Dammit, and I’d been about to ask him to remove the power binding spell.
“How am I going to keep that from them?”
“I’ll teach you. The head of the SIA is a shifter. He won’t be able to ascertain the difference between witch and warlock magic. Not many supernaturals would. Regardless, there aren’t too many high-level coven members within the agency so as long as you avoid any you come across, you should be fine.”
“Okay.”
He snapped his fingers, and a slip of paper appeared in his palm. “Practice this spell a few times before you go. It’s a ‘my will be done’ incantation. Use it any time you need to hide the truth about your heritage.”
I took the parchment note and slipped it into my tank top. “Thanks, GG, you’re the best.” Wrapping my arms around his neck, I drew him into a hug.
“Your parents miss you, Azara. You need to give them a call one of these days. They’re not going to believe your story about training with Logan forever.”
“I know.” I pulled back and that pang of nostalgia streaked across my insides, squeezing my lungs. “Maybe if I get into the SIA, I’ll be allowed to sneak away for a visit.”
He threaded his fingers through his platinum hair, the white streak bisecting the center growing with every year that passed. “I hope that’s true, my princess.”
“I gotta go, GG. It’s almost lights out, and I don’t want to get caught outside my cell.”
He pulled me into his chest once more and gave me a tight squeeze. “Keep in touch and let me know how it goes with the SIA.”
“I will, thank you.”
A swirl of dark smoke curled around my grandpa’s legs, then surged up his body until it blanketed his tall, lithe form. “Goodbye, princess.” His words evaporated with him, the lingering echo of his voice leaving me hollow.
Chapter Four
I stared in quiet shock as Talon muttered an incantation at the onyx wall. When he’d brought me down to Scom, the guys’ own SIA clandestine office in the basement of the prison, I thought he had to check his email or something before our departure.
Instead, he stood in front of the beautiful framed landscape he’d painted uttering the words to a vaguely familiar sounding spell. The charred scent of magic filled my nostrils and a moment later, the rock wall juddered, and a thin fissure raced along the black surface. The obsidian parted with a sharp crack and revealed a dark tunnel behind it.
I gasped. “That’s how you guys get in and out of here?”
“That’s right, one thirty-eight.”
I popped my hands on my hips and glared up at him. “Can you not call me that? Especially not when we’re at the SIA? It doesn’t exactly instill the most confidence.”
The ghost of a smile hitched up the corner of his lip. “You’re right. I’ll make sure not to call you that while we’re at the agency.”
“Great,” I mumbled.
Talon took a step inside the murky tunnel and blew out a soft breath. A brilliant orange flame burst from his lips and lit the torch I hadn’t been able to make out on the wall. He neared the old lantern and blew again, this time more forcefully. The flame jumped from the first torch all the way down the line, igniting the tunnel in a soft golden glow.
If the dragon didn’t drive me so crazy all the time, I might’ve thought it had been a pretty cool move. Too bad he’d never hear me say the words out loud.
“Let’s go.” He motioned toward the seemingly never-ending corridor, and I scrambled past him.
As soon as I crossed the threshold, a wave of damp air wafted over me, followed by a frosty chill. Since I’d arrived in Draeko I’d only been outside once—in the boneyard, an experience I hoped to never repeat, and now I remembered the other reason why. It was freezing. If it was this cold down here, I couldn’t imagine what it would be like atop the mountain.
I must have shuddered unconsciously because Talon moved beside me a second later. “I’ve got warm clothes for you in a go bag further ahead.”
“You just so happen to have girl clothes in your emergency SIA duffle?”
He shrugged. “I don’t only work with male agents. There are quite a few females in the agency as well.”
I nodded, not sure how to answer that. Even if he had female partners at the SIA why would he carry around their clothes? I chased the errant thoughts from my mind. It didn’t matter anyway. Talon and I were nothing more than a bothersome blood bond. “So how are we getting there?”
A mischievous grin tugged at his lips, revealing that elusive dimple on his scruffy cheek. It was the closest thing to a smile I’d seen from the surly dragon in a while. “Flying, of course.”
My jaw dropped, and I halted mid-stride. “Seriously?”
“How else did you think we were going to get off this mountain top? Unless you wanted to take the stairs down? Because I don’t think opening a portal into SIA headquarters would go over well.”
“Touché, dragon douche canoe.”
“How colorful, one thirty-eight.”
I grunted and continued traipsing down the dim passageway. Flying? On Talon’s dragon? My insides twisted into a giant pretzel, without the delicious cheesy dipping sauce.
“What’s the matter, you scared of heights?”
“No,” I hissed. I wrapped my arms tighter around myself. “It just sounds like it’s going to be frigid.”
“You’ll be fine. My dragon’s pretty hot.” Again, that smirk.
“Are you actually making a joke? I didn’t think you were capable of such lighthearted banter.”
He shoved his fingers through his dark hair, driving up the spikes. “You don’t know anything about me, Azara. Just like I know nothing about you. We met under difficult circumstances and maybe things between us would’ve been different otherwise.”
He picked up his pace, leaving me slack-jawed once more. What did that even mean?
I let the silence linger and stayed a few feet behind him. Talon was the most exasperating man I knew. One second he was a complete beast and the next he was almost human.
“We’re almost there,” he called out over his shoulder.
Sure enough, I glanced ahead to find a light at the end of the tunnel. Cliché, right? But this light would actually be heaven, my salvation from the past few weeks behind bars. I lengthened my strides and caught up to Talon.
As we neared the end of the passageway, a brisk chill swept over my polyester jumpsuit. I tugged on the collar pulling it up higher around my neck. The archway loomed ever closer, pristine white snow blotting the opening.
“Hold on a sec.” Talon stopped and pivoted toward a small alcove entrenched within the obsidian rock. He dropped to the floor and dug at the hard-packed dirt. A moment later, a duffle bag appeared from the hole in the ground. He unzipped it and pulled out two thick winter coats and a neatly folded stack of clothes. “Here you go.”
I accepted the items and scanned my new apparel. I didn’t know why I was being picky after living in a prison jumpsuit for weeks. Maybe it was the mystery of to whom they belonged that was getting to me.
“Are you going to put the clothes on or just stare at them?” Talon threw me a sidelong glance as he began to strip out of his jumpsuit.