Chapter Seven

Chloe

"Is there something you aren't telling me?" I asked, hoping my desperation didn't show. "You've been awfully quiet."

It wasn't that I was desperate for an answer, though that would, of course, help my mission along, but rather I needed something, anything to distract me from my current predicament.

Flying on the back of a dragon was anything but a fun experience. Terrifying was a much better word to use to describe it. I clutched tightly to his neck, my legs and arms spread as wide as possible to squeeze what little grip I could from the hard yet supple crimson scales covering his body.

I should be analyzing everything I could about his dragon form. To my knowledge, that was the closest anyone had ever gotten to one without being in grave danger or about to be eaten. Any sign of weakness or hole in the scale-armor would be of immediate aid to the warriors back home.

Instead, my eyes were squeezed tight against the bone-shaking fear while I searched for any topic to break the silence. I needed a distraction.

"There are probably many things I'm not telling you." The rumble of his deep dragon voice rose up through the neck, vibrating through my body. "I did just meet you after all. Is there anything you would like to clarify in particular?"

It didn't help keep me calm. Maybe getting him to speak was a bad idea. But I had a mission. I needed to get him talking.

"We're going to meet your father, right?"

"Yes."

"At his house?"

"No," Silas said. "It's more of a family estate. Most of the immediate family lives there at least part-time, and all the day-to-day work is conducted through there."

"Right," I said, clearer understanding coming to me.

It sounded very much like an old-style aristocrat or noble out of the medieval era of human history. I thought about pushing him for answers on just what sort of business his family conducted, but he interrupted me first.

"There's our destination," he said.

I forced my eyes open, craning my head to either side of him, surprised at how quickly he'd announced our impending arrival. "Really? It's only been like ten minutes."

"We do a lot of business at the palace as well. It makes sense to stay relatively close," Silas offered, banking gently to the right.

My fingers pressed hard against the side of his neck, while I squeezed tighter with my legs. Silas grunted, and a twitch shot from somewhere in his neck to lower down his spine.

Two minutes later, he came in for a gentle landing in the middle of a square of stone surrounded by flowerbeds. One single break in the landscaping indicated a stone pathway leading right to the house.

"You can climb down now," Silas added when I didn't make any attempt to move.

His wing was extended out to the side, held stiffly in place and in the reverse of how I'd gotten up to my perch. I made my way down, and when my feet hit the stone, I went to one knee as my legs refused to support me.

I'm safe. You're safe. Get it together. You're tougher than this.

Apparently, I wasn't. Glancing over, I saw human-Silas staring at me with unrestrained humor. His eyes laughed and danced, bringing a softer, more inviting look to his normally stern features. I decided I liked it better that way.

"Not done much flying?" he asked.

"Usually, I'm in a giant metal tube, going a lot faster," I said, snarling mentally at my muscles, forcing them to respond and let me stand. "You know, the normal way to travel."

"Right. The hunk of debris that only stays up because it goes fast. Where one little thing going wrong will send it plummeting to the ground to explode in a fireball. Absolutely very normal, yes."

I sniffed, lifting my chin into the air. "I'm glad you understand civilized modes of travel. After all, they serve you food midflight. I wasn't offered a snack, let alone a meal."

The dragon-man shook his head at me. "You should have pressed the bell for service. There was a very tasty meal of duck available for you."

I recalled the flight of birds we'd passed mid-air. "I prefer my food fully cooked, thank you."

Silas lifted a hand, and then he breathed fire across his palm, the flames spinning around into a ball that hung there.

"Made to order," he said simply before the ball dissipated.

I shook my head, letting a part of my smile show through but not all. If I did, he'd notice I was smiling more to myself than to him. The banter was good. We were making progress. The sooner I could get him to trust me, the sooner I could get to work finding information to report home with.

We stood like that, looking at one another for a handful of seconds or more. Silas shifted slightly. Before I could voice anything, the sound of someone approaching reached my ears. Turning my head, I saw a younger version of Silas coming toward us.

His hair was longer and without the streaks of gray, and he had a very close-cropped goatee, but other than that, he was a near mirror image.

"Younger brother, I assume?" I asked.

"Caleb, yes," Silas confirmed with a nod that sent wayward strands flying.

He moved past me to embrace the other man. Caleb returned the hug, but his eyes were busy evaluating me. After several seconds, they flared wide.

"Are you crazy?" he hissed loud enough I could hear. Whether that was caused by his shock or design, I wasn't sure.

After parting with Silas, he sidestepped him and approached me, looking me up and down as he moved in a circle.

"I'm not some museum piece," I snapped, turning to keep pace with him. "So, stop staring."

Caleb glanced over at Silas, who only shrugged wryly.

"Oh, this is going to be bad," Caleb said, shaking his head slowly as he stopped circling me and went to stand next to Silas. "Really, really bad. I can't believe you brought a human here."

Silas grunted. "Me, too," he admitted. "But she's here now."

"How are you going to break it?"

I noted how Silas' shoulders slumped at the question he didn't have an answer for. Whatever they were getting at, he wasn't prepared for.

"I don't know," Silas said at last, sounding almost … defeated.

I didn't like that. "Anyone care to let me know what's going on?" I asked, deciding to speak up. If I was the center of a problem, I should probably know about it.

Caleb chuckled darkly. "I think I'm going to let my brother explain that one to you."

He did come forward, though, to introduce himself. I shook his hand, bracing myself for the same sort of adverse reaction, hoping I could control myself because I knew it was coming.

As it turned out, it was pointless. Our hands met, we shook and exchanged names, and that was it. As normal as normal could be when talking to two men who could shift into dragon forms. No buzzing, no unresponsive muscles, no irrational arousal. None of it.

I blinked, taking a surreptitious glance at my hand, then at Silas. Was something different about him? Was he some sort of different dragon? I didn't know, but I had to find out. Somehow.

"Caleb?" a voice called from off to one side, hidden by some carefully trimmed and shaped shrubs that helped divide the area around the estate manor into various sections.

"Over here, dear, with Silas."

A woman appeared a few seconds later. Tall and slender, she had thin, pitch-black hair that fell in perfect waves near to her waist. It was pinned back with a single clasp at the base of her skull. Soft silk-like layers of fabric swished about her body as she approached, the deep violet color accentuating her pale skin, of which it showed much.

Her eyes landed on the two men before locking sharply on me. The honey-amber circles narrowed tightly. They darted from me to Caleb, then to Silas and back and forth between him and me several times. I braced myself for an outburst, but instead, her face broke into a warm smile. She walked straight over toward me.

"I'm Shiloh," she said, taking my hand and shaking it. "Everyone calls me Shi."

"Chloe," I said, taking to her instantly. "Nice to meet you. Are you one of their siblings, too?"

Shi laughed, a soft twitter. "No, Caleb is my mate. Although I suppose, in a way, that makes me a sister to Silas."

I noted she didn't use the term "in-law" and made a mental reminder to learn more about that. They replaced husband or wife with mate. Was that the same? Were there other connotations to it? Those were things nobody knew.

The four of us moved off the landing area, heading slowly to the house. I wanted to ask once more why Silas looked extremely uncomfortable the closer we got to the sprawling building, with its high arched entryway and super-sized double doors. It was big enough for a dragon to enter. Was that on purpose? My brain was working double time, filing everything I could away for further analysis. We had so much to learn about these creatures.

A dragon came in at a sharp angle, landing much harder on the stones than Silas had. In the blink of an eye, the rust-colored dragon was gone, replaced by a tall, hard-looking woman with more gray than brown in her ear-length hair. Cold blue eyes took in the four of us before dismissing us as unimportant. She strode forward, shoes clacking on the tiles, black pantsuit exquisitely tailored to her form.

Whoever she was, she thought herself important. The instant her eyes landed on me, I knew there was no ally there. She was a woman who disliked me from the start.

"Who was that?" I asked Silas quietly as the woman disappeared into the house.

"My father's sister," Silas muttered. "Annabelle. You can ignore her. It'll be better that way."

Caleb snorted heavily in agreement.

"Care to come in with us?" Silas asked.

"I wish I could. I hate I'm going to miss it," his brother said regretfully. "But we have business to attend to and have to leave. Unfortunately, you're on your own. Have fun."

"Thanks," Silas said unhappily as he embraced his brother and Shi.

The two said goodbye, Shi giving me a friendly wave as well, before they departed, shifting and leaping into the air. I noticed that, unlike Caleb who had red scales like his brother, Shi was a lovely golden hue all over. Her dragon was smaller, but she easily caught up to her mate, and the pair flew off side by side.

Once they were gone, it was just Silas and me. He didn't appear too eager to continue.

"Let's just get this over with," I said, taking a breath and heading for the stairs, forcing Silas to come with me. "How bad can it be?"

"I have no idea."

He opened the door for me and followed me inside.

"Who are we meeting?" I asked, though I suspected I knew the answer.

My eyes roamed the interior of the building, memorizing the layout. The sun was shining right through the open door, covering everything in front of us in a blinding glow.

"My son!" a heavy voice boomed from straight ahead as a large, powerful figure strode through the brightest rays of light. "You're home."

"Hello, Father," Silas said.

Behind us the door swung closed, and the head of Silas' family came to an abrupt halt as he took me in.

"Father, meet Chloe," Silas said.

There was no response.

Oh, this is going to be bad …