Roman curses and lowers that crossbow of his, the way it glows blue reminding me of its dragon-killing magic. I gasp in horror as it morphs back into his Order ring. At least two of those bolts hit Connor. Is he dead? Frantically, I search for the bond deep within me. Nothing. No. No. No. No. But then, as if someone throws a switch, I feel him. Pure agony pours into me and I have to white-knuckle the seat to keep from curling in on myself. Connor’s hurt, but he’s alive. My breath comes in pants as Roman sits down beside me and buckles in, thumbing that deadly ring.
“You look pale,” he says through his teeth, and I know one thing for certain in that moment: I absolutely can’t allow him to know what Connor means to me. “Something upsetting you?”
I see the question for what it is—a test. “Of course I’m upset!” I grab his hand. “I’ve been a prisoner forweeks, and a dragon almost ate our helicopter. Are you sure it’s gone?”
He studies me for what feels like a very long time. “It won’t be back. Those bolts I shot it with are poisonous. With any luck, it’s already dead.”
I look away from him, out the side of the helicopter, to hide my eyes. I’m fighting back tears with everything in me.
He threads his fingers into mine. “Relax, Fiona. I have you now. We’re going home.”
I force a grateful smile onto my face and then hug him like he’s my hero.
Alex appears in my head, slow clapping.An Oscar-worthy performance. Keep it up. Connor’s going to need all the information you can obtain while you’re undercover.
Days ago, I offered to allow Roman to take me. I wanted Connor to use me as a spy for the Zodiac Brotherhood. This wasn’t what Connor wanted for me, and I wouldn’t be here by choice. But now that I am in this position, I need to play the part until Connor finds a way to rescue me. He’s not dead. I can feel him on the other end of our bond. And once he’s healed, he will come for me. Nothing will keep him from me.
The helicopter lands at a small, private airport, and Roman leads me by the hand to his jet. I’ve flown with him before, but everything feels different now. We buckle in, and I go to work on planMake Roman Believe I Love Him.
“What took you so long to find me?” I load my shaking voice with all the fragility of a damsel in distress.
He sighs. “Nothing about the property where he washolding you is connected with dragons. Once you were able to get a message to me, I traced the IP address of that computer you were using and then narrowed the location down to that lodge in Wyoming. It took a few days to put together a plan. I knew if you were getting messages out, he was monitoring them. Sending them in the wrong direction worked like a charm.”
I fight to keep the sadness and guilt from my expression. Connor gave me the WiFi password so that I could see that Roman hadn’t reported me missing, and what did I do with that information but immediately message Roman. In doing so, I gave him a map to our door. Now that he knows about the lodge, Connor won’t ever be able to use it as a safe house again. “But why didn’t you just negotiate with them from the start?”
He doesn’t answer me. The stewardess comes by and hands him a gin and tonic. She asks me what I want, and I say water. Alcohol is out of the question. I have to keep my mind clear.
“She’ll have a chardonnay,” he tells her.
The stewardess nods and brings me a chardonnay. No water. An urge to argue and ask again for water rises in me. Being with Connor has awakened a fire in me that desperately wants to burn. But old Fiona would never challenge Roman, and my life and my future with Connor depends on me proving I am the docile, obedient creature I was on that altar.
“Thank you,” I say sweetly, as if I couldn’t possibly expend the mental energy to know what I’d like to drink.
“Where’s your ring?” he asks, noticing mybare finger.
I glance down at my hands. “He took it. I never saw my wedding dress again either after the first day.”
“Did he”—his eyes trace me from head to toe—“spoil you?”
Spoil me. If he only knew. “Do you mean did he rape me? No.”
“Good. Dragons can be brutes. You’re lucky to be alive.”
I sip my wine. “But Roman, if you knew that, why didn’t you negotiate for me?” I wipe under my perfectly dry eyes and make my voice sound small and upset. “The dragon kept asking me about the Order and about a woman named Lucy Vale. I didn’t know what to tell him. I thought he was going to hurt me.”
Roman’s eyes go darker still. “I told you, Fiona, I do not negotiate with dragons. As for the Saint’s Order, I planned to tell you everything you needed to know once we were wed. It’s sensitive information. You of all people know the importance of keeping a secret society secret.”
“Of course I do, but?—”
His phone chimes, and he raises it to his ear, mumbling a greeting as he unbuckles himself and disappears through a door to his office area. I don’t see him again until we begin our descent.
It’s late by the time we land and take a private car to a mansion on the coast of Rhode Island that Roman calls home. Althoughhomeis a strong word for one of over a dozen places around the globe where he sometimes stays. I once had dinner at his flat in Paris, but I’ve never been here. I now know that all those places are in the Order registry. If a dragon sets foot on this property, theOrder has the right to capture or kill them. That won’t stop Connor though. Nothing will stop him.
The hair on the back of my neck stands on end when Roman guides me directly to a bedroom. “This is our room,” he says. “Shower. I’ll have the butler lay out fresh clothes for you. Then we can talk over dinner. I know you must have so many more questions for me.” His gaze turns dark. “And I have a few for you.”
I look around the room, at his things on the bureau, and ask, “Will we be staying together then?” We’ve never slept in the same bed before. He always claimed he wanted to wait until we were married.
He brushes my hair back from my face and tucks it behind my ear, and I smile wider to keep from flinching at his touch. “Premarital relations are forbidden by the Order. They make us vulnerable.” I try to disguise the relief that I feel at those words. “However...” His fingers trail along my neck, down to my collarbone, and dip between my breasts. “I think after everything, we’ve waited long enough. Our not being legally married is a technicality that I plan to rectify as quickly as possible. We will share a bed.”
