Another twitch of his mouth.“Whining won’t serve you either.”
“Well, I deserve to whine.A little.”
The coil of edgy energy she felt coming off him when he’d driven past the dojo was gone.He leaned back in his seat, his left hand draped over the top of his steering wheel.On the underside of his arm was a scar that looked like an elongatedV.
“Where are we going?”she asked.
“To my place.I have a soundproofed room there, too.”
“It’s not a castle, is it?”
“My castle, I suppose.The Dragon Prince had a castle?”
She picked up the book, which had slid to the floor when Cyntag manhandled her.“Yes, where he kept her prisoner.”Panic speared her as she recalled her fears when he’d caught her in his office.“I can leave your house whenever I want, right?”Reading about Garnet’s imprisonment had always given her a claustrophobic feeling.
“You may leave.But only with me.”
Augh.He did sound like the Dragon Prince.
He took an exit and drove through one of the many not-so-nice areas.Bars on the windows of businesses, people loitering outside.The area was run down and dirty.Soon, though, they were downtown, passing through the touristy area where the cruise ships docked.
As they continued, they passed a park and several marinas, definitely a nicer area.The cars were fancy and expensive, the kind she usually only saw at the resto Yard in a decimated state.Coral Gables maybe.She didn’t venture toward the coast much.A lot of the houses were Mediterranean or Spanish style, all large with yards filled with flowers and trees.
“Won’t this bad person who sent demons know where you live?”she asked.
“Not easily.It’s hidden, too, under layers of corporations.When you’re as old as I am and you hold power, others want it.”
“They…wantit?”He paused, and she knew he was considering whether she could handle whatever it was.“Just tell me.It can’t be any worse than anything else you’ve told me… or that I’ve seen.”She hesitated.“Can it?”
“Dragons can take the power of another Dragon.”
She snorted.“Well hey, they can have my power.”
“You have to die first.”
“Okay, maybe not.”
“It’s called Breathing Dragon.”
“That’s what you and Jack were talking about.But that’s murder.”
“Long ago, the Concilium decreed that no Dragon should kill for the sole purpose of attaining another’s power.It works as well as the Mundanes’ laws about murder and theft does.”
“Oh, great.So there might be people after me just for my power.”
“The good thing is that you’ll have little, at least in the beginning.You’re a mere morsel.”His gaze drifted down her for a second.
She felt a shiver move across her body.“That is not comforting, not that you’re a comforting kind of guy.”But he’d brushed her hair from her face… said he was sorry.And she’d nearly let herself fall against him.Idiotic thing to do.
“I’m not here to comfort you, Ruby.I’m here to train you to defend yourself.To teach you to fight.And to keep you alive.”
She didn’t want to be a morsel.“But that’s not why I’m being targeted now, is it, this power breathing thing?”
“No, a Deuce cannot take your power.As soon as we get you up to speed, we’re going to find out what the hell is going on.”
He pulled up to a gated entrance.Thick, green hedges blocked the view of what lay beyond a bit more effectively than the detailed iron gates that slowly opened.She’d refinished a set of gates like these years ago for one of her regular customers.Cyntag’s were even more ornate, topped with spikes that discouraged someone from climbing over.
Her chest tightened as he drove up to a beautiful home, a mixture of contemporary design and wood.And in that house, everything was going to change.Shewas going to change.
