Page 86 of Robb

And if those powers were under the control of someone like Anne… well, it didn’t even bear thinking about.

“Where we miscalculated,” Anne said, “was in bringing the gold directly to the dragon. We realize now that it perceived our actions as rightful tribute. If we take away the gold we’ve given it, it will wake – but with the intent of immediately destroying us, before we can bring it under control.”

She straightened up, and went over towards the screens.

“So we need to make gold somewhere nearby,” she went on, peering at one of the screens and nodding in satisfaction. “Enough to rouse its curiosity and make it come out from underground to investigate, so that we can subdue it while it’s distracted.”

“If you build it, they will come,” James interjected with a smirk, and Robb wondered whether it would be worth the inevitable retaliation if he jumped up and headbutted him right now.

“Gold manifesting itself into existence nearby would be the most exciting thing that could ever happen to a dragon,” Anne said. “It wouldn’t be able to help but come and see what was happening.”

She indicated some data on one of the smaller screens. “These are the dragon’s vital signs, in so far as we can monitor them without touching it. This spike here –” she pointed to a slight deviation on one of the graphs “– is the moment when the cushion was turned to gold. It was just far away enough from it that it doesn’t see it as part of its hoard, or a tribute brought to it. Do this enough times, and it will wake.”

Robb didn’t know enough about dragons to be able to make a definite call on whether this was true, but he had a horrible, sinking feeling that Anne was right. He had to operate on the assumption that a true dragon could sense anything to do with the presence of gold, even while asleep, and rouse itself accordingly.

Coming back over to the sofa, Anne sat primly and sipped at her cup of tea, before putting it back down on the saucer and locking her strangely intense eyes on Tahnee.

“So,” she said. “Shall we be doing this the easy way, or the hard way?”

Robb could hear Tahnee’s slight swallow in the silence of the room, and he was suddenly very aware of the silent presence of one of Anne’s thugs behind him.

Don’t worry about me, he tried to project through the mate bond. If I have to be sacrificed to keep everyone else safe, then I’m happy to do it. There’s no point trying to protect me if that means everyone dies anyway.

Tahnee’s eyes flickered over to his.

He met her gaze, and nodded slightly.

She held his eyes for a moment longer, and Robb thought he could feel love coming through the bond, as well as fear, confusion, and a sense of profound apology.

It’s okay, he thought, feeling relieved.

Any suffering he might be about to go through would pale in comparison to what would happen if Hargreaves successfully woke the dragon.

Tahnee turned back to Anne, and opened her mouth as if about to reply… but no words came out.

Her mouth moved.

“I…” she said helplessly, before trailing off again, and Robb’s heart hurt for her. He couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be, to have to be the one to make the decision for your mate to be tortured and possibly killed. To be honest, he thought that in many ways he had the better option out of the two of them.

Anne held up a hand suddenly, and winced. She raised her other hand to her throat, her fingers slightly clawed, as if clutching at her throat in pain.

“What… what is…” Her head snapped up, and her eyes locked on James. “You.”

James held up his hands in mock surrender. “Oh, no. You got me.”

Anne hauled herself to her feet, her face a ghastly rictus, her hand now grabbing at her throat in earnest.

“What. Have. You. DONE?!”

Anne’s voice had become a dull roar, the sibilant hiss of the wyvern creeping in at the edges. He had no idea what was happening, but it was clear that she was in some kind of pain – and that she seemed to think it was James’s fault.

And then, suddenly, it dawned on him – sort of.

The tea?

He glanced at the teapot. They’d all drunk out of it – except for him, since his hands were still cuffed, and Tahnee, since she hadn’t touched hers. But James and the others all definitely had.

None of Anne’s henchmen seemed to be affected at all. If the tea was poisoned, surely James wouldn’t have made such a show of drinking it all down and even going back for seconds?