Haunting Shadows (Book 2)

Chapter 42

Several times after we resumed walking did Raphael try to come up to me to talk. Each of those times I had moved away from him, making it clear that the last thing I was planning on doing was talking to him. When he tried to move to Mallory, she too gave him the cold shoulder. I almost felt bad for him – almost. Eric now rested a hand on Raphael’s shoulder. Yes, he was definitely on my side while I was their capture. I had almost believed that Eric truly did want to help me above siding with Raphael.

I was walking by myself this time, completely alone with my thoughts. Kalen and Casian were walking closer together, catching up on lost time I assumed. It seemed that again it would be impossible to separate Natalia and Mallory from each other. I envied how those two were able to become such close friends in such little time. I’d never really had a friend like that, or just a friend I wanted to spend so much time with. There must be something I was missing out on.

After a couple of hours of walking, Kalen turned to address our group. “Were not too far from the kingdom’s borders, and then it would be about half a day more to get to Andreas’ mansion.”

Raphael stopped and everyone else followed shortly after, turning to him. “I think it might be in our best interest to use that teleportation spell now. There is something you all must know.”

He suddenly had everyone’s attention. “What are you talking about?” Natalia demanded.

Eric and Raphael shared a glance. “Well, the whole reason that Eric and I went to May’s inn is to hide until we figured out what to do from there. We are fugitives in the eyes of Queen Elisa.” Raphael latched into an explanation and everything around us turned deadly quiet. This was information we should’ve known earlier.

Casian came to my side, and I could feel the tension radiating off him at the mere mention of the threats of dragons. He spoke up before any of the rest of us could get a chance. “I’m sure that not all dragons are a threat.”

Raphael’s eyebrows raised. “You did not see what I saw. The queen would not have elicited their help if they weren’t a threat!”

“Not all dragon lords have to be working with the queen.”

“I doubt she would have appeared so sure of herself if she wasn’t in the process of convincing all of them.”

Casian went deadly still, his eyes flaming as he regarded Raphael. I understood the feeling, but now was not the best time to have this argument. I’d seen enough evil in all types of people to know that both good and bad existed in the most unlikely of places. But this was not a conversation that we could quickly have, and the threat of the other dragon lords I believed to be very real. I placed my hand on Casian’s bicep and his eyes went to mine. I willed him not to push the situation further, hoping that he’d understand that we could explain everything to everyone later.

“This is a conversation we can have later,” I began. “As you said, we are pressed for time, and it’s unwise to ignore such a big possible threat. As much as I hate to agree with Raphael, he’s right. The fastest and safest way from this point forward is to use his teleportation spell.”

“You do realize the whole reason we have been walking as long as we did is because you refused to use it in the first place?” Mallory remarked with an adequate amount of snark in her voice.

I took a deep calming breath. “I’m aware, thank you. But that was before I was aware of the possible threat we were facing. Had Raphael chosen to be more forth coming before, we would not be having this conversation right now.”

Kalen, noticing the tension, stepped in to diffuse the building tension before things got out of control. “Let’s not argue and just get to Andreas’ mansion as quickly as we can. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can deal with everything else that is still hanging quite thickly in the air around certain people. Deal?”