Page 127 of Jay's Silence
I didn’t have time to wonder. Gorm used my surprise to unlock a hint of my dragon strength. The zip-ties on my arms melted with my flame. My body sat up without my permission. Lux, with his cheeks still sunken in and big bags under his eyes, hadn’t moved from my side, and I decked him.
Rehan and Ogden were on me in a heartbeat, wrestling me back to the ground. Although my body fought, I thanked them over and over. This time, evenly spaced leather belts held my arms to my side. They even squeezed the top of my thighs together, and I lay on the floor like a literal log.
Fight. This is unbecoming. Wiggles will see you like this. Everyone will see you like this.
Gorm’s words filled my mind. Remembering Wiggles warning, I closed my eyes and blocked out the world. I must have slept. At some point, Wiggles slipped headphones over my ears, playing my favorite video game tracks. Even when I opened my eyes, only darkness filled my vision.
Although Gorm’s hold on me didn’t lessen, his words in my head ceased as if his attention was elsewhere. Fear raced down my back, and I did what I did best: channeled it into rage.
When I got out of this box, god was on the menu.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
LUX
We used Og’s reverse logic to catch a Ley Line, which dumped us into the ocean in the dead of night. Although we were ready for a fight, no one waited for us. It made Jay’s theory that she wasn’t meant to leave the island in the first place feel more plausible and set us all on edge. Using the padded box we’d shoved Tyson into as a flotation device; we paddled our way to water territory and the waiting Oliviarose.
Rehan’s grandfather filled us in. Fire territory was no longer under Ryker’s control. According to the fire king, currently hiding in earth dragon territory, Doctor Raba invited Gorm to the island. Doctor Raba overthrew King Ryker’s leadership, and it was Doctor Raba trying to make Gorm out to be the new dragon god. Also known as, nothing was the fire king’s fault.
Jay and I had shared a skeptical look, but arguing about who did what wouldn’t solve the problem. What dragons needed now was unity, just like Jay had done to us.
The following morning, we were up bright and early. I flew through the familiar skies of my island, seeing them again for the first time. With my dragon and I so close, I actually sensed the throbbing of our shield, and it weighed on me. No wonder pastgenerations backed away from their dragons and their magic. They’d created a wound in the world, and they could feel it bleed.
Jay rode just behind my horns with Rehan and Og, both in their dragon forms, flanking me like the team we were. I tilted my head so she could see fire territory far below us. After two passes, we flew back to the border, where we shifted. A short jog through the dense eucalyptus forest and up a hill brought us to a meeting with the council.
We were the last to arrive, and I stuck to my mate like a burr. The small clearing had a view of the topmost buildings of fire territory and the blown-off peak of our island’s volcano.
Just like the EM, each element had a trio, give or take, of dragons ready to talk. I even glimpsed some white hair of air off to one side.
“You’re late,” King Ryker stated.
“I’m human, with an average run time of fuck you,” Jay said, wiping sweat off her brow.
“Where’s my son?” King Ryker demanded.
Jay put her hands on her hips. “Why are you even here?”
King Ryker’s face turned a startling shade of red. “Because a man claiming to be a god has taken everything from me. He wants my people, me, to be his new army as if we lived in the dark ages, not the twenty-first century, where nuclear bombs could wipe out life on this planet.”
“That’s pretty spot on, honestly.” Jay nodded. “Gorm’s been trapped for centuries and probably doesn’t quite grasp the finer points of geopolitics.” She leaned toward the Fire King, and concern filled her features. “How does that make you feel?”
King Ryker’s hair turned into flames, and his impressive horns grew out of his head. He took one step towards Jay and raised his fists. Rehan slid in between them and crossed his built arms. Og and I were hot on his tail while no one stepped toward the Fire King, not even his own advisors.
The fire on his head blazed once before turning back into his normal short red locks. He stepped back, mumbling to himself.
Oliviarose elbowed her way past Og to stand next to Jay. “Thank you for coming back,” she whispered. “You could have just abandoned all of this.”
Jay tutted. “And lose the deposit on my rental? Not a chance.”
I snorted having heard all about the council's agreement to give Jay ‘continued use of their sons’. After meeting Marduk and some of the acquaintances from my mate’s past, I was pretty sure she could hold a grudge for all eternity. I wished Oliviarose the best with that.
The leader of earth stepped away from Jay and toward a table sculpted out of the volcanic soil of the clearing. “Let’s begin. As Rkyer’s given us a decent summary.” She gestured for all of us to move forward.
One of the air dragons pushed to the front. My heart dropped. Sky, my father’s right hand, the woman who cleaned me up every time my father beat me, stepped up to the table. I grabbed Jay’s hand. We didn’t know the air dragons’ loyalties. The last time we talked, they were either working with fire or being duped by fire; either option gave them an excuse to work with Gorm instead of their fellow dragons.
Jay reached back and squeezed my arm. “I know.”
She couldn’t read my mind, but her words calmed me either way.