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“But if that is the case, that means that whoever killed your mother, might have taken some of her blood to unlock any blood magic spells she cast.”
“We need to find those journals quickly.” A restless urgency filled her. If whoever killed her mother had taken her blood, who knows what else they could do with it? “And the other things she mentioned at the Academy and in the Fae lands.”
“We will,” Desmond reassured her. “We’ve got the advantage here that we have these first few journals telling us what we need to do. We’ll make sure these stay protected.”
Claire nodded, biting her lip. Desmond was right but her stomach was still twisted up in knots and she couldn’t shake the feelings of urgency and panic.
“We’ll go back to the Academy first,” Everett said. “Before the Dragon Mountains. See if we can find whatever it is your mother might have left.”
Desmond nodded. “We’ll let Claire learn as much as she can here, but I think we need to go sooner rather than later. We can check in with the Academy and the Headmaster and update Andy and Helene. They won’t be able to travel with us since the semester will be starting soon.”
With everything that had happened, Claire forgot about school. “We’ll miss the school year,” she realized. “Wait, what will happen with the Council if you lose the Academy’s neutral protection. Don’t you have to be on the Academy grounds?”
She shuddered at the memory of the Councilmembers a few weeks ago at Brandlevine. She didn’t want them recalling her Triad to the Capital because if they did that then Claire would have to go with them which is what the Council seemed to have wanted. Her men’s dark expressions indicated they were having the same thoughts as she was.
“The Headmaster should be able to cover for us,” Desmond said, slowly as if he wasn’t quite sure.
“And if he can’t,” Malcolm said, squeezing her hip, “A formal invitation from my father will provide protection until we can go back to the Academy.”
Claire leaned into him. “It feels silly with everything going on but I do want to finish out at the Academy eventually. Once this all settles down.”
“That’s not silly,” Desmond said. “We’ll make sure you get the chance.”
Claire smiled at him, gratefully before glancing at Everett’s serious, thoughtful face. “What is it?”
Everett sighed. “I’m just wondering if we can trust the dragons right now.”
Claire could feel Malcolm bristle next to her. “What do you mean?” he growled.
Everett shot him a look. “Take it down a notch, grumpy. I’m just saying that the dragons sided with the witches during the Great War and all of the things we’ve uncovered so far have pointed to the witches being the instigators here.”
“My father would never hurt Claire. Dragons are extremely loyal,” Malcolm protested. Desmond intervened before the argument could escalate.
“I agree that your father wouldn’t,” he said putting a hand on Everett’s shoulder as he gave Malcolm a look. “But that doesn’t mean the dragons as a whole are trustworthy. For Claire’s sake, let’s trust Malcolm and Everett’s parents but not extend that trust to the rest of the dragons. Fair?”
Malcolm and Everett nodded. Claire knew dragons prized loyalty but she couldn’t help but wonder what would make them break that loyalty. Was there something that they valued more that could be used as a leverage point?
Desmond nudged her leg. “Why don’t you keep reading?” he suggested gently, clearly wanting them to get back on track.
Claire nodded and began reading out loud again. The rest of the journal was full of disjointed clues that the other journals should help decipher. Winona also recounted conversations with other students and professors from her time at the Academy as she tried to determine who was on what side. There were no other big revelations and by the time she reached the end of it, they were all yawning.
As they all piled into bed, Claire found it hard to fall asleep despite her exhaustion. Her mother seemed so sure that Claire was going to be able to make sense of all the clues she left but Claire wasn’t so sure after reading the first journal. Hopefully, when they found the others, everything would make sense and they would find some answers.
8
Two days later, Claire and her Triad hiked after Toan and two Elven warriors through the Forest to retrieve the other two journals.
After reading the journal from last night, Claire and Desmond agreed that they were going to need all of the journals to decipher the code that Claire’s mother seemed to leave. Sentences would be missing from the middle of a paragraph, and some seemed to have been started in one journal and continued on another’s pages. They had matched a few pieces of information together from the first two but none of it that made sense or was helpful. They would have to retrieve all of them before they could make sense of anything.
Everett helped her over a large root and Claire smiled gratefully at him. Ahead of her, the two Elven warriors whom Toan had introduced as Aeris and Synora, who’s family tree they had retrieved the first journal from, gracefully scaled whatever obstacle was in front of them.
Claire felt a bit jealous as she watched Synora navigate the Forest. Is this what she would have been like if she had grown up here? Graceful instead of clambering? As soon as she had the thought though, she felt guilty. Synora’s life hadn’t been full of sunshine and rainbows. The young Elven warrior couldn’t be much older than Claire but had already gone through so much.
Synora dropped back, closer to Claire. Whether Toan had told her to stay closer or not, Claire was going to take advantage of that.
“You look so at home right now,” she said, startling the Elven warrior slightly.
Synora wore her light blonde hair in a long braid down her back. Her green eyes widened briefly at being addressed. “I suppose I am, Princess.”
