tremotino would lose it all and spend the rest of his life in prison, instead of sleeping in a palace.

No, he decided. The bride in her crystal-clad costume looked like the most ruthless kind of gold digger. Tremotino's perfect match. A greedy bride could bankrupt a man better than Blaze, when the divorce settlement came due.

Instead, he should be searching the crowd for Diana. He scanned the room, but her silver hair was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she'd coloured it again.

Yet he'd recognise her even if she dyed her hair every colour of the rainbow. She was his sister, after all.

No Diana on the dance floor.

Wait, he knew that lavender gown. He stopped and stared, as the crowd parted and the girl wearing it came into view. It looked like the same gown, but it couldn't be, as the girl looked nothing like Diana, with a mane of bushy blonde hair that seemed to have picked up half the flowers in the garden when she'd taken a tumble out there, before coming back inside to seduce her next victim.

Anger roared up within him, startling him. What did he care how predatory these marriage-minded misses were? If she wanted to seduce everyone in the room, it meant nothing to him. Or it shouldn't have.

He didn't know her. He'd never met the girl, he was certain of it. Yet there was something familiar about her that he couldn't quite place...

He bumped into someone, hard enough to knock his crown clean off his head. Swearing, Blaze bent to retrieve it.

"Blaze, is that you? This is the last place I thought I'd see you!"

Blaze fixed his crown, only to come face to face with... "Leo! Happy birthday!"

Leo's smile was more of a grimace. "I wish it were. With development approvals stalled, who knows when we'll be able to finish off Hea Sanctuary. I didn't want a party, but Tremotino insisted. He wants me to finance one of his development projects. He even suggested he might be able to help with our stalled approvals..."

"Don't," Blaze blurted out. "No matter what he's trying to sell you, don't buy it. Every site he's tried to develop is land no one else would touch. Archaeological sites with centuries of history, habitat for endangered species, you name it...no one could build on the land he buys, yet somehow he gets development approvals instantly. It has to be bribery or something...I'm telling you, if you invest in any of his projects, you'll lose your money for certain. Don't do it."

"Are you sure? Because he's talking about building an ecovillage just like Hea, right here on his property. I can't help but think that while one ecovillage is good, having more than one sustainable community for supernaturals would be even better. Especially if ours is delayed..."

"He's not one of us. He doesn't have a single drop of supernatural blood in his veins, no matter how much he might want to. How he stumbled across our secrets, I don't know, but giving him power over any of us by letting him build our very homes? He shouldn't have been allowed to buy the Lustro lands as it is. No, Leo, don't do it. Whatever Tremotino wants, the only person it will benefit is him. I..."

Blaze broke off at the crawling sensation of eyes on him, as though Tremotino or one of his guards had heard the conversation.

"I need to find my sister. Have you seen her?" he asked.

Leo's eyes widened. "Diana's here? No, I haven't seen her. Quite the crush, though, with all the girls from Mirror Academy here tonight. I guess I can blame today's headlines for that."

Blaze hadn't seen any news – he'd been too busy sourcing this blasted costume. "What did they say?"

"Someone at theTimesdecided to make me their Bachelor of the Year. This being my birthday ball...it looks like every eligible girl in the country is here to try her luck." Leo sighed as he put his mask back on. "At least if Diana was here, I could dance with one girl who wasn't trying to seduce me. I think I've danced with everyone else, and every single girl has groped my arse, or worse. I'm going to have bruises tomorrow. Maybe even claw marks..."

Normally, Blaze would have laughed at Leo's plight, but dread had settled like a dead weight in his gut, and it only seemed to be growing. If all the girls from Mirror Academy were here, and neither he nor Leo had seen Diana, then she must be missing.

If Diana had disappeared...he had to find her.

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