Chapter 5

Chapter Five

T he next morning, Hayley yawned as she finished her breakfast in the kitchen and accidentally knocked her mug over. "Damn it."

She quickly mopped up the tea, grateful that Denise had already rushed off for a meeting about an upcoming children's event.

When tired, Hayley became all thumbs and slightly more clumsy. The night before, everyone had come over and introduced themselves at the Dragon's Nest. It'd been great to meet so many new people, and yet trying to keep everyone's name and face straight had drained her. She hated not being able to place someone later, even if nobody expected her to memorize the entire clan in a day or two.

Yawning again, she brought her dishes to the sink and washed them. When done, she checked her phone and read a few messages. Even when delegating her cases, she'd offered to advise and consult when needed.

Noticing the time, she squealed, grabbed her coat, and raced out the front door. She'd only taken a few steps when Nathan came into view. He raised his brows in question, and she said, "Sorry. I got caught up with work and lost track of time."

"Let's just hurry up and head toward the great hall."

She studied him for a second, trying to judge his mood. "Are you still angry about last night?"

"I wasn't angry."

"Are you sure? You glared the entire time I did karaoke with Lucien."

He shrugged but said nothing else.

Hayley huffed. "I invited you to join us, but you declined. You had your chance."

"I don't do karaoke."

"So you say. But you never did tell me what you do for fun."

"This and that."

She wanted to growl, but restrained herself. "You're impossible, you know?"

"A little."

Too tired to try anymore, Hayley merely took in Stonefire's great hall in the distance. It reminded her of a medieval hall, taller than it was wide, and made of stone. According to Kai and Bram, there were a series of rooms and passages beneath it.

Since it was related to work, she dared to ask, "Just how many floors are below ground?"

"Four, as far as I know. In addition to the areas used for emergency evacuations, there are some secret hallways and passages, ones every teenager tries to find but rarely does."

"Hmm, no doubt they're looking for places to snog."

"Maybe. But there's some glory in it too. One boy found a new secret room about thirty years ago, and to this day, people still clap him on the back about it."

"What's his name? Maybe I'll have to ask him some questions."

"Why? Are you out to be the first human to find a new secret room or passage?"

"Perhaps. Not for the glory, but there could always be more records or artifacts waiting to help us understand dragon-shifter history better."

He grunted. "Now you sound like that human archaeologist. What's his name? Oh, that's right—Max Holbrook."

Hayley nodded. "I attended one of his lectures in London, and it was fascinating. But I'd only want the records, though. He could study anything else, provided Bram gave his permission."

"Even if you found some records, any old ones would be hard to read, maybe even completely illegible. Especially if they're written in the dragon language of Mersae."

"Ah, but that's where you come in. Last night, someone mentioned you helped scan the old texts from the library and created a program to read the nearly illegible parts. That's brilliant and should be a huge asset for our project."

He shrugged one shoulder. "I created the program as a favor for my stepmum."

Hayley studied Nathan's profile, trying to read him. But he definitely wasn't one of those men who preened and reveled in praise, which was yet another layer to the dragonman.

She was thinking of how to understand him better—for their working relationship, of course—when they reached the giant main door to the great hall. And once they stepped inside, into the main open space, she twirled around to take in the ceiling and all the tapestries on the walls.

The arched structure of the ceiling was stunning, and the faded but still pretty colors of the woven art pieces made Hayley want to study them for days. From a quick glance, she noted dragons in the air fighting other dragons, dragons holding a gathering with humans, and lots of other scenes with only dragons or a combination of dragon and human forms. One caught her eye, though. It had a dragon bowing its head and a human woman laying her forehead against the snout. "Who are they?"

She gestured, and Nathan's gaze followed. He said, "Legend says those two were the first human and dragon-shifter mates on Stonefire, over a thousand years ago."

"And? Was it a love match? A political alliance that turned into more? Was she kidnapped and forced to mate him?"

Nathan's gaze never moved from the tapestry. "No one knows for sure. Any records from that time have never been found. But the romantics say it was a political alliance between a local king offering his daughter to the dragon leader of Stonefire. They were strangers at first, but eventually fell in love and had more children than was normal, given medical science at the time."

"Normal being?"

"One or two. The story goes they had ten."

"Ten! I can't even imagine having that many now, let alone back then, given the risks to humans birthing dragon babies until recently."

His eyes roamed the scene. "Personally, I think the story was built up and eventually used to calm human fears about mating a dragon-shifter."

"So you're not one of the romantic believers?"

His gaze remained fixed on the far wall. "Love is great until it isn't."

She opened her mouth to ask for more details, but Nathan walked across the room, toward the back area. "Come on. We can enter the underground section this way."

After pushing up her glasses, Hayley followed. It took everything she had not to ask for details about Nathan's past love life.

Thankfully, they entered an old set of stone stairs, and not falling down them took all of her concentration. Down, down, down they went, one flight after another, until they had to be rather far underground. That's when Nathan finally stopped in front of an old door, took out a giant key, and unlocked it. "This is where we'll start—the known old records area. Once we go through the ones here, we can go looking for any others."

"But wouldn't it make more sense to find as many as possible in a day or two and then sort through them at the same time? It'd streamline the process better."

"It's going to take a lot of time to go through what's inside here. Come see for yourself."

Once Hayley walked into the room, her jaw dropped open. Bookcases both lined the walls and formed a maze within the large space. There had to be at least fifty or sixty of them, holding thousands upon thousands of records. Even though she'd explored extensive collections in London, this was different. After all, these were all related to Clan Stonefire.

She murmured, "I forget sometimes just how long your clan has lived here."

"More than a thousand years, at least." He gestured around the room. "Well? Do you agree we should start here?"

"That depends. Is there any sort of catalog for the items already in this room?"

"I think so. I'll have to ask Delphine Gray, though. She's in charge of the clan records and library."

"Well, then I still vote for record hunting until we get that information. Otherwise, it'll be the equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack and we'll waste a lot of time."

"I suppose. I guess I should've thought about that."

"Don't worry about it. This was all sprung on you rather quickly, and then I kept you out late last night. There wasn't exactly a lot of time to ask questions or think about what we might need." She faced him. "So? Do you have a map of the rooms we should search?"

"In my head. Like most of the younger clan members, I spent a lot of time down here."

"To kiss and make out?"

"No. For drills and classes. We always have to be prepared for an attack, and the children need to know what to do in an emergency."

Hayley didn't like thinking about young dragon-shifters learning how to hide from enemies. But it wasn't as if she were a soldier who could go and fight bad guys. All she could do was what she did best—work with the law.

She replied, "Well, since your memory is my map, you're going to accompany me. Where should we start?"

"This floor has some of the oldest sections, so we'll stay on it. Come on. There is a series of smaller rooms through that door."

They wasted no time in going through one room and then the next. Both rooms were cluttered with boxes and supplies, as if tossed together in a hurry. The third small room, though, was neat and tidy, complete with a small bed, desk and chair, and a fireplace. "This room is still being used, isn't it?"

"Yes. There's a roster of volunteers for the night watch, and this is where they stay."

"Night watch? Why do you need one of those?"

"There are a lot of valuables down here, and until a few years ago, there was a problem with stealing. Whilst most of the thieves were banished from the clan, the tradition stayed. It also gives those in their late teens and early twenties a chance to better know their history, or so says Bram and the clan teachers."

"You don't think it's a good idea?"

"I think security cameras would be better, but outsiders are rarely allowed down here, and Bram doesn't want to risk the dragon hunters finding a way to get the footage and steal even more from us."

Hayley racked her brain for the latest she knew about the dragon hunters, which wasn't much.

However, before she could ask for more information, something on the fireplace mantle caught her eye. A design was carved into the stone, but there was a dark ring around a circular portion, almost like a border. She walked up and stared at it. "Did some of this get replaced?"

"No. It's all original, as far as I know."

She pointed. "Then why is this part different?"

Nathan moved closer and peered at the piece. He pushed it with his forefinger, and everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The fireplace twirled quickly before clicking into place, leaving them in complete darkness. The air was also musty. "What the…?"

Nathan touched her shoulder. "Stay here."

"Wait, don't leave me alone!"

"It'll be for just a minute. I see a candle and matches on the far side of the room. That way you can see too."

She nearly reached out to take his hand, but resisted. She didn't like small, dark spaces, but she wasn't a child. Besides, she had to work with the dragonman. She didn't want to give him, or Bram, any reason to send her home so soon after arriving.

And even though she heard Nathan's footsteps, her heart raced and her palms began to sweat. She'd been in a much smaller place as a child. And…

No. She couldn't go there. She just couldn't. Besides, they should be able to get out the same way they came in. She just had to hold it together for a few more minutes.

Nathan's footsteps finally stopped. It felt like an hour had passed, but it could only have been a few seconds before a match flared to life and Nathan lit a candelabra of candles.

Haley blinked against the sudden light and noticed the space was much bigger than she'd thought. Unlike the original room they'd been inside, this one was about four times as big, with doors going somewhere on two of the walls. "Tell me you know where we are."

"I wish I could."

She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again. "Well, maybe if we push the button on the mantle again, we'll swing back. Let's try it."

She whirled around, quickly found the button, and pushed it. Despite the audible click, nothing happened.

So she pushed it again and again. But still nothing.

Nathan finally reached her side. "Let me try it with some extra help."

He pushed the button and shoved against the mantle with his shoulder. After trying five more times, he cursed and walked a few feet away.

Hayley could only stare at the button, her mind trying to catch up to their situation. She finally found her voice and asked, "Are we really stuck in here?"

She placed a hand on her throat, swallowed, and looked around the room. Not a window in sight, and suddenly she yearned to see the overcast skies of the Lake District.

Rubbing her neck with her fingers, she tried to justify that the room wasn't that small. Not compared to other places. It was definitely bigger than the trunk her cousin had shoved her into as a child.

Nathan's voice, softer than normal, cut through her thoughts. "Hey, we'll find a way out."

"How are you so sure?"

"I don't see any dead bodies. That's a positive sign."

She glared. "That is not helping."

"Isn't it? I, for one, am grateful we don't have to smell that."

"Do you have a modicum of charm, maybe buried deep down? Because thanks to you, I'm going to keep thinking about being stuck in here, dying, and stinking up the place for the next poor soul who ends up triggering that button."

Nathan scanned the room and gestured toward one of the doors. "Come on. You wanted an adventure, so it looks like you got one. Who knows, maybe there's an exit somewhere."

After taking a few deep breaths, Hayley focused on the doors. There was still a chance they wouldn't end up being trapped until they died.

Although try as hard as she could, her feet wouldn't move.

The dragonman walked over and put out a hand. "We'll find a way out, I promise."

She searched his eyes. While it was a sort of platitude, the fact he was trying to help her pushed down some of her anxiety. Placing her hand in his, he squeezed gently, and more tension left her body. "Okay."

"Right, then let's start searching."

And so they headed for one of the doors.