Jakob was already on edge when his guards informed him that the Onyxheim police wished to speak to him.
He met them in his war room and eyed them as they entered. Their uniforms were stiff and spotless, so much so that he wondered if they had donned brand new garments before they approached their king. Two officers. Polite. Careful with their greetings but curious in the way that made his dragon bare its teeth.
“King Jakob Volker?” one of them asked even as he automatically bowed as expected when in the company of royals.
“Yes.”
“We’re looking into a report filed by friends of Mallory MacDougal. She’d been missing from her hotel for the last couple of days and no one had been able to reach her. They suspected that Ms. MacDougal had been with you.”
The way the officer’s face turned red at the insinuations almost made the situation humorous. Jakob knew his reputation played into the words.
“I suspect,” Jakob began and kept his voice neutral and his posture relaxed even though every instinct screamed to drive them away, “that if you check her hotel, she is safely resting in her room.”
The officer nodded and jotted something down. “Understood. However, there is concern because Ms. MacDougal was injured during her absence. We need to figure out what happened and who treated her.”
Jakob’s pulse spiked.
“I took her to a trusted facility,” he said carefully. Not a lie. Just not the truth they meant.
The officers exchanged a glance.
“We’ll need a formal statement,” the second officer said. “Timeline. Locations. Anyone else who had contact with her.”
Jakob inclined his head. “Of course.” He would have to call in some trusted acquaintances to cover the discrepancies. “Whatever you need.”
They nodded and he could almost feel their relief that he cooperated. Obviously they had expected some pushback. As they walked away, his dragon surged, hot and furious beneath his skin.
This is spreading,it warned.This is no longer contained.
Jakob stood there long after the officers disappeared down the hallway while the realization settled heavy in his chest.
Mallory’s absence had been noticed and her friends had gone further than he had expected. Anger at himself flooded through him. He should have anticipated this possibility, but hismind was so tangled up in Mallory that he had totally missed the opportunity to contain the fallout.
And the answers that were sought brushed dangerously close to truths that could never be spoken.
By the time the elders summoned him at dawn, Jakob already knew how deep his trouble ran.
It always did when the guardians were involved.
The mountain cat had watched him from the high rocks the times he showed Mallory places not meant for human eyes. Its silver eyes saw all while its tail flicked in silent judgment. Guardian of thresholds. Keeper of balance. It had not stopped him. Guardians rarely did. It had only shown itself because Mallory tried to access a forbidden area on her own.
They chose to remember instead.
The council ring smelled of incense and condemnation. The stones warm beneath his boots The mountain cat sat at the edge of the circle with its tufted ears angled toward him. Its presence alone told Jakob how deeply he had erred.
“You broke the dragon laws,” the head elder began. “And you were witnessed.”
Jakob’s jaw clenched.
“The guardian spoke,” another elder continued. “It saw you lead the human beyond the marked paths. It saw you bring her into the sacred places.”
Places that should never have known her presence.
“You had no right to take her injuries to our healers.”
That cut deeper than the rest.
“I was protecting her,” Jakob said. “She was injured.”
