Page 66 of Magic Forsaken
I nodded and smiled and apologized like a good little flunky until Callum finally ended his call, looking about ten years older.
“You were right,” he said. “Rath stepped out for lunch and was thrown fifty yards by a ‘random gust of wind.’ Talia said a gargoyle spiked her drink, but the hotel claims there are no gargoyles on their staff.”
“What about Leith?”
Callum grimaced as if he’d eaten something rotten. “The wildkin delegate sends his regards and says he is perfectly capable of seeing to his own safety and security, thank you very much.”
“So he’s the only one of the sovereigns who wasn’t attacked?”
From somewhere above our heads, Ryker let out a snort of annoyance, along with a puff of smoke.
I wasn’t sure what that was intended to communicate, but I didn’t buy whatever our attackers were trying to sell. It was too obvious.
“We need to talk to him.” I said the words in tandem with Callum’s much deeper but identical assertion, and we turned to stare at each other for a moment before he nodded.
“You don’t believe it either?”
I shook my head. “It’s too convenient. Someone wants you all at each other’s throats.”
Or they wanted us distracted.
“I’ll request a meeting.” Callum pulled out his phone again and began texting too fast for the eye to follow. “But you need to go get checked out. I’ll alert Faris and arrange for a ride to the closest hospital.”
I didn’t bother to conceal my surge of annoyance.
“Oh you will, will you?” I snapped, suddenly irritated beyond all patience at his high-handed demands and idiotic disregard for his own safety. We’d just survived nearly burning to death, he could barely move his right arm, and now he thought he could send me away while he waltzed into danger alone. “Does this mean you’ve decided to stop pretending you offered me a job in good faith?”
His kingly mask suddenly fell into place. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that wherever you’re going, I’m going with you.”
“You just nearlydied,” he growled. “I’m not taking you anywhere near Leith until I know for sure he wasn’t behind this.”
I took a step closer, glaring up at him from less than an arm’s length away. I could feel his frustration simmering between us, threatening to blossom into anger, but I didn’t care. He wasn’t going to hurt me, but hewasgoing to listen.
“I wasn’t the only one who almost died just now,” I reminded him pointedly. “You were in there, too. And you hired me for a reason. You said you needed my help to keep the other courts in line, so were you lying?”
The dragon’s face had gone flat and impassive, his lips pressed together as if to hold back whatever answer his heart wanted to give.
“You can’t have it both ways, Your Majesty. Not this time. And I never agreed to sit on my hands and be content with distracting your friends so they won’t watch you too closely.”
I thought I saw him flinch, but I wasn’t finished.
“I genuinely believed what you told me about why this Symposium matters. About why you agreed to take this on. You asked for my help, and I chose to offer it. I made my own decision to fight for the same things, so don’t tell me to go home, to stay away, or to be safe. Even if you lied about my job, at least grant me enough respect to let me make my own choices about what to fight for.”
Callum blinked at me in stunned silence for a moment, as if unable to believe that I’d dared to throw his own words back at him. From somewhere over my head, I heard what sounded suspiciously like dragon laughter.
But then the shifter king’s expression turned fierce. Implacable. Forged in fire and steel. “Raine, what if we’re wrong? If it really was Leith behind this attack, he won’t be easy to resist, and I promised that I would protect you.” His voice went deep and harsh—the dragon putting in an appearance once again. “As I told you, I keep my promises.Always.”
At any other time or place, I might have swooned right there in the street. But not this time. I had a point to make, and he had to know that I wasn’t going to let him run me over.
“I believe your intentions are good,” I granted. “I even believe you will keep your word.But, if you plan to do so by forcing meto act against my own judgment, then I release you from that promise.”
His mouth opened as if he had plenty more to say on that topic, but it was too late. Another of his black SUVs pulled up to the curb, effectively ending our argument—for now. We were too busy drowning in the overwhelming onslaught that was Magnus, Angelica, and Heather in full damage-control mode.
Angelica immediately took over communication with the fire department and tow truck operator, while Heather scurried around taking notes and making phone calls with a look of terror every time she happened to glance at the towering red dragon.
Magnus stood there with his tablet, one earbud in, talking to someone in monotone while inputting some probably vital information. He didn’t seem to react to anything going on around us with actual emotions, which struck me as odd considering the potential consequences of what we’d just gone through. Did he not care that Callum had almost died? Or was he just so accustomed to violence and near-death experiences that they didn’t even seem unusual anymore?