No… It couldn’t be.
You have still not honored my request, Pythia informed me.
“What request?”
You must prove to me that I am wrong. Consider, fool prince, that you do not actually know Michelle Ballinger at all. There is much more to her than you think. Much more…
“What are you asking of me?”
You must bring her on your voyage. Show her your world… and see hers. Satisfy my certainty that she is meant to be your mate.
I sighed, long and low. “All right,” I said. “I’ll bring her. I will let her see The Hearthlands. And then I will return her. Is this a fair deal?”
I glanced over my shoulder to behold Pythia. She was simpering knowingly; it reminded me of Michelle. Very fair, she purred. Good luck resisting the hands of fate, fool prince.
I shook my head again and abandoned the pools, the oracle, and even the thought that I was acting in direct contradiction of the Fates.
I returned to the cavern, a fire still crackling at its pit. The crystal mirror gleamed dully, and beside it were folded several pairs of clothing and the leather satchel in which I had carried the items here.
I peered at myself, dimly reflected, nude and melancholy, in the mirror. I swallowed and stretched my hand forward, brushing my fingers across the cool glass. “Nell,” I whispered, searching its depths for her face. “Where are you?”
Chapter 36: Theon
Dressing in another pair of cotton slacks and a loose shirt, I retook my lotus position in front of the mirror and closed my eyes. I could not just swoop into Michelle’s home as a dragon, burst through her bedroom window, and collect her, screeching, against her will. I could not return to The Hearthlands through the portal on the rock island, for it was likely under heavy observation in anticipation of just that. I needed to find and secure my family; I needed to understand what had happened to our country. For all of this, I would need to think calmly and clearly. Simple action would not do.
In order to extract Michelle from this world, I would be required to peer deeply into her soul and assuage her fears of the unknown. Only by this mild hypnosis would she travel without trauma. I would need to use another gate—even if it meant a longer flight. Perhaps the gate to the country of ogres, not far from The Hearthlands, would suffice. The ice dragons would not be monitoring the ogres’ portal. The gate resided across this country and another ocean, but I didn’t see that I had any other choice. Finally, I would investigate the shelter my people had developed during the last insurgency of the ice dragons, during the brief and bloody reign of Emperor Bram. If anyone had survived, or escaped, they would be there. I could only pray to the gods above that it had not been discovered or destroyed during the many years it had not seen use.
Preparing my satchel, I transformed and took to the sky. My first stop would be the palatial Ballinger beach house.
* * *
I expected Michelle to be thronged in followers, as her New Year’s Eve party had been underway not long ago, but midnight had already passed and the guests had ventured elsewhere, leaving their hostess to sit on the beach and gaze out across the landscape, littered in red plastic cups and two smoldering pits of ash.
I circled the beach and landed behind a series of small, weed-choked dunes, where I could safely dress myself and reposition the leather satchel over my chest. Then, setting my shoulders and pulling in a lungful of wintry January air, I advanced on Michelle’s turned back. She was sitting in the sand with her knees drawn up to her chest.
“Lady Ballinger.” I addressed her formally.
Michelle turned, and I was expecting a glare, but instead I got a lip quirked in amusement. “Theon,” she greeted warmly, standing. She measured me. “I thought you might be back.”
Disloyal. The signals she’s sending me are inappropriate for the chosen mate of her own friend.
I did not have the time to be gentle. Nell had already been in the grip of the ice dragons for maybe as long as an hour, and who knew how long the country had been under siege. Weeks?
I gazed deeply into Michelle’s eyes and fell into her soul, as I had done so many times with so many others.
It wasn’t long before I hit my first wall. These human women were so enshrouded by protective layers.
I am so sexy. Have you ever seen a woman as sensual as I am? You love me. You know you do. Who can resist these lips?
Shards of glass shattered away.
I want your attention, goddammit. Why aren’t you looking at me? What? Am I not smart enough? Am I not sweet enough? How dare you. I’ll make you pay. I’ve been invisible for too long. I’ll never be invisible again! You can’t hurt me!
Brambles snagged at me as I moved past this line of defense.
It’s very simple. An idiot could do it. All you have to do is show them your power. No one will be able to deny you. You are a strong, beautiful woman. The world is at your feet. Nothing else matters; you have it all. You’ll show them all.
A hair-thin crack in this psyche allowed me to plunge into the deepest layer yet.
Daddy? The voice echoed, as if in a vast space. Daddy, are you playing hide-and-seek? Where did you go? Feet whispered along tiles, occasionally skipping. The room shifted into focus, allowing me to see a dark, curly-headed girl somewhere between four and six. She was poking around in a spacious basement area, where she appeared to be totally alone. Hello? she called. Her eyes widened with panic. Hello? Daddy?
I watched with a heavy heart as the child Michelle bolted around the room, tearing open closets, diving under tables, all to no avail. Her father wasn’t in the room at all. There had never been a game of hide-and-seek, unless he’d abandoned it.
Michelle balled up and pressed her back against the wall, pulling her knees up to her chest in the same manner I’d just seen on the beach. She folded her arms over her legs and buried her face in them, sobbing with the kind of abandon most adults never displayed.
Grimacing, I crossed the room and touched her arm. Child Michelle gasped and jerked up, as if expecting to see her father. Tears still glistened on her cheeks.
“Michelle,” I informed her, voice slow and rich. “You’re going to go away now, to a new place. You’re going to ride the back of a dragon, Michelle. I will protect you. The new place may be scary, but you will never be alone. You will be safe. I promise.”
Child Michelle’s lip quivered, and as she nodded her agreement, the vision surrounding us dissolved and crumbled, revealing that my hands were bracing the shoulders of the adult Michelle. Now that I’d spoken my suggestion as clearly and firmly as I could into her deepest level of consciousness, her eyes had taken on a drugged and receptive quality.
I removed my clothes. Michelle smiled blithely, but said nothing. Then I transformed with no regard for her reaction.
As I had expected, when I turned to her, she raised her eyebrows and nodded, as if to say, Of course. I remember this story. A nice man told me this story when I was a little girl.
I used my large head to nudge her onto my back, and she acquiesced without any struggle. In fact, unlike Nell—who had wound her arms around my neck and pinched my shoulders with her thighs nervously—Michelle seemed to be a natural at riding dragons. She sat up straight and loose, as if this was a mere equestrian sport, and held the leather strap of my satchel as if it was reins. When my wings flapped, her body shifted with mine. She had good instincts, and this would make our journey as safe as it would be fast.
We pulled into the air and jetted off into the sky, at which point Michelle leaned down against my neck, although she still did not strangle me as Nell had; in fact, she moved with such awareness, I had to assume that her eyes were open and she was actively “driving” me. Again, I could not mind. This would make our trip speedy.
If everything went according to the plan, I would be in the Pacific, searching for the second gate, by daybreak.
Chapter 37: Theon
The dawning sun was only just beginning to singe away
the morning mist when we arrived at the other portal. Michelle slid from my back with a grin of elation. “I cannot believe I just saw the entire country in, what, a few hours?” She roamed the perimeter of the portal buried deep in an old well and inspected it. Unlike Nell, she was not filled with awe and terror at the sight of the thing. She seemed almost bored by it, and flicked some pebbles through the gate, unknowingly sending them into the ogres’ country.
“So, where are we?” Michelle asked me, as I pulled on a pair of pants.
I glanced over my shoulder at her. “This is a gate into another world,” I explained, trying to be patient. “It is the residence of ogres. We will remain quiet while on their territory, and we will move into another country beyond this, in which dwell the dragon people. It will likely be very cold, but you are dressed appropriately.”
Even as I was saying this, Michelle tied her coat around her waist. “We should have packed some more clothes for me, don’t you think?” she asked, cocking an eyebrow.
But I shook my head. “Ideally, you will be returned to your home within the day. I made a promise to a—a friend—that I would bring you on this trip. I promised to show you my home country and allow you to meet my people. But then you will return home, and your life will resume as usual. One outfit will suffice.”
Michelle puckered her lips slightly and rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. Fine.”
“Take my hand,” I instructed her.
She did so, and strangely, right before we jumped together, she gave it a little squeeze. There was no time to react—we were already in mid-air. A moment later, we were passing through the space between the worlds, and landed on our knees in the sand of a beach.
“Holy crap!” Michelle whooped, clambering to her feet and jumping up and down like a child. “Let’s do that again!”
Glaring, I gripped her arm and forced her to stop jumping up and down. “Quiet!”
Over her shoulder loomed a gate of gray stones. A row of decapitated human heads on spikes lined the top. Blood had oozed and congealed onto the stones long ago. Some of the heads were skulls, picked clean and bleached in the sun. Some of them were fresh. Michelle followed my eyes and pursed her lips at the gruesome sight.
A long, sandy beach stretched out in front of us, and we had begun to walk away from the ogres’ fortress when the mirror in my satchel suddenly filled with an unearthly light. Gasping, I dropped the bag and pulled its flap open, extracting the glass from within. That throb of light was an alert that someone with a sliver of the mirror had activated it with their breath, their blood, their sweat, or their tears. I would be able to see Penelope, if only for a moment.
“What are you doing?” Michelle murmured behind me.
“Shhh.” The light faded away, and in its place, I saw Nell in all her glory, her beautiful dark hair disheveled from gods only knew what, her eyes puffy and pink, her clothing replaced with a gown in a style familiar to me: she’d been dressed in the garments of the royal family. She was likely wearing a dress which belonged to one of my sisters, or to my mother. “Penelope?” I called into the glass, forgetting to be quiet. “Penelope, where are you?” I tried to enunciate, knowing that she would only be able to read my lips in order to discern what I was saying.
Her lips moved quickly. I couldn’t decipher a single word of it.
“What the hell is Nell doing in your mirror?” Michelle asked.
It looked like Nell was thinking the exact reverse, as her eyes fell on Michelle and went blank.
Just then, the ornate wooden door behind her swung open and the frame filled with a shadow. Nell dropped the shard of the mirror and swung on her feet, so that I could see a full view of the intruder.
It was Lethe Eraeus, the grandson of now deceased Emperor Bram Eraeus, who had ruled during the brief period of ice dragon reign more than half a century ago. I recognized him because it was my duty to recognize him. Although the ice kingdom had fallen and been relegated to a narrow, inhospitable space at the very tip of The Hearthlands, our peace had been wary and forced.
Lethe was svelte, so there was an androgynous quality to his neck, shoulders, and chest. He had a complexion as white as porcelain, a shock of black hair which fell over his forehead and hid his ears, and ice-blue eyes, fairer even than his scaled hide in dragon form. I had suspected that it was he who had come through the other gate, but now I knew for certain.
“What are you doing?” I read his lips.
His fingers closed over the pendant, blinding my view of the room, and then the fingers opened again, holding the pendant very close to his face. I will admit that he was a handsome sort, in a sly and haughty way. He had a narrow, slightly upturned nose and thin lips. I saw them moving but could not read them; his eyebrows knotted and he cursed and ranted, that was all I could ascertain. Then, in the next instant, the entire room vaulted by in the mirror—and then a blinding white light filled the glass.
As the light faded, it appeared that my mirror had broken, for many fragmented reflections of the palace room which held Nell were thrown back at me. I saw her in disjointed frames rush to the shattered pendant and collapse, touching some pieces… and then the light faded entirely away, and I knew that it was the last time I would see her in the magical mirror. Lethe had shattered her pendant—and my only visual connection to my mate.
Chapter 38: Theon
Grimacing, I braced my hands on my thighs and stood, collecting the mirror from the sand and inserting it again into my satchel. There was one bright side to this development. I had seen the room surrounding Nell, and even if she was moved to another room, I knew that her current location was within the castle walls themselves. They were certain to be heavily guarded by ice dragons now, but it was still a thousand times better than discovering that she was deep in the dungeons, or worse. The pendant had not, at least, been activated by her blood.
“What—what the hell was that?” Michelle shrilled behind me.
“I said to keep quiet,” I reminded her grimly. “Let’s go. We must ride again—this place you must go is an island.” I transformed, slid the satchel around my neck, and prompted Michelle to climb onto my back. Again, she rode with all the natural grace and instinct of a woman who was already part-dragon. Of course, it didn’t matter; perhaps she’d make an ideal mate for a member of my cabinet. I carried her across the ogres’ sea, and The Hearthlands stretched into view within minutes.
The difference was immediately obvious. Where it had once been a lush island of rolling hills and verdant valleys, it was now blanketed in snow and a constant barrage of blue chunks of ice. We landed, and I transformed into my human form quickly. A dragon would be much easier for any skyward troopers to spot. I dressed quickly, paying no mind to Michelle as anything but a traveling companion. A forced traveling companion.
“It won’t be terribly far,” I informed her. “Please jacket yourself. We must walk if we are to see the entrance to the shelter. It’s hidden. I don’t know if I need to tell you this again, but please, please, Michelle, stay quiet and do not make sudden movements if another dragon or human approaches us or appears in the distance.”
“Uh, yes, I can do that,” Michelle muttered, rolling her eyes.
I grimaced. The women of The Hearthlands were not nearly as proud and vain as she. For that matter, neither were the men. “Let’s walk, then.”
We reached the entrance to the shelter within ten minutes. It was near the border of the island, and it had been built into the ground. Now they had dropped their leaves and formed icicles, but I still recognized those slender, white-barked trees. “Here,” I told Michelle, advancing on the shelter and finding that its door was blanketed in snow.
I dug for a minute or two, fresh snow pelting my face and forming in the hole I was trying to make, and then my fingers grazed a sheet of pure ice and I roared with frustration. No one would be inside. They would all be dead. Why else had no one contacted me? And now I had finally arrived at the shelter, and its door was sealed in seve
ral inches of ice. I did not even have a blade to pierce it.
Michelle stepped forward and jammed her high-heeled boot into the sheet, splintering the ice with one long crack down its center.
“You… you did it,” I murmured, prying up the sheet, now able to wedge my fingers into the crack for leverage.
“Don’t sound so surprised,” Michelle muttered, but I hardly noted her comment. The brass ring of the shelter door was exposed, and I gripped and pulled. The unbroken ice over the rest of the door cracked and fell away as I lifted it and revealed the dark earthen stairwell beyond, unlit by any torches. This was standard procedure for wartime. There would be no light until we reached its interior cavern.
“Come on,” I coaxed Michelle, turning to reach for her; her willingness to be helpful prompted me to remember the scared, lonely little girl within her soul. Perhaps I should have handled her more gently.
She flashed her eyes at my extended hand, then into the corridor, then grasped my hand and flounced along behind me.
“So what’s the deal?” she asked. “Is Nell, like, kidnapped?”
I exhaled. “Yes.”
“Auuugh.” Although Michelle resisted my hand, as if she had momentarily stopped on a stair, I pulled and she continued trundling along. “That just figures. Everybody has to love Penelope. Everybody has to fawn all over Penelope. Now she’s been kidnapped? Gag me.”
At this, I dropped her hand and turned savagely; Michelle came up short with a little gasp. Her eyes flew wide and she stared at me until I offered her my hand again. I had to. We were on uneven ground, and her shoes were so impractical.