Page 6 of A Dark Prophecy's Heir
“Yes. I also need you to cover for me and Em. Spin a tale on why I can’t come home yet and why Em isn’t returning to Broom’s Isle. Keep it simple. But don’t ever tell them we made a deal with a dragon or else…”
“We’ll be outcasts all over again,” Pearl said flatly. “Or worse. Because that’s what our fellow magic users are good at. Bullying and all that.”
“They had reasons to brand us as outcasts,” Sapphire corrected. “But those reasons no longer stand now. They thought our brother was evil and his innocence has been proven. You will be welcomed with open arms this time…so long as our magical pact with a dangerous creature isn’t revealed.”
“So…” Ruby trailed off. “To shorten it, we lie and guilt trip. We handle Silver and the Council while you handle Em and Klaus.”
His name alone screamed a warning into her instincts, but she didn’t show it.
“Yes.”
Silence.
“I hate to say it, but you’re right. Again,” Pearl finally said. “And you know best.”
There was no sarcasm, only a hint of reluctance. Sapphire squeezed her sister’s hand, then turned to Ruby. “Ruby?”
“I have been on a lot of adventures, including being kidnapped by pirates, saved by other pirates, and falling in love with a half-vampire. Oh, and getting possessed by evil magic at one point and almost releasing demons into the Otherworld.”
Pearl rolled her eyes. “Don’t we know it? You guys are all over each other. And you don’t have to brag about your credentials. We know you’re the best-traveled sister.”
“I wasn’t done,” Ruby said, cheeks flushed pink. But she smiled at Pearl. “What I’m trying to get at is that I survived them all with my wits and magic…and your help. Which means we can survive this together too, even if we’re headed in different directions.”
“Of all the melodramatic things to say…” Pearl groaned. But her white-gray eyes twinkled. “That was the nicest. For Em?”
“For Em,” Sapphire confirmed. “And for our family in general.”
“Okay, then.” Pearl waved away the thin sheen. “Sounds like a plan. Ruby?”
“Hmm?”
“I was going to say you bagged the sexiest man, but Klaus is kind of giving Maddox some competition.” Pearl brightened. “And now that we’re here, why don’t we see what this guy serves for dinner first? Maybe that will up his ante over Maddox’s strange blood stews.”
The jest was light, meant to stir the air clear of what they were up against. Ruby caught on to it instantly, answering with the same lightness. “Improbable. You haven’t tasted Mad’s non-blood stews yet. They’re mind-blowing.”
“I bet they are,” Pearl crooned, then squawked when Ruby smacked her arm. “I was talking about the stew, you perverted woman, not the sex. But I bet—”
“Pearl, shut up.”
“Ruby, spill. I want details of the honeymoon phase. I haven’t had sex in a while and it’s driving me nuts.”
“Two weeks. It’s been two weeks since you tupped that innocent wolf shifter.”
“Two long, lonely weeks. I need a story or two.”
Sapphire let them get crazy with their banter, understanding it was their way to blow off the tension. But she kept her focus on the castle as they walked toward it, taking in its menacing appearance and keeping one thing to herself.
It’s not too late.
It was time for Klaus of Oslo to learn that she wasn’t the type to go away easily—and, if things went her way, maybe he could also learn that things wouldn’t go his way at all.
Chapter 2
Klaus stood by the long window, where he had a perfect view of the barren lands and the greenery that made up his place. His kingdom, Oslo, had been carried on by a long line of dragons starting with the first dragon shifter to ever exist in the Otherworld: Calassius, who was also one of its founders and the namesake for all the other groups of shifter islands. It was ironic, considering those shifter islands held a grudge against dragons now…or at least, those of them that still existed. He knew he was one of the last few, their kind going extinct as the years passed.
I bet they like that.
Up on his high floor, he also had a perfect view of what was happening just close to his castle’s front door: the Sutton sisters and the men with them bidding goodbye to each other as they prepared to leave his island. Only two weren’t in cloaks.