Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 91243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91243 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
But leaving me locked in this room without Rosie is torture.
I try talking to Lady, but the house AI doesn’t respond. All I get is a curt, “Voice signature denied.” And nothing after that.
I don’t know how much time passes. Maybe only a few minutes or maybe a few hours. But eventually, the door unlocks with an audible click. I’m on my feet as it opens and Lucy comes inside carrying Rosie in her arms.
I run over and take my daughter. Rosie’s perfectly happy and totally unharmed. She squirms as I kiss her and cry, telling her I’ll never let anyone take her from me ever again, but she has no idea what I’m talking about.
“Thank you for bringing her to me,” I say, letting Rosie crawl onto the floor beside me. She pulls herself up and starts to cruise around the edge of the bed. I wipe my face, trying to gather myself together.
Lucy stays near the door. “How did you find him?”
“Bad luck.”
“Do you know who he is?”
“I didn’t at first, but he told me.”
She nods slowly. I can’t tell if she’s unhappy. It’s more like she’s curious. “I told him we should’ve kept her from you for longer. But he was insistent that I bring her here.”
I pull back, staring. “That’s disgusting.”
She shrugs and looks at her phone. “It’s about the least disgusting thing I’ve authorized today, actually, but feel how you want to feel. Mass has a soft spot for you, even still.” Her eyes flip up to mine. “Despite everything.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The man in that room is valuable. You have no idea how valuable he is.”
I say nothing. I only glare at her. This woman wanted to keep Rosie from me just to punish me for breaking some unspoken rule. I shouldn’t have gone into that room, but that’s no excuse for abject cruelty.
Lucy leaves. The door locks behind her. Having Rosie here with me eases some of the tension a little bit. At least I know she’s safe for now.
But I start to spiral.
What if Mass decides I can’t be trusted?
He’s been hiding the missing Dragon all this time. That’s an enormous secret. The five Dragons aren’t exactly enemies, but they rarely work together.
It’s unheard of for one to protect another.
Dragon power works because the position is held only by the strong. I can understand why Elias feels like he can’t go back out into the world. Whatever happened in Medved’s attack clearly nearly broke him.
But what does Mass get out of this? Why keep Elias around at all? Mass could kill the old man and install one of his own people in the position instead. Heck, even Lucy could step into the role. She’d make a good Dragon, and there have been female Dragons before.
Instead, he’s protecting Elias.
I try to distract myself with Rosie. She’s in a good mood at least, but the longer we’re trapped in the bedroom, the more likely it is she’ll get hungry or need to be changed. All her things are in the nursery and all her favorite pouches are in the kitchen.
But we’re not left alone for long. The door unlocks again and Mass comes inside. He doesn’t close it behind him, but he stands between me and the exit. He stares, his face cold and distant, and I want to scream at him for this.
How could he lock me up again? How could he drag me out of that room?
Why the hell is he hiding a damn Dragon?
“Massie!” Rosie stumbles from the bed. I stare in horror and pure joy as she releases herself from her cruising and takes three steps toward Mass, teetering the whole way.
She stumbles. Of course she does. These are her first steps. Pride, excitement, and terror swell, and I can’t make myself move as she pitches forward.
Mass catches her. He reaches out and snatches her before she can hit the floor. He’s laughing as he hoists her into the air, tossing her up once and catching her. Rosie snuggles against him, grinning like a maniac and laughing too, and then I’m on my feet, smiling despite everything. I reach out, and Mass hands Rosie over.
“Good job, little girl,” I say, hugging her tightly. “Oooooh, I’m so proud of you!” She squirms, giggling, clearly not aware of what’s going on until I finally put her down.
She goes back to cruising.
The tension leaks from the room. Mass comes over and sits on the edge of the bed. Slowly, I get up and join him. Our knees are touching, and his shoulders are hunched. I can tell this is weighing on him heavily.
“Elias told me what you two spoke about.”
“Is that where you were?”
He nods tightly. “I had to be sure.”
“Sure about what?”
A painful emotion flashes across his face. He doesn’t respond directly to my question. “Elias has been in my life for a very long time. We met when I was on the verge of becoming what I am now. He didn’t help me back then, but he also didn’t stand in my way when I killed the previous Dragon and took his power for my own. We formed something like a partnership after that, but he was in the middle of his own struggle against Medved. When that went south, I stepped in and saved Elias, but he’d been…” He trails off, frowning deeply, shoulders hunched.