So was I. As Argent and Auren ambled off, I followed Fern to the main door. The others landed seconds later, their muffled shouts echoing through the night air. The thunder of footsteps let me know my brothers and Lance, were running over to join us.
“We haven’t talked about sleeping arrangements.” Kael’s smug tones were like claws on my skin. “It’s a cool night. Maybe I should ask if Fern wants me to ‘keep her warm’ again.”
“Two bodies can keep her warmer than one,” was Lorien’s reply. “And my bed is nice and big?—”
“Everyone has been assigned a room.” Lance was the one voice of reason in all of this insanity. “And I suggest we go to them. If we’re going to court Fern, we need to do it properly.”
I agreed with him wholeheartedly. As we walked up the stairs, Fern a shadowy shape in the distance, I looked forward to going into my room. My secret place, my sanctum, I needed the familiar sights, smells, sounds, to help reset my rattling heart.
Of course, that wasn’t what happened.
Fern woke me up from a prophetic dream, but it was only now I worked out what it meant. When I saw her about to walk into a place, I assumed it was some part of the Tomb of Terror that she was stumbling into. Instead, she made her way down the end of the hall. My room was on the opposite side. I chose it because being next to one of the guests rooms, it was away from all the noise and clatter of the children. Fern putting her hand on the wrong door shouldn’t have been an issue. I kept my room locked at all times. Children were curious creatures, and they liked to invade my space too often for me to leave it unlocked.
So Fern shouldn’t have been able to twist the knob and push the door open.
“No…” I hissed, the habitual fear of waking the household keeping me quiet. Then I saw her face. Eyes widening, a hand going to her mouth, I could just imagine what she was seeing. “No.” I was striding faster and faster, but she took an unsteady step forward. “Don’t go in there. No!”
Saving Fern from falling to her death, that was an aberration, because it was the only time one of my dreams failed to come true. I was too late. Stumbling into the room, trying to understand the scene before me, it soon became clear why the door was unlocked. Ivy, my sister, had obviously jimmied the lock, but that didn’t explain why she was lying on my bed in just one of my old shirts. Her look of horror, then her grabbing my blankets to cover herself, was not part of my vision.
I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d foreseen this.
“You…” Ivy pointed a finger at Fern, her eyes flicking from the woman standing there and the same person depicted in all of the artworks pinned on the wall. “Every single one of these drawings is of you.” Her blue eyes filled with pain as she stared at me. I understood its nature, if not the reason for it. “It’s her, isn’t it? Argent has found his mate and so she’s the one you’re meant to be with.”
Time to tell your mate the truth, Argent said,and your sister.
“What the hell are you doing in here, Ivy?” Kael snapped, and it wasn’t hard to see the resemblance. Both bastard children of the old duke, though with completely different mothers.
“Kael!” Elsie appeared in the doorway, all bleary-eyed. “Dain… Ivy…?” Her face fell, her disappointment plain. “Oh, you silly girl. Get to your own bed, now.”
Ivy scurried out of the room, but that only resolved one half of the problem.
“What…?” Fern was turning in a circle, scanning the walls and that was wrong, wrong. I didn’t show anyone my drawings, allow any of the family in here. This was the one place in the world where I was free to let it all pour out. The great roiling, thrashing sea serpent of emotion that threatened to swallow me whole. “What is this?”
Tell her.Argent’s tone was uncharacteristically soft.Brother?—
Meet me on the roof, I ordered.
“Dain… Fern…” Elsie said.
“Be a good time for a cup of tea, I reckon,” Barry growled. “We can talk things through and…”
I’ll never know why my brothers tolerated my presence. The reason why I was the last remaining member of my family was because I’d slipped over the wall and out onto the streets beyond before the fire took hold. I’d run then, and I’d run now. Leg over the windowsill and then I was out and on the porch roof. My boots clattered across the wooden tiles, right up until the point I leapt free.
Argent swept in, breaking my fall and flying off as I fought to pull myself into the saddle. I did it though, finally settling back as he flew over the trees.
We had our secret places, my dragon and I. Plenty of times the close atmosphere of the estate got too much for me and we’d come out here. This time it was the scant remains of an old ruin, situated up on a hill. Up here, it was like I could see every star in the sky as I jumped down.
Brother—Argent said.
No.
But—
No.
With a long sigh, the tension started to leave my body. Trouble was shame had been waiting its turn patiently and now it took over. The heels of my hands were pressed into my sockets, my eyes aching in response. I wanted, needed, that pain. It competed with the ache of my own heart, beating too hard, too fast.
Make it stop. I fell to my knees before my dragon. His breath felt hot on my skin, tainted by the stink of rotten meat.Brother?—
