Broch sighed and he hoped that there was a way that he would be able to get it all out. He needed to talk about Phillip and get that information, but he was dying to talk about his daughter. He suggested that they get some coffee on, because they had a lot to say to each other. Broch was going to have some good news and some bad news for them. He couldn’t wait to bring them back home with him to Christin. Without a doubt he knew that was what was supposed to happen.
“We have a lot to talk about, Richard.”
“There’s more?”
Broch agreed. “Lots more. I want to tell you about Christin.”
“How do you know her name?”
Broch smiled. “Honestly? I think I have fallen in love with your daughter.”
It was true too. Christin was all he thought about, a damn dragon princess. He didn’t aim anywhere, except high and over his head. Every time.
Chapter 23
Christin
The closer Christin got to Phillip’s house, the worse she started to feel. Christin had never felt such doom in all of her life, even when she was on trial for a murder she didn’t commit. That night, Christin felt like she was battling the bad vibes from all places. William’s warm glow when he was close was gone. She didn’t feel anything but a heaviness in her chest that was suffocating her. Christin was sure that something was off.
If she would have been smart, Christin would have turned around and flew away. She wasn’t going to be able to pull herself together. She felt ill and when she landed not too far from the back of the house, Christin started to vomit. She didn’t know what was going on, but her head was pounding, and her stomach was getting rid of everything it was holding. Christin had never felt so ill in all of her life.
She looked down at her beautiful alabaster scales and saw that a few of them were turning black. It was getting bigger, the black spots, until they had covered most of her, draining her of her power and sapping her of all her energy. It was like Christin was being sucked dry by the stuff. She had never met such a substance in all of her life, and it wasn’t normal. It stunk of magic.
Christin tried to move forward, but it was holding her down with an unbearable weight, seeping into her scales and making her sick. What was this?
***
“Ah, there you are. I was so worried that you were going to take away the pleasure of seeing you know when you are beat. I want to see the exact moment when all faith leaves your eyes.”
Christin’s head was groggy, and she jerked, sure that she was going to be covered in black. She wasn’t though. She was in her human form, naked and scrubbed of it. Phillip sneered up his lips at her and she wished again for the blackness that had taken over before. She wanted it now, because in a cage in the basement of Phillip’s house was the last place that she wanted to be. Again.
Phillip had put her down there once before, long ago. She had just married him, was pregnant and desperately tried to get away. It was her moment of clarity and she had made a run for it. The end result had been her spending the rest of her pregnancy in the same cage she was in now. No one had found her or even looked for her. Phillip had given a reason, and no one had cared. That’s when Christin had known true fear, just like what was running through her at the present moment. She would have been happier if he had just killed her. Being his prisoner was far worse.
“You took faith and hope from me a long time ago, Phillip.”
“If that were so, I would believe that you wouldn’t be here now, would you?”
Christin didn’t comment. She had just wanted her son. It was nothing that had anything to do with faith or hope. It was a blind desire to have him close and to keep him safe. She hadn’t a choice in any of it. She had just done what any mother would do.
“I am here for William.”
“I know what you are here for, but as you can see, I am not going to let that happen.”
“Why do you have to keep me from him? Can’t you see that he is the only thing that keeps me going?”
“I have never cared what you wanted. You have caused so much trouble. When I found out that you were rescued, I had to find out who it was. Can you imagine my surprise when I found out that you were shacked up with a damn dog?”
Christin hadn’t been listening, but she was now. How did he know about Broch? She wanted to ask, but his gloating wasn’t going to take a backseat to anything.
“I haven’t been with anyone, Phillip. I have only been with you my whole miserable life and it was only the once.”
He scoffed like she was a liar and before, Christin would have insisted and begged him to believe her, but she was no longer able to act or be that way with him. Her need to please her husband was long gone, leaving only bitterness in its wake.
“What have you done, Phillip?”
“I have killed some of your mutts, all of the old ones that make all the decisions. They should have never freed you and helped you. Because of their mistake, they will all soon enough die. Every time I find a few of them, I kill them. Sooner or later, I am going to find one that doesn’t have the loyalty of their king and I will end him as well. I will find them soon enough. I am told that he hides with the humans.”
She instantly knew that Phillip was talking about Broch. She wanted to defend him, but at the same time, the more she protested something happening to him, the more Phillip was going to be inclined to do something horrible. She’d learned that he would stop at nothing to destroy her and everything she held dear. Christin didn’t want Broch to be put in that category.
