“No, he’s probably going to be a while. Why don’t you two dry off and tell me what’s going on,” Rhian told us both, handing me a towel. I couldn’t think; my thoughts were chaotic, so I told Nicolas to get her up to speed. Avianna was panicking. She was flying around, bumping into furniture, releasing way too much fire. She had already burned Idris’s curtains, so I needed to calm her down.

  “Just stop it. Don’t make this situation worse. We have to find out what’s happened,” I told her. After a moment, she finally flew over to the sofa. There was a lot of bones on the kitchen floor.

  My own stomach growled loudly, but I didn’t think I could eat anything. There was way too much going on. If Ally was in danger, we needed to rescue her, even if that meant we needed to postpone this whole trip to Draconia.

  Nicolas explained what had happened. I went to my room after an hour and had a shower. Idris was pissed at me, but I knew he wouldn’t refuse to help. Too many good things had happened between us. Later on, I laid in bed, and closed my eyes for a moment. I was so exhausted, but I wanted to wait for Idris.

  I dreamed about being chased by a large monster on the streets of Draconia. Then about drowning in the water. Dara was there, too; she was beside me, trying to pull me out, but she couldn’t.

  Someone was touching me when I woke up screaming. I recognised that scent instantly. It was Idris; he had come back.

  “It’s all right, little one, you’re safe.” He was telling me. “The Dark Ones have Ally, and they are taking her to the Lower World as we speak.”

  Chapter Eleven

  The nightmare

  I was disoriented and lost. Idris was holding me while I tried to breathe. Avianna couldn’t believe it herself; she was using her internal voice to communicate with me. This wasn’t happening for real, or maybe I was still dreaming. The image of a soaked Nicolas flashed through my mind. We should have stayed away from her so this wouldn’t have happened.

  I could smell Idris’s scent on me. He was touching me, and he had this strange way of destressing me.

  “What are you even talking about?” I asked. “She couldn’t have been taken by the Dark Ones. She is a human.” I was refusing to even consider it as a possibility. Idris was staring at me in the darkness. I must have fallen asleep earlier on; the clock on the bedside table was showing almost 11:00 p.m.

  I kept taking oxygen into my lungs, but it was never enough. I felt like I was slowly suffocating with the wave of all this bad news.

  “It’s done, Fran. When I got to the office, they had already taken her through the crack. Baxley has recovered, but he’s still stuck in the hospital. Some Dark Ones must have sensed that Ally was different. This sometimes happens when wardens are close to humans,” Idris explained, and then sighed loudly.

  “This sounds absurd. She doesn’t know anything, and she is innocent. How could they even track her down?” I asked, ignoring the fact that we had an argument earlier on. It wasn’t relevant at the moment. I tried to smooth my hair with my hands. The whole apartment was immersed in silence. Everyone was probably still asleep. “I have to apologise for my earlier behaviour. I don’t know what got into me, but I completely lost control. Then I went to the office and managed to cool down.”

  I gave him a weak smile, trying to reason with my own gloomy thoughts. This wasn’t fair. She was an innocent, sweet, elderly lady. Ally wasn’t going to survive in prison.

  “Don’t worry. I think you were under the influence of magic then. We need to go after them. Ally took care of me and Nicolas when we crossed through the crack. We can’t leave her on her own,” I said panicking, but his arms quickly embraced me. Panic rose in the pit of my stomach.

  Idris had just confirmed the worst.

  “Calm down, they won’t treat her like an ordinary warden, but they will interrogate her. Another elder came to me when I left the office. They want me to go to Draconia shortly to start the killing process straight away,” he added. Fear and dread clawed at my insides. Everything was happening way too fast. And most of the warlocks weren’t going to help us.

  “I’ll call Harvey in the morning. I don’t think he realised this could happen so fast, but we got him out of that prison. He is on board,” I said, trying to imagine how Ally was going to cope with all the magic around her. I didn’t even know if a human had ever been in Draconia or the Lower World before.

  “The magic of those female warlocks must have affected me when we were on the way back here. I was filled with anger and confusion. I’m sorry about everything. We both know that we can’t stay away from each other for too long,” he said, caressing my thigh with his cold fingers.

  The heat returned; it started moving through my spine. I damn missed him, and desire rose within my core.

  “Idris, I’m scared, and you were right. What if this is a suicide mission? The warlocks are cowards. They won’t stand against the Dark Ones,” I said. He dragged his hand through his hair, and looked away like he was trying to gather his thoughts.

  “We have to gather more wardens once we get there; it’s the only way. The warlocks have their own agenda, but they will come forward when we need them,” he assured me.

  I nodded and stared at him. Avianna must have flown out when I passed out earlier on. She was probably downstairs with Rhian. My energy was still strong, but I was disoriented.

  I grabbed his cheeks and kissed him hard. This was something that I needed, something that I missed. In the back of my head there was guilt. A voice kept telling me that Ally was gone, and I was enjoying myself with Idris. Nicolas was upset, but it seemed like Idris and I would never have time to be together.

  His lips were soft, and he grabbed my arms, bringing me closer to him. Our breathing was shallow, and he was staring directly into my eyes, drinking me in. That connection was so strong, even after what had happened between us.

  “Little one, I want you, but we don’t have to do this now,” he told me, and his voice vibrated.

  “Screw this. It’s our last night here. Tomorrow we might be in Draconia, and we have no idea what might happen. We deserve to be happy, at least for tonight, at least for one moment,” I told him, then kissed him hard.

  Our bodies were syncing with the rhythm of our breath. Idris flipped me over, so I was underneath him. Then he pushed the cover away and slowly started peeling our clothes off. For a moment, we were lost in each other, kissing franticly.

  When I was naked, Idris made a deep sound in the back of his throat and then started kissing me all over. His hand ran down my thigh, moving closer and closer to the centre of my sex. When he touched me there, I melted, taking one deep breath.

  The heat savaged my insides, and my skin became hypersensitive. Idris was a real man and he always knew what he wanted. Moments later, he was slipping his finger inside me, and I started panting, gripping his neck. At the same time, he was kissing the line of my jaw, down to my collarbone.

  “Oh, Idris,” I begged him when he caressed my clit with his forefinger, torturing me so much. Sheer ecstasy started filling every part of my body. The aching between my legs was suddenly unbearable.

  “What, little one? Tell me—what do you want me to do to you?” he asked, and then stopped touching me, and when I tried to yank his hand back, he kept it away. I hated that he had so much power over me.

  “Just fuck me, Idris, fuck me hard, so I can forget about this horrible feeling inside me, forget about who I am, at least for tonight.”

  Then he was kissing me again, harder, spreading my legs with his knees. His lips were painful and full of pleasure at the same time, but I was losing my mind. There was something strange going on with my magic. It felt like my whole body was vibrating, levitating above the bed. Idris thrusted his hard erection into me, and I gripped his arm, most likely digging into his skin with my nails.

  He growled again, like a wild animal in the forest, pounding into me until I couldn’t take it anymore. His lips were on my breasts; he was licking and biting my nipples hard. He was filling me up. It had never been like that with anyone.

  I was coming then, climaxing, and experiencing the heat in every cell of my body. I kissed him hard, and he was still pushing himself in and out. The waves of ecstasy continued rippling through me. The burning sensations inside my core felt like liquid lava was slipping inside every nook and cranny of my body.

  He was panting, holding me tightly, and climaxing moments after me. It was strange to see him in such a vulnerable state.

  Several minutes later, I was lying on top of him, trying to calm my breath. Our bodies were numb, and Idris was staring at me; his hand was caressing my back. The silence was better than words. It calmed me down.

  I was thinking about Ally, wondering what the Dark Ones were going to do to her. She knew enough about Avianna. She knew too much, and that’s why we needed to be in such a hurry. This wasn’t going to be as difficult, at least I was telling myself that.

  “Sleep, little one, because I’m eager to make love to you until morning, but I know you need your strength,” he whispered and even then, his voice was a little raspy. I smiled to myself and then kissed him.

  His proposition was tempting, but we both needed to preserve our energy for later. Somehow, I fell asleep in his arms until morning.

  Several hours later when we were waking up, I thought this was perfect until I remembered that it wasn’t. The sun was beaming through the window. I got up, still naked, and looked outside. London wasn’t miserable for a change.

  I started getting dressed, knowing I had to make a phone call. Ripley knew how to get to the other side. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was really willing to help, or if he was playing his own game. Either way, I was going to be much more powerful in Draconia. Then with the other eggs.

  “What are you thinking about?” Idris’s voice reached me again. He was already dressed, staring at me with the same intensity as before.

  “What is Baxley going to do to Ally? I thought he was locked up in the hospital, barely alive,” I said, looking at his phone. Idris still needed to teach me how to use this strange device that everyone called a mobile. Humans were like zombies, always staring at it in the underground. I thought that I would never understand their technology.

  “The elders wanted to move; they were fed up asking me to move forward, so they hired the best healers to tend to Baxley. I’m expected to meet with him in the Dimond city to discuss the next step,” Idris said. He didn’t look comfortable with this. I clenched my fists, trying to understand how these bastards could live with each other.

  They were going to poison innocent people. This wasn’t right or fair, and I was ready to do anything to prevent it.

  “Maybe it’s better that you’re going to meet them there,” I told him. “We need to get to the eggs. This is going to be the most important. Without them, this whole mission will be a disaster. No one is going to join us without the dragons.”

  He knew I was right. We went downstairs, and I was surprised to see that Nicolas was already up. He was gripping his steaming mug of coffee. Avianna was eating something off the floor making a hell of a noise.

  “I’m going to get in touch with Harvey. He can get us to the Lower World today,” I announced.

  Idris got on with breakfast, talking to Rhian in a hushed voice. Nicolas nodded and he smiled at me.

  “I got out of there as soon as I could. I made sure that no one followed me here,” he said. I nodded and then asked Idris to dial Harvey’s number.

  The warlock wasn’t going to be happy. Well, no one probably expected that this was going to happen so fast, but I didn’t care.

  It rang and rang for some time. I was tense, staring out into the world where I didn’t belong.

  “Hello,” a sleepy voice answered.

  “Harvey, it’s Francesca, change of plans. We have to be in Draconia today,” I told him. There was silence on the other side of the phone for some time. The unease inside my stomach wasn’t a good sign. Surely, he wasn’t going to change his mind now.

  “Ripley won’t be happy about this. We could leave tomorrow, at the earliest,” he said finally, and I frowned.

  “What does Ripley have to do with this?” I asked.

  “He’s the one who has to get us through to the other side. Don’t forget that all the cracks in Draconia are controlled by the Dark Ones,” he said, and my heart sunk.

  “Well, he has to make it happen,” I said. “Things have gotten more complicated, and we have to start acting now.”

  “In that case, be ready. We will be on the other side this afternoon. Let’s just pray that everything will go smoothly,” he added and then hung up. I stared at the phone for some time, wondering what the hell he meant. It looked like I was going to find out soon enough.

  Chapter Twelve

  The other side.

  I couldn’t go back to sleep after speaking with Harvey, knowing we would be returning to Draconia soon. My thoughts were racing away, and I ended up tossing and turning for some time. Idris fell asleep almost instantly, and I stayed up, thinking about Ally and my other friends who I left behind in Draconia. My family was there, too, but those people were strangers to me. No one had ever been interested in my well-being, so I didn’t expect that it would change now, even if I were to track them down. Nicolas wasn’t very talkative. We didn’t have the same connection that we used to. Ally was our dear friend; she had taken care of us when we landed outside her house in the middle of the night. We were so lucky that our paths had crossed, and I felt responsible for her.

  The Dark Ones weren’t going to hurt her. She was a human, but she knew about our magic. I wondered why they took her to Draconia. As far as I knew, no human could pass through the crack, but maybe it was just another myth. I felt that my magic was getting stronger, thanks to Avianna. She was growing so fast, and we were all aware of it. I never thought I would be so desperate to return to my magical homeland.

  “What’s wrong, Fran? Why aren’t you sleeping?” Idris asked, turning around to face me. I glanced at the clock, realising it was just after midnight. I felt restless, and now a bit guilty that I had woken him up.

  “Nothing, go back to sleep. I feel restless, and my mind is going in overdrive,” I told him. He leaned over and kissed me hard. My insides burned with fire. It was like my whole body lit up from the inside out.

  “Come here,” he said, bringing me closer to his body. It was great, and we were completely in sync with each other. I thought I would never say this, but I was in love with him, especially after what had happened with my ex, Victor. I wished I could find him again, but it wasn’t important. I believed in karma. Victor would pay for what he had done to me a few months back.

  “I just can’t sleep,” I said, sighing loudly. “What if the warlocks betray us? Ripley cannot be trusted; you said so yourself.”

  “Hmmm, little one, don’t worry about it for now,” he growled, kissing my neck and letting me know he was thinking about something completely different right now. His hand moved along my left thigh. I’d forgotten that I had taken my clothes off before I went to bed earlier on. Was it wrong that I was so turned on right now, when Ally had been taken by the enemy?

  Yes, but Idris wasn’t coming with us. He had to leave with the elders. Apparently, they were pushing him to make a decision about spreading the Dragon Fever. We were going to be separated again, so it was natural that he wanted to be close to me. Maybe I wouldn’t see him ever again. I knew I shouldn’t be thinking like that, but it was a possibility.

  Then the phone on the desk started vibrating, which meant that someone important was trying to get in touch with me again. Idris stopped kissing me. Damn it.

  “Answer it, little one,” he said, handing me the phone. I knew how to use it. I had to learn how earlier on. I swiped the screen with my fingers and put it to my ear.

  “Hello.”

  “It’s time. I thought we might have to wait until later, but Ripley wants us to meet him in the National Museum in an hour,” Harvey said in a strange voice. I was shocked. I thought Ripley didn’t take orders from anyone, but obviously I was wrong about him. I gave Idris a sign that he needed to get up.

  “All right, so, we are going to be in Draconia tonight?” I asked, just to be sure that this was happening.”

  “Yes, London National Museum; we meet by the gate,” he added and then hung up.

  I glanced at Idris who was already dressing. I jumped off the bed, trying to look for my pants.

  “We need to let everyone else know about the change of plans. I hope they aren’t asleep yet,” I muttered. We were ready in a matter of minutes. Rhian was still downstairs when we showed up in the kitchen. I woke Nicolas up.

  “I’m glad, Fran. I’m so glad we are going to get her out of there. She’s probably frightened out of her mind,” Nicolas said. He was bare chested and it distracted me a little. The kiss that we once shared stayed in my memory. Nicolas was very handsome, but he was never going to be more than a friend. I was in love with Idris.

  “I hope they don’t hurt her. They can’t, she’s only a human after all,” I said as we came to the living room. Avianna was already complaining to me about leaving in the middle of the night, and she wanted to go back to sleep.

  “Have you guys got a plan? I mean, do you know what will happen to us once we get there?” Rhian asked, as we were just about to leave. “The streets are riddled with Dark Ones, and Idris can’t be seen with us.”

  “We can ask Ripley about it when we see him. I’m sure we can figure something out,” I muttered, knowing Idris had to leave with the elders. We already discussed where we could meet. He didn’t know Draconia at all, but I had drawn him a map. I knew the city like the back of my hand, but I needed to make sure we had a safe place in case anything went wrong.

  We all had to consider that something could go wrong, so Avianna suggested binding us with a specific spell. That way, I could sense him whenever he was nearby. My little dragon assured me that it was simple and straightforward magic, and he wouldn’t feel a thing, so I agreed.

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18