Page 27 of Jace

“Goodness,” she said. “Now I can’t see.”

He chuckled to himself as if he had understood and the whole thing was meant as a joke.

“Don’t let him do that,” Jace said sternly.

“Well, I don’t see how I can stop him,” she giggled. “Let go, baby.”

But Zeke only made a disgruntled noise when she tried to free herself, which made her laugh harder.

“Stroke the outside of his fists lightly with your finger,” Jace advised.

“Is he ticklish, too?” she asked.

“I have no idea,” Jace said.

That answered nothing. She did as she was told and was surprised to find her hair was freed from Zeke’s clutches instantly.

“That’s a cool trick,” she told Jace, quickly sweeping her hair behind her head to avoid having it grabbed again.

“You’ll figure out more than I have,” Jace said, shrugging.

But he had a pleased look on his face. He liked being good with the baby. A proud father if she had ever seen one.

“Why are you smiling at me?” Jace asked suspiciously.

“No reason,” she replied.

“When we land, you’ll stay on the float-ray until I call for you,” he said sternly. “When you dismount, you’ll stay with me, and if I tell you to do something, you’ll do it immediately without question.”

“Is something wrong?” she asked, wondering if she should be more worried about the workers.

She had figured they must be slower than expected on the job, or maybe prone to taking long breaks. It hadn’t occurred to her that they were missing in a concerning sense.

“Hopefully not,” he said quietly.

The float-ray came to a rest at last, just a few feet off the ground.

As instructed, Susannah stayed put, watching as Jace slid off and began stalking around the clearing.

He didn’t just look around, like she would have. Instead, he lifted his nose to the air a few times, lowered himself to study the soil around the felled trees, and froze perfectly still a few times, as if he were trying to listen for danger.

When he disappeared around the back of the little house, she had to force herself to remain calm.

Just because I can’t see him doesn’t mean he can’t protect us, she reminded herself. I just saw him sniffing and listening for danger.

She had almost said to herself, like a predator.

But he was a predator, at least some of the time.

I have a dragon protector. I couldn’t be safer.

But she still felt her shoulders lower as soon as he came back into view on the other side of the cabin.

He strode up to the float-ray and offered Susannah his hand.

“Does everything seem okay?” she asked him, taking it.

“Yes and no,” he told her. “No one is here, and things aren’t properly set up. But I don’t see any signs of foul play.”

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