Hidden Fate

25

“I do.” Errol rubbed a hand along his chin. “A maid who cleans my house, the château, and the house the guards live in on the grounds. I’ve known her since she was a child, and when her parents passed, I got her a job on the premises. I made sure she was provided for as best I could, and I know the type of person she is. She told me Drake was up to no good, but she refused to tell me specifics, and I thought it was his usual shenanigans like when he was younger. When I realized what Drake had done to Saphira, her warnings made more sense, but it was too late. Then the king asked me for help, and I knew it would get me back to my daughter. There was no question where my priorities lie.”

“Is there a way she could leave a message for Uther that no one else would find?” That might be impossible, but it could work.

Some of the worry ebbed from the connection as Thorn connected, You’re brilliant. Have I ever told you that?

My face heated. He actually hadn’t, but he’d complimented me several other ways.

Taking my hand, Thorn leaned toward me and said, “When I lived in the château, I remember the guards having their own lockers in the house where they log their weapons upon returning them into inventory. While the other maids are working, she should be able to slip a note into his locker undetected. Then they wouldn’t be able to guess who left the note. We just need a way of communicating with her.”

“Errol and I can drive several towns over and find a phone to call her.” Vlad grabbed a set of keys. “If they trace the call, it won’t compromise our location, and if they somehow get wind of the meeting, we’ll have it set up in a way that doesn’t lead them here.”

The plan was shaky at best, but it was the only option I could think of to get a message to Uther. We couldn’t risk giving away our location or proximity to Edna’s thunder.

“Now?” Errol’s mouth dropped. “I thought we were waiting on Edna.”

“We should leave the message as soon as possible if Drake has imminent plans we need to know about.” Vlad headed to the door. “The good thing is they won’t be sure who is connected to us, which will give the warriors pause before the meeting. We’ll schedule something for tomorrow night so they don’t have too much time to get things ready.” As he opened the door, I heard the faint sound of engines.

Someone was headed this way. It had to be Edna and the others they were bringing.

We headed into the yard as Vlad and Errol reached one of the Suburbans.

Edna’s car and a Ford Escape SUV pulled in a few yards back so Vlad and Errol could leave.

Edna climbed out of the car, frowning. “What’s going on?”

“We received some news, and Errol and I are going to drive several towns over to make a phone call.” Vlad opened the front door. “I promise we’ll go far enough that it won’t be traced back here.”

Edna’s forehead wrinkled, but all she did was nod as two older couples got out of the Ford, and Mindy shut the passenger door. The two older men stepped to the back and removed a pair of large suitcases as Mindy reached into the back seat and pulled out a duffel bag. This was the group who’d come to stay here.

The two women stared at us. The taller of them had thick gray streaks in her black hair and crow’s feet set deep around her pale brown eyes. She was about Saphira’s height, so she had several inches on me. The other lady was all gray, but her face was less wrinkled. Her baby blue eyes had a layer of white over the top like cataracts.

The shorter one smiled as her gaze settled on my mate. “Belinda, that’s him. The prince who saved Emily and our precious new baby.”

Belinda beamed. “Tia, he’s nothing like the angry man we saw on the net of dragons.” She hurried toward us and threw her arms around my mate, hugging him tightly.

For a split second, Thorn stiffened, and his shock pummeled through our connection before he relaxed and wrapped his arms around the woman, giving her a small hug in return. The emotions rolling off him had tears burning my eyes. He was moved by the gesture.

Mindy snorted. “Belinda, it’s called Dragonnet. How many times do we have to tell you?”

“Eh.” She waved a dismissive hand. “Close enough.”

“Honey…” The man with short white hair chuckled as he carried their bag. “Leave the poor prince alone. You can’t just go hugging everybody. Besides, he’s young and muscular. Don’t make my dragon more jealous, especially when I know you’ll be lying next to my feeble old body tonight.” His emerald eyes twinkling, the man’s smile didn’t break as he marched to his mate. When she pulled back, he patted Thorn on the shoulder.

“Oh, please, Merlin. There is nothing feeble about that body.” She winked and nestled into his side.

Heart swelling, I didn’t want to look away from this lovely couple. Maybe having them around wouldn’t be as awkward as Thorn had feared.

“See, Tia knows better than to go hug on a young’un.” The other man laughed as he came near. He and Merlin were about the same height, coming in at around seven feet. This man had salt-and-pepper hair, though it was more salt than pepper, and a matching beard. His dark brown eyes held a similar twinkle of mischief.

Tia placed her hands on her hips. “Maybe I should just so you don’t think I’m fully trained, Ryu.”

At least now we knew their names.

“I bet when I said two older couples, you thought you’d need to behave for their sake,” Edna said. She laughed and patted Ryu on the back. “You’ll soon learn they’re worse than teenagers.” She launched into introductions.

We gave them our background and story along with why we had humans with us. They handled everything with grace and seemed genuine in their desire to share the house.

When it was clear everything would be fine, Edna left, and our group headed inside, minus Vlad and Errol.

As soon as the front door shut, Brenton called out, “Tyson, Elliott, Peter, and Saphira, come on down so you can meet our new roommates.”

“Oh, great. More dragons,” Peter ground out as they thumped downstairs.