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  Logan’s hazel eyes stared up at me as if piercing into my soul. “Any time.”

  10

  I slept in like I did every Sunday. Warm sunlight spilled in through the large window. I eyed the intricate wood molding that circled the ceiling above as I lay tangled in my bed sheets.

  It was the end of April, and I'd still not heard from Ashe about his black-out mission. I'd even stopped dreaming about him. The bond was thin, but at least I knew he was still alive. It made me wonder if my soldier had purposefully shut me out.

  At least I had distractions. I'd met with every teacher that knew Celine, but all I heard was more of the same. She was smart, but troubled. I could feel them holding back and pushed on the minds of a few of the wyvern teachers. They’d hesitantly confirm Celine’s substance abuse. Is that the nice way of saying drunk or druggy?

  Who knows? But just when I thought I'd gotten away with my subtle manipulations, Headmistress Angeven called me into her office. She lectured me for almost an hour on the dos and don'ts of Primes. Maybe I'd been too cocky or too desperate. I didn't like the idea of forcing my will on other people, but enough was enough. I was sick of everyone trying to sugarcoat the past or straight-up lie to me.

  At least I had Olivia, Nate, and Logan to liven up the dull days at Balaur. We ate together every meal, every day, and spent most of our waking hours goofing off, chatting, or doing homework.

  Laying in bed, trying to remember if I had anything due on Monday, my phone chirped. Pulling the thing off my nightstand, I took one glance at the text and bolted upright. "Shit!"

  Liv: Isn't your grandmother coming today?

  Yes, my grandmother, Elise, would be here any minute! She was a bit fierce and not a little scary. But the thought of seeing her brought out all kinds of emotions. Especially now, since I knew more about Celine.

  Aaraeth blew out a weary breath. Please, stop this infernal rambling. You are making me dizzy going round and round. Just open the letter.

  Taya had given me a new letter from George over a week ago, but I hadn't opened it. It felt really thin, and I worried that it might confirm my worst fears; maybe George meant what he'd said in New York.

  I chewed the corner of my bottom lip in thought. Aaraeth was right. If I couldn't trust the one person I had trusted first, then who could I trust?

  You trust Ashe, my beast reminded me.

  I know, but he isn't here, I replied tartly.

  Aaraeth snorted again, and I could feel her roll her eyes, a habit I knew she picked up from me.

  Sliding out of bed, I threw on leggings and an oversized sweatshirt before pulling a brush through my hair and smoothing it into a ponytail.

  Searching through my drawer, I couldn't find matching socks, so I settled on one aqua and one purple. Just as I had pulled the blue sock on, I heard a soft knock at my door.

  It must be my grandmother.

  "Come in!" I yelled, tugging on the other no-show sock.

  Although instead of Elise, it was Logan. His mouth curved into a serene smile. "I'm going to the library, do you want to come?"

  I frowned. "Oh…I can't. I'm…"

  Logan leaned into the door, his hands gripping the top of the frame. Then gazing down the hallway, he froze. Suddenly, the Drake Prime straightened and pulled his hands to his sides.

  I heard her voice before I saw her. "Hello, Mr. Brooks, so nice to see you again. I'm glad to see you following the rules…"

  She was referencing the 'no opposite sex allowed in bedrooms' rule.

  You need to pay attention! You should have felt Logan and your grandmother ahead of time, Aaraeth told me.

  I know, I answered her, irritated that she was right, but still wanting to fight her. I waited on my bed as Logan and Elise exchanged pleasantries. I needed to remember all the questions I wanted to ask her.

  What else did I need? I asked rhetorically.

  Make a better relationship, my dragon reminded me. Elise is hurt but hides her pain. You can bring happiness to her… if you want to.

  Aaraeth was right. Celine's past painted a somber picture. After everything Celine went through and put her mother through, I should be thankful that Elise even wanted to spend time with me at all.

  Forcing a smile I didn't feel, I stood and approached the two as they chatted about Logan's family.

  Logan would be an excellent politician. I could just imagine him shaking hands, kissing babies, and schmoozing money for his campaign—if Dragonborn did that kind of thing.

  When my grandmother noticed me, she dismissed Logan with a few simple words.

  Did she use her dragon for that? I wondered.

  Aaraeth answered, no.

  Elise held out her hands, "Can I hug you?"

  I smiled and nodded, allowing this elegant woman to wrap her bony arms around me. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't unpleasant, but the hug was awkward as hell.

  She closed the door before gazing around the room. "I'm sorry about the last time I saw you—the council meeting. Arthur is a terribly, terribly practical man. He should've never tried to manage you and Carrick. I know he just wants you safe. I think… Where is the guard assigned to you?"

  I lifted my eyebrows and shrugged, I knew I couldn't lie to her, but I didn't want to get Taya in trouble. "Ummm… the bathroom, maybe."

  "Can we sit and talk a little bit? Calla phoned me and told me that you've been asking around about Celine."

  I nodded and motioned for her to have my chair while I sat on the bed. "She told me about the abduction."

  Elise nodded, pressing her lips together. I tried to feel the edges of her mind, but there were no gaps and no cracks to peer through.

  "Will you tell me what happened?"

  She licked her lipstick covered lips and smiled. "It sounds like you're fitting in and getting along with everyone. It looks like you've made some friends…"

  I lifted a shoulder. I didn't want to go through all this fluff. I wanted answers. "I don't mean to be rude, but you brought it up. I want to know about Celine."

  Elise gazed off out the window before turning back to me. "Well, Celine was a complicated person. She had so much potential. You know your mother was a Prime also."

  I nodded.

  "So, Calla told you about that terrible year."

  I pressed my lips together and breathed a sigh out my nose. "Elise, please? I just want to know the truth.”

  She stared out the triple windows of the room. Regret and vulnerability showed in the tightness of her features and the look in her eyes. "All right. It happened right after her fifth year here at school. She'd come home to stay with us. She went out jogging most days, and one morning—she just didn't come home."

  My grandmother swallowed before continuing. "The police told us that she was likely a runaway. But we knew that wasn't true. She was happy. Arthur ended up calling an emergency council meeting. They got the guard involved… but it wasn't enough…." Her voice cracked, and she broke off.

  Aaraeth writhed. She hides things…

  Cautiously, I reached out to Elise's dragon. Daende was a powerful beast and mentally batted me away. Had I been crazy? She was a fully bonded Prime. I didn't stand a chance.

  My grandmother seemed to ignore my mental probing as she twisted a large diamond ring on her finger in the same way I twisted my mother's ring.

  Looking at my own hands, I stared at the amethyst ring that had been my mother’s.

  Clearing my throat, I asked, "Calla said that they found her a few months later?"

  "Yes, they found her almost three months after she'd been taken." She said evenly, her mask of indifference firmly back in place.

  I chewed my lip. "So, she'd been abducted? She didn't run away?"

  Elise's lips puckered in annoyance. "Who said she ran away?"

  A cold chill ran through my body, and I knew I'd hit a nerve.

  "Mrs. Moorhead," I told her, frowning.

  Grandmother forced a smile, her voice a bit sharper than it needed to be, "
Evgeni has nothing to do with this. Besides, we tried to keep the whole nasty business as private as possible. But rumors spread, and it does more harm to confront them than to just let them lie." She uncrossed her ankles before crossing them the other way.

  My eyes widened. "I didn't say anything about Evgeni."

  "Enough," she said coolly before standing. Elise could've used her powers on me and forced me to stop, but she refrained.

  I should be wary, but instead, I was fascinated.

  She crossed the room and gazed out the large windows as I watched her. When she turned back to me, her tone and expression had returned to normal as if nothing had happened. "This subject tires me. Let's talk about you. Tell me a bit about yourself. I feel like Arthur and I have missed out on so much."

  I sighed. I'd have to find a way to bring up Celine again. My grandmother hedged and hedged, but hopefully, like a lemon, if I kept squeezing, I'd eventually get the juice.

  She pinned my gaze with her own. "My dragon, Daende, says that you're angry with me."

  "I'm not angry, I just have questions, and you promised you'd tell me."

  "Hmmm… so do Arthur and I, but sometimes it's not polite to push."

  I shook my head and huffed out a breath. "If you want me to trust you, then you need to prove it to me… Unless you're just like George—keeping me in the dark."

  Her eyes studied my face, and her voice came out hard when she spoke, "We're nothing like him… when did you start calling him George?"

  Shit. I remembered Aaraeth's advice. I had to tell another truth. I couldn’t let her know that we’d gone to New York.

  "You said it yourself… there's no way he could be my real dad." I swallowed, trying to keep the walls in my mind tight. I didn't linger on my deception; instead, I went on the attack. People didn't question things as much when they were defending themselves. "Why didn't you tell me about the abduction yourself? Also, does Evgeni know about me? Is he my real dad? Is he the one trying to fight the council's decision about Ashe and me?"

  She smiled and sat back down at my desk. "If you remember, I tried to tell you some of these things, but you didn't want to hear it."

  I wanted to groan. It was true, she did, but at the time, I didn't want to believe that George wasn't my dad.

  "What about the other things?"

  I had a hole in the knee of my leggings. I tried to tug the fabric closed, but it popped open. How much could her dragon passively pull from my mind? I pictured the wall in my head and made it thicker and smooth like plastic.

  When I glanced back up at my grandmother, her face was slack as her dragon spoke to her. "I'm not at liberty to share council information. As far as the other things, well… that was a painful time in my life, and I'd rather not talk about it right this moment. You've found out about Celine's bondmate?"

  Her eyes darted to my bed, where Stuff-tee's arm hung out of my covers. I pushed him farther underneath the blanket before answering her, "I found his name written in the genealogy book."

  Her brows shot up. "Oh? Is that where you learned about him?"

  I nodded.

  "You seemed fairly certain that George was your dad. What changed your mind about that?"

  "George is a weasel, but…" I trailed off, not wanting to give up too much information. I messed with the hole on my thigh again, but I was only making it worse.

  "But what? You're surprised?" She asked curiously. "Do you still want to 'go home' to him, now that you know the truth?"

  I swallowed hard. The truth was that I did. I missed him.

  Instead, I said, "I want him to answer my questions. I heard Celine was an addict… is that true?"

  Elise blew out a breath and lowered her chin. "Where did you hear that? Is that what George told you?"

  "No, he said she died of cancer," I told her, a hitch in my voice. However, the emotion wasn't about Celine—it was about George.

  "Well, it's best to just think of your mother—happy. Imagine that she fell asleep one day and didn't wake up."

  I scoffed and looked up to meet Elise's gaze. "I don't want some bullshit story. The truth is important, especially after everything both you and Celine went through." I'd balled my hands, wrinkling the duvet cover in my fists.

  Elise almost snorted but was too ladylike to do so. "Beware. What we want isn't always what's best for us."

  "I want to know," I told her in a clear voice, holding my head high.

  "Fine. You want the ugly truth? Celine was an addict. We did everything in our power to save her. We sent her to rehab time after time, rescued her from a criminal group she'd got herself involved with—and yes, George Miller had been part of that. But every time, she'd go back to her addictions. And yes, eventually it killed her—and she knew it would. That's the worst part. Celine knew that every time she drank, or popped those pills, that she was choosing the drugs over everyone she loved. She chose her addiction over you. She chose drugs over you."

  A cold expression had settled on my grandmother's features. She sniffed and held a trembling hand to her chest.

  I sucked in a shaky breath. "What?"

  The vacant look in her eyes pierced me to my bones. "Celine didn't want to be a mother. She never wanted you. She never wanted a bondmate. She was selfish. So you want to know why no one wants to talk about her? Well, now, you know. Because I'd rather remember her as that sweet girl than the woman who brought only carnage into our lives."

  Her words hung in the air, turning my insides to ice.

  It all made sense. It all made a horrible, terrible sense.

  Finally, I said, just above a whisper, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

  She shook her head. "Well, you've started this. I'll finish it. For a while, she was back with Evgeni. They were together in St. Petersburg. I thought she was happy. Arthur said she was clean, that Evgeni had cleaned her up and helped her through withdrawal. But the next thing we knew, she was in Scotland with George again, and she was pregnant."

  "Was she on drugs then?" I asked, horrified.

  Elise shrugged, "I honestly don't know. She was clean when she had you. You were such a beautiful baby. We saw you—twice, once when you were first born, but then Celine and George took you back to Europe. We saw you when you were about a year old in Scotland. Then they got in trouble again. Arthur was able to keep it quiet, but not even he could save her." She twisted her thick ring, making its enormous diamond pop up between her bony fingers. "That was the last time I saw you until that day in Vietnam. George's name popped up on our radar when he'd gone into the hospital. An agent kept an eye on you until I could get there. I could barely believe my own eyes, because George had evaded us for so long… using his real name no less."

  "Why didn't you find me earlier?"

  "We tried. But every time we came close, you both would disappear."

  "I wish I'd known."

  She nodded.

  "I heard that Celine is buried here at the school. Is that true?"

  Her brown eyes assessed me as she tried to not show emotion. But it was there—sorrow and anguish. It was in the way her nostrils flared slightly and in the faint tremble of her bottom lip. Elise wasn't the cold-hearted woman she wanted me to believe she was. "Yes, her grave is here in the cemetery." My grandmother continued her tone, bittersweet, "I haven't visited in a long time. Her headstone is beneath a Linden tree; they always smell like vanilla."

  She gave me a troubled look as something unspoken hovered on the tip of her tongue.

  "I'm not her, you know."

  "I know. You just remind me so much of Celine. Your mannerisms are so like her..." Elise gave me a half-smile, her gaze wandering to my stuffed animal again whose button-eyed face had slipped out from beneath my duvet. I pushed it deeper beneath the covers.

  Silence hung between us for a beat, then she stood and held her hand out to me. "Are you hungry? I hear we have brunch set up for us in the dining room. Let's go see what they have, shall we?"

  Elise had fallen back i
nto her public persona, speaking about the weather and other non-controversial topics, throughout lunch. And although it saddened me, I was still happy for her company. By the time she left, I found myself regretful that she couldn't visit more often.

  Standing on the front steps of Balaur Academy, I watched as the door was opened in a waiting car. It would take her to the airstrip, and she'd leave again.

  She stood by the car, the ever-present smile gracing her lips. "I'm glad that you're settling in. I'll be looking forward to your stay with us."

  I nodded, wondering what that would look like.

  As I watched her car drive away, I realized that this was the start of something new. I had a grandmother—not one who baked cookies and indulged me, but I still had a family. And I actually kind of liked her when she wasn't acting for everyone else.

  Maybe spending time with her over the summer, I'd see more of her real side… and learn a few of her tricks. But I understood why she did it. She was a Prime, and her husband was the Prime Leader. She had to be everything to everyone, and that had to be complicated.

  One thought lingered in my mind—Celine's grave. I should see it.

  Walking through the quad, I followed the path beyond the guest house. The trail was lined with black cobblestones that were patched with gravel in the gaps.

  The path turned to dirt and led right into an iron fence with spikes atop each railing. Following the fence line, I came to a curved iron trellis that read Balaur Cemetery above the closed entrance. Pushing on one of the gates, it creaked open at my touch.

  There was no clearing, no path, just forest. Walking through the shadowed space, I finally spotted a headstone hidden in the trees. The graveyard wasn't exactly overgrown, but the grounds hadn't been maintained since last summer.

  Trying to figure out what a Linden tree looked like, I stopped and gazed around.

  A fawn caught my attention as it nibbled away, just feet from me. The baby deer looked so fragile and sweet. Its ear twitched, and it shuffled on its spindly legs, filling me with awe and wonder.

  A branch broke beneath my foot, and before I could blink, the fawn darted off into the trees.