Chapter Thirty-Two

Chloe

They were waiting for us when we pulled the small motor yacht into its slip at the marina. Four men, all dressed in the livery of the palace guard.

"What's going on?" I asked as they walked tightly down the dock. There was no doubt they were coming right for us.

"I have no idea," Silas muttered as he killed the engine and tossed a thick rope to the nearest guard. "I was wondering the same thing."

Even before everything was secure, two of the guards vaulted over the gunwale and headed for the stairs that would bring them to the upper level to the controls area.

I watched them come, thinking furiously. There was no way they could know. Was there? I'd been quite careful. Nobody had followed me.

So, why were the guards there?

"Maybe something happened with Caine," I suggested. "An attack? Perhaps they're here to protect us."

"Maybe."

Silas didn't sound like he agreed. I glanced over at him, noting the troubled look in his light blue-gray eyes.

Eyes that hadn't looked at me the same since I'd come back. There was a wall growing between us. I knew as soon as I gave him my excuse for why I hadn't been in the villa that he knew I hadn't been telling him everything. It ate at me, gnawing away my stomach as we ventured home until my insides churned with stress-related acid reflux.

I hated it. Hated myself. Everything.

Why couldn't I just lie to him like I had to a thousand others before?

The answer was obvious, and I knew it. I just didn't want to face it. Didn't want to face the truth about my feelings. The truth about Silas and what he'd come to mean to me.

"What's going on?" Silas asked as the two guardsmen reached the top of the stairs.

I noticed how he moved to put himself between them and me. He disguised it as a step toward the top of the stairwell, yet he also moved sideways. Still protecting me. Even then. I chewed on my lower lip, a fresh wave of nausea overcoming me.

You don't deserve him.

"Step aside, please," the lead guard said politely but very firmly.

Silas' surprise was evident. His entire outline inflated as he took in a breath.

"What's the meaning of this?" he demanded, not moving anywhere. "Explain yourself."

"Stand aside," the guard said more forcefully as he tried to step past. "We are not here for you."

There was a growl of defiance from Silas that froze the guard in his tracks.

"Easy," he said.

"Do you know who I am?" Silas challenged, not relaxing in the slightest.

"I'm well aware of who you are, Silas, and you damn well know it," the guard said, some of his formality slipping. "Just as you know I'm here because I have orders to be here. Not because I want to or anything."

"And what are those orders?" Silas demanded.

"To escort her to the sovereign. Immediately. No delays."

By then, the other two guards had arrived. I watched, my eyes darting from the four of them to Silas. There was no overt hostility, but they were spread out in a line. Silas was good, I knew that, but against the four guards, he didn't stand a chance.

"Don't do this," the lead guard said quietly. "I'm to bring her directly to the sovereign, Silas. Not toss her in jail or anything sinister."

"And if she's seen arriving at the palace in your custody?" he hissed. "That will be all over the Isles in hours."

"I'm not leaving without her," the guard said sternly.

Silas glanced back at me, his eyes burning with questions. I just shrugged at him. What else could I do? There's no way anyone could have seen where I'd went and been back. Whatever was going on, it was about something else.

The question of the hour was what?

"I'm going with you," Silas announced. "I will carry her."

The guards looked uneasy, all of them darting glances at the leader. Waiting for him to respond.

"Those aren't my orders," he said.

"Do we have a problem?" Silas asked.

The guards and I could all hear the challenge in his voice. Their stance changed immediately. They uncoiled like panthers, going from formal guards into trained warriors, ready to attack.

"I don't know," the lead guard said. "Do we?"

Silas looked at him hard. "I'm giving you my word as heir to my house I will carry her to the palace and a meeting with the sovereign without issue. I don't know what's going on, but we will give you no hassle."

"Your word?"

I watched as he stuck out one meaty hand. "On my honor."

The guard eyed the hand for a long moment. Then he shook it. "Very well."

Everyone relaxed, letting out breaths they had been holding. Except for me. I couldn't. The sovereign wanted to see me?

"It's probably about you slapping Isaak or some such," Silas said as we walked to the shore, so he could shift and carry me to the palace.

"Maybe," I said, hoping he was right. "I wasn't aware I'd committed any crime with that?"

"You haven't," he said, stepping away to safely shift. "But Caine and his house will use any excuse to make a fuss. They like to hear themselves whine."

I smiled despite the situation. It was an apt description of the rival house.

The trip to the palace was uneventful, with little talking, and the silence dragged it out until it felt like hours. Nothing but the steady beat of dragon wings. I eyed the huge membranes, surprised at how easily I'd adapted to that method of transportation.

Upon landing, we were ushered not into the throne room but to the sovereign's office.

"Interesting," Silas said as we waited to be admitted.

"What is?" I asked, eager for any insight he could give me. I'd dealt with royalty on some of my prior missions, but dragon royalty was a new battleground for me. One I wasn't used to, and I needed every bit I could get to stay sharp and out of trouble.

"By having us here, she can keep this meeting private," he said. "Whatever it is, it's probably not good."

I clamped down on my nausea. Throwing up now would do nothing to help my innocent plea. The more I learned, the more I knew it was anything but a protective visit.

She knew. Somehow, the sovereign knew.

The door opened, and I frowned. The abyss that had been waiting to yawn open and swallow me whole paused.

At a desk was the sovereign, with her perfectly straight platinum hair and the most vivid pair of emerald eyes I'd ever seen. My eyes were green as well, but they were dull and boring compared to hers. She radiated elegance, grace, and power from every part of her body. Behind her stood two of the meanest-looking guards I'd ever seen in my life. They were all business, however, unlike the man standing beside her who radiated nothing but hatred.

"What the hell is he doing here?" Silas barked, pointing at Caine.

Rage flickered through Caine's eyes, like lightning across the dark brown iris. His hair was slicked back, though not long enough to be tied into a braid like most of the dragon men. I could just imagine him running his comb through it over and over again to keep it in place.

"Do you have anything to tell us?" the sovereign asked, ignoring the outburst.

Her eyes were focused on me.

"No?" Silas said, shaking his head in confusion.

"I wasn't talking to you," the ruler of all dragonkind said just a bit coldly, her attention still fully focused on me.

I stared back, noting Silas turn, so he could look at us both.

"What's going on here? Why are you treating her this way? She's done nothing wrong. She's been with me the entire time."

The sneer that crossed Caine's face looked perfectly at home among his features. Like he was born to the look. "The entire time?"

"Yes," Silas said.

"Even during your vacation? She never left your sight while you went shopping?"

Silas stiffened. "You followed us?" he snarled, taking a step forward.

The guards did the same. "There will be no violence in here," the head of the sovereign's bodyguard barked. "Is that understood?"

Vibrating with fury, Silas nodded and stepped back.

As he did, Caine barked in laughter. "Of course I did. I have a vested interest in taking your head off for the public insult you've given my family. Don't act so surprised."

I stared at him, then back at the sovereign. The situation was bad. Very bad. My mind was racing, trying to figure a way out. But I didn't see one.

Silas shook his head. "I still don't understand. She didn't do anything."

"Really?" Caine reached into a pocket and tossed a dozen or so polaroid pictures onto the desk.

Pictures of me, on my way to meet with Alvarez and going into the building, then being escorted out of it by the CIA Caribbean Station Chief.

"Explain," the sovereign said coldly. "This is you. This is a CIA building, and that is a CIA operative. Why did you go there? How did you know the person there? What were you doing?"

"I can only think of one explanation," Caine said.

Silas looked at the pictures. Then at his sovereign. I watched it all in the corner of my eye, never taking my gaze off her.

"Are you sure?" he asked in low tones. "If Caine told you this, you know he's got it out for me …"

"The building and person were verified externally," she said, still staring into me with those piercing eyes of hers. "It's CIA."

Silas exhaled slowly, turning to face me. "Chloe," he said slowly. "What are they talking about? Why are you in these pictures?"

"Because she's a fucking spy!" Caine snarled, clapping his hands together explosively. "That's the only explanation."

The sovereign lifted a hand, and silence immediately ruled the room.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked.

I ran through a dozen different excuses. The ones I'd cobbled together in my mind in case such a situation arose. I truly hadn't expected it to, however, and I wasn't ready. Nor was there a good reason.

For a brief moment, I tried to play it off as being someone scared for my life and wanting to find a way out because of constantly living in fear among dragons and people like Caine.

But they wouldn't buy it. Maybe the sovereign would believe me, woman to woman, but that was it. Silas wouldn't, and Caine surely wouldn't. He already had his mind made up.

So, I didn't say anything. I just stared at her.

"I see," the sovereign said, disappointed.

I glanced at Silas. He was staring at the photographs, his face twisted in a mix of pain and anger. When he finally looked over at me, it wasn't the man I cared for looking back.

"How could you?" he asked, shaking his head. "All this time, and you've been a spy? Take her away."

Hearing the disgust in his voice, knowing his suspicions about me at the resort were now founded in reality, was more than I was prepared to hear. Tears filled my eyes as two of the guards snatched my wrists and escorted me out of the room.

A dozen paces down the hallway Silas caught up with me. For a moment, hope blossomed.

"Give me a moment," he said to the guards.

They glanced at one another.

"Now," Silas growled.

They walked ten paces forward and paused, watching.

I faced Silas.

He watched me. "I knew something was off when you came back to the villa," he said. "I just never expected it was this bad. That you were that bad."

I stared back at him, unblinking as the hope I should never have allowed to flare died instantly. He wasn't there to try to get me to explain what I'd done. He was just hurt.

So, I didn't say anything, didn't give him that satisfaction.

"I trusted you," he said suddenly, the pain in his voice wrenching at my heart. "I chose you, Chloe. You. Over my family, over everyone else. They told me to not trust you. But I did. I fought for you. I thought you were different, that you were special. And then I was wrong, and they were right. You're a fucking traitor. You were never who you said you were, were you? Never the person I thought I knew."

The raw anguish in his voice, racked with a pain that tore at my soul, had the tears streaming down my face. I didn't bother to hold them back. He was hurting, bad, and all I wanted to do was reach out for him.

"This whole time, you were just learning more about us. So you could hurt us. Hurt me. Well, good job. You fucking succeeded," he said, shaking his head and blinking furiously. "How could you do this? Say something!"

I tilted my head slightly. "You have no idea what I did," I said stiffly. "But you've already made up your mind about it. All of you. So, whatever I say, it won't matter."

Then, before I could second-guess myself, I turned and walked away. I was not the type to squeal, to whine and beg. That was the risk of my job, something I'd known the day I signed up for the Clandestine Service.

Death was something I knew far better than I'd like. Now it was stalking me, and if I was going to die, I would face it head-on. Not crumple into a pile of tears and snot and piss as I begged them to spare me.

No, that wasn't going to be my end.

"Let's go," I told the guards. "Take me to wherever you're taking me."

Their hands closed around my upper arms like vices. I wasn't going anywhere.

Behind me, Silas just watched me go.

It was over.