Page 20 of The Forsaken Heir
“Taken against your will,” Vincent added blandly.
“Thank you, Vince, but I know what kidnapping means,” I said. “Youguys actually did that, remember?” I wasn’t trying to be condescending, but it did bear repeating.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rasp said, waving that off as if he’d simply forgotten to do the dishes rather than stealing an innocent woman from her home in the dead of night. “We thought you’d been kidnapped and weren’t able to get back to your family. When Vincent found where you were, we decided to rescue you, and then we could return you to your family, and make peace between wolves and dragons. Kill two birds with one stone, you see?” He explained.
“Except we wouldn’t kill the birds,” Vincent said.
“What?” Rasp said, turning to his friend with an incredulous frown.
“You said kill two birds, and if she’s supposed to be a bird, then your statement makes it seem as though we’d kill her. But we won’t.”
“What—? Well, ofcoursewe weren’t going to kill her,” Rasp said, and one of the maids shot a worried glance over her shoulder. Rasp turned to me again. “Brielle, we werenotgoing to kill you.”
A giggle escaped my lips before I could stop it. These two were like two-thirds of the Three Stooges. Despite them having kidnapped me, I didn’t dislike them. There was something inherently nice about them both. Given enough time, and a different set of circumstances, I could have probably grown to like them.
“I believe you,” I said, when I’d gotten myself under control, then looked at Vince. “So, you really found me that quick? I thought I was pretty well hidden.”
He shrugged as we rounded a corner and approached what must have been the door to the guest suite.
“Computer and magical talisman,” he said. “I used both human tech and shifter magic. Together it was easy.”
“Easy?” I said, and glanced over at Rasp, who gave me a weird look.
“Vince is really good at stuff like that,” Rasp explained. “Tedious things. Like with the knot tying. Research, boring magic incantations, all that stuff.”
“Your room, my lady,” one of the maids said as she opened the door.
“Oh, gosh, don’t call me ‘lady’. Call me Elle,” I said. The terminology, Lord and Lady, reminded me of my time back home when I was a kid. Even before I was sent away, I’d not been comfortable hearing terms like that. It was even more strange hearing it from the mouth of a dragon shifter.
“As you wish, uh, Elle,” the woman said, looking uncomfortable with using my given name.
The room was smaller than Aurelius’s but still screamed luxury. Every piece of furniture and art looked like it was atleasta hundred years old, though it also somehow looked brand new. Everything was polished, oiled, and maintained in such a way that every surface glowed in the faint light of the dim bulbs set in sconces and lamps around the room.
How long had it been since a wolf had been inside the royal manor house of the dragon king? Decades? No, we’d been at each other’s throats longer than that. Maybe centuries, possibly all the way back to when we all lived in the old world. Back when America was simply a distant and unknown land ripe with wellsprings of magic even more powerful than those of Europe, Africa, and Asia.
It all came down to magic. It always did. Most of the ancient wellsprings had begun to dry up. Now most of what was left was here, and the wolves and dragons had been fighting over it for as long as I could remember—hell, as long as any of us could remember. With magic came money, power, and strength. Each year the humans’ technology advanced even further, and with its encroachment, magic faded. Soon, despite everything the dragons, wolves, and fae did, it would be gone. It might take a few hundred years or a few thousand, but it would vanish. The ontological shock of that reality was one no shifter wanted to think about.
Now, the daughter of the rival species was aguestin the royal manor. Crazy. Well, I suppose I was less a guest than a captive, but that was semantics. I was here, and so far everyone had treated me with honor rather than fear and distrust. Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Not-So-Dumb had fumbled whatever plan they’d had in spectacular fashion, but other than that, I was safe and sound. It actually seemed like I might get out of this just fine.
The real issue would come when Aurelius contacted my family. I knew what the response would be, even if he was wholly unaware. Over the years, they’d done all they could to hide me away because I was a failure, a blight on the family name, simply because I couldn’t shift. Now that I’d been found—by the dragons, no less—they’d be faced with two choices: accept me back, and act like Aurelius and his father were doing them a favor before shunting me into the shadows again, or reject me outright. I was almost positive I knew which choice they’d make.
The rejection would open all the wounds I’d spent years sealing shut. What would Aurelius say when my family told me they didn’t give a damn what happened to me? Would he pity me? Beashamed of me? Would he be disgusted, maybe? Dragons had similar beliefs about family and might have the same feelings toward me.
“How do you like it?” Rasp asked.
“It’s beautiful,” I said, thankful for a reprieve from my thoughts. I glanced over to see a silver serving tray laden with cheeses, nuts, fruit, crackers, and shaved meats and sausage. “Thank you.”
The women made quick work of remaking the bed with fresh linens and stocking the bathroom with anything and everything I might need, then vanished from the suite.
Looking at the tray again, I noticed there wasn’t anything to drink.
I cocked an eyebrow at Rasp. “I thought I was getting wine?” I said with mock incredulity.
Rasp’s mouth fell open in shock and horror.
“Oh, shit, I forgot.” He grabbed Vince’s shirt and dragged him toward the door. “We’ll be right back.”
They hurried out, but less than five seconds later, they barged right back, looking panicked.
