Page 5 of Fractured Sky
Graham didn’t argue.He scurried away, glancing back one last time.Sol felt sorry for him.Technically, Graham was one of the bad guys, but it looked like he’d been forced into this and hadn’t actually chosen to be part of it.Sol wished he could help him, but from where he was, there was little he could do for anyone, including Graham.
“Leave my brother alone,” Simon said.
Sol arched abrow.“I feel I should be the one to tell you that.You’re hurting him.”
“I would never hurt Graham.”
“It’s clear that you are, even if you don’t want to admit it.Graham doesn’t want to be here.He doesn’t want to be doing whatever Carlyle’s forcing him to do.”
“He’ll change his mind.It’s our family legacy.”
Sol had no idea what that meant, but he doubted that Simon would tell him if he asked.He wouldn’t be able to convince Simon to let him go, so he pressed his lips together and watched as Simon halfheartedly cleaned up the mess Carlyle had left behind.
Simon didn’t say goodbye.He didn’t glance back at Sol.He turned and left, and once his footsteps had vanished, silence remained Sol’s only companion.
What the fuck was he going to do?
Chapter Three
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“I’M SURE THERE’S SOMETHINGmore I can do,” Ansley said as he scribbled something in his notebook.His elbow almost landed on his plate, but Parker managed to slide it away.
Dallin eyed him from the other side of the table.He was worried about his brother, and he knew he should say something, but he couldn’t find it in himself to.Ansley was overworking himself, obsessing over his spell and why it wasn’t working.He wanted to find Sol almost as much as Dallin did, for which Dallin was grateful.He wasn’t sure what he’d do if the other mages decided to stop looking for Sol.
They wouldn’t.Even if they didn’t care about Dallin, they still needed all the mages to be protected when the fight with Carlyle started.They couldn’t afford to lose any of them when they’d struggled so much to trap Carlyle in the gem the first time they’d fought him.They couldn’t allow Carlyle to have the upper hand.They didn’t know what Carlyle was doing with Sol or why he’d taken him, but it couldn’t be good.That meant they had to get Sol away from Carlyle so he didn’t become another weapon.
How were they supposed to do that?No matter how many times Ansley tried, he couldn’t find either of them.Carlyle had to be using a spell to block Ansley’s tracing spell, and Dallin was starting to think that there was no way for Ansley to break through it.
“You should eat more,” Parker said, pushing Ansley’s plate closer to Ansley now that he was done taking notes.
Ansley blinked at his boyfriend as if he’d forgotten he was there.That was one of the reasons Dallin was worried.Ansley should be happy.He’d been the first to find his dragon, and since then, he, Parker, and Parker’s son had become a family.Ansley wasn’t supposed to be obsessed with finding Sol.He was supposed to focus on the people he loved and on building a life for himself and them.
Dallin swallowed and looked down at his plate.He pushed a piece of meat toward the edge, knowing he should eat but unable to stomach the thought of putting anything in his mouth.He felt that if he tried, he might throw up.Heshouldeat, though.There was no doubt in his mind that Carlyle was coming for them, and they had to be ready when that happened.They needed to keep up their strength, which meant rest and food.
Dallin wasn’t sleeping well.He kept having nightmares of what Carlyle might be doing to Sol, and most nights, he also struggled to fall asleep.As soon as his head hit the pillow and he turned off the light, his brain started working overtime.It kept offering him possible scenarios about what Carlyle was doing, each one more horrible than the one before it.It was too easy for Dallin to spiral, and he’d started falling asleep listening to podcasts or watching TV.It was the only way to distract himself long enough.
He wasn’t doing well.He hadn’t expected to be, but he felt like if he continued down this path, he would be useless to Sol.Dallinwouldfree his dragon, be it the last thing he did.
He just needed to find a way to do it.
“Parker’s right,” Jarvis said.“Exhausting yourself isn’t going to help anyone, not even Sol.You need to get some sleep and eat, Ansley.”
Ansley frowned.“You two realize you’re not my fathers, right?”
“I don’t need to be your father to worry about you,” Parker said.“You haven’t been eating.You’re barely sleeping.You’re focused on your work, and I’m not saying that you need to stop, but you have to take better care of yourself.”
From Ansley’s expression, Dallin could tell he was going to push back.Dallin didn’t want Ansley to stop searching for Sol, but he suspected that he was the only one who could make Ansley slow down.After all, Sol was his dragon.Ansley was doing this for Sol, but mostly, he was doing it for Dallin.
“He’s right,” Dallin said.
It was as if all noise had been sucked out of the room.Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.Dallin thought that maybe they were waiting for him to break down.
He didn’t.He cleared his throat and looked at Ansley.“It won’t do Sol any good if you collapse while trying to cast a spell.”
“I’m trying as hard as I can.”
Dallin didn’t want to cry.He didn’t want Ansley to cry, either, because if his brother started, Dallin would, too, and he wasn’t sure he’d stop.“I know.”
