DragonsHeart.wps (13 page)

Amelia gestured to them. “This way, O’Malley is locked up on the next floor.

He’s in a special containment room, allowing for his transformations.”

She started to feel hot and ill at ease. Dylan tossed her a look of concern. She gave him a weak smile. As she drew nearer to O’Malley, she started to get some pretty weird vibrations.

“What’s the matter?” Dylan whispered, concern tingeing his voice.

“I’m feeling his desperation ... his feelings of restlessness, his regrets, and his feeling of loss. They are all washing over me in rather strong waves.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing to apologize for. He’s been cut off from his kind for how long?

Nicholas has been impersonating him so ....”

“Nicholas has been under cover in the guise of O’Malley for exactly three years.”

Amelia’s answer was curt. Grania doubted that Amelia would even give her the time of day if the circumstances were different.

DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

“Three years?” She blanched, feeling the blood drain away from her face. Her

head swam.

“Aye.” Amelia looked back at her, smiling. “We are most dedicated to protecting our kind and the rest of Earth from the tyranny your father poses.”

“I know he’s a threat, but .…”

“You have been fighting the war for almost four years, we were lucky to get

someone in so quickly to start minimizing the damage. Our operatives have been among you since before the start of the war, but we had to learn how to remove key dragon shifters and replace them in order to truly get the sort of information we needed.”

“Where are the rest of the ones that you’re impersonating?” She remembered

Nicholas’ words—they had to be dead … killed by her father, or .… She couldn’t bring herself to think the next thought.

“And here we are.” Amelia smiled at them. Her smile was cold and distant when directed at Grania. She efficiently ushered them onto a lift, they went down one floor and arrived in an area that looked like a clinical science lab. The floor seemed to cover quite a good deal of space. There were wizard and witch guards everywhere. Another wizard came forth, he wasn’t wearing a guards' uniform, but she could tell that he was ready to fight if the need presented itself.

“Mistress Amelia, I see you’ve brought the dragon shifter we’ve been waiting

for.”

“Aye,” Amelia answered.

“The dragon shifter has a name.” To her surprise, it was Dylan that was speaking up. “Her name is Lady Grania Burns, try to use it.”

“Of course, sir. Mistress Burns, please, come this way. We’ll allow you to go into the interrogation room that we’ve moved O’Malley into. He’s still a bit drowsy from the sedative we gave him. He really doesn’t like to be moved from his home cell.”

“Cell? So you admit you are keeping him as a prisoner,” Grania said, anger

surging through her.

“We are keeping him as our guest.”

“Just point me in the direction of the room,” she ordered.

“Actually, we’ll have to go with you, in case he becomes a bit too feisty. You’ll need one of us to subdue him,” Amelia argued.

“I can assure you if it comes to it; I know how to subdue him.”

Dylan gave her a wary gaze. “I think you should heed their advice, Grania. You really need to watch yourself ....”

Pursing her lips, she nodded. “Fine. Someone can stand sentry directly outside the door, that way, if something does happen they’ll be able to come to my rescue.”

They led her toward a large room surrounded by glass. She assumed they could

see in but O’Malley couldn’t see out. She recognized him instantly. His ginger hair, freckled face, and sky blue eyes were hard to miss. He looked like he’d been through hell and back. He was thinner than she remembered, and he had dark circles beneath his eyes.

“Oh, O’Malley.” She felt a twinge of sympathy for him. Bolstering herself for what was to come, she waited while the wizard next to her waved his hand over the handle of the door. It swung open. She walked through and when it shut, it made a jarring locking noise.

DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

“Grania?” He squinted his eyes. By the dopey look in them, she knew he was still partially drugged.

“Greetings, O’Malley. I’d ask you how you are doing if it weren’t already written as plain as day across your face. I’m sad to say that you look like shit.”

“You would too, if you’d been locked up here for days on end, year after year.”

He heaved a shuddering breath. “How goes the war?”

“I don’t think they want you to know that information, O’Malley.”

His eyes dimmed even further. “I was hoping you were going to tell me that we were winning.”

Her stomach sunk. When he said
we
, did he mean the Royalists or the Rebels?

She looked at his hands. They shook. “Have you eaten lately?” she asked gently.

“Yeah, had me breakfast a few hours ago.”

She swallowed. He was shaking because he kept trying to call on his powers and the room and drugs pumped into his system prohibited them from emerging.

“You want my father to win, don’t you?” she queried, hoping to catch him off

guard.

He jerked his head upright. His slouched shoulders suddenly grew rigid.

“Why would you say that?” He tried to look indifferent. She narrowed her eyes.

He would keep avoiding her questions, she had to read his mind. She’d hoped he’d open up to her but that was just wishful thinking.

“Don’t go into my mind, you won’t like what you see. Their telepaths tried to get in, and I showed them lies, or at least I tried to. The last one, almost scratched the surface. When they took her out of here she looked as white as a ghost. You don’t want to know what I know. Nothing can stop your father—nothing. He’ll be here soon, and when he comes, we’ll all be in a living hell.”

“My father isn’t that vicious.”

“Your father has darkened to a point where no light invades his soul anymore.

When he lost your mother, he lost himself. I believed in his cause until ...,” He shook his head …. “No. I’ve lived with what I know for three years, and since even you can’t take away my guilt you should leave now.”

“Do you know how my father intends to take Earth?”

“There’s no way to stop him, Grania. Return to his side, and beg for his mercy, beg for his love. If you don’t, you’ll be damned forever.”

A chill swept through the air. “I’m not going to take my father’s side. I made my choice long ago, and he knows where I stand.”

“He will still take you back. He still loves you.”

“Stop it!" she shouted. "I’m supposed to be here asking you questions … you aren’t supposed to be doing what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing?” he asked innocently.

“You’re trying to play on my sympathies.”

“No, I’m not. I am only giving you fair warning. By this time tomorrow, the first wave will be here. When that happens, you need to have your father on your side.”

“Not going to happen.” Before he could react, she’d grabbed a hold of his hand.

In one spiraling moment, she was inside of his head. He tried to pull his crazy mirage shit on her but she was too good for him. After all, she’d learned from the best. She knocked down one of his erected walls, and walked into a memory.

DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

Grania stood motionless over a dead body. It was a woman. Her flaxen hair,
mingled with the blood pooling around her body. Her eyes were open and frozen in
horror; her one hand was clenched over her heart. That was where the blood came
fromÑheÕd killed her by driving her through the heart, and the only way he could have
done that was if heÕd been close to her. She resisted the urge to heave. Now, she knew
why the woman was half-clothed, and why she seemed utterly astonished. She could see
the look of betrayal etched in her eyes and across her face. If he hadnÕt taken her life by
force, the woman would have died from heartbreak.

A man stepped out of the shadows. She didnÕt have to look to know that it was
OÕMalley. ÒIÕm sorry, my love. He wanted you dead. I couldnÕt fight his order. You
were starting to stir up too much shit, if youÕd warned the King and Queen ... ah,
sometimes life really does hand you the short end of the stick. Sleep easy, my beauty.Ó

The dagger he still held in his hand, clattered to the ground. He sunk to his knees. A
keening wail of agony ripped from his mouth.

His visage changed. It was almost as if he had two different personalities.

Was OÕMalley a split personality? One personality loyal to her father while the
other personality was loyal to the crown? If so, they had a definite loose cannon on their
hands.

The memory faded, to be replaced by another more recent one.

ÒLord Draco, we have found a way for you to bypass the blockades the Royalists
will put between Dragonia and Earth.Ó

ÒTell me, Desdemona.Ó

ÒIf you open a portal by the ancient Oak tree in the Tarilian Forest, you will be
able to link with another ancient oak in England. The one that will suit our purposes is
an ancient oak located on human holy ground. The Abbey in Tewkesbury. Close enough
to the Welsh borders to suit your fancy and yet still on English land.Ó

ÒExcellent, my dear. I knew you would serve me well.Ó

ÒLord Draco, what will our occupation of Earth mean for the humans?Ó

It was OÕMalleyÕs voice. He sounded terrified É and yet, awed at the same
time.

ÒIt will mean that we slaughter whoever gives us resistance, and if they submit,
they can serve us as our slaves. The humans of this world will soon learn that we are the
superior race.Ó

ÒWhat about the magical community? They might give us a form of resistance.Ó

ÒWe will turn their magic against them, and we will kill them. Without mercy.

Dylan Lightfoot, as the biggest troublemaker of them all, will be the first to die.Ó

She’d heard enough. Breathing deeply, she traveled out of his mind. She no longer wanted to see anything that O'Malley had done for her father. If he’d killed his own mate, he’d already damned himself for all eternity. And if he truly did have a mental disorder and he was two people sharing one body, then, both identities had sentenced themselves to a fate worse than death.

She released his hand. “After what you’ve done, I don’t think you should have a moment’s peace. Live in your hell, and enjoy it with my compliments.”

As she was walking away, he sprang to his feet. She could feel his towering rage, feel his fury at being judged and condemned by her. She allowed him to knock her down to the floor.

DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

“Am I talking to the one that murdered his mate?” she shouted.

At her demanding tone, his eyes took on a hardened glint. “She was no better

than a bitch in heat. She confused me, she muddled my mind, and she tied me down.

Every time I turned around there she was right up my ass. I couldn’t be free. When she started to dig into my comings and goings, she had to be eliminated. She was a filthy little royalist, why fate had given me her to love, I don’t know. So, I threw her back into fate’s arms.”

“You are despicable!” He circled his hands around her throat. She allowed him to do so. Then, when he was about to attempt to squeeze the life out of her, she retaliated with the full force of her abilities.

In that moment, the door to the interrogation room banged open. Dylan rushed in followed by two other wizards while Amelia brought up the rear. She’d knocked O’Malley out cold.

“He isn’t right in the head. He needs attention. And it’s not the sort of attention your lot can give him. My kind needs to help him. Only counseling from us, will fix him. We might be able to heal his mind, but we can’t ever heal his soul, his own actions have damaged it beyond repair. No magic in this world can ever save him.”

“What do you mean?” Dylan knelt down to help her to her feet.

“I mean that he has two distinct personalities. One is his human and the other, the other .…” she paused, taking the time to regain her ragged breath.

“And the other?” Amelia lowered her voice to a hushed whisper.

“The other one is his dark dragon side. It has emerged and it’s relishing the power it holds when it’s in control. Now, he’s part animal, part human.”

“I thought you were all part animal?” Amelia seemed genuinely confused.

“We are dragon shifters, but when we shift we don’t lose our humanity. The

animal in O’Malley will take over completely if he’s not given the right sort of care. We have wise dragon shifters that have seen this before. They will know what to do if you allow me to send for them.”

“We can’t ask for help from your kind.” Amelia adamantly shook her head.

“You will have to. My kind will be here sooner than you think. As we speak, I’m sure that my cousin and his parents have determined that they can no longer hold their ground. They’ll know they need to retreat. They will retreat to Earth. But that’s the least of our worries, at least the Royalists aren’t set upon conquering Earth and destroying your kind.” She turned to address Dylan.

“Dylan, you need to start working on that spell. Today. I hope you’re almost done.”

Something flickered in his eyes. Was he done before Denys had even found him?

He had the spell and he didn’t want anyone to know. Since meeting her, he’d been overcome with a slew of doubts, he didn’t want the spell to become public knowledge.