Page 4 of Kingdom of Chaos
I step in front of him, forcing his full attention. A rough, guttural noise rumbles low in my throat, half growl, half warning, one I’ve never made before.
Drake’s eyes widen as he stares at me, shock clear on his face.
“Where. Is. He?” I bite out.
Then something strange happens. As I stand there, struggling to rein in my emotions, the shadows in the room shift. Just slightly. So faintly I might have imagined it. They ripple across the floor and along the walls. The dim light from the sconces flickers, and for a heartbeat the room feels heavier, like the air itself is holding its breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I think I see dark ribbons curling at the edges of the room, as if stirred by some unseen force.
I blink hard and take a step back, shaking my head. When I look again, everything appears exactly as it was.
Calm. Normal.
Maybe it was Drake subtly asserting his dominance, or maybe just the exhaustion catching up with me. I haven’t slept, and the last few days have pushed me past every limit. My mind must be playing tricks on me.
I take a steadying breath and glance back at Drake, who’s now assessing me with a calculated gleam in his eye after my outburst. I don’t like the look. I don’t trust it.
“Talon’s returned home,” he says, surprising me with a straightforward answer.
“And where exactly is that?” I ask, crossing my arms to hide the slight tremor in my hand. Even though I know the shadows in the room weren’t really moving, that it was just a product of exhaustion, I’m still a little shaken at the reminder of the powers creatures have that I lack.
A ghost of a smile touches Drake’s lips, but it does nothing to put me at ease. If anything, it makes me more suspicious. He reaches over to the end table beside his chair, pulls open a small drawer, and retrieves a pocket-sized notepad and pen. He scribbles something down, chuckling darkly. “I can’t wait to see what the Arcane Society does with you.”
Does with me?What does that mean?
He rips the paper from the pad and hands it to me. “Either way, you won’t be my problem anymore.”
That might have been offensive if I cared one bit about Drake Brayden’s opinion of me.
I glance down at the paper, my eyebrows lifting when I see where he’s sending me: Grimbrooke. I’ve heard of the town, but I don’t know much about it, only that it’s on the coast and at least a half-day’s drive away.
Folding the note, I shove it into my pocket with a sigh. I hadn’t anticipated it would be this hard to track Talon down. He and I are going to have words once we’re face-to-face. Words, or maybe a fist in his gut. I haven’t decided yet.
“What’s the Arcane Society?” I ask, stepping back as Drake rises and then goes over to a bar tray sitting atop a dark cherry wood cabinet. Lifting a decanter, he pours himself a new drink, downing the whole thing before pouring another.
“You’ll find out soon enough.” With a full new glass, he sits in his wingback chair, focusing on the crackling fire, effectively dismissing me without words.
I mumble a thanks, though I’m not sure why I bother. I don’t truly have anything to thank Drake for. If anything, he owed me this address. After everything he and the meddling dragon council have done, I might never have entered Chaos in the first place. And if that hadn’t happened, Becks wouldn’t be lost in the human world. But half-drunk, slumped in his chair, alone in his dark, giant house, Drake looks pathetic enough that a small piece of my anger toward him slips away.
I shake my head as I walk away, not exactly wishing Drake well, but wishing that our paths don’t cross again. That’s the extent of the good will I have for the dark dragon shifter.
His voice rumbles from behind me just as I’m about to cross the threshold into the foyer. “Watch your back. You never know who your real allies are.”
I glance over my shoulder and see that Drake has twisted in his seat. Our eyes lock, and a ripple of foreboding crawls down my spine.
I consider asking him what he means, but I don’t trust him not to say something cryptic just to mess with me.
So instead I say, “I always have,” and walk out of his house without looking back.
Two
I’m throwingextra clothes into a duffel when my mom finds me.
“What are you doing?” she asks.
I freeze with a T-shirt clenched in my hand. When I look over, she’s standing in the doorway in a pair of jeans and an off-the-shoulder sweater, scanning the mess I’ve made in my room and the bag I’m packing. Her long red hair is piled into a messy bun on top of her head, and from the smudge of dirt on her cheekbone I can tell she’s been cleaning the dusty corners of the store downstairs. Her gaze is full of worried confusion.
I was hoping to make it out of the house without having to explain where I was going.
We haven’t talked since this morning, and then I snuck out of the apartment to look for Talon. Between what the police told them and the few details I’ve shared, they only know the bare minimum about Chaos and everything that’s happened over the last couple of months.
