Okay, great, maybe they did have some authority. We stared them down, but they didn’t seem worried.
“In one hour, we’ll meet you in the largest of buildings toward the sea side. It is the only one in yellow, you can’t miss it.” Gerard pointed. All of us could see the building. It towered high and shiny into the air, the color a very pale version of sunflower. “Do not be late. You will still be free to accompany the twins to the prison tomorrow, but today you must train.”
As one they turned and marched away. Only Quale looked back with an expression of unease. I could tell that Louis’ brother wasn’t always cool with what the mystics stood for, but it was his fate to serve the dragon king. It was hard to fight against one’s fate.
I pushed back a few strands of free hair, hooking it behind my ears. “So, not to state the obvious, but clearly the twins and the mystics are all in this together.”
Louis nodded. “Yes, they all have the same end goal: achieve the prophesy and raise the king. And while they understand that what they’re doing could bring about the next world-war of the supernaturals, they don’t care. It seems to be programmed into their DNA, as if they’re no longer capable of individual thought.” His wise eyes rested on Mischa. “Even you have fallen prey to the schematics of this entire endeavor. The only one who doesn’t seem affected is … Jessa. I wonder why that is…”
Awesome. Now I was the sole focus of everyone, like a freak-show creature.
“No one controls, Jess,” Jacob said, giving me a reprieve from the inspection. The fey was standing off to the side with his hands pressed to the tree, communing with nature. “Except maybe Braxton, but he uses good old fashioned charm and animal magnetism.”
I flipped Jacob off, which pretty much said everything I was thinking. Besides, if I denied it, many here would scent the lie. Braxton was close to my back now. I could feel him both there and in my chest, those ghostly ties between us, a sense of connection, more than we’d ever previously shared. And yet still not enough. I wanted the bond complete.
“Stalker much?” I teased in a low voice as his body pressed against the length of mine. I could feel every powerful muscle as they flexed behind me.
His voice was close to my ear. “Until we figure out what is happening to you in regards to the jinn, dragon king, and your mark, well, get used to it. My one and only priority is to keep you safe.”
I snaked my hand back and Braxton linked his fingers through mine.
“It has to have something to do with Jessa’s mark,” said Mischa, interrupting us. “The twins speak as if she’s the golden child … always calling her ‘north.’ Plus, we all know she’s a dual shifter … one of a kind.”
I snorted. “Hey, we don’t know that yet. Maybe you’re a dual as well.”
All I knew was that being unique or different when it came to the dragon king … well, that was not a good thing. I was starting to get that sick-in-the-gut feeling when I thought about the next few days. So much was going to happen and so much could go wrong. I just wanted to crawl into bed and ignore the next week.
Louis crossed the space to stand before my twin. “Only one way to see if Jessa and Mischa have even more in common than the fact that they are twins. Let’s unlock the dragon mark.”
Freeing myself from Braxton I crossed the space to stand before Mischa. I took her hands. “Are you sure about this? If you unlock the mark you will be a target for the Four, and they’re here in Romania searching for me.”
She stared into my eyes, her green tinged with blue today, which she’d definitely inherited from Lienda. Our mother had eyes the color of the ocean, shifting and changing. “I’m not afraid, Jess. I don’t want to be half a supernatural anymore, I want to be everything that I was born to be.”
I gave her a nod, before stepping back and letting the sorcerer capture her full attention again. I wasn’t going to argue. Besides, hopefully in the next few days when the king either rose or didn’t, the Four would have no more reason to hunt dragon marked. The whole point was to prevent the rise of the king.
Although … since the marked were supposed to be his personal army, probably the Four would never stop hunting us. Oh well, we’d just have to kill them. It was on my to-do list anyway.
Louis placed both hands on Mischa’s chest, over her heart, the same as he’d done to cloak my energy back in Stratford.
“You’re power is still very much locked away,” he said as he lifted one hand. He seemed to be pulling something, lowering and raising that free hand, almost like he was unthreading energy which was wrapped around Mischa. “It’s different than Jessa’s. Even when you were babies I felt the difference, but it’s still very strong.”