Chapter Twelve
Sarra
We’d returned from the old ruins days ago and were back in the city center. I informed the Koth that the prisoner had escaped and Haden had let Rerdig back into the ruins to fend for himself.
The Koth were beyond furious, but somehow seemed calmed by the fact that the Earth would have no chance of questioning him. I didn’t know what to believe anymore. Everything I had ever trusted in had been irreversibly shaken.
Zaphira was also infuriated by our news. That pseudo-motherly role I’d cast her in seemed to take full effect in the weight of her anger over the phone. Somehow I’d managed to butter her up with the idea that he was her son. It was a lie, as far as I knew, but it didn’t have to stay one.
I’d told Rerdig I knew who his mother was and he said he already knew. This had to imply, even on some smaller scale, that he was aware of Zaphira; didn’t it?
Regardless, she seemed calmed by my statement, and I was in no mood to deny her some peace.
“What does he look like?” she asked in as somber a voice as I’d ever heard. Her eyes glistened with tears over the video phone, and I smiled in kind at her.
“He’s the orange breed,” I said, and she immediately nodded as though the information was correct. “Is that right?” I asked eagerly, and she smiled.
“He would be. Yes.”
My heart fluttered, and suddenly I felt excited again. Excited that I had found him… and all the more disappointed that we had let him go. “Well… he has long wings that drape to the floor,” I said with a slight giggle and found that Zaphira was giggling as well. I don’t think I’d ever heard her giggle before. In fact, even the thought of the word giggle in relation to her name seemed beyond strange.
She asked me for more details, and I found all of mine seemed to be tainted with the recollection of him grabbing me by the throat and our tormenting game of cat and mouse in the shuttle carrier. I thought about how I’d almost fired my weapon into his skull and couldn’t bear to pull the trigger, thinking that he might be her son.
I stared into the camera and began pulling out useless adjectives like brave, strong, and courageous. All lies. I knew nothing about the dragon, and personally, wasn’t a big fan of his.
Then, her face fell.
“But, he’s a rebel,” she said slowly, sadly.
I hung my head. “Yes.”
Zaphira watched me for a moment before cocking her head to the side; her expression betraying nothing of her emotions. “Sarra,” she questioned. “Did you…”
“What?”
She shook her head and gave a put on smile. “Never mind,” she insisted.
“Zaphira, what?”
Her features drew inward and although I knew there was excitement in her body, her mind seemed wary and tired. Her dark hair had grown longer since I’d last seen her, now coming down almost to her shoulders. The scars on her face said it all; the white scratches that cascaded across her body like a novel of untold stories waiting to be revealed.
“Did he say why?” she asked, her voice thick with emotion. “Why he’s chosen this life?”
I shook my head. “He really didn’t.”
It was the truth.
“Ah,” she stared off, now turning her head to the side and giving a view of her perfect profile. My heart filled with love as I stared at the woman across the screen from me and I realized I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t do what Haden asked me to do. I couldn’t betray Zaphira.
Not fully, anyway.
I could see the agony on her face as she processed the information I was giving her. “There were only a few who knew of his imprisonment,” I offered. “So, they’re probably the ones who had something to do with him being put away, if that helps any.”
“Thank you,” she nodded, her lip shaking before quickly composing herself. It was slight, but I saw it.
“He attacked me,” I said out of nowhere. My heart jumped into my throat as the words came out. The look on her face was that of pure shock.
“Then I’m sorry,” she offered genuinely as any mother would for their misbehaving children.
“I told him…” I shrugged. “I told him I knew who his mother was.”
“A bold gesture.” She cocked a brow. “And possibly a lie.”
“I know.” I accepted her slight lecture and continued, “But something in me was sure, Zaphira. I was sure… and the strangest part was that he said he knew who you were.”
“He did?!” She nearly jumped toward the camera, the screen jostling in her grip. “Then what happened?”
I cringed inwardly at the lie I was about to tell, but I couldn’t think of a better way to smooth over the situation than to say: “Then I… let him go.”
The screen went deathly silent, and I could see her torn emotions playing over her face. If I really let him go, then I had betrayed our alliance. But I had also saved her son.
“It was just me and Haden. We told them that he escaped our shuttle, but really, we let him go in the old ruins.”
“So you told him?” came her terse, confused response.
“I told him I was doing a favor for a dear friend.”
A flush crept up her face as she looked at me and all at once her expression filled with tears of gratefulness. They spilled over her cheeks, and she buried her face in her hands. The next I saw of her dark eyes, they had flooded with mascara runs and a radiant smile.
“Thank you,” she said through her tears. “Thank you, Sarra. You don’t know what this means to me.”
This was everything I ever wanted, wasn’t it? Hadn’t I wanted Zaphira’s pride… or her thanks? To be needed by the woman whom I needed. There was something satisfying in that, even in the twisted way I had to achieve it. I swallowed hard and let her have her moment.
When she composed herself, I stared down into my lap and felt my heart start pounding with fear as the next thought crept into my mind.
“He was asking about a legend,” I mumbled.
“What’s that?” Zaphira said absent-mindedly as she wiped her eyes with an embroidered handkerchief. “He asked about a what?”
“A legend.” I cleared my throat nervously and hoped she didn’t catch on. “He said that there had been a couple taken from Udora secretly and he seemed to imply that they had given birth to some sort of super dragon?”
I winced at my choice of words, but my ineloquent babbling didn’t seem to have any negative effect on my boss. She stared with intrigue into the screen before resting her hand on her chin. “I see. Did he know who the couple was?”
“I don’t think so, but he seemed to think you had something to do with it.”
Zaphira gave me a pointed look that sent a chill down my back. It was her patented look that told me I’d stepped one foot too far into something that was none of my business. But this time she dismissed it.
“Ariella Klein,” she offered the woman’s name to me. “She and the Weredragon who chose her went missing less than a year after their match. She was with child when they disappeared, yes.”
“Do you know what it was?” I asked innocently. “The child?”
“The sex? A girl,” she said dismissively.
I stared numbly at the screen for a moment and gave an understanding nod, staring away from her gaze now as I ran my hand along the wood grain of my desk. “A bit rare, wouldn’t you say?” I asked. “A female Weredragon.”
She raised a cocky brow and smirked into the screen. “Why do you think she’s hidden?”
My mouth twisted into a half-smile and I looked into the screen. “You are a naughty girl.”
She bowed her head and then pressed her finger to her lips. “But that’s our little secret,” she warned.
“Of course,” I nodded.
“But if he wanted to know about her, then it’s likely that the rebellion is after her. Making it all the more important for us to keep this under wraps; do you understand?”
“I do.”
I did.
She nodded for a few moments and then looked back into the screen as though she were there in person, looking directly into my soul. “And on that note, I believe a promotion is in order for you, my dear.”
“Really?” I beamed; guilt washing over my sudden happiness.
“I have an assignment for you. A new charge. But it’s going to take a while.”
I smiled. “I think I can handle that.”
We talked for some time more in a way I always wished we would. She spoke to me as a friend and a respected colleague, not just the girl who ran her coffee. She expressed genuine interest in my relationship with Haden and confided in me about her hopes for the future of our alliance.
I wondered if maybe this was possible afterward. To have both sides. To work for Riddell and be with a man who would abolish the alliance I believed in. It sounded ridiculous, but I loved him too much to believe it was impossible.
Was this it for me? When talking to Zaphira, would I tell her about the dealings with the Koth and their unsteady structure, secretly hoping to repair their bonds before Haden had a chance to tear it all down?
When reporting to Haden, would I tell him Zaphira’s plans for the future of our alliance? Was this my new role… a double agent?
As I stared into the screen, Zaphira’s words seemed to fade into the distance; her lips were moving, but I could no longer hear her voice. I watched her elegant lips and charismatic demeanor and suddenly felt renewed vigor. Of course I could have it all. After all, when it came maneuvering events in my favor…
I’d had the perfect teacher.