Expensive - Amy Bellows Page 0,46

while protecting his ability to help others. But his decision is also cruel. He’s not helping me for free, and he plans to wash his hands of me if the spell goes wrong.

It’s the cruelty that makes me trust him. His offer to help me is real. I can feel it.

“Alright. I’ll leave right now. I’m less than an hour away by air.” I snap the burner phone shut and grab my regular phone.

If the Monroes have been tracking Timber, they probably track my phone too. They may even have the signal of my burner phone. But I can’t disappear to the Pallisade Ice Baths without telling someone. As much as I want to trust Howard, he could have ulterior motives. Someone should know where I’m going.

Edward went to the ice baths all the time. If I told Marjorie I was headed there, she would have no reason to suspect I was going to see a warlock. She’d just be confused about why I was leaving the house while Timber was here.

But she wouldn’t be able to get here in time to stop me.

I’m going to the Pallisade Ice Baths. Be back in a few hours.

Before she can respond, I send one last message.

If you don’t hear from me by midnight, come looking for me.

It’s a red flag for anyone who might be intercepting our texts, but it’s still necessary. Whatever warlock Howard sets me up with probably won’t be any more trustworthy than the Monroes.

I take quick steps to Marjorie’s office and input the code into the safe. Like I suspected, there isn’t five hundred thousand dollars in there, but there is well over a hundred thousand and a diamond necklace that will probably make up the difference. I toss the money, the necklace, and the burner phone into a bag, then head up to the roof.

The sooner I get out of here, the better.

I watch the skies as I pull off my clothes and deposit them in the closet. So far, I can’t see any other dragons. I shift quickly and grab the bag full of money with one paw before spreading my wings and pushing off the ground. Somewhere down below Timber is driving Edward’s car and Marjorie is probably freaking out. Maybe my father is too.

They’re the only three people in this world that I have a meaningful emotional connection with. That’s what this bond ache has done to me. I have no control over my own life. I can’t be with the man I love. I can’t even give birth without worrying about what will happen to my child.

Whatever I have to risk for my freedom, it’s worth it.

I fly toward the ocean. The Pallisade Ice Baths were built into the edge of a cliff over a hundred years ago as a retreat for ice dragon shifters from the sweltering summers in New York. In the beginning, they were nothing more than a spa, but over time magical healers like Howard and doctors that specialized in medical treatment for ice dragon shifters rented offices there. I’ve been to the Pallisade Ice Baths twice. The first time was directly before Edward and I had sex. I was given several different medications from an OB/GYN that increased my chance of conception. I didn’t get pregnant, of course. Edward was seventy, and he never ejaculated inside of me. But it certainly wasn’t from a lack of trying.

The second time was directly after Edward’s death. My father and the Monroes were “concerned” about me, so I was taken to a psychiatrist at the Ice Baths who diagnosed me with a bond ache. He also testified at the hearing where I was deemed unstable and in need of an adult legal guardian.

I’m not thrilled to return to the Ice Baths. The doctors there were never interested in my welfare. They simply did what they had to in order to placate the people who controlled my life. The warlocks could be the same, including Howard. I could end up in a situation worse than I’m in right now, and I know that.

But I could also end up free.

Flying is much faster than driving, so it takes me less than thirty minutes to get to the cliff where a collection of buildings look like they’re hanging off the edge and about to tumble into the ocean. The infrastructure is rumored to be supported by magic. That, or some sophisticated architecture. It’s impossible to say.

The Ice Baths look out onto the ocean. The