Page 129 of One True Love (Love Mark 1)

“I’d like to meet the boy, too,” Mandalay said, nodding his head. “My Anniston always spoke of a younger brother she had that had been left in High Cliff because he’d been too young to travel with them. If this soldier came from his line, I’d like to settle in my own head all the questions she had about whatever became of her brother.”

“No problem,” I answered. “There aren’t many left from the house of Moast, so I’m sure he would know what happened to the boy. It’s a good chance he’s even a direct descendent.”

“Well, thank you.” The old man regarded me with a touch of surprise, approval, and pride. Then he turned to Vienne. “So, you’re here to show the boy around and introduce him to Elliott, I imagine. Go ahead, then. I don’t mind.”

Her eyebrows raised. “You trust him to meet Elliott?”

Mandalay smiled as he touched her cheek. “I see that you trust him enough to even bring him down here, and I trust you, so… Yes, I do.”

“I…” Vienne blinked rapidly, clearly honored and overcome to receive such faith from her grandfather. I could tell she wanted to cry but was holding it in. “That’s… Well, thank you. I’m… I’m pleased that you trust my… That is… I mean…”

She couldn’t seem to spit out whatever it was she wanted to say, so I touched her elbow in support.

After glancing my way, she cleared her throat and turned back to Mandalay. “Actually, no. We came looking for Nanny Wynter. But since we’re here, I’m sure he’d love to meet Elliott.”

“Elliott?” I asked, glancing between the two and wondering why it would be so important to meet this mysterious fellow.

His name started with a vowel; had he come from High Cliff as well?

“Nanny Wynter?” Mandalay asked on a heavy frown. “I haven’t seen her in years. Why are you looking for her? Did the magical ward she put up fail?”

Vienne met my gaze, hesitating before saying, “No. No, the ward’s still working as far as I know, but we had a magical question for her. We believe there may be a bearer of dark magic in the castle, and we were wondering if she could help us find him. Are you sure she didn’t come down here? Maybe she slipped in without notice and is staying in one of the empty rooms.”

“No, I’m positive she’s not here. All the rooms are full at the moment, and besides, you’re the first who’s come down those stairs in a month.”

Biting her lip, Vienne sent me another worried glance. “Okay,” she said slowly. “Thank you. But I don’t know where else to look for her. She had to leave her cottage quite abruptly. I thought for sure this is where she’d come.”

“I would think so, too,” Mandalay answered just as a resounding roar echoed through the chamber, lighting the room with a blazing orange glow.

As I cursed and ducked, covering my head with my arms, Mandalay and Vienne remained standing, unruffled by whatever had exploded in the room next to us.

“What the hell?” I said, still flinching my head down even as I straightened back to my full height and wondering why the other two weren’t equally alarmed.

Mandalay burst out laughing. “I think it’s time to introduce him to Elliott.”

I flashed Vienne a startled glance. “Who the fuck is Elliott?”

She tightened her lips into a grin as if she wanted to laugh. “I should probably tell you now that Grandfather created dragon glass.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, staring after Mandalay as he hobbled toward the doorway leading into the chamber that had just lit up with the echoing roar. Then I turned back to Vienne. “What’s dragon glass?”

“Oh, right. Sorry.” She snapped her fingers and sent me a rueful grin. “I’ve grown accustomed to calling it that down here under the mountain because for some strange reason Grandfather has always refused to call it clear rock.”

“The word glass just rolls off the tongue better,” Mandalay grumbled over his shoulder as he passed through the doorway. “But no…no… That damn Terran insisted we called it clear rock. Clear Rock! How unoriginal is that?”

“Terran is—” Vienne started, only for me to wave a hand.

“Yeah, yeah. Terran Donnelly, the man your grandfather discovered this kingdom with. I got that part. And glass is another word for clear rock, I gather, but… Why the dragon part?”

Before she could answer, the cavern filled with that roar again, along with a great glow of light. And heat. I swear, the temperature grew about twenty degrees hotter before cooling once more. I stared at the doorway to the room that Mandalay had just entered as the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

Then I shook my head, denying what my brain was trying to suggest, because…

No fucking way.

Turning slowly to Vienne, I recalled, “Mandalay and Donnelly were exiled from Lowden for killing off the last dragon in the Outer Realms, weren’t they?”

My one true love nodded deliberately, her smile growing. “They were.”

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