Chapter Fifteen

"My next step is to receive the rest of the reports from the day watch, read their notes, work on a plan and then check in with the night watch via Gren," Det told her. "Gren will also relay messages from and to the other Council members, so they know what to expect."

Loralie was impressed. Det really did seem to know what he was doing with all these warriors and others, along with their dragons, reporting to him. Then his wording made her think twice.

"Other Council members?" She looked back at him, frowning a tiny bit. Had he meant to imply that he was on the Council?

"As Captain of the Guard, I have held a seat on the Council of Elders for decades. I thought you knew that," he said, stunning her with the news. No wonder the youngster—mage though he be—deferred to Det.

She shook her head. "I didn't know," she replied. "We never really talked much about our lives or work." This was where she had to be crafty to get him to reveal more. "I know you said there were mages in your enclave. Do they all defer to the Council as Michael did to you?"

"The mages and seers are represented on the Council. They have their own hierarchy too. But my House is a bit more exalted than most. My grandmother leads the Council. And, until my little brother married and took on the role of liaison from our enclave to the King of Valdis, he also sat on the Council as Scout Captain, so House Adain had three members on the Council until recently. No other House had so many at one time. Ever."

"That is impressive. I didn't know you were so well connected with the leadership of your people. I'm glad. Especially since it means Petr and Penny will have your House to protect them," she said, her voice quiet but her emotions strong.

"Our children are well protected, not only by the folk of my House, but by their heartmates. Petr's Nefflindarr is a bit younger than Penny's Leasharra, but they are already fast friends. And they look out for the children as only dragon heartmates can. Leasharra is learning the way of it from the snow dragons, but honestly, she's a natural. I know Draconian dragons usually only choose to partner with male fighters, but if Lea has her way, her fellows will be rethinking that decision in the not-too-distant future. Once Penny and she grow up a bit, I suspect they'll be going back to visit Lea's family occasionally, and they're probably going to shake up those other dragons quite a bit." He was smiling as he contemplated the future of their daughter.

Loralie couldn't even imagine Penny embarking on such a long and potentially perilous journey. She was still so little. But Det's words evoked an image of an older Penny, taking on the world.

A pang in her heart made her wish she could live to see that. Penny would be such a brave young woman as she'd been an incredibly brave girl.

"Thank you for taking her in and making sure she is safe," Loralie said impulsively. "I couldn't warn you or ask you. I just hoped—knew, really—that you would be good to her."

"Of course," he replied, his tone easy, though his gaze darkened. "She is my daughter."

And, just like that, things were back to being uncomfortable between them. Not that it had ever really changed. Except for those mindless minutes when she'd been kissing him, Loralie still felt on edge around him.

She went back to her watch of the manor while he seemed to be communicating with his dragon partner and making notes on a parchment he'd had in his saddlebags. He had a map of the area rolled out on the fur, and he was poring over it, making notations.

They spent the rest of the day like that. Det would keep watch with her from time to time, pointing out troop movements that weren't quite so obvious to her untrained eye. She realized she was learning from him, and how out of her own element she was with this sort of thing. Why she'd thought she could ever do this alone began to puzzle her.

Oh, she could do the confrontation with Gebel without any help at all. She was a superior mage after all. Though Gebel had secret knowledge from a despicable source. He could surprise her in the end, which was why she was taking nothing for granted. Still, once she was face-to-face with Gebel, he should be very, very afraid. She had righteous rage built up over these past years on her side, and she would let him have it all.

The trick was getting Gebel alone. Her goal was to make it into his stronghold and corner him somewhere where they wouldn't be disturbed by his guardsmen. It seemed right that Det was here to help. She felt it down deep and saw the wisdom of it as he clearly demonstrated how well-suited he was to this kind of work. Whereas she had little experience, and less knowledge of how fighting men went about their tasks.

About an hour before dark, Det packed up his parchment and re-rolled the map. He sat quietly with her as they watched the comings and goings far below. He pointed out the changing of the guard and the differences in guard postings made on the night watch versus the day complement. She realized she would have noted the most obvious differences, but not all of them. Feeling a bit stupid, she admitted as much to him.

"I need to get Gebel alone for this to work," she said. "And I confess, I would not have noted all the subtle nuances of the guard positions or the number and quality of his fighters without your input. Thank you."

Det was grinning when she looked over at him. A rather smug grin, at that.

"So, you finally admit it. I do have my uses," he said, teasing in his tone and dancing in his gorgeous blue eyes.

She couldn't help but answer him with a smile of her own. He was so handsome and particularly appealing when he was being lighthearted, which wasn't very often these days from what she had seen so far. She was, no doubt, to blame for his somber moods. She'd hurt him so badly when that had never been her intent.

"I've always thought you were useful," she quipped back. "You know, for things like reaching objects on high shelves, lifting heavy parcels, taking out the refuse, and removing spiders from my presence. Manly stuff like that."

He guffawed, though he kept it low, lest they be heard. She felt proud that she could make him laugh like that, deep and true. She suspected he didn't laugh like that often.

"Surely, I'm good for other things as well," he teased, the light in his eyes turning seductive in a flash of blue.

Ignoring his leading comment, she left her watch post and began to gather her things. This was not the time or place, and it was starting to get windy, which made it feel that much colder. The sun had disappeared behind a mountain peak not long ago, and she knew from bitter experience that the temperature would only drop from here. It was time to get back inside and set up her camp for the night before the natural light faded completely. She had to light the lanterns and get her cookfire going again from the embers she had banked this morning. Hopefully, they still held some life, or she'd have to start over.

Det, thankfully, followed her lead and let her off the hook. He helped her pack up her things and carried the heavy fur for her as they made their way stealthily back to the hidden entrance to the cave he had found. Gren was there, as was another snow dragon and her heartmate.

Loralie went inside, preferring not to tempt fate by encountering someone who might hold a poor opinion of her, while Det met with the man, who had several rolled up parchments in his hands. When Det finally came into the cave a few minutes later, he had the parchments and put them to one side, then quietly helped Loralie with the chores of making the cave more comfortable for the night.

She would share dinner with him, but if he expected anything more, he was going to have to think again, she decided early on. She could not give in to temptation and make love to him all night long as her traitorous body so wished to do. She could not allow her heart to awaken and fall in love with him all over again. She simply could not do the things she needed to do if she allowed herself to think about him and all they had been to each other and still could be to each other. She could not.

But, oh, how she wanted to do all those forbidden things.

They ate dinner from the provisions he had brought. A good dinner. She wasn't scrimping and saving rations now that she knew the confrontation must come tomorrow. She could very well die tomorrow, and she'd need all her strength to face Gebel and defeat him. That started with food and a good night's sleep, if she could possibly get that under such rustic conditions.

But she had been sleeping rough for a long time in her attempts to stay clear of Gebel and his master. She'd lived in a lot of caves these past few years, moving often and staying one step ahead of pursuit. It had been a hard life, but it had served its purpose. Penny, her dear child, was safe now. And now, finally, Loralie would end this nonsense, once and for all.

Det settled before the fire after they'd eaten a hearty meal and read through the daily reports from all the scout posts. They had noted times and positions of guard movements, and he found it fascinating to see that the mage and seer had noted much different things from the Scouts. The mage had noticed a fluctuation in magical energy coinciding with high noon as the sun reached its apex. He had also noted fluctuations at other times of the day, corresponding with its quarters. So, at nine, three, and six of the clock, there had been power dips.

Det brought this to Loralie's attention, reading her the salient parts of the report, then read the seer's report, which had very plain and random observations until the very end. At that point, the seer had noted a quasi-vision. Det read her the exact words.

"He says he saw a blonde woman in red standing in front of an orange and red flame that had the wings of a dragon. The woman was directing magical energy at something or, perhaps, someone." Det looked up to meet her gaze across the campfire.

"Well, I do have a red dress, and I was planning to wear it tomorrow. It's the only thing left that's clean, presentable, and warm enough for the trek down to the manor house." She shrugged.

She did not mention that the gown had been one of her mother's ceremonial gowns. Loralie only wore it when she was working great magics.

Still, she honestly didn't know what to make of the seer's words. She had long thought about burning Gebel to the ground, but she wasn't sure she had enough fire in her to do it properly. Theirs would be a mage battle. Power would be lobbed around between the two that would be mostly invisible to non-mages. She had more natural mage ability than Gebel, but he had forbidden knowledge and an ancient ally who might have taught him things that Loralie would find difficult to counter. She thought through the seer's words.

"The flame shouldn't be behind me," she mused. "I plan to throw fire at Gebel and burn his manor down around him, should that prove necessary. In fact, either way, you should make sure that house is destroyed so that it would be almost impossible to rebuild. Leaving it alone was a mistake on your people's part. You should have demolished it so nobody could move in as easily as Gebel did."

"A valid point," Det allowed, dipping his head to the side in acknowledgement of her words. "I should have made certain it was done, but the Council was just relieved when the previous tenants finally left."

Loralie didn't respond to that, merely nodding. He knew they should have done something. It was enough that he realized it.

"The fire behind you could be more than just fire," Det mused after a moment. "It could be an actual dragon."

She'd thought about that but wasn't convinced. "I'm not sure any dragon would back me up in such a way. I did some pretty awful things to dragons, in particular."

"If Gren is any indication, they're willing to give you the benefit of the doubt after hearing Leasharra's testimony. But you're right, they're not ready to flame you on sight, but I'm not sure they're as comfortable as backing you up in a mage battle just yet."

"Probably not ever," Loralie agreed. "And I don't blame them. I've always only been a solo act. I have never had a partner in magic, so I'm not sure how I would do with magical backup." She shook her head. "Better to go with what I know best. I will face Gebel on my own and not look for support from anyone other than myself. That's the role of the Guardian. There's only ever been one Guardian at a time, and she always acted alone. At least as far as I ever heard."

"Well, what do you make of the power fluctuations reported by the mage?" Det asked after a few moments of companionable silence.

"I find that very interesting. I know the protections of the Citadel fluctuate a bit with the sun and moon cycles. It's not quite as precise as what your mage observed, but there is a definite cycle at times. This time of year, it is more pronounced, so perhaps that is why Gebel's power source appears to be cycling. If he is tapping into the power source that powers the Citadel's protections, or something like it, then that makes sense."

"What is the power source?" Det asked quietly.