Dragon Blood 4: Knight (2 page)

“We’re leaving this town,” Donna said.

“No, we’re not.” She turned back to Vikki. “I’ve already agreed to my grandparent’s request to give the Knights a chance.”

Vikki stilled. “Grandparents? Charles? You’ve spoken to Charles?”

Amber nodded.

“He’s coming back?”

Amber was surprised by the amount of awe in Vikki’s voice. You’d think she was talking about her favourite movie star. “Yes.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.”

“Negotiations are ongoing,” Ronan said.

Amber nearly smiled. That was a mild word for the arguments.

“These are the dragons you’re negotiating with for his release?”

“I thought he-” Donna started to say.

Amber rounded on her mother. “Mum!” She didn’t want the Knights to know all their business. She turned back to Vikki. “We’re going.”

“What about the dragon bone?” Vikki’s gaze was drawn towards the table.

“You eat it. I’m not interested.” Grabbing her mother’s arm, Amber strode towards the front door.

“You could almost live forever if you had enough,” Vikki called after them.

Amber kept walking, glad to reach the car. “You want me to drive?”

Donna handed over the keys, slumping into the passenger seat.

“I’ll talk to you later, kitten.”
Ronan left through the Void before Amber could reply.

She stared down at her mother for a moment before she closed the door Donna had left open. She was going to be in so much trouble when her mother finally found out that she’d let her grandparents be imprisoned. And she doubted very much that her grandparents would be kind enough to keep that information to themselves. Walking around the front of the car, she slid into the driver’s seat and started the engine.

She’d been right. It had been a terrible end to the school holidays. She thought of Cooper. And the fun obviously wasn’t over. She only hoped that Ronan’s threat of talking to her later would occur much later. Maybe even days later. But she didn’t hold out much hope for that.

Amber clambered into the backseat of Maira’s car, relieved school was over for the day. Lately she’d been wondering why she even bothered with it. After arriving back at Kade’s place last night she’d had to spend hours calming down Cooper. Ronan had dumped him in the lounge room and he’d regained consciousness not long after she’d arrived home. She rested her head on Kade’s shoulder when he got in the back seat with her, Brann getting in the front passenger seat.

Maira started the car once all the doors were closed. “Straight home, Kade?”

“That answer better be a yes,” Amber warned.

Kade smiled. “Yeah.”

She momentarily closed her eyes, yawning. “Actually, on second thought maybe we should just keep driving. Cooper sent me a million texts today and he’s sure to pounce on me the moment we get home.”

“I’ll deal with him,” Kade said.

“You scare him.”

“Everything scares him,” Kade said. “Even you sometimes.”

“Obviously not enough or he wouldn’t be texting and ringing me every other minute, expecting me to tell him what to do. Why would I care if he wears a green shirt or a red one?”

“Tell him the red one will hide fresh blood better,” Kade said.

Amber chuckled. “I doubt that comment would help.” She fell silent, drifting off to sleep to be woken by the car stopping, biting back a groan when she saw Cooper burst out of the house. He stopped mid stride when Ronan appeared out of the Void. “Now what?” She slowly got out of the car, walking towards Ronan, trying to gage his mood.

Ronan’s gaze brushed past Amber before he met her eyes. “You need to talk to your grandparents.”

“Why?”

“Do you have to question everything?”

Okay, so maybe his mood wasn’t much better than hers. She turned to Kade, giving him her schoolbag. “I’ll be back later.” She sent a look towards Cooper who was frozen on the verandah, a terrified expression on his face. “Take care of Cooper for me.” She leaned forward, brushing her lips across Kade’s, her hand resting on his chest.

“Now, Amber.” Ronan’s voice was sharp.

She grinned. “Try not to kill him. I know he’s annoying, but-” she shrugged, turning to Ronan. “Okay.” Drawing the word out, she didn’t have a chance to say anything else. Ronan grabbed her arm, tugged her away from Kade, and took her to his house through the Void. They arrived at his rooftop water garden. She pulled away from him. “What’s going on? Why here?” Last time he’d brought her to this spot it had been to grill her. She wasn’t hiding any secrets from him so what bad news did he have for her this time?

“Your grandparents have offered to hold their peace until the first of next year and not to hunt any of your dragons until after that time. Their wording, not mine.”

Amber grinned. “My dragons, huh?”

“Don’t be smart, Amber.”

“Can we trust them to keep their word?”

“I’ll have them watched.”

She stared at him, trying to figure out his angle. He never did anything for anyone unless it benefited him. “Why?”

“I thought you wanted this.”

“Nice try. Why?”

“You gave them a month of your time. It can’t start until they’re free.”

“Come on, Ronan. I know you never do anything out of the goodness of your heart. I’d be surprised if there actually was any goodness left in it.”

Ronan smiled. “Very good. You’re learning. No dragon does anything unless it benefits them. Don’t you forget that.”

“What do you want, Ronan?” She didn’t even bother to keep the irritation from her voice. There was no point hiding what he could probably see anyway.

“You at my side when I take down the Elder.”

She backed away, holding up a hand. “Oh no. Definitely not.”

Ronan grabbed her hand, stopping her retreat. “He wants you dead.”

She tried to tug her hand from his grip but he wouldn’t let her go. “You can kill him without my help.”

“He tried to kill your people, don’t you want to personally take care of him?”

“No. He failed.”

Ronan tugged her closer, a flash of gold appearing in his eyes. “Once I hand on the proof, things will happen fast. It must be us that take him out. We’re the ones he was after, we have to show strength to all the others who’d climb over us to get the Council position.”

“I’ve been in too many battles.” Again she tried to pull away. “I can’t keep killing people. No more, Ronan.” Her voice dropped, weariness entering it. “No more. Please.”

“You’re a Dragon Mage. Show weakness and you’re dead. You and all your people. Is that what you want, Amber?”

She glared at him. Obviously she was tired if she thought Ronan would show her any mercy.

“Take me to my grandparents.”

“One month, then we take down Tahmid. You and I together.”

“Who?”

“The Elder.”

She continued to hold his gaze, trying to figure out if he told the truth. Yeah, he probably did. He looked far too certain of the outcome.

“You owe me two favours, Amber. And probably one for the help I gave you last night.”

So he’d been trying to get out of using them. Typical “Fine. Take me to my grandparents.”

“One month.”

“Maybe. We’ll see what happens during the next month.” Hopefully nothing, but she wasn’t counting on it. Not with her current luck.

“As soon as possible after the month is up.”

She hesitated a moment longer before she nodded. “Now take me to my grandparents.”

Ronan tightened his grip, taking her through the Void to the door keeping Helen and Charles imprisoned. Letting Amber go, he unlocked the door and after checking inside, waved her in.

What was he doing? She stepped inside, turning to face the door that closed, hearing Ronan lock it. Even though she knew better, she still tried to mentally reach outside the room. As expected, she failed to contact Ronan. Nothing about the room had changed since she’d last been in it. Great. She was locked in a room, alone with her grandparents. Maybe Ronan didn’t really need her and actually wanted her dead.

“About time you got here,” Charles said. “We told him to bring you this morning.”

Amber slowly turned to face the room and her grandparents. They didn’t look like they were out for her blood. Yet. “I had school.”

“Did he explain our terms to you?” Helen asked.

“You can’t expect a dragon to explain things correctly. He’s sure to have changed some things to suit himself. Or left things out.” Charles gestured towards the dinning suite. “Sit down.”

She stared at him for a moment before she walked towards the table and pulled out a chair. Standing beside the chair, she waited. “Aren’t you joining me?”

Helen sat down.

Amber continued to watch Charles until he sat at the table too. She finally sat on a chair. “He said you want me to start my month with the Knights.”

“He said they tried to make you eat dragon bone. At gun point,” Charles said.

She nodded. “Yeah. Vikki Naylor was going to shoot Mum.” She hoped that would make a difference to them. The only one of their descendents that was still human.

Charles turned to his wife. “I wonder if she’s Wallace Naylor’s daughter.”

“It wouldn’t surprise me. He always was a bit of an extremist.”

Obviously a threat to their daughter wasn’t enough to upset them. Maybe a different tactic would work. “She did it to force you to come back to them, Grandma.”

“As if I’d let her force me to rejoin the Knights if I chose not to,” Helen said.

Amber bit back the angry words that threatened to spill. Didn’t they care about anyone else in their family? “What are your terms?”

“We’re returning to Brisbane and the Knights’ headquarters and-”

Amber interrupted Charles. “No.”

“What do you mean no?”

“I didn’t know I’d have to go to Brisbane.”

“You’re the most contrary child imaginable. You’ve spent months moping and complaining that you wanted to go home and now you can, you refuse to go. You were the one who agreed to give the Knights a month to prove themselves. What was all the whinging Donna and I had to put up with about you wanting to go home?”

“It wasn’t months. It was only days. And things have changed. I can’t move until the end of the year.” Kade had to remain in the same town for a year. That wasn’t up until the last day of the year. Nearly three months away.

“You agreed to spend time with the Knights,” Helen said.

“On the weekends,” Amber suggested.

“Eight days is nothing like thirty-one. No deal,” Charles said.

“Friday afternoon until Monday morning. That’s as good as three days,” Amber said.

“That’s twelve days at the most. I’ll accept that if you do thirty-one days three days at a time.”

Amber shook her head. “No way. I hadn’t planned to be with the Knights every single day anyway. I don’t even spend every second of my days with the dragons.” Well, some days she did, but that wouldn’t help her argument. “Besides, I’ve got Topaz the last week of this month and the first week of November.”

“You’re as bad as a dragon.” Helen glared at her. “It’s hard to believe we’re related.”

Amber refused to look away from Helen’s gaze. “I’ve always said that. Glad to see someone’s finally listened and agreed.”

Charles pointed a finger at her. “You will apologise to your grandmother immediately. I won’t have you talking to her like that.”

“She started it.”

“Apologise,” Charles snapped.

Amber rose to her feet. “I’m wasting my time. You’re trying to get more from the deal than you’re entitled to.”

Charles also rose. “You’re the one trying to get out of the bargain you made.”

“What did you expect me to do? Live with the Knights for an entire month?”

“Yes!”

“You what?”

“You heard me.”

Amber shook her head, certain she must have been mistaken. Surely her grandfather hadn’t said she had to live with the Knights. “I have school.”

“Knights are homeschooled. It takes more than a typical education to survive as a Knight,” Helen said.

“I have seven weeks left of school.”

“We’ll wait until then,” Charles said.

Amber didn’t think Ronan would be happy with that plan. She withdrew her phone and sent him a text.
They want me to live with the Knights for an entire month.

Ronan entered the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Helen jumped to her feet, sending a glare Amber’s way. “You called him in here. Traitor!”

“You’re trying to change the terms of the deal,” Ronan said.

“She’s trying to get out of the deal.” Charles pointed a finger in Amber’s direction.

“I’m not. They’re the ones trying to get more from this than they’re supposed to.”

“He isn’t part of these negotiations,” Charles said.

Amber opened her mouth, but Ronan spoke before she could.

“I hold you prisoner. Not Amber. You’re in my care. I was the one who managed the negotiations and I still have a claim on some of Amber’s time.”

“The negotiations were made with something Amber owned,” Charles said.

“She didn’t know the value of what she owned. I helped her get a price she was happy with for the object,” Ronan said.

Amber slammed her hands down on the table. “Stop. It’s simple. I won’t move in with the Knights. It’s not happening. I never agreed to it. It was never even implied. I’ll give them a month. They can have most of my afternoons and from Friday afternoon until Monday morning. That’s it. Nothing more.”

The negotiations continued, each side arguing the other was ripping them off. Eventually an agreement was reached. Amber would spend time with the Knights, giving them three afternoons as well as from Friday afternoon to Monday morning. It would start that weekend and last for six weekends, ending the week before school finished. Amber just hoped that gave her enough time to study for exam week.

Amber paused at the door, turning back to her grandparents. “Don’t forget you’re not to tell Mum you were imprisoned here.”

“As if I’d want anyone to know my own granddaughter had done that to us.” Helen almost spat the words at her.

“I’ll see you Friday.” She slipped out the door, waiting for Ronan to join her, locking the door behind himself. “Can you take me home now?”

“Why did you call me to negotiate for you?”

“Because I knew you could get a better deal than I could.”

Ronan smiled. “So you owe me a favour.”

She wasn’t about to owe him another favour when it looked like she’d soon be out of his debt. “No. It was only because you had a claim on my time once the Knights were finished with me and I knew you wouldn’t want to wait any longer than you had to.” She grinned when he glared at her for throwing his words back at him.

“You expect me to believe it was for my benefit.”

“Of course it was. Hadn’t you not long finished telling me you were letting them go early because you wanted me to finish up with them sooner?”

Ronan didn’t bother answering. He grabbed her arm and took her through the Void, leaving her on Kade’s doorstep before he disappeared. Amber grinned, deciding to take that as a victory against Ronan. She planned to enjoy it since it was probably an extremely rare occurrence.

“Amber?”

Her smile disappeared as Cooper opened the front door. So much for enjoying it. “What?”

“Are you coming inside?” His gaze searched the area “Has Ronan gone already?”

“Yeah.” She pushed past him to step into the lounge room. The sooner she finished with the Knights the sooner she could remove the threat from Coopers’ life so he could get out of hers. She ignored the little voice that told her that getting rid of two problems wouldn’t stop others from forming.