Lord of Destiny (The Dragon Demigods #6) - Charlene Hartnady Page 0,32
know that I’m not leaving until I meet him.” Zale clenches his jaw. He narrows his eyes on mine. “I have to meet my half-brother first.”
“I don’t think that we’re safe here.” I look at each of them. “I don’t want to put Stephan and Jarrod, or any of them, in danger. He made a good point. They could end up in the middle of this.”
“No one is coming after us,” Zale sounds exasperated. “Not anymore.” He shakes his head. “I know it like I know my own name.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” I throw back at him.
“I agree with Raven,” my brother says. “We can’t be too sure. I want us to relax and to let our guard down, but we can’t. Not for one second. Not for any reason…even this.”
“We can be fairly sure, at this point,” Zale still sounds exasperated. “Raven was never in danger, and the rest of us have never been in favor. The weyr would just as soon have us gone. I’m sure they wished that all of the dragon demigods left that night.”
“We might have given the younger generation some ideas,” I counter. “If you ask me, they still need to make an example out of us.” Frustration wells. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be an example.”
“Mimi and Raider are dead.” Zale’s eyes are blazing. “I think that’s example enough. A couple of days Raven…that’s all I’m asking.” He implores the rest of the group with his eyes. “I’m sure you,” he talks to Maddox, “and Barrett want to get to know your brothers. Spend a little time with them?”
“I’ve only just met Rage,” Maddox says. “I wouldn’t mind a couple of days here.” My brother looks my way as he says it. “I want to get to know him.” He implores me with his eyes.
I groan. “I don’t like it.” I do understand. How can I not? “A couple of days. We can’t afford more than that,” I concede. “As soon as you meet Bolt,” I say to Zale, “we need to leave. We can come back in a couple of months…if we’re careful.”
Zale nods. “Our life is a fuck-up. We can’t keep running. I, for one, am getting tired of it.”
“Me too,” Barrett agrees. “We can’t put down roots. Can’t make something of our lives. We have nothing. All of my belongings fit inside a small bag and I have to share a room with two men. How fucked up is that?”
“It won’t be for forever,” I say. If we were caught, my punishment would be awful. I shudder to think about it. Thing is though, if the weyr decided to dish out punishment to us, it could spell death for these guys. No, we have to keep going. A year is not long enough. Nowhere near it!
“You’re right.” Maddox’s eyes have a hard look. “Either they’ve forgotten about us, or we’ll have to face them. There’s only one way to find out which of those is the truth. We would need to take a stand. Maybe here is where we stand.” He looks unsure.
“No!” I practically shout. “That’s not going to happen. We can’t stand against the whole weyr. That would be insane. We’ll stay a few days, and then we’re hitting the road. I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to any of you.” I feel my eyes sting. “Besides, you’ve just met your half-brother. Do you want to pull Rage and the others into our mess? That might happen if we stay.”
Maddox looks down at the floor before locking eyes with me. He finally shakes his head. “No, I wouldn’t want that.”
“It’s settled,” I say. “We’re leaving as soon as you meet Bolt. A couple more days, and then we’re gone.”
“As soon as we meet all of them,” West urges. “I need to know if I have a half-brother. I have this feeling.” He smiles. I haven’t seen West smile for the longest time.
I nod once. “Don’t get your hopes up too much,” I warn him. “We’ll stay,” I sigh. Against my better judgment, I concede. It’s four against one, so what choice do I have? Sure, there’s a side of me that’s happy. The side that can’t stop thinking about Stephan. About how much I enjoyed our conversation last night. About how good he looked naked. Holy moly, I definitely can’t get that image out of my head. Most of me is afraid, though. I have this