Page 5 of Her Dragon Defender

"At first, we wondered why she preferred to stay here instead of coming up to the house, and then we discovered her secret," Lady Rose continued, crossing the room to part a large planter box full of ferns. "See?" She held the fronds aside so Blaze could get a clear shot with his camera.

"Awww!" At first, he only saw one sleeping kitten, curled up into a tiny ball. Then two others tumbled past, roughhousing like all siblings the world over. They woke up a fourth kitten, who stretched out a paw to capture the twitching tail of the fifth, and...

Blaze could have watched the kittens all afternoon, or at least filmed them. He'd never seen anything so cute in his life. Like Diana, he was fond of animals, and they'd had a number of pets over the years, but never an entire litter of kittens, especially not ones so tiny.

"I'd let you take one home, but they're too young to leave their mother just yet. I could keep one for you, when they are old enough, if you'd like," Lady Rose said.

Blaze was sorely tempted. Diana would have agreed already, but he knew any cat in Hea Sanctuary had to be kept inside, to protect wildlife. Also, if he got a kitten, he'd never hear the end of it if he didn't get one for Diana, too.

He took a quick photo of the kittens on his phone, and sent it to Diana with the message:Want one?

Lady Rose rose to her full height. "We should return to the house for lunch. Any more filming can wait until after we've eaten."

Blaze wasn't going to argue with that, so he followed the pair up to the house.

It wasn't until he was climbing into his car, ready for the long drive home, that he realised Diana hadn't responded to that or any of his messages at all this week. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time she'd said anything to him at all.

Very strange, and most unlike her. Even if she didn't want to speak to him, the kittens would have gotten a response for sure.

He'd intended to go home, but when he reached the highway, where he would have turned south, he headed for Mirror Academy instead. Something was definitely wrong with Diana, and if she wouldn't answer his messages, then he'd turn up in person. She could hardly refuse to speak to him if he was standing on her doorstep, refusing to move. Even if she just told him to go away, at least he'd know she was all right.

SIX

Darkness had well and truly fallen by the time Blaze arrived at the Mirror Academy gates, which looked like the sort of thing you'd see in a movie about a school for young witches and wizards, not a modern university that tried to hide its links to the supernatural community, at least from normal humans.

At least these gate posts were topped by gargoyles instead of winged pigs, though these gargoyles were unusually lifelike. The way they glared down at Blaze, like they actually thought they stood a chance at keeping him out of the college grounds.

Blaze looked for an intercom, but there didn't seem to be one. Nor was there any sort of control panel for opening the gates. He peered through the bars, up the drive. The school building sat atop a hill, looking more like a castle than any university he'd attended. Oh, not the towers and turrets sort of medieval castle, but more like Buckingham Palace or Versailles. Now those places had gardens he'd love to work on...

He wouldn't mind seeing the grounds here in daylight. Perhaps if he came back to visit Diana tomorrow, she could show him the gardens.

"What's your business here?"

Blaze had to admit, he was impressed. It took a lot for someone to sneak up on him, and he hadn't seen the grey-clad man until he spoke. Almost like he'd appeared out of thin air.

Blaze cleared his throat. "I'm Blaze Argyros, and I'm here to visit my sister, Diana. She's a student at Mirror Academy."

"No men allowed on campus after dark. You'll have to come back in the morning," the man said. Perhaps it was the lack of light, but it almost looked like his face was as grey as his clothing.

"What about security?" Blaze asked pointedly.

The man grinned. "Ah, but we're not on campus, are we? We're outside the gate."

Blaze glanced at the gate in question, where one of the gateposts was now missing a gargoyle. Almost as if...

The man's gaze followed the same path as Blaze's and his grin widened. "If you're thinking of going over the wall, you'll be in for a nasty surprise. Mirror Academy has the strongest security measures of anywhere in the country. Buckingham Palace wishes they had half of what the headmistress has here to protect her students."

Blaze blew out a frustrated breath. So flying over the fence was out, then. Gargoyles were formidable fighters, and while there might only be two on the gate, there was no saying how many more there might be around the perimeter, or even in the sky above, keeping watch. Flying over the college wasn't setting foot on campus, after all. A loophole he wouldn't be able to use this time.

"Can I speak to the headmistress, then?" Blaze asked. "It's about my sister. I'm worried about her because she hasn't been returning my messages for over a week now, which isn't like her at all. I've driven all the way down here, and I won't leave until I know she's okay."

The man looked nervous. "You'd be better off coming back in the morning. Or, better yet, not coming back here at all, and going to the next ball, if it's one of the girls you want to see. All the girls go to those, and if you're rich enough to afford a ticket, you'll have no problem talking to whoever you want there."

Blaze considered for a moment. "Maybe I will, but first I want to see that my sister's all right, and if that means speaking to the headmistress, so be it." Even if the woman was a veritable dragon, Blaze was willing to confront her and anyone else who tried to keep him from Diana.

"I'll call the headmistress, but she won't be happy," the man warned him. He pulled a phone out of his pocket and ambled off into the darkness to make the call.

A few minutes later, the sleek curves of a town car reflected the moonlight as it made its way smoothly down to the gates, where it stopped.

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