The thought of Charlie erasing the past few days made his skin crawl. “I don’t want my mind wiped. I can handle the memories.”
Marius held up his hands. “Talk to her about it, not me. You’re her mess. I could take you back but she’s better at it. I can cross dimensions. She can travel time itself. She’s very powerful.”
“I heard one of her other uncles say she’s not supposed to leave Paragon. Why is that?”
Marius scoffed. “Unbelievable. Which brother was that? Did he share the keys to the treasure rooms with you too?”
“There are treasure rooms?”
Marius’s wings stretched and retracted with his annoyance. “It was Colin, wasn’t it? He’s good with military secrets but horrible with personal ones.”
“He didn’t really tell me anything specific. I just overheard him say she needed to be careful.”
“Yes, she does.”
When Marius didn’t expound on the comment, Liam pushed. “Why?”
“It’s not my story to tell.”
“But it’s unsafe for her. She’ll be in danger when she takes me back?”
“Probably not. Not immediately anyway.”
“You’ve got to give me more to go on than that,” he gritted out. Would it hurt her to bring him back? Was Earth’s atmosphere a poison to her? What had she risked to bring him here? But his biggest question was why? Why had she taken such a risk to throw a party?
Marius chuckled as if Liam’s questions came from a curious toddler. “As I said, it’s not my story to tell. If you want to know, you’ll need to ask her.” The dragon reached for the door. “I must excuse myself. Technically I’m supposed to be in there helping her even if she doesn’t need it. A pleasure to meet you, Liam from Earth. Good luck… with whatever you choose to do next.”
Chapter
Fourteen
Charlotte wrapped up her meeting with the Elder Council and gathered her things from the desk, anxious to get back to Liam. But when she moved to rise, Marius nudged her arm.
“I met Liam.”
She sat back down, trying to look innocent. She hadn’t thought Marius even knew who Liam was. She hadn’t mentioned her project to him or that she’d dimension hopped. “You did? When?”
“He was watching you through the door when I arrived.”
“He was?” Charlotte had started the meeting, and Marius had joined halfway through. How long had Liam been standing there?
“He was.” He threaded his fingers on the conference table. “He didn’t seem excited about going back. Can you explain that?”
Leaning back in her chair, she sighed. “I have no idea. He seemed anxious enough to return home this morning.”
“Oh? Because when I spoke with him, he seemed oddly protective of you.”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t think…”
Marius ran a thumb along one pale brow. “He wanted me to tell him why you’re not supposed to leave Paragon.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Thank you.”
“Why does it matter if I told him or not, Charlie?”
