Page 38 of Until the End of Ever
“My cookies?”
“Lucian had a big box all packed away, as he does.”
I thought back to the morning, remembering he did bring a box with him to Theke before I got the call. I just didn’t see him making it smaller and taking it. He probably did that while I was quickly getting changed—I wasn’t about to show up to the Guard in my PJs, regardless of how fancy they were.
“Anyway, we knew the kid was close. Gideon whined about being hungry and needing a break. We had rations, you know,but he asked Lucian if he’d packed sandwiches again. So, Daddy gets the cookies out, and next thing we knew, that kid jumped down from a tree—right above us—and growled something about negotiations.” Silver tossed her hair again. “Bloody brat ate all the damn cookies.”
“He needed them. I don’t think he’d eaten in days. Did you give him water, too?”
“Yeah. Anyway, post-cookies, Lucian told him the dragons were gone and he could come with us if he wanted. He might have mentioned more cookies. The kid followed him like a mama duck.” She chuckled. “I was bitching about half of my hair getting singed off, and all of a sudden—barely could react—there were two talons at my throat. I’m no Irwin, but I almost pissed myself. Then he just cut it off like this, in a bloody flash. I really like it, actually.”
“Talons,” I repeated. “Is he really a dragon, then?”
“Oh, yeah. A wyvern I’d say—two legs, not four. And if he’s anything like the rest of the horde, well—let’s just say there aren’t many places where he could shift without destroying the whole damn building when fully grown.”
Unease clogged my insides. Highvale had one way of handling powerful, scary things, and it wasn’t good for them.
Us. Forus.
We tiptoed around the ward until we found Isla first. “I chucked her too hard—she hit her head on a tree,” she whispered as we watched the healer finishing their stasis spell, coating her in blue energy in order to keep her immobile and still while she healed.
They’d noticed the concussion, no doubt.
“Hey, at least she wasn’t burned to bits.”
“But you were,” I countered, marveling. “And it didn’t hurt you. Other than your hair.”
Silver lifted her pendant, dangling on a chain at her neck. “I figured it was probably this.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have much affinity for fire. I can’t protect myself well against an oven burn, let alone dragon breath. That was all you.”
“Oh.” She shrugged indifferently. “Good to know. Maybe I can hang out with Elias some more, then.”
If she spent her time wondering about her various abilities, she’d do nothing else all day.
“Are we hiding from someone?” an unfamiliar, beautiful feminine voice called from behind us, making me jump.
The last thing I needed was to be caught by one of the healers, screamed at, and thrown out.
But when I turned on my heels, what I saw was most definitely not a healer.
Wrapped in a sharp suit, all black, with a mermaid skirt that kissed every single one of her curves, Cassiopea Regis made me think of a dark-haired, sea-green-eyed version of Nicole Kidman, so beautiful it was unfair to every woman in her age range.
I’d never stood close enough to her to hear her speak, of that I was quite certain. No one could ever forget that voice. It sounded like hugs and soft caresses and gentle kisses on the forehead.
“Oh.” I cleared my throat, and suddenly, I was spilling out all my secrets in a low whisper. “The healers don’t like me here. Or anywhere. I’m an innate healer, so I can just do what they’ve studied for decades. They hate that I don’t use their methods and protocols and diagnoses. They hate that I do it better than they can. But our friend’s hurt.”
“I see,” Cassiopea whispered back. “Would you like me to create a distraction? I’m meant to see the warden about a donation, but I could demand a tour. It should cause enough commotion to give you a moment with your friend.”
I don’t know what I expected. A lecture, perhaps. Certainly not that.
I blinked, trying to picture, well, any parents I knew offering to help so easily. My father? Absent. My mother? Excuse me while I laughed. Auntie Hilda absolutely would offer a lecture. Maybe Uncle Leo might have opted to be of assistance, but I doubted he could come up with a plan as likely to succeed as hers.
“I mean, if you wouldn’t mind? Lady Regis.”
She smiled.
There wasn’t a single feature in common between this woman and Lucian, but when she smiled, I saw she was his mother.
