Page 98 of Jay's Silence
I crossed my arms over my chest, not liking her accusatory tone. Instead of calling her on it, I fed her more information. “A white Mercedes, along with three large men, accompanied her into the building. She was not restrained and walked on her own. We’ve seen no one come in or out, so we have no idea how many people are inside.”
Jay uncrossed her arms and pressed her palms together so hard her knuckles turned white. “Why did she go with this guy? Why did Og let her get in that car? I told them not to let her out of their sight.”
Once again, I bit my tongue and didn’t comment on the vague nature of those instructions.
“Og thinks she might have been drugged or magically coerced.” I rubbed my delt. “Or maybe she just wanted to help and thinks she’s doing the right thing.” I wanted to be Jay’s support. I tried so hard to sit back and agree with her to balance her discontent with Og, but it wasn’t helping any of us. “Love, you had to know Caoimhe might end up in the wrong hands. Why didn’t we have a backup plan? Or at least we could have talked about this as a group. You gave us the least possible information and then disappeared.”
Jay scowled. “It was an easy job: watch a pregnant girl flirt and keep her safe.”
I froze. She was casting blame. The cap I kept tight on my emotions cracked. “We’re not fighters,” I said slowly. “We’re not trained soldiers. We’re your mates. Even if we could read your mind, you’re not around enough for us to even try.” Anger bubbled up from the bottle I’d shoved it into. I stepped forward and pressed a finger into Jay’s chest. “You told us at the end of every story you’re alone again. But you’ve removed yourself from the story as thoroughly as dragons removed themselves from the world. And with the same results. Except now, your demons are biting us in the ass, and I won’t for a heartbeat let you blameanyone but yourself.” Jay tried to look away from me, and I cupped her cheek. “Your fear is destroying the present. It’s the reason Caoimhe’s trapped in that fortress.” Jay’s eyes watered, and guilt filled her face. “That first day, in my hut, you asked me if we could just be friends with benefits. And I said yes. It was that simple.”
“But now we know it’s not that simple.” The guilt vanished, and a shield of stubborn obstinance bloomed in her posture. “We can’t be friends. You are tools for me to use until I can set you free.”
I had a million things I wanted to say. A million reasons she was wrong. A million examples proving she didn’t believe her own words. But I didn’t give any of them. “You’re blind, love. As blind as the dragon council. What’s worse, just like them, you are choosing to be blind. There’s nothing I can say or do to change that.”
I stepped away from her, and my heart pinched. I thought Jay was different. She’d inspired me to stand up and question. But here she was stuck in her games.
I turned and started walking up the hill. After only a moment, she followed after me. Instead of coming up at my side, she followed at my back.
I hated it.
The steep climb left a sheen of sweat over Jay by the time we made it to the scant cover I’d left the others in. She smelled amazing. Her licorice scent curled around me, but I couldn’t let it weaken my resolve.
Tenzin looked at Jay with bloody murder in his eyes, and I moved to the side instead of protecting her.
“She’s in there,” Tenzin jerked his finger toward the lit fortress.
“I know,” Jay said calmly. “We’ll get her out.”
“How?” Tenzin asked.
Jay put her hands on her hips. “If we wait, Marduk will fix this for us.”
I didn’t even see the fire dragon move. Jay was suddenly on the ground with blood leaking out of her broken nose. My dragon roared, but I didn’t go to her. Ogden took two steps before noticing my lack of action and coming to a reluctant halt.
While Tyson held his fellow fire dragon back, Lux came to Jay’s side and whispered in her ear. Jay let out a bitter nasal laugh and winced.
“I know, I deserved it,” Jay said.
“I didn’t say that,” Lux snapped. “I didn’t even imply it.”
Jay tried to wrinkle her nose and winched in pain. “Well, I shouldn’t have said it at all.” She glared at Tenzin. “But it is the truth. Marduk’s resources on this island are vast.” She grabbed her nose and straightened it with too much familiarity, letting out a painful squeak. “That fucking smarts as a mortal.”
“I’m not putting us further under Marduk’s control,” Tenzin growled, barely controlling his dragon. “Fix this now, sorceress, if that’s even what you are.”
Jay stood, refusing Lux’s help. “We go in under Og’s invisibility spell. You find her, and then we bust out. We do it right now.”
Tenzin clenched his fists, his horns growing and shrinking as scales washed across his body.
“It can’t be that simple,” Lux stated, eyeing the medieval fortress.
Jay’s phone buzzed with a text message. She read it. The tiniest tick of her eyebrow was her only reaction before she pocketed the phone again and looked up without saying a word.
“Anything that could help us?” I asked, knowing the message had to be from her vampire accountant.
“No,” Jay stated.
Lux, unaware of our conversation by her car, focused on her plan. “We’re not playing the odds well. There are big holes in our information. We saw your car, so Drukpa must have as well. The fence has an active current, so there must be some surveillance. If they used magic on Caoimhe, that opens up a new can of worms we, as isolated dragons, have no experience with.”