Page 14 of Enchanted Crown
Malachi held up his good hand. “He is the only person we have left alive in all the attacks that have been made. I know he previously has refused to speak. And is being abelligerent prisoner based on the reports coming from Obsidian. But he is also our only living lead.”
“Go on,” Esta said, sitting back in her throne chair in the war room.
I looked her in the eyes. “Let me agree to help him shift back into his human form in exchange for information.” It was a plan Malachi and I had mulled over for a few days. There was a lot going on across the entire realm, but I couldn’t help this nagging feeling that helping Dra Skor identify their threat was the issue which mattered most.
“And then he gets to gofree?” she asked.
Amory sent us a glare. “After the things he said to her?”
I grinned. “No. Not at all. Freedom is not on the agenda for him.”
“No?” Esta asked.
“No,” Malachi agreed. “Keir thinks if we take his cell with us, he wouldn’t even have to get out of it for the process. We need him in the lake of The Drak to properly heal him, so it seems best to keep him caged for this adventure. No gallivanting around Dra Skor with a prisoner. Enoch was willing to die because he wanted out of his dragon form. We can now offer him the one thing he wants more than anything else. To shift back.”
“Oh,” Amory sighed. “That’s actually smart.”
I shrugged. “But there is no way to do so without everyone knowing. A cell with a dragon of that size getting moved to The Drak would be hard to sneak.”
Esta thought for a moment. “Nyx, Zaccai, and I could do it. It would be heavy, but we could do it. If you are successful, he’d be considerably lighter for the return trip. We could also do so at dawn, when the predators are sleeping, and the rest aren’t yet up.”
“We do run the risk of whomever is doing all of this finding out. And making a move on Enoch’s life.”
“His problem for aligning himself with them in the first place,” Esta argued.
“There are dozens of others that I would rather change back first,” I told her. “Whit being at the top of that list. Or Kian or Savanna. Nyx.”
“Yes, but we can’t move too quickly changing all Dra Skor’s Enchanted back, or the traitor will only have more power by being able to shift.”
I had been back three days and not rushed to heal more for this very reason. I had assumed the lottery organizing was the delay. That and waiting for the team I would train to help to arrive from Wylan. But the queen was right.
“You finished the lottery order yesterday, correct?” I asked.
She gave me a shrug. “Yes. The advisors, because of their leadership positions, are going to be first on the list. Particularly because half of them are either already healed or human. So I say we heal the rest and sit back and watch what sort of hell breaks loose.” She paused. “After you change back Enoch.”
“If people find out about this, they will not be pleased,” Malachi explained.
Esta countered, “If people find out about this, they will know we will stop at nothing to smoke out our traitors.”
“And changing back one such traitor before your own brother?” Amory said, turning toward Esta. “Will that worsen tensions with your father?”
Esta let out a sigh, the kind that sometimes accompanied smoke in her dragon form. “No worse than they already are.” She took a moment to think on it. “But let’s do this tonight. Before we announce it to the advisors. Let’s not allow them to get wind of this until after it is already done.”
I hadto admit I preferred riding Esta. Instead of flying at all, when Esta, Nyx, and Whit left to fetch our prisoner, Amory left with Malachi and me on her back.
Malachi cursed as yet another branch came directly at our faces forcing us to duck. “Knock it off, Amory.”
At that exact moment Amory jumped over a log, and we both almost fell off.
“Slow it down, Am,” I said gently. “You’ll break Malachi’s other arm and then I will force you to nurse him back to health.”
She veered to the left and a branch almost hit me in the face had I not stopped it with my magic.
She purred a laugh.
Malachi snorted. “If you wanted to get me holed up in bed, there are far more exciting ways, Amory. Promise.”
She let out a low growl that somehow seemed to be half growl, half laugh.
