The Queen's Wings: Book 1 of The Emerging Queens Series Page 5

  Reed gathered up the copier boxes of books and stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the wall going into my bathroom. "Niall, you need to see this," he said. He stared at the burned wallpaper and then slowly turned back to me. His nostrils flared, scenting me. He shook his head in disbelief.

  "Come on Carolyn," Niall said, coming into the bedroom. "You have to come with us."

  "I wasn’t planning on sitting in here while you two destroy the house around me." I had the sniffles down to a random snivel.

  Reed gestured my boss over to the wall that had the damage from my burping. I had forgotten that piece of evidence in all the drama. But perhaps that was also Arianna working her magic, like the blood on the wall, and maybe it would disappear once she was at peace.

  "My dear," Niall said. "You’re about to shift into a dragon."

  Chapter Four

  If someone steals your hoard or your Queen, you live for revenge.

  I’m going to shift! I’m going to shift! I floated down the stairs of my house for the last time and didn’t even bother to look back. Not even when the sound of crushing lumber and cement broke me out of my trance.

  Jack steered me out of the way of stray debris. My bed frame hit the driveway and bounced into kindling. "Come on," he said. "I’m going to take you to your office where you can drop off your hoard for the time being."

  "I don’t have a hoard," I snorted.

  He held up a hard cover copy of the Simarillion. I snatched it away from him.

  "Oh, I’m sorry, that was rude," I said.

  "You have a dragon’s instincts. I’m glad you didn’t bite my hand."

  "It’s not your hand I want to bite," I said. Gah! Where did that come from? I didn’t want to bite anyone. I wanted to curl up on a couch—anyone’s couch—with a good book and maybe a big glass of wine while I tried not to think that I was homeless.

  "I’m sorry we don’t have time for that right now." He took me by the hand, and we made the quick trip back to the hangar to unload my entire life into my office. It was rather depressing that it all fit. We had to stack the debris from Niall and Reed’s pissing match in one corner first, just to be able to move around.

  "So, how did you afford that house on a graduate student’s salary?" Jack asked as we worked.

  "From what my realtor told me, it had been on the market for several years and the sellers were desperate. I was lucky enough to get a loan and at the time the mortgage rates were pretty sweet. Although now, I’m wondering if that was all Arianna’s doing. I thought you said there wasn’t any such thing as ghosts."

  "She wasn’t a ghost," Jack said. The tone of his voice made me shiver. "Dragons are immortal. They can only be killed by another dragon."

  "Then why isn't she here? How did she die?"

  "Humans with great magic sacrificed her, destroyed her body. But her dragon essence wasn’t consumed."

  I thought I understood. "She didn’t go into the weave."

  Jack shook his head. "Her bones, if they are underneath your house, would have anchored her there."

  "So, she was trapped."

  "Until you came along and she was able to communicate with you."

  A little glimmer of excitement trilled through me, "Do you think that she could do that because I’m going to shift?"

  Yes," Jack said. He reached over and grabbed my hand. "I think you will become one of us. And I think you are in grave danger because of it."

  "Why? "

  "Niall and Reed are not being subtle. I’ve informed the authorities as to why they are wrecking your home and that we have your signed permission. That will leak to the newspapers and magazines. And that will lead to questions and it will eventually leak that there is a new dragon Queen. It won't take long for predators to start hunting you."

  "What about Arianna? Won't there be two Queens? If she's not really dead, can she be brought back to life?"

  Jack shook his head. "There is no body. All that remains is her bones. She will be put to rest in our graveyard and hopefully merge her spirit into the weave. You’ll learn more about that after you shift."

  "What if she doesn’t want to merge her spirit?"

  "I’m not sure," Jack said. "She may try to seek vengeance on her attackers, if they are even still alive after a thousand years. Or their descendants."

  "How can they be human and still be around for more than ten centuries?"

  Jack gave me a hollow smile. "There are spells using dragon components that can lengthen mortal life."

  I shuddered. "How can she get revenge without her body?"

  "The same way she convinced the sellers to sell to you and for you to buy."

  "I really didn’t need much convincing at that price."

  While we were stacking books, Jack’s cell phone rang.

  "What...? Okay." He hung up. "Niall wants you to bring his laptop and the notes you printed out this morning."

  "Speaking of hoards," I muttered and gathered up what Niall needed.

  "Anything else?" Jack asked, his hand on the light switch.

  I looked around the hangar. "What’s going to happen to me, Jack?"

  "I don’t know, but you won’t have to go through it alone."

  I took two books out of the pile and added them to the shopping bag of keepers I couldn’t bear to be parted with, then climbed back into Reed’s car for the return trip.

  There was nothing left of my home but wires and matchsticks. The neighbors were out front, chatting happily amongst themselves. The video footage of the rampage would make someone very rich.

  I was a little depressed over the destruction, but not devastated. Now that I knew my books were safe, it didn’t matter what had happened to the house. Maybe that was the dragon part of me coming out, but the thought of being homeless didn’t scare me as much as losing one of my books. The attachment to my hoard wasn’t surprising. I had always been possessive of my books. Still, I looked over at the rubble; it had been a nice house.

  The fire marshal spotted me and came over. We went out for drinks a few times, but he had thought I was weird and nothing ever came of it. "You know your insurance isn’t going to cover this."

  "That’s fine," Jack said. "The mortgage was paid off an hour ago."

  "Who are you?" he said.

  "A friend," Jack replied.

  "Carolyn, can I talk to you in private?" he asked.

  "Sure, Scott." I gave Jack a smile and walked over to Mr. Meyer’s fence. Muffi was cowering under the porch and I felt bad for her.

  "I know you gave these guys permission to do this, but are you all right?"

  "I’m fine, thanks."

  "Do you have a place to stay?"

  "I’m going with them for awhile."

  "The dragons?" he said, "I mean you’ve always made it clear that you had a thing for them, both of them?"

  I smiled. "The gold one is my boss. The black one is his son. They’re going to help me."

  "Oh right, you’re a dragon too." Scott smirked. "Your brother mentioned it to me."

  "My brother’s been insulting lately," I said.

  "He just thinks your obsession is a little over the top."

  "Yeah, well when he’s pretty obsessed with his fantasy football and no one seems to mind."

  "The key word is fantasy," Scott said.

  I pointed over his shoulder. Reed and Niall were changing back into their human forms. It was like watching a butterfly emerge from the cocoon only in reverse.

  Jack stepped up, "No pictures. No pictures."

  He stared down anyone who looked like they thought of picking up their phones.

  "And that is reality." I patted his arm. "Thanks for your concern, Scott, but I’m doing the right thing."

  As Jack and Reed did crowd control, I went over to Niall. He had one of my velvet dresses on the ground and I saw tiny bones spread out on it. I lay my hand on his shoulder, and he put his over mine and squeezed.

  "She’s silent now," he said. "She had much to sa
y to us once we found her. Her death fueled the spell that is stopping the Queens from shifting."

  "Don’t worry, Carolyn," Reed said coming up to us. "We’ll end it. She’s given us a starting place to look for the cult that did this."

  "How old was she?" The bones could have belonged to a small dog, if it wasn’t for the wings.

  "Only a few weeks hatched. They did the sacrifice shortly after they took her. They couldn’t afford to keep her alive. She would have been noticed. But her spirit developed and grew because the cultists left her blood and bones in this place. It doesn’t make sense. They could have made a fortune selling her off part by part, even back then." Niall’s voice was devoid of emotion, but it was frightening. He didn’t sound remotely human. And I could see the Great Wyrm in his eyes.

  "The parts would have been traced back to them," Reed said. "They wouldn’t have remained hidden for so long."

  Niall nodded. "And they didn’t cast any spells except the one that killed her and bound her to this place."

  "The perpetrators are long gone." That made me angry. Someone deserved to pay for this.

  "But their spell lived on. Once we get Arianna’s remains to our graveyard, it may break whatever ritual they applied," Niall said.

  "Do you know what ritual?"

  "No, but I’m hoping to find some in the library at Reed’s Headquarters. If not, I may have to go to Europe." He made a face. "Lerisse is in Paris this time of year, and there will be no eluding her."

  Lerisse was a Chinese dragon of mixed nationalities with a sophisticated guise as Frenchwoman who did a lot of work in human charities. Niall tended to avoid the Queens whenever possible, mumbling something about having done his duty and now he wanted to be left alone.

  We all piled into Reed’s Lincoln Town Car that Jack and I brought over.

  "Where are we going? To the super-secret headquarters?"

  "It not really super secret anymore if we tell you. But we’re going to New York," Jack said. "To Reed’s office until we can get you settled somewhere permanent."

  I glanced at the rubble where my house once was. If that was the cost of being a dragon, I’d pay it. Niall peered out the window and brooded in silence while I slid into the backseat with him. Reed drove, even though he was still seething with anger. Jack had shotgun and promptly fell asleep as soon as we hit the highway.

  "I suppose you want to discuss your living arrangements," Reed said once the trip was well on the way.

  I glanced up from my book, irritated. I didn’t get carsick reading, and I hated to be interrupted. "Not especially. You said you would handle it." It was getting to the good part where the dragon swooped in the save the maiden. I closed the book. I was in a car with three dragons. That made me the fair maiden. I probably should pay more attention.

  "I have a ranch in Texas and a villa in the south of Spain you are welcome to have."

  Sweet. Too bad I didn’t speak Spanish.

  "We need to establish her territory here in Connecticut," Niall said, rousing from his thoughts with a troubled frown. "Esmeralda will not want her in Texas. It’s too close to her seat of power in Mexico. I doubt Lerisse will welcome Carolyn in Spain either."

  A thought occurred to me. "Why do you call Esmeralda, Iron Britches?"

  Jack opened his eyes and turned around in his seat to glare at me. Reed glared at him. Niall cleared his throat.

  "Esmeralda is on a breeding hiatus," Niall began.

  "She’s refusing to become pregnant?" I asked. "Is that a problem?"

  "It is when you are only one of five creatures who can propagate the species," Niall said drily.

  "How many litters has she had?"

  "One a year for the last thousand years."

  Ugh, that was almost as much as the Duggars. "I think she deserves a bit of a break, don’t you?"

  No one answered me.

  "I mean you can’t expect the Queen to just pop out babies as her sole purpose."

  "That is their sole purpose," Jack said.

  I blinked. It never occurred to me. "You said they rule territories. Rule over all the dragons. I thought that’s what they did."

  "In part," Jack said. "But our race would die out without them breeding. So, she needs to conceive in the near future."

  "She’s well compensated," Niall assured me.

  "Esmeralda has proven she can hatch a girl child with Arianna. We need her to keep trying until we get another female. We’re getting desperate."

  "Well, maybe it’s not her but you," I said. "In humans, it’s the man who determines the sex of the child."

  "I’ve not had relations with Iron...oof." Jack grunted as Reed punched him in the mouth, without taking his eyes off the road.

  "She is still my mother," Reed said. "And one of our greatest Queens. Show her the respect she deserves."

  Jack rubbed his jaw.

  "What I mean is, maybe Niall needs to...um"—I glanced over at him— "you know. In order to get another girl dragon."

  "Esmeralda will not have me again," Niall said. "Nor am I inclined to try with another Queen. I’d had enough of the court politics when I was younger."

  "Besides he’s so old, his mojo probably won’t fire."

  That earned Jack another sock in the jaw. He turned around in defeat.

  "My mojo is none of your concern," Niall said. "I find this whole conversation distasteful. Esmeralda is the Brood Mother. It is her right to request a respite. However, even if she isn’t receiving male visitors, she is still the only female dragon in North America. She hasn’t had to share territory since she emigrated before the Pilgrims arrived."

  "So, I shouldn’t expect to be invited to tea?" I asked, hoping to diffuse the tension with a joke.

  "If you are, I will accompany you. She wouldn’t harm you in my presence."

  "Is this what the civil war is all about, breeding and territory?"

  "Where did you hear that?" Reed caught my eyes in the rear-view mirror and I understood the phrase, "Deer in Headlights" because that’s how he made me feel.

  "Uh, my friend Jane," I said, totally throwing her under the bus for a hot guy.

  "From the embassy?" Niall said.

  "Yeah," I said. "No," I corrected as guilt got the better of me. I didn’t want Jane to get in trouble. "She didn’t say anything about the civil war. Jack did."

  Jack sighed, but didn’t turn around. "Thanks a lot, Carolyn."

  "We’ll discuss that later," Reed told him.

  "Who are we fighting? Is it East meets West? Do dragons do Kung Fu?" I waved my hands around for emphasis, but restrained from making Bruce Lee noises.

  "We’re not fighting," Niall said.

  "Yet," Reed countered.

  "There have been large security breaches in some of the older dragons’ hordes. Powerful magical items have been targeted. Someone is amassing the treasures, but for what purposes, we don’t know," Jack said.

  "I’m sorry. This whole situation has my head spinning." I leaned against the window. The cool glass was soothing on my face. My eyes drifted shut. Maybe this was just another crazy dream and I’d wake up naked on my neighbor’s roof—since I didn’t have one of my own anymore.

  "We’ll discuss it later," Reed said again in a quiet authoritative tone. "Try and get some rest."

  I wasn’t sleepy, but I was tired of being strong and let myself drift.

  They must have thought I was asleep because after a while Jack broke the silence with, "Those drakes at the embassy were after Zhang’s hoard."

  "What?" Reed said.

  "I tried to call you, but you were busy," Jack said.

  "They said that?" Reed asked.

  My eyes popped open. "They were stuffing his papers into a bag."

  "It was his files they were after." Reed said. "Zhang hordes paper records."

  "Did they get them?" I asked.

  "Obviously not," Jack said.

  "Do dragons usually steal from other dragons?" I asked.

  Reed
and Jack exchanged a glance, and when it was obvious they weren’t going to respond, Niall spoke up. "They think only certain pieces are being stolen from each dragon’s horde. Whether it’s for a ritual involving all of us or if they’re trying to do something specific, they’re not sure."

  "This is classified information," Reed said.

  "What can be more secure than a car traveling along the highway?" Jack asked him.

  "She’s in the car. We do not share our politics with a human."

  "I’m going to shift soon," I reminded him. At least I hoped so.

  "Not if we don’t break the curse. That might not happen in your lifetime." Reed met my eyes in the rearview mirror.

  "It has to," I said, my voice shaking. I couldn’t be this close and have it not happen. I couldn’t take my eyes from Reed’s. How was he even driving when all his attention was on me? "Have you ever felt that half of you was asleep?"

  "Every Monday," Jack said.

  It broke the tension and Reed looked away. I rubbed my eyes. "There’s always been something missing in my life. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I’ve been ridiculed since puberty that I was just a dragon struck bretzche bait." I tossed Reed’s word back at him because I missed the presence of his eyes on me. When he looked at me, I felt grounded and safe.

  "You are too old to shift," Reed said. "You might not survive."

  "Don't frighten her," Niall commanded.

  "Maybe females shift later in life?" Jack gave me a reassuring smile.

  Reed shook his head. "I have too many doubts. You could have just been influenced by Arianna. Maybe you're not a Queen at all."

  I was suddenly sick of this whole situation. I was tired of being told I was over the hill and crazy. "Then let me out," I said.

  Reed stared at me in the mirror. "What? We’re on the highway."

  A stabbing sensation hurt in my chest. "I don’t know what more proof I can give you." I would not let this asshole see me cry.

  "That’s why we’re going to the dragons’ labs and our scientists will figure out what has stopped you from transforming," Niall said.