Page 46 of Dragon My Crazy

Dizzi sat on a curved stone bench, her hands resting lightly in her lap. She looked composed on the outside, but the filtered sunlight caught the tension in her shoulders. Her two children, Dak and Nizzi, played some made-up game with Melly, taking turns chasing each other.

Dizzi looked up as I approached. “What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

I forced a smile. “Just tired,” I lied. “The moat was a mess. It’s been a tough day. Areyouokay?”

She nodded, her gaze flickering to the children before settling back on me. “Yes. Thanks for asking.”

I swallowed hard, my throat tight. “Of course.”

Then I had a thought. Leroy hadn’t seen me since coming back. I hadn’t even known when he’d arrived. But I did know for certain that he was interested in me for my magic. I had to hide it. Sure, Emmett already knew, but if the wizard himself saw it with his own eyes, it would make me an even better target.

“Can I have your help?” I asked quietly. There were cameras in here, and I didn’t know who had access to the footage. But I had to trust that not every single piece of footage was being monitored at all times.

Dizzi’s eyes narrowed at me. “I knew something was wrong. What is it?”

I leaned close and whispered, “I need your help hiding my magic again. Leroy is back.”

Her eyes darted up momentarily to where the cameras were. “Come over to my place. We can have some tea and talk.” She hopped off the bench, quite literally since she was only four feet tall or so, and the bench was half her height.

Now that I thought about it, she was able to handle Melly now because she was still a baby, and Dizzi could rely on her magic if need be. But as Melly grew, she’d quickly become unmanageable by the goblin woman, especially in dragon form.

I followed her through the castle’s winding corridors to the goblin family’s quarters. To my surprise, they had a whole cozy suite of interconnected rooms. The main room featured a low table surrounded by large—by goblin standard, normal by mine—floor cushions in deep emerald and sapphire hues. The walls were lined with shelves holding an eclectic collection of smooth river stones, mismatched teacups, and bundles of dried herbs. A small wood-burning stove stood in the corner.

Melly, having already been here before, made herself comfortable on one of the floor cushions.

Dizzy dug through a drawer and retrieved a foil packet. I recognized it immediately as a “canned” spell, premade and ready to use. She tore it open, and magic filled the room.

“Make yourself comfortable. I’ll put the kettle on. It’s safe to talk now; the spell is from Sena herself. It’ll last an hour.”

Thirtyminuteslater,wewere hanging up with Tansy and initiating my escape plan from Dragon Manor. Until we knew for sure, the consensus was that I had to get out of here and stay somewhere safe and out of Leroy’s reach.

And the worst part of going through all of this was that I couldn’t stop thinking about how betrayed I felt. How stupid I’d been to trust Emmett. What a consummate actor. Luella had warned me about it, and somehow, I’d still fallen for it.

It had felt so real, how he’d cared for me when I was weak. And then there were the moments with him in town, and the trips out to town with Melly. They’d all felt so real.

And I was a stupid, stupid woman to have believed any of it.

Dizzi hadn’t been remotely surprised by my words. In fact, she’d leaned forward, her dark eyes sharp with understanding. “I’ve been wondering if Leroy was behind the attack,” she confessed, her voice low. “Sending my old clan in would be something he’d do. It makes him look innocent.”

Apparently, Dizzi was a goblin princess in the same way that a mobster’s daughter was a mob princess. That was to say that she was the goblin king’s daughter. Though every tribe thought their leader was the “real” king. She was supposed to marry some horrible, brutal prince from another clan, but she’d fallen in love with Nak, the one the prince had sent with his messages, instead.

Dizzi missed Sena and had wondered whether Leroy had a hand in her death. She was afraid to say anything. “It’s all just suspicion. Call it female intuition. I brought it up with Nak once, and he almost flipped his lid. Told me not to say anything to anyone else.”

“I wonder if he’s afraid of the wizard.”

“I don’t know. Probably. I never did find any proof, but I still don’t trust him, proof or not. I just didn’t expect Emmett to go along with it. Did you know, Leroy once suggested usingmymagic as a source? But Emmett turned it down.”

At the end, it was decided that it was safest for me to get out of dodge completely and stay safe. No amount of hiding my magic would help me if Leroyreallywanted to get his hands on me, not when I couldn’t access the magic consistently myself. Just because I’d used it once to protect my friends didn’t mean I could do it again, especially since any and all attempts to use my magic to help with the cleanup effort had failed.

“Do you have anyone you can trust?” Dizzi had asked.

And so, we’d called Tansy. And now the plan was simple: get out past Leroy’s ring of magic, and have Tansy open up a portal to my location.

I cuddled Melly in my arms, hating that I had to leave her.

“I wish I could take you along, but that would be dragon-napping.”

“I’ll take care of her. Emmett wouldn’t do anything to hurt her. I’ve seen the way he looks at her.” Then she paused, frowning. “But then, I’ve also seen the way he looks at you. Are you sure you heard what you heard?”