“This is slick,” I said, as my lips curved into a grin. I looked around the lounge. It was seriously a nice place. “Where the hell did you get the money?”
“From King Helmut.”
“You told him?”
“No, I just told him it had something to do with Al and Katie, something they put on this side that we needed to find and ask if he could fund our trip.”
“He believed it?”
“Yes, he was Al’s friend, Blake. What did you think we just skunked off during the night?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
“She is the princess of Paegeia, your rider. This is not a mission just for the two of us.”
“Oh, so you told him the truth?” I was sarcastic.
“Not yet, but when the time comes, he will know. All of them will know.”
“You think they will buy it?”
“You said it yourself. She looks like her father. Besides, she is with Jako, and he is still a royal dragon. Tanya will come forward, too, and you will tell them.”
“Oh, yes, because my word is the law.”
“Blake, you have a say in Paegeia. If you were not my son, things would’ve been a lot different for us.”
“Dad, we don’t get things handed to us, okay? We have it bad, whether I am your son.” I turned around and walked up the stairs. “Where is my room?”
“The first one on the left.”
I rushed up the stairs two at a time and opened the door. A whistle escaped my lips. The huge double bed with dark blue and black bedding took up almost half of the room. A nightstand with a clock radio and a music player lined the right side of the bed close to the walk-in closet that led into a bathroom. What the fuck?
A desk that fitted with the bed lined one wall. I put my bag on the desk.
A dresser sporting hair gel and aftershaves with deodorant stood opposite the desk against the other wall. On top of the dresser was a mother of a radio with speakers.
A Persian rug broke the wooden floor.
I sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed my face. I guessed nobody said we couldn’t live in leisure for a bit.
My mind went back to Elena. I knew that tomorrow, something else would be waiting. I could only imagine the damage the paint left in her locker. A spell would fix that quickly, but it would have to be done later.
Tomorrow I would have to find whatever Chloë planned next, debunk the prank, and not let Elena end up hating me.
How the hell was I going to deal with Chloë Bishop? Sure, the girl was in Tabitha’s category of beauty, but she was twenty times worse than Tabitha. She irritated the living crap out of me.
I wondered if Master Longwei knew where I was? Did my dad speak to him, too? Did my friends at least know that I was with my father?
What the hell were the tabloids saying about this trip?
I missed home. The air smelled wrong here, and constantly trying to hide my scales whenever I got upset wasn’t easy, either. I almost showed them this afternoon when Elena told me I was the reason Chloë did that. Who the hell did she think she was to put a claim on me like that? She would piss herself if she saw my dragon form.
I wanted to laugh, but then Elena’s face jumped into my mind. She would piss herself too and then want nothing to do with me.
I needed to get closer to her. The only way was to have a severe discussion with Chloë and show everyone that nobody would lay a claim on me unless their name was Elena Watkins and we were in the colosseum.
The following day,Jace picked me up again in his jeep. It was sick how much money some humans had. He was a lot like Lucian, but he was nowhere nearly as brave as him. Jace had a snide streak to him. A part of him reminded me a bit about myself. I was a mess, and I couldn’t believe that I would pull Elena into all of this, but she was what she was to me. I had no choice.
