Chapter Seventeen

Callum

T he instant we landed, Madison took a step away from me and struck a pose. “So, how do I look?”

I looked her up and down, including the wild mess that was her hair. “Kissable.”

The air between us was silent enough I could have heard a pebble drop, whistling air or not.

Madison stared at me. I stared back, clamping my mouth shut.

After all, there was nothing to say after that. Nothing I could recover with.

The guards spared us.

“Clear the deck!” Dyson shouted at us, waving us off the landing pad. “Move it, come on, Cal. We have incoming! Priority drop!”

“Let’s go,” I said to Madison, craning my head skyward. “We have to get out of the way so she can land.”

“She?”

“The sovereign,” I said, reaching the edge of the landing pad and drawing up sharply to face the incoming ruler of all dragons.

“Took you long enough,” Dyson growled from his post nearby.

“Go choke on a donkey,” I fired back.

Dyson stiffened angrily at the dig into his past, but there was no time for him to retort before the sovereign landed and shifted. With her was Vicek, her son, and the human woman, Laura, who’d accompanied Vicek back to the Isles.

Two other dragons circled overhead, maintaining watch of the skies while a contingent of guards fell into place around her. At their fore was Jair, head of the sovereign's personal retinue.

“Callum,” she called, spotting me on the side.

At a gesture, Madison and I approached, falling into step.

“My sovereign,” I said respectfully before nodding politely to the others. “Vicek, Laura. Good to see you.”

“And you,” the heir to the kingdom said after his mother had graced me with a gesture of greeting.

“Have you made any progress?” the sovereign wanted to know as we went into the palace, heading for her office, not her throne.

“Besides pissing off Noa’s brother? No,” I said, unhappy to admit that in front of everyone.

The truth was, I hadn’t done any digging yet either.

“Very well. Let me know the moment anything comes up. I don’t tolerate premeditated murder of my subjects,” she said coldly. “I want justice.”

“Me, too,” I assured her. “Me, too.”

We said parting words then stepped out of the sovereign’s bubble as they continued on. I watched them go around the corner and was about ready to return to my quarters.

But Madison was blocking my way.

“What was that?” she asked, crossing her arms and making it clear I wasn’t getting by her until I’d answered her question.

I lifted an eyebrow, inviting her to elaborate.

“You acted like we’d actually been conducting the investigation. The sovereign thinks you’re working on it. But we haven’t done anything yet,” she said.

“I know.” I clenched and unclenched my jaw, taking a breath. “It’s weird, okay?”

“How is it weird?”

“Because it’s been two years!”

“And whoever did it is still out there,” she countered.

“I’m well aware of that, Maddie,” I said.

“No.” She held up a finger. “You don’t get to call me that. Not if you’re going to sit around like this and pretend you’re doing something you aren’t.”

I glared at her.

“Are you telling me you have no ideas? Nothing at all that springs to mind now that you know she was murdered in cold blood?”

“No,” I said firmly. “Nothing.”

“So, she was well-liked?”

“Loved.”

“No enemies made over the years?”

“None.”

“What about people who were jealous of her?”

“Nobody,” I said, sighing. “Madison, I’m serious. Noa was great. Everyone liked her. She didn’t step on anyone’s toes, didn’t piss anyone off. She wanted to be everyone’s friend, and in most cases, she was.”

“Most cases?”

“It’s impossible to form friendships with every single person. There isn’t enough time in the day. But anyone she wasn’t a friend with, she was still liked by. I never saw her argue with anyone. Ever.”

“Well, someone didn’t like her. We have proof of that. It’s not a hypothetical. It’s real. Which means she did have an enemy. We just have to find out who.”

“I’ve thought about all this,” I pointed out. “I’ve gone over it all before. There’s nothing.”

“Well, go over it with me,” she said. “Maybe I can see it from a different perspective.”

I sighed. “Fine. If it makes you happy, I’ll summon the two guards who found her body that day, and you can question them. Okay?”

“Please stop acting like an asshole. I’m trying to help.”

I fought back the hot spike of rage that drilled into my skull. It wasn’t Madison’s fault that she didn’t understand. She was right. Her efforts were trying to help. How was she supposed to know nothing would change from the first dozen times I’d questioned them?

Sighing deep and long, I released that anger. After all, for Noa’s sake, I should let Madison talk to them. It was technically not impossible that she might see, ask, or notice something I’d missed. Extremely unlikely. But not impossible.

“Okay,” I said. “You’re right. I apologize. But please recognize this isn’t an easy subject for me. I don’t enjoy reliving that day or hearing about her lifeless body.”

Madison’s face softened, and she came closer, resting a hand on my arm. “I know, Cal. I know.”

I heard all five of her words, but my focus was locked on what she had called me.

Cal.

It was the first time she’d tried it on. It was unexpected, but the way it just rolled off her tongue sounded nice.

My dragon roared silently in my head, bellowing its agreement.

“Why are you helping me?” I asked suddenly. “So eagerly, I mean.”

“You mean besides the fact that the sovereign told me to?” She smiled as she said it, moving out of the way so we could continue back to our rooms.

“Besides that.” I shoved aside the warm tingling in my stomach.

“You’re holding on to a lot, Cal, and I find myself wanting to help. I want you to have resolution. I can see how much she meant to you, and the fact you’re willing to defy your culture’s expectations and not just forget about her shows you have a lot of character. I guess, somewhere in there, I decided I wanted to be a part of that.”

“Oh.” I nodded once, unsure of what else to say.

“And also, the sovereign told me to,” she said teasingly. “So, if I’m going to be stuck here, I may as well make the best of it.”

Stuck here. I didn’t like the way she’d said that.

“Thank you for being willing to help,” I said. “Though I hope one day you won’t think of it as being ‘stuck.’”

“No promises,” Madison said without hesitation. She thought for a second. “But maybe I eventually won’t hate you for it. How’s that?”

“I don’t feel hated,” I said as we reached my quarters and went inside, the door closing behind us.

She smiled. “I’m great at internalizing things and driving them down and away and pretending like they don’t exist.”

I couldn’t help it. I laughed. “I’m sure there’s some truth to that, but all right, point made. Still, I would be okay with you not hating me. There are plenty of upsides to that.”

“Such as?”

“Well, for starters, you wouldn’t have to kiss guys you hate anymore,” I pointed out, not at all sure when our conversation had taken the direction it had.

But it was too late now.