Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

Everyone jumped from the table and raced out of the room in different directions. Raines and Will took the door into the kitchen while our guests rushed toward the front door. I followed the men and we hurried through the kitchen and out through the back entrance. We skidded around the corner and to the side where we could see the corner the girl would have to come around even to reach the woods.

The only ones who came around that corner were our guests.

“Perhaps she ran into the woods?” Vargas suggested as she nodded at the tree line some fifty yards off.

Will shook his head. “There wasn’t enough time for her to have traveled that distance without our seeing her unless she was impossibly fast.”

“Especially for someone with such short legs,” I added.

Ware stooped at the corner of the house and studied the ground. A deep frown creased his lips. “This is very strange.”

We all hurried over to him and Vargas was the first one to ask the obvious question. “Out with it, you old fool. What is strange?”

Ware cast a dark look at her before he stabbed a finger at the ground. “There are no tracks past this corner.”

Allard lifted an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

Ware leaped to his feet and stuck out his chest. “Do you doubt my word?”

“Then you can trace them to the window?” Will interrupted as he nodded down the front of the house.

Ware half-turned in that direction and furrowed his brow. “I can see the tracks from there to the door, but there is nothing before that.”

I blinked at him. “Then where did she come from and where did she go?”

Vargas crossed her arms over her chest. “Perhaps we were mistaken in what we saw.”

“All of us?” I countered as I looked around our group. “We couldn’t have-Will?”

Unlike the rest of us, his attention was focused on the sky above us. I followed his gaze as did the rest of us.

“This isn’t some joke, is it?” I asked him.

“Merely a conjecture,” he returned as he scanned the darkening horizon. “If she didn’t walk in then she must have ridden or flown.”

Ware frowned at him. “Now surely you are joking! I would have noticed a magic trail had she flown in using such skill!”

“Then she didn’t use magic,” Will countered as he slowly walked down the house following the path the girl took across the front. “Perhaps she used her own power.”

Vargas tapped a finger against her other crossed arm. “Care to explain yourself, Lord Thorn?”

Will stopped where Ware claimed the girl’s trail started and turned to us. “Perhaps she flew in.”

Ware scoffed. “Preposterous. She had not the slightest hint of wings either outside that window or in the woods.”

“Can’t anyone hide their wings?” I asked the group.

Allard shook his head. “We dragons are the only ones gifted with that power. Harpies and such have no such ability unless they use magic to hide them.”

Ware used both arms to gesture about the area. “Which again, I will reiterate we cannot sense around here.”

“Then by that logic, she must be a dragon,” Will insisted.

“You cannot seriously be telling us that you have discovered a new dragon whom none of us know anything about,” Vargas countered.

“The idea does sound slightly preposterous,” Allard chimed in with a reluctantly shaky smile.

“Do any of you have a better solution?” Will inquired as he looked at each of them.

“Perhaps you are being haunted,” Vargas suggested.

My face drooped as I recalled the last ‘haunting’ I’d experienced, that of the amorous corpses in the Grimton below the capital city of Mirum. They’d been a little too clingy for my taste and as much as I wanted to help the little girl I did fear a spectral attachment.

Allard cupped his chin in his hand as he pondered her suggestion. “The idea does have merit. After all, this may be another issue the same as the black worms and the murmurings of rebellion.”

“A child ghost?” I wondered as I wrinkled my nose. “How much trouble could they be?”

The grim expression on Allard’s face dropped all my humor. “The mind does not dare to ponder the implications. Suffice to say, a child ghost is at least as harmful as an adult, and perhaps more so because they tend to use their perceived innocence to their advantage.”

“And this child did appear with one of those black worms,” Ware added.

“But she was afraid of it,” I countered as I tried to fight back a rising tide of uncertainty. However, something deep within me told me that this couldn’t be true. I put my hands on my hips and stomped my foot on the ground. “The little girl doesn’t have anything to do with these black worms or anything else bad. I just know it.”

Ware frowned at me and even Allard gave me a look of pity. “Lady Thorn, we understand your-”

“Quiet,” Vargas spoke up as she glared at the men. Her sharp eyes studied me for a long moment before a faint smile appeared on her lips. “There is no convincing this one otherwise. She speaks from the heart.”

I blinked at her. “Does that mean you believe me?”

She laughed. “Of course not, but I will give you credit for being wise enough to listen to your heart.” Her eyes flickered over to Ware. “Very few are ever wise enough to do that no matter how old they become.”

Ware gave a harumph and turned away. “I still say we are missing something obvious that would tell us the identity and tricks of this strange girl.”

She rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the rest of us. “Well, whatever happened we will not discover the secrets before our supper grows cold.”

“And we have a pub to visit this evening,” Will added as he smiled down at me.

I blinked at him and pointed at myself. “We?”

He grinned. “Unless you don’t wish to accompany me, but I’m sure my people would be very eager to meet their new lady.”

My heart dropped into my stomach, but I swallowed the lump in my throat and managed a shaky smile. “That sounds like a great idea.” All those pairs of eyes staring at me with opinions and judgment. What was there not to like?

We returned to the dining room and finished off the lukewarm meal. Will led me upstairs afterward so we could change out of our travel-worn attire.

“What should I wear?” I wondered as I burrowed through the many dresses Will had purchased for me.

“Your usual traveling attire,” he suggested from his seat at the foot of the bed.

I paused and turned to him with a raised eyebrow. “But isn’t that jeans and a blouse?”

He nodded. “It is, but I believe my people would prefer to see the real you rather than the figure fit only for a ball.”

I only too gladly took out the suggested attire and slipped them on. Or rather, I had one leg in my pants the change when I paused and glanced at the bed. Will had his arms draped over his bent knees and was watching me with an intense look in his red eyes.

“We don’t have time for that,” I scolded him as I hurried into my pants.

He heaved a great sigh. “Unfortunately, I must concur. The pub has already opened and we’ll no doubt be expected as soon as the horses can manage the trip.”

I admired myself in the full-length mirror and Will’s reflection was also represented behind me. A thought struck me that gave me pause.

“I know this is a little silly to ask after this long, but do Vargas and Ware have mates?” I asked my own mate.

Will shook his head. “No, though if the full truth is to be known I doubt they have ever looked for one.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Why not?”

“They have been companions for so long that I doubt they would prefer someone else,” he told me as he leaned his head back and stared up at the bed canopy. “They are of the same generation of dragons. That is one above mine and the same as Allard’s. The pair grew up in the wilderness of many lands and shared many adventures. Rumors have always floated around that they fancied each other over anyone else.”

“Can dragons mate with other dragons?” I inquired as I plopped myself down beside him on the end of the bed.

He furrowed his brow. “That is one question I cannot answer because it has never been done. We have always found mortal mates to increase our population, though some unmated dragons insist we not count our brides among our number.”

I wrinkled my nose. “That’s not a very nice thing to say.”

He turned his face toward me and smiled. “Those of that opinion are generally not pleasant company. As for dragons mating other dragons, to take another dragon as a mate would prevent any further population increase.”

“But what about love?” I countered.

“Vargas and Ware have always been sticklers for the rules of the Council and one of them is not to wed another dragon,” Will told me as he wrapped one of his hands around mine. “Though if you have shown me anything it’s that love finds a way. Perhaps one day they may admit that the rules are rather pointless if they never intend to find a mortal mate, anyway, and should be set aside in favor of their own desires.” He sat up and pulled me to my feet. “But we should get going. The night is upon us and we may have a long evening ahead.”