Page 44 of Earth Dragon
He swallowed down the protest brewing in his chest and focused on the very real possibility that Sir Patrick was in earnest.
“How do I know this spell is not a mere trick?” he asked.
“Do you have a castle crone?” Sir Patrick asked.
“No,” Ewan replied. “But…”
Sir Patrick raised his eyebrows knowingly. There was always someone around who knew powerful magic. And Ewan knew just the person they could turn to. She had known his father since the king was in swaddling. There was no way she would ever betray the crown. If anyone was to oversee this spell of Patrick’s, it should be her.
Chapter 12 - Shannon
The citadel was quiet at this time of night. The streets lay deserted. Only a stray cat or two could be seen slinking down the narrow alleyways. Shannon pulled her cloak tighter around herself, following in Ewan’s footsteps. Petrus had taken the lead in front of the prince while Sir Patrick skulked behind her, and Eric brought up the rear.
Her hearts were broken, and she kept quiet.
The walls she had tried to build had crumbled the moment Sir Patrick appeared and she knew that there was no more pretense. When all that she had feared had come to pass, there was no longer any point in denying how she had done everything in her power to avoid the confrontation.
Because she hadn’t mustered the courage to speak the truth sooner, however dark it was, now she would never get the chance to. The way Ewan had looked at her. It was ruined. He would never have that warmth in his eyes again. She would never feel him close to her again, his skin against hers, his mouth and hands… She would never breathe him in, never—
She walked right into Ewan’s back, lost in her thoughts and failing to notice that Petrus and Ewan had both come to a halt by the corner of a low stone house.
For a brief moment she had Ewan’s back under her cheek and his cloak beneath her fingertips as she brazed herself against him to regain her balance. His nearness hers to claim for a breath or two.
“Sorry,” she whispered, but he didn’t acknowledge her.
She thought he had heard her though. He seemed about ready to look over his shoulder at her. She wanted him to and dreaded it at the same time. She never wanted to have him look at her the way he had when he realized her father was the one behind it all. The slow disgust and the disdain that followed it had been enough to wish she could melt between the stones beneath her feet.
Her fingers itched to reach for the fabric of his cloak and grab fistfuls of it, tug on it to make him look at her. He hadseenher. He couldn’t simply shut her out again.
If this spell worked and he got to look into Sir Patrick’s memories, then she would have the crone—or whoever they were meeting—do the same for her.
“Where are we going?” she whispered to Ewan. There was no response. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I should have told you. But I was afraid—”
“Of what?” he hissed, glaring at her over one shoulder.
At least getting some reaction out of him was progress. She would rather take his anger over his disregard. Anger at least told her there was some part of him that cared.
Of course, she couldn’t tell him what she was afraid of. She didn’t even know why she kept trying to. She was hopeless.
You are, a voice whispered from deep within.Why don’t you let everyone know it.
That sentence shut down any inclination to believe otherwise because there was the memory of pain accompanying it that was so strong she couldn’t even think what words to speak. If her father got wind of her speaking his secrets, the punishment would be beyond anything she could imagine.
“Of my father coming to harm,” she sidetracked, her worry for her father the simplest lie to lean into since it was the most believable. She could play the loyal daughter well.
“Yes, you’ve already proven where your duties lie,” he muttered.
But she grew impatient at the dismissal. He was judging her without really knowing anything about her, about any of her motivations. He had grown up in a loving home with parents who treated each other with fondness. What did he know of feeling afraid trying to go to sleep in one’s own bed?
“I wasn’t going tohelphim,” she said meaningfully. “My duty was nullified the moment I saw the elemental magics choose their Keepers. I did not lie about that.”
“Then tell me what it was that your father wanted you to do,” Ewan demanded, turning to look at her, eyebrows raised high.
She stared at him, completely caught out and knowing that her face showed it.
“Seduce me?” he asked. He sucked air through his teeth in displeasure about to turn away again when she grabbed his arm and stopped him.
“Youkissedme, remember?” she asked, getting another soft sucking of air between teeth at this revelation, only this one came from Sir Patrick. She shushed him to stay out of it and mind his own business.
