Chapter 26

Caspian

I didn’t like this one bit.

For starters, I didn’t like that diamonds were talking to my mate and not to me. My mate was a twenty-two-year-old baby, and I was an ancient, powerful dragon. Why didn’t they want to talk to me? I had plenty of experience with diamonds!

Secondly, I didn’t like their plan. I didn’t like it at all.

“Can you stop thinking so loud? You’re pissing them off. They can feel your look,” Zazie told me tersely, holding them on her lap back in her seat. She was on her third Shirly Temple.

“Their plan is bad.”

“It’s risky,” she admitted, and looked like she was going to try to go another round of trying to talk us into it.

“Which makes it bad,” I assured. “Do you know how close you’d have to be to Seraphus to pull that off?”

“Very close,” she admitted. “But Wendy said he’s by her place. I’m sure if we ask, she’d have one of her team figure out where he’s holing up by her.”

“That is not the biggest problem. The problem is that this is untested and you need to be touching him to capture him,” Murtagh said succinctly, highlighting the pearls of the diamonds’ stupid, stupid idea.

“How you think we can get him to touch you without eating you is insanity to me,” I admitted frankly. “Wishful thinking at best.”

“And may I remind you, that if it doesn’t work…” Murtagh snapped his fingers. “That’s it. No more earth. Sorry everyone else!”

Zazie frowned and stubbornly looked down at her diamonds. “They are pretty certain.”

I gave her an exhausted look. “Pretty certain, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“They used ‘pretty’ as a qualifier?” Murtagh asked.

She glared at us. Glared!

“They’re being modest, you can tell.”

“They’re rocks!” I reminded, incredulous at the idea that they could not just make plans, they could make good ones, and then be modest. “Rocks!” We couldn’t take direction from rocks, could we? Yeah, they were great. They felt good to hold, looking at them was mesmerizing, but plan-making was something rocks were not known for. Besides, they were out of their element. They hadn’t seen a djinn or dragon in millennia. One of them had been completely apart from society altogether!

“You see why this is a little much?” Murtagh asked, calmer than I was, but I knew that he was also quite firm on this idea never happening.

We weren’t going to let Zazie within a mile of Seraphus.

“Nope,” she said, her eyes holding a belligerent fire. “I don’t understand, Murtagh. In the last month, I have discovered dragons, djinns, my psychotic past, talking cats, shadow men, witches, demons, and supposedly there’s other stuff out there, like Lycans? And these talking diamonds which glow are supposed to be the hardest thing to swallow? Well, think again, mister! It was definitely being djinn that was the hardest thing to swallow. This ain’t topping that! This is my normal Tuesday!”

We both sighed and were almost startled by Miles, who stepped out from where he was making himself a sandwich. “This sounds suicidal. There’s a better way. I heard the witch say that Seraphus could be killed with poison. Why wouldn’t we try to do that first?”

I looked up at the ceiling. Firstly, because the only reason my familiar knew that information was because he was eavesdropping in on our conversations. But mostly, because of his naivety. “Miles, don’t you think someone’s tried that by now?” I asked him wearily.

Miles snorted. “Back in Daconia. There are way better ways to kill him here and now. Do you know how easy poisoning someone is? It doesn’t quite take the Unibomber. It takes poison and a fire system.”

We lifted our heads. I looked at Murtagh and saw him looking back at me, raising a dark eyebrow. Then we turned to Miles.

“Continue,” I implored him.

Zazie listened to the plan and pouted. “Now that’s stupid. The Constantine plan minus acid?” she yelled, waving her hands in the air. She spun on her hand and gestured sharply at Miles, who was standing there and looking annoyed. “What? You’re listening to this weirdo?”

“I’m not a weirdo, I’ve seen a lot of poisoning in the trenches. I know how effective it is,” Miles said, his face set in firm resolve.

She rolled her eyes theatrically. “Stupid,” she decreed, raising up to her feet and beginning to take the diamonds and leave. “They just don’t like the idea because it’s ours,” she said, looking down at the rocks in her hands. “Well, fuck them, huh? Fuck them.”

We got up on our feet to follow her into the back bedroom.

“Zazie, no. We’re doing Miles’ plan because it doesn’t put us at risk. It gives us distance. There’s no reason not to try it,” Murtaugh affirmed. “Whereas your plan seems extremely likely to lead to your death, and that’s not something that we’re willing to risk!”

“Well, we gotta shake it up, anyway. We’re in a checkmate. They’re cornering my brother, they have our allies, and we can’t fart around forever. We have to do something.”

“Of course he’s got us checkmated, he’s been moving the pawns on the board for a thousand years!” I cried. “But we have gems that could get us back home.”

“Which isn’t gonna happen without my brother. Period,” she looked at me, eyes glinting with hostility.

This sunk in because she was serious. “Then we’re trying Miles’ plan,” I decreed.

She jutted her chin out stubbornly. “Stupid.”

“Just because it doesn’t involve you, doesn’t make it stupid,” I found myself growling. She was being insolent on purpose.

She put her diamonds gently down on the bed like they were children or very delicate pets. “I can’t stop you from doing whatever plan you have, Caspian. You’re bigger, you’re stronger, you’re older, you’re faster. I get it. You’re a dragon. But I’m telling you now, you’re wasting your time.”

I straightened and leaned over her.

Why couldn’t I have gotten a female that was more submissive? More doting. There were four billion females on this planet, but the one I seemed to be set on was the one before me. The stubborn one that had a death wish, apparently. “Good. Because I can tell you this—you’re only getting close to Seraphus over our dead bodies.”

She gave me a wearied glance. “Caspian, that’s exactly what will probably happen.”

“No,” I promised her, stepping up and slowly drawing her body against mine. “Nothing is going to happen to you. We’re going to protect you.”

“This isn’t a dark alley or a busy street. This is a chess board, Caspian. And we’re losing too many pieces.”

“There’s only one piece that’s important to keep in chess,” I assured her softly. “And darling—we’re not going to lose it.”