Ten days.
That was the countdown. We couldn’t wait much longer. Ten days to plan, to prepare, to wait for reinforcements to show up. That first afternoon passed in a flurry of confusion, questions and fear. When the video was shown to everyone, the soldiers of the Order had reacted with indignation and outrage, the rogues with horror and fear, but in the end, a steely resolve had settled over both groups, tinged with quiet resignation. Everyone knew what would happen if Talon’s mindless clone army was awakened. We’d all seen it firsthand, on a much smaller scale. We knew that if we didn’t destroy that army now, we wouldn’t have a chance when they woke up.
The soldiers of St. George arrived first. A few days after the meeting, Martin and St. George took the jeep away from the farm and returned that evening with a pair of grim-faced soldiers in the backseat. The following day, they did the same and brought back another three. Over the next few days, a handful of soldiers trickled in, all with the same story. They were the only survivors of their various chapterhouses, or they had been away on a mission when the Night of Fang and Fire hit and had returned to find that nothing remained of their home but cinders, ash and the bones of their comrades.
Naturally, everyone was extremely cautious of the newcomers. Dragons and soldiers alike eyed each other with suspicion, loathing and fear, uncertain whether or not the other would attack. I, St. George and both lieutenants strove to make it very clear that no one was allowed to harm or threaten anyone on the property, no matter who or what they were. The rules were nonnegotiable. If anyone had a problem working with each other, they were welcome to leave and take their chances with Talon, alone. If there were incidents of violence, if anyone—dragon or human—hurt or threatened anyone on the property, they would be driven to the nearest town and left there. No trial, no questions asked. We were all under the same banner, and those who could not get along were liabilities. It was harsh, but the situation was too grave to have to worry about infighting. Fortunately, the near-destruction of the entire Order of St. George had shown the soldiers exactly what Talon could do, and how dire things really were. They were much more willing to ally with dragons, now that there was no other way they stood a chance against the organization. Funny how things like that worked.
One evening, a little more than a week into our preparations, Wes and I were huddled over his laptop, trying to pinpoint exactly where the laboratory was, when there was a tap on the doorframe. Jade stepped into the room.
“I must go,” she announced without preamble.
I straightened. “What the hell? Now?” I stared at her, feeling the inevitable tick of the clock counting down the seconds. “Dammit, Jade, why do you always skip out on us when something big is going down? If you haven’t noticed, we’re about to start a war with Talon.”
“That is why I must leave,” the Eastern dragon said, unconcerned with my anger. “And I am not, as you Americans would put it, skipping out. But I know my people. They will not hear me if I plead with them from the other side of an ocean. I must go to them directly and speak with them face-to-face. It is the only way to make them understand.”
“And how long is this going to take? Weeks? Months?”
“I do not know,” Jade said. “Hopefully, it will not be that long.” I gave a sigh of frustration, and her eyes narrowed. “I have watched over your underground, Cobalt,” she reminded me. “I have fought with you in battle, time and time again. And I have always returned when I said I would. Can you not give me the benefit of the doubt in this? Do you think that I do not understand what is at stake, what will happen to us all if Talon wins?”
“I know.” I held up a hand. “I’m sorry. You’re right—you’ve always come back. It’s just…” I shrugged helplessly. “This is the big one, I think. If we don’t succeed here, the world is going to burn when that army wakes up. And you’re our heavy hitter, Jade. Against Talon, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“Which is why I am going,” the Eastern dragon returned. “The dragons of the East cannot remain neutral in this war any longer. I hope to bring back a few of my kin, at the very least. Even if I must drag them here by their overly elegant whiskers.” Her eyes glittered, and the statement would’ve been funny if Jade herself wasn’t so terrifying. “But you are wrong in saying that I am your ‘heaviest hitter,’ Cobalt,” she went on. “Physical strength is not the most important aspect in this war. If you want the true warriors, look to those whose hearts burn with passion, loyalty, justice and courage, for they will be the ones who will lead us to victory. You won’t have to look far.”
I gave a resigned nod. “Do the others know you’re leaving?”
“I’ve told the soldier. He has already wished me luck.” She stepped back and hovered in the doorway. “I’ll return as soon as I can,” she said. “Don’t wait for me here—I will find you again. Oh, and if you would, please tell Mist to lead the morning meditations in my absence. I don’t want the hatchlings to neglect their inner reflections, especially now.”
“Right.” I dredged up a smirk. “I’ll do that. Well, good luck to you. Hopefully, we’ll see you soon, with a giant army of Eastern dragons behind you.”
“I will try.” Jade nodded as she stepped away. “We will see who can be more stubborn but, as you Americans would put it, do not hold your breath. Until we meet again, Cobalt. Wesley.” She nodded to the human at the desk. “Keep him out of trouble.”
Wes snorted. “Right. Don’t ask the impossible or anything.”
Jade smiled. Then, as she had done several times before, she turned and walked away, vanishing from our lives for a little while. I hoped we would see her again. If she could convince the Eastern dragons to fight, if they would stand with us against Talon, I’d lead those morning meditations myself.
Mist entered the room, her footsteps silent as always. I felt that weird twist in my stomach again, my senses perking to life when she was around. “Is Jade going somewhere?”
“Only back to bloody China,” Wes answered. “Again. Says she going to try to rally the Eastern dragons to fight, but bloody good luck with that. You know what those old wankers are going to say, right?” He raised a hand like he was holding a teacup, lifting his pinky finger into the air. “Let us now meditate upon the world going to hell.”
“Don’t be an ass, Wesley.” I sighed. “Jade knows what she’s doing.”
“Oh, well, pardon me. I was just a wee bit worried that we’re all going to fucking die in the next few days, that’s all. That some wanker is going to aim the whole bloody lot of us at Talon and get us all killed.” Wes was in rare form this evening, and my own anger stirred in response, fed by the fear and stress and exhaustion of the past few days. “Hey, remember the island? Remember the bloody Adult dragon they had guarding the place? Know what would’ve been nice to fight that thing? Another bloody Adult dragon.”
I reached down, grabbed him by the front of the shirt and yanked him out of the chair. “There was another Adult dragon on that island!” I snarled in his face. “Her name was Scarlett, and she died to make sure we got out safely. So don’t bitch at me like I have no clue as to what’s going on. Like I don’t know what this really is, that it’s a fucking suicide mission. I already know, better than anyone.” I released his shirt and pushed him back to the chair, glowering down at him. “My underground is probably going to die,” I said, voicing the words that had been haunting me ever since that video came to light. “Everything I’ve worked for, everyone I’ve protected, those kids I promised to save from Talon…they’re going to be marching straight into their jaws. Same with the dragonells. We rescued them from the island only to throw them right back at the organization. So yes, Wesley, I realize that having an Adult around would be nice. I realize that our numbers right now aren’t going to be enough to take on the organization. I know everyone is terrified but trying really hard not to show it. Because there’s no one else who can do this. It’s just us. We are the resistance, and if we can’t stop this, the world is screwed.”
Wes stared at me with hooded eyes. “You done, mate?” he finally asked. I resisted the urge to yank him to his feet again and throw him through the window.
“Yeah,” I growled shortly. “Something more you wanted to add?”
“After that little scene? Fuck, no.”
“Good.” Raking a hand over my scalp, I stepped away from him, feeling that if I didn’t get some air I might start putting holes through walls. Mist was watching me from just inside the door, her expression carefully neutral. For some reason, I was suddenly embarrassed that she had seen me lose control, and then I was annoyed about being embarrassed. “Keep researching the laboratory,” I told the sulking human. “I’ll…be back in a second.”
I swept out of the room before either of them could say anything.
The living room and kitchen were full of young dragons, sitting at the counter talking, playing cards, reading or gathered around the one television in the house. Phones, tablets and personal computers had been strictly forbidden for security reasons; the only computer allowed on the property was Wes’s laptop, and it was probably more secure than the Pentagon. This did make for some very bored hatchlings—how did kids ever function before smartphones?—so we had to come up with other ways to keep them entertained. Nettle, perched cross-legged on the sofa, looked up from a hand of UNO cards and waved as I stalked by. I paused a moment to watch her and four others, including a pair of hatchlings from the facility, toss cards into the pile in the center amid much laughing and good-natured taunting. The game ended with one of the dragonells shouting “UNO!” as she threw down her final card, and the rest of the table exploded into loud groans and laughter. Nettle looked back and grinned at me.
“Hey, Cobalt,” she called, and waved a hand at the table. “Wanna play? We have room for one more, and someone has to stop Sera’s four-game winning streak.”
“Maybe some other time,” I said, and the girl bobbed her head before returning to the game. I watched them a moment longer, glad to see the grin back on Nettle’s face as she began shuffling the deck. After Remy’s death, she had become angry at the world, making snarky, acidic remarks to anyone who tried talking to her. After this resulted in a near-fight with one of the boys, Jade had stepped in and taken the furious, grieving hatchling into another room. Two hours later, Nettle had emerged wet-faced and puffy-eyed, but gradually began acting like herself again. And after that, morning meditations became a regular thing.
I gazed around the room, taking in every dragon there. Realizing that it would never be like this again.
I turned away and slipped outside.
Putting my hands in my jacket pocket, I began walking down the driveway, not really knowing where I was going. In the distance at the edge of the fields, I saw the barn silhouetted against the navy blue of the evening sky, orange light glimmering through the cracks in the wood. Autumn would be in there now, curled around her precious egg, two more lives that were depending on us. I wanted Autumn’s baby to be the first US dragon who would hatch and grow up away from Talon, who wouldn’t know the organization at all, who wouldn’t have to fear what they would do if he or she didn’t meet their expectations. I wanted my hatchlings to be free, to not know war and death and suffering. That’s why I’d taken the hits for them in the past, why I worked so hard to be a pain in Talon’s ass—so Talon would concentrate on me and leave my underground alone. But now…
I stopped in the middle of the driveway, feeling the truth start to claw its way out of my head, unwilling to stay buried. I couldn’t protect them any longer. Everyone here would be drawn into the final battle with Talon and, win or lose, the casualties were going to be tremendous.
“Dammit,” I whispered, closing my eyes. “Is this what we really have to do? Do we all have to die so the rest of the world can be safe?”
“Cobalt.”
I turned. Mist stood a few yards behind me, pale and almost glowing under the light of the moon, her silver hair falling down her back. She regarded me solemnly, the echo of a silver-white dragon watching me from the center of the drive, and my heartbeat picked up in return.
“What do you want, Mist?”
She tilted her head, and the echo of the silver dragon became even stronger, watching me curiously across the gravel. “I don’t really know,” she said, walking forward. “I can’t figure you out, Cobalt. You were a Basilisk. You worked for Talon. We’ve been trained to see everything, everyone, as tools. When did that change?”
I shrugged. “I got tired of it,” I said. “I got tired of the casualties, being expected to turn a blind eye to what I was doing. I got tired of being used for Talon’s dirty work, and seeing people suffer because of me. I guess somewhere along the way I grew a conscience.”
“That seems very human.”
“Maybe.” I looked behind her at the house, where lights glowed through the windows and the echo of laughter reached me over the wind. “Or maybe we’re not that different. Maybe that’s something Talon has tried to extinguish, because if we let ourselves care for anything, eventually we realize how soulless the organization really is. Or maybe, over the generations, we really have become more human.” I remembered the words of a certain red hatchling when she faced me in the shadows of the barn, her eyes bright with very human tears. Dragons can love. We are quite capable of every emotion the organization has tried to stamp out. “I don’t know what happened to me,” I said with a shrug. “I can see why Talon doesn’t want us to have attachments—they’re messy and complicated and painful as hell when you lose them. But I’ll take that over what Talon wanted me to become. Ruthless. Someone who didn’t care if their enemies or allies died, if it benefitted the organization. I just couldn’t do that anymore.”
“And what about me?” Mist asked.
The question was so unexpected that I didn’t understand it for a moment. “What do you mean?”
“I mean…” She crossed her arms and looked away, frowning. If I didn’t know better, I would say she was almost…embarrassed. “You said that you don’t want any of your allies to die. Does that include a Basilisk who is only here because she was ordered to help you? Or a former enemy who had every intention of killing you in the past?”
“Mist…” I gazed at her in sudden understanding. “We’ve both done horrible things for Talon,” I said softly. “Ember doesn’t really get it. Neither does St. George, or any of the hatchlings. Sure, they know I used to be a Basilisk, but none of them really understands what that means. What I used to do.” I thought back to those long years I worked for the organization. The missions that required me to destroy lives, careers and dreams, all in the name of profit for Talon. “Wes is probably the only one who knows about my past,” I went on, “but there are things I haven’t told even him, things only another Basilisk would understand. You’re an exceptional agent, Mist,” I said. “And I can see why the Archivist chose you. But you’re still young. There’s no mission you’ve completed for Talon that I haven’t done several times over.
“So, to answer your question…yeah, it would bother me.” I caught her gaze as I said this, looking her in the eye. “You might’ve been an enemy in the past, but hell, so was St. George. And Martin. And all the soldiers here, come to think of it. Believe me, I won’t shed a tear if any Order fanatics go and bite the dust, but that’s one less warm body that can hold a gun for our side, so I won’t be dancing in the streets, either.”
“Hmm. Well, it’s nice to know I’m in the same boat as the soldiers of St. George.”
“It’s different with you.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, making her cock her head. “You’re one of us, but even more than that, you’re a damn good agent who is probably my equal in everything that matters. You kept your word when you helped us escape Talon. You were essential in getting us to the facility. And I wouldn’t have trusted just anyone to lead the dragonells to safety. Even when you’re driving me nuts, pulling shady shit and never giving me the whole story, I know that you’ll come through for us in the end. If you died…” For some reason, that made my stomach churn a little, and I shook my head. “You’re not in the same boat as the soldiers, I can tell you that.”
She sighed. “Sometimes, I do hate you, Cobalt.”
Stunned at the abrupt change of heart, I blinked at her. “O…kay,” I stammered, utterly confused. “That came out of nowhere. Why?”
“Because I knew who I was before I met you.” She shifted to stare at a point over the distant hills. “I was what Talon required, a Basilisk who didn’t need to know the whys of my missions, I just needed to complete them. No questions, no doubts. Now…” She shook her head. “Now, I have no idea who I am, or what I’m supposed to do when this is all over. You’re making me question everything, and I hate it, because it’s something I can’t seem to control.”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “Sucks, doesn’t it? Welcome to my world. That’s what happens when you grow a conscience.”
“No.” She took a short breath, regaining a little of her composure. “It’s more than that. It’s…you, Cobalt. For some reason, my distaste of you has grown tremendously.”
My brows arched. “Oh?”
“Yes.” Mist crossed her arms, still not looking at me. “You are constantly on my mind lately,” she said. “I cannot think when you and I are in the same room. Your presence haunts me even when you are out of sight. It is irritating, and I don’t know how to stop it.” She gave a short huff and glanced at me, defiant. “Do you have any suggestions, since you seem to be more adept at these kind of things?”
I swallowed the sudden dryness in my throat. No, I thought furiously. I don’t want this. I’ve already been through enough with Ember. This can’t be happening to me again.
But it was different this time. There was no heat in my veins, no fire consuming me from within. No savage, almost painful yearning from Cobalt toward the echo of the white dragon in the drive. Whatever this was, it was nothing like the Sallith’tahn. Whether through time or the knowledge that Ember had chosen someone else, I barely felt the life-mate bond anymore. If I concentrated on it, it was still there, weak and painful. And though my dragon side still keened the loss of his mate, my human self was…almost relieved. I was free. I could finally make my own choice, without following the instinctive pull of the Sallith’tahn. And, maybe, that was what Ember had wanted all along.
The only question was…did I want this?
I sighed. “I don’t know, Mist,” I told her truthfully. “I think we both know what’s happening, but I honestly couldn’t tell you where to go from here. I have absolutely zero experience with this type of thing, and really, I don’t even know if I want to try. We’ve both seen it happen. We both know how screwed up it can get. I mean, hell, look at Ember and St. George. A dragon and a human?” I shook my head. “If that’s not messed up, I don’t know what is.”
“It shouldn’t be possible,” Mist argued. “We’re dragons. We’re not supposed to feel like they do.”
I almost smiled at how much she sounded like me. And how much I was starting to parrot the exact same things Ember had said. “Maybe it shouldn’t be possible,” I said, shrugging. “But it is. At least, it is for me. I’ve been around Ember long enough to know that it can happen, and that it’s damned hard to ignore. Ember chose the human knowing what it meant, that they’d only have a short time together. She would rather spend a few years with him than a few centuries with another dragon. That’s how powerful it can be.”
“I don’t see how they do it,” Mist remarked. “Or why. It’s completely illogical.”
“Yeah. I guess it is.” We were dancing around the words, as if not saying them out loud would somehow make it less real. The things that dragons did not experience. Emotion. Attraction.
Love.
Mist looked down with a sigh. I watched her, noting how the moonlight shimmered off her hair, seeming to glow in the darkness. “So, what now?” I asked, feeling a strange pull in the pit of my stomach, urging me toward her. “What do we do about it?”
Mist didn’t reply. Her brow furrowed, and she seemed perched on the razor edge of a wire, able to fall either way. I found myself holding my breath, waiting for her answer, hoping that she would… Actually, I didn’t know. What was I hoping for here?
The Basilisk raised her head, letting out a long breath. Before she could say anything, however, my phone buzzed in my jacket pocket, sounding urgent.
“Dammit. What now, Wes?” I pulled it out, seeing a new text flash across the screen.
Did you fall down a rabbit hole? Where the hell are you?
Well, that was a mood killer. I rolled my eyes and hit Reply on the screen. Bitchy much? I texted back. I took a walk, where do you think I am?
Certainly not here, was the almost instant reply. Going over the blueprint the bloody Archivist sent us. Didn’t Mist tell you? I thought that’s why she went out there.
What? I looked up at the Basilisk, narrowing my eyes. “Why would the Archivist know what we’re doing, Mist?”
“Because I sent him the video from earlier,” she explained, as if that was obvious. “I also gave him full details of what was happening, and that we were planning to assault the lab to take out the vessels. He thought we could use all the help we could get.”
“And you didn’t tell me this earlier?”
“I didn’t want to spend a half hour trying to convince you that the Archivist isn’t going to sell us out to Talon,” Mist said reasonably. “Besides…” She shrugged, unrepentant. “I’m a Basilisk. We don’t ask permission. When something needs to be done, we trust our own judgment. You should know that just as well as me.”
I shook my head. “And this is why Basilisks don’t play well together.” Stuffing the phone in my pocket, I started back toward the farmhouse. “Come on, then. Let’s go see if your boss has any info that will make this less of a suicide mission.”