Darkbeam V, page 8
Eight
Elena laid in my arms on the couch. I missed having her in my arms.
She wasn’t talkative, no matter how much I tried to keep her occupied. I kept sending George texts. I knew she worried about Becky and whether she would speak to Elena again. How angry could one chick be?
“Blake,” my father walked past the sofa Elena and I occupied. He nudged with his head for me to follow him.
I kissed her on top of her head before I stood from the couch. I hated leaving Elena alone, but she was deep in thought. “I’ll only be a second.”
“Huh, sorry?” Elena smiled.
“My father wants to see me. I’ll only be a second.”
“Go.” She waved her hand at me and looked at the screen again.
I hated when she was so quiet, and it was at times like these that I really wished I could hear her thoughts.
I opened the office door.
“Blake, sorry, I need your room?” He was busy with a register.
“Need my room?”
“Here, at Dragon League. I just got word that plenty of dragons are coming later today, and we need to house them.”
“Okay, where do you suppose I sleep?” My eyebrow raised at my question.
My father’s lips tugged. “Not with Elena.”
My face slacked with sarcasm. It wasn’t even a thought.
Father laughed. “I have a few tents if you don’t mind setting one up.”
“Of course not. A tent it is.” My lips curved. “How many are coming?”
“Around fifteen. But Chong says more dragons hear our plea, and more are getting in touch with the council on that side. I got a funny feeling that Matt’s hands are full.”
I forgot about Matt. “Does he know Elena was on the other side?”
“I got word to him when you’d discovered you were in Etan. He’d told me it was something at the back of his mind as he’d never gotten a hit on any of the leads you gave him.”
I nodded. I wished Matt could’ve told me that. Then everything might have clicked faster than why I couldn’t find her.
“Is that all?”
“Yes, that is all for now.”
I nodded and left to go back to Elena. She still sprawled out on the couch.
I sat down and lifted her feet on my lap, doodling with my fingers on top of her feet.
“Fifteen dragons are coming from the other side tonight,” I said, as she didn’t ask me what he wanted to know.
“Sorry, what?”
My lips curved. “I said fifteen dragons are coming from the other side.”
“Really?”
“They heard our call. More and more are showing up.”
“Where are they going to stay?”
“Right here, at the league. Why my dad wanted to see me as I have to sleep tonight in a tent.”
“Yay, you.”
I chuckled. “I love sleeping outside, Elena.”
“Forgot. You have the gift for it too.”
We both smiled.
It went silent again as we watched the show. I wasn’t much into TV; I loved soaring through the sky more, spending my time in the clouds.
“Do you—“My Cammy rang, and George’s name flashed on it.
“I’ll only be a second,” I said and went outside. I didn’t want Elena to know that Becky was still upset.
I answered my Cammy, and his face appeared on the hologram.
“Hey,” he said.
“You guys okay?”
“More than okay. Where are you?” George pulled his hand through his hair in a smooth motion.
“At the Dragon League.”
“I saw the interview with Caleb, so you got the king of Areeth, congrats.”
“Helmut thinks it was just a matter of time.”
“Yeah, I had my doubts there.”
“How is she?” I referred to Becky.
“Reason I’m phoning. Is there room for two more?”
I smiled. “There is always room for two more, George.”
“Okay, we will see you around six.”
“I can’t wait.” My lips tugged on the one side of my mouth.
George chuckled, and his hologram disappeared. Elena would pee herself if she knew Becky was finally going to come.
I sat down back on the couch and smiled at her.
She found my gaze on her and finally looked my way.
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“Good news. George and Becky are coming tonight.”
Elena gaped as she pushed herself to sit straight. “For real?”
I nodded. “George just phoned me.”
She kept staring at me.
“It’s not good news?”
“No, it is. I just haven’t seen Becky since that day I revealed her father was still alive. I guess it’s only nerves.”
“Well, you gave her enough time to get over it. You want to go for a flight?”
Her lips curved slightly. “Yeah, maybe the sky is what I need to clear my head.”
“You okay?” I asked.
“I guess everything is finally taking its toll.”
“Hey.” I stroked her leg. “You are not alone in this, Elena.”
“I know.” She sighed. “A flight will be awesome.”
“Let’s go,” I said and got up.
* * *
We landed on the mountain, and Elena slid off my wing as I transformed back.
She handed me my robe without looking at me. I shook my head as I took it and pulled it over my body.
She made herself comfortable on one of the nearby boulders, and I sat down next to her.
“Mind sharing what lay heavy on your mind?”
She looked at me and breathed in deeply, and letting the air out slowly. “Everything. What if we fail, Blake?”
“We won’t. The group that you placed in Etan recently has to find out if your father is still alive. They will retrieve that information.”
“There is a reason he didn’t want us to rescue him.”
“Which is?”
“Scared that it might be too late,” she said.
“Hey, we are moving up the mission, Elena.”
“Not that type of late, Blake. He’s afraid that rescuing him might be too late...for him.”
“Oh, that kind of late. It’s not. We will have to be patient with your dad, but he will be fine. Your father was one of the strongest people I’d ever met. He will be fine.”
She nodded.
I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to me. My lips brushed on top of her hair as I cleared my mind. I didn’t want to think about anything that laid in front of us.
We stayed there for a while before going back and made it in time for dinner.
Elena waited for Becky and George to arrive. I hoped Becky was done being angry at Elena. I didn’t love how Elena worried about everything.
We went outside to wait for them.
She was too quiet today.
My eyes caught George’s dragon flying on the horizon.
“Look.” I nudged Elena softly, and she looked at what I pointed at.
Her entire body inflated.
“It’s going to be okay. Becky’s here, which means she’s ready to talk.”
“Yeah.” Elena sighed, just staring at the horizon as they came nearer.
George’s paws touched the ground and ran to a stop. A part of me was glad he was here.
Becky slid off his wing, and Elena stood up from the ground. I followed.
Becky walked toward us. She looked like I feel—drained.
Then she ran to Elena and wrapped her arms around her. She whispered her apology.
George transformed and grabbed his robe that stuck out of Becky’s bag. He pulled it over his body and came to greet me with a slap shake.
“Good to see you,” I whispered.
“You too.”
We kept watching Elena and Becky, just holding each other tightly.
The hug broke. Becky looked at the sky. “It’s been so many months. How did you carry that secret of your father being alive all this time?”
“I had no choice,” Elena said. “He technically didn’t want us to do any of this. He didn’t want us to free Etan. Made me promise, and I sort of did.”
Becky huffed. “I was so little when all of this happened, but...” She sighed. “It sounds a lot like him. I mean the way everyone talked about him all these years. It is actually dangerous pursuing this, and I understand why he didn’t want us to free Etan.”
“Becky.” Elena sounded confused. “You heard what I said. Who was alive with him, right?”
“Yes, I did. I hardly remember my dad.”
“Your father is as brave as they come, never faltered to Goran’s will.”
“And what if we are going to be too late?” Becky asked what Elena was concerned about. “You didn’t see my mom when we reached her. She was beside herself. She just wanted us to go get my dad like he was waiting for us at the wall or something.”
My gaze shifted to George, and he nodded.
“I know, it’s scary. Sir Robert was on his way to the Creepers. If it hadn’t been for Blake...”
Becky’s head snapped toward mine for a few moments and then back to Elena’s. “That was why he wasn’t there with us?”
She nodded.
“We will free them,” Elena said. “All of them, and we will finally meet the brave men we should’ve always known. Maybe George will have to up his game now, once your dad is back in town.”
Becky laughed, and George immediately smiled. I did too.
“It would be nice to see that,” Becky said.
“You guys ate?” Elena asked, and they both shook their heads. “Well, there is plenty of food. We have made many preparations for Areeth.”
“I heard. Congrats on that.” Becky sounded more like herself and grabbed Elena’s arm, hooking hers into it.
I walked with George as the two of them spoke about Caleb finally joining this mission and how she couldn’t wait to meet her father for real.
Becky wrapped her arm around Elena for a one-armed hug as we walked to the cafeteria. “Something tells me that this is going to be a happy ending. It just has to be.”
Nine
Dinner changed Elena’s mood. Or let’s say it as it was. Becky’s return changed Elena’s spirit.
The four of us made jokes again, and George provided plenty of entertainment, like usual.
It was great to see Elena a bit more relaxed.
Elena spoke about the meeting with the Shifters. How a sip of a drink drugged her out of her mind. She did not know what it was.
They both laughed at the part Elena called my mother the frog queen. I got to tease her a bit about it again.
“Laugh, remember, payback is a bitch,” Elena sniped.
“Whatever, it was hilarious.” I pulled her into me and kissed her on her temple.
The rest of the evening went too fast, and before I knew it, we went our separate ways again. They forced Elena and Becky to sleep inside the house.
George shared a tent with me.
Arianna and Heico left after the interview with Areeth to help her father prepare for tomorrow at eight.
George relived the details when they got to Lucille’s place.
“I’ve never seen her that upset before. She just wanted us to free Ettienne.”
“I can imagine,” I spoke.
“Your dad really flew to the creepers?”
“He did. Thank heavens I’m faster than him. I can’t lose my father like that.”
“And then he pushed it up a month.”
I huffed. “Well, Sir Robert made all the arrangements the past few weeks, George. It’s crazy what that dragon can do if he puts his mind to it.”
George chuckled, but it disappeared. “What if they die, Blake?” George spoke about the girls.
“They can’t. You need to get it into Becky’s head to just breathe, and you will do whatever it takes to get her to breathe. We can’t live without them, George.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Sometimes I wish I was still that Moonbolt before she claimed me. As happy as I am for what she did for me...”
“Hey, you don’t have to explain a thing. I’m part of a Dent too, remember.”
“Our fucking luck.”
I laughed at the way his voice sounded so dull. George chuckled, too.
“I guess the two of us needed the Dent the most.”
“Yeah, probably.”
I told George about the meetings and the plans. How he and Dean will be in my father’s group, assisting with freeing the king and his men while Elena and I were going to kill the Saadedine. Caleb and Helmut’s duty was to track down Goran and take him out.
Then it went over to the Shifter’s meeting again. We needed the shifters, but how Elena refused to have slaves fighting for her cause.
“Maybe Caleb will get them to fight, too. It was a huge thing he did on that interview.”
“It’s the only bloody thing he did for this mission.”
George chuckled again. “Rather late than never.”
“Elena seriously swallowed the shot?”
“Yeah, I told her not to and thought she heard me, but she heard the opposite.”
“To drink?”
I nodded again as he laughed.
“How did you change Caleb’s mind?” George wanted to know.
“Oh, I didn’t.”
“Elena?”
“Nope, our lovely princess of Areeth did. Never thought she had it in her to stand up to him. I wish you were there to see it.”
“I wish that too. Arianna really stood up to her father?”
I nodded and then launched into the conversation we had with them and how Arianna just lost it with her dad.
We spoke about other things that night, too—things I really didn’t want to think about.
“Blake, you what?”
“She wasn’t ready, George.”
“She said that she was?”
“Yeah, I know, but I know she wasn’t as well.”
“Dude.” George chuckled at my stupidity. “We have less than two weeks until this crazy mission. I can’t even see how this one is going to end. So please do me a favor. If Elena launches herself at you like that again, just shut up.”
My shoulders shook.
“I don’t want to know how blue your boys are?”
More laughter erupted.
It quieted down as we both settled in for a few hours of sleep. We had a week, and a half left, and I wondered if by any chance my father would let us go for a few days, just to get away from it all. I could ask the band to come, George and my sister. Just a few of us, for old times’ sakes, because what he said was the truth. None of us could see this one’s ending, and I guessed it was because it was King Albert’s life and bloodline that the future was lost to all the Moonbolts again. A Getaway would be perfect.
* * *
I got up early the following day and went hunting for Elena. I found Arianna and Heico in the lounge, each with a cup of coffee. They must have come early this morning.
“Morning,” Arianna said.
“Morning. So how was it?” I plopped into the single-seater diagonally from them.
“Proud of him he finally made the right choice.”
Heico laughed.
“It’s not funny.” Her arm swatting him in his chest.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Nothing,” Heico groaned, double up next to Arianna.
The corner of my lips curved as my eyes landed on the princess of Areeth.
“Okay, fine,”—she rolled her eyes—“My dad was a bit overly emotional when he saw me and Heico came back.”
I chuckled. “Your dad cried?”
“Blake.” She sighed her irritation while Heico shook from silent laughter.
“It’s difficult for him. I’m a daddy’s girl, so yes, okay.” She shook her head. “Stop teasing him.”
“He is not here to hear us, Arianna.” I shrugged.
“I don’t care. He is still my father and found his way again. So stop it.”
“It’s about time too,” George appeared out of nowhere, and Arianna jumped up and hugged him.
George’s eyes raised slightly.
“George, Heico, Heico, George.”
“The other Dent.” Heico stood and shook George’s hand.
George plopped into the two-seater opposite me. We chatted about Caleb’s plans.
“He is opening the palace for safekeeping to all children and women and has a few guards and the men that are too chicken shit to fight to help at the palace.”
“Let me guess, he begged you to help, too,” George teased.
Arianna flipped him off, not answering his question.
Becky walked out of the room around seven-thirty, where they all slept.
“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.” George got up and hugged her. Becky grunted in his embrace.
“No?” he asked, as he pulled his arms away from her.
“I need coffee.”
“Sit down. I’ll go make you some.” He led her to the couch.
He was as pathetic as me.
“Hey,” Arianna greeted Becky.
“When did you get here?”
“Earlier this morning. This is Heico, Heico, this is Becky, George’s other half.”
“Hi, nice to meet you.” Heico sounded like a super-morning person.
Becky just stared at him. Then her gaze shifted to Arianna. “Your dragon?”
“I know. Miracles happen.” Arianna smiled.
“I guess.” She raised her eyes once and looked at me. “Those beds sleep horrible,” she whispered, and I chuckled.
“You got that one, right?” Arianna answered and had Becky’s attention again.
“You slept here?”
“One night, when I lost my shit with my dad.”
Becky was speechless.
“Oh, and Arianna and Elena are great friends now,” I teased.
Becky’s head snapped to me with her “you-got-to-be-shitting-me look.
Arianna laughed. “He’s just teasing you, but we found a truce.”
“A truce?”
