“That’s all?!” he cries out as Briony steps out of the bathroom, the slinky green dress I was hoping to remove tonight already gone.
“What’s wrong?” Briony asks.
“I don’t know, Cupcake. I don’t like this.”
“Like what?”
“This mission.”
“Fly, you knew that’s why we were coming to Onyx – to obtain permission to go rescue Fox.”
“Yes, but rescuing Fox is one thing, being ordered to capture Bardin another.”
“There’s no difference,” Kitten says, “there was always a likelihood we’d have to face Bardin. She’s stolen him. I know it.”
“I’ve just got a funny feeling about this. Are you sure you can trust the Empress?”
“Woah, Fly boy. You’re talking treason there.”
The boy chews on his fingernails nervously.
“Of course, we can,” Beaufort snaps. “She’s kept this realm safe for twenty years.”
Fly nods, but even I can see he’s not convinced.
Soon enough, we’re packed up and ready to go.
“You’re really going now?” Fly asks as we all head towards the door. “You shouldn’t, you know, plan this?”
“There’s no time to lose,” little Kitten insists. “We’ll make a plan on the way.”
“I’ll have someone fetch you and take you back to the academy,” Beaufort tells him.
But he won’t let us go just yet, he flings his arms around our mate and squeezes her tight, so tight my wolf growls in warning.
“Keep safe, Cupcake, and don’t do anything stupid.” Then he adds quietly, so that probably I’m the only one who hears other than the Kitten, “Be careful who you trust.”
Then he releases her, sniffing away tears. “You look after her,” he says to the three of us bond brothers, “because if anything happens to her–”
“You’ll what?” I say with amusement.
“I can be sneaky,” he warns, “and I’d make sure it was painful.”
“Understood,” Thorne says, “we’ll keep her safe.”
Briony gives him one last hug goodbye and then we’re running through the palace, retracing our steps and finding ourselves back out in the courtyard under a sky-full of stars.
The dragon’s already there waiting along with the guard who was eyeing up our girl earlier and one or two others.
“Hey dude,” I say, positioning myself firmly between him and our mate. “Where’re our soldiers?”
“They’re being diverted from Blansford. They will meet you at the Halworth border at first light.”
“Halworth,” Beaufort confirms and the guard nods.
“How are we going to get there?” Briony asks.
“Ain’t you going to ride the dragon?” I ask her.
