Page 28 of The Healing Dragon (The Red Book #2)
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
JESSE
M y eyes alternate between looking at the clock on the wall and the closed door.
The papers before me are long forgotten since Janelle didn’t show up to bed at a reasonable hour.
I didn’t look for her in the dining hall, but her absence was noticed by a few guards at both lunch and dinner. She should be in her bed by now.
I saw Isabel during dinner and know they’re certainly not tied up by some plant emergency. What am I thinking? The idea that there could be a plant emergency is stupid.
The echo of soft footsteps sound behind the door.
I pick up a piece of paper and pretend to scan the list of names between sheets.
The front door of the shared space creeks as it opens.
I wait until it shuts to look up and meet Janelle’s tired expression.
I can’t help but be glad to see that whatever she was doing wasn’t fun.
A very selfish part of me would have hated to see her walking in happy with laughter trailing after. It would’ve cut me.
“Long day?” I ask before I can stop myself .
She joins me in the sitting area, taking a seat across from me. “You are talking to me again,” she says.
“Did I ever stop?”
Do you even care?
“I was at the library doing some research.” She rolls her shoulders.
Her face is stone cold, as if waiting for me to question her further. Whatever she was doing, she obviously doesn’t want to part with the details. I do the opposite.
“I didn’t ask,” I say.
I pretend not to see the twitch in her armor by looking at my papers once more.
“What you do with your free time it’s your problem. You do have to find the Red Book again after all. Isn’t that the only reason you are here, anyway?”
Her eyes sharpen at my words. “Yes, that is the only reason I’m here.”
There’s a gentle ringing in my ears that only I can hear.
“Getting your magic back is the goal. The sooner you find the Red Book, the sooner you will get it back and leave.”
Her eyes don’t blink despite every word hitting a nerve. “As always, the Lord of Wisdom has gotten it all right. I’m here only to get my magic back. Now, if you excuse me, I have a long day tomorrow.” She stands up and heads into her bedroom.
I watch her walk away and shut the door behind her as the well-known melody of lies rings in my ears. Her lies give me air and with every inhale, it gets easier to breathe. She is here for something else and a small stupid part of me hopes that it’s me.
I toss the papers on the table and head to my room.
Tomorrow will indeed be a long day. I have to speak to a few trusted sources we have in the forest. Whether other forest creatures knew of the traitors amongst their kind is yet to be seen.
Brandon is planning to have zero tolerance for those who’ve allied with Duelo, but we need to figure out if his allies are strays.
I make a pit stop at the library first thing in the morning. As I predicted, Santiago is sitting behind his desk. A plate of breakfast food sits beside him. Thinking of it, I haven't seen him in the dining hall in a while.
“Would it kill you to eat away from your desk?” I ask, crossing the distance between us.
He looks up from whatever he is reading and stands. He shuts the book and shoots me an odd expression. “The name Kitty Paws might need to be reassigned to you.”
I roll my eyes at the taunt that once had Roman fuming in anger.
“I made no effort to conceal my presence.” Gesturing to his untouched breakfast, I add, “I haven’t seen you at the food hall in months.”
“Yeah,” he says while running his finger through his hair. “I don’t know where to sit.”
I first think the comment is a joke because Roman and I always sit at the same table.
We have been for years. Then I realize Santiago has never sat with us.
He has always been part of small gatherings at Brandon’s, but when it comes to castle events, he always stood on the side with Sofia.
Thinking back, the last time I saw him in the dining hall, it was the last time I saw her there.
He huffs out softly, self reprimanding. “It sounds juvenile but,” he pauses, looking into space.
“It’s not,” I assure him. “Whenever you are ready, there will always be space next to Roman or me. You know that. ”
“I know.” He nods. He clears his throat, then looks at me expectantly. “It’s there something I can help you with?”
I nod. “As a matter of fact, I heard Janelle was seen leaving the library late at night.” Admitting to waiting for her isn’t something I’m willing to do. “Do you know what she was up to?”
His all-too-knowing gaze tells me I’m not fooling him. I didn’t think I would, but I had to try.
“You have people watching her or something?”
His displeased tone will make my request more difficult than I thought.
“Are you offering?” I give him a teasing smile.
“Leave me out of it.” Both of his palms go up in the air as he takes a step back. “What I can assure you is that Matias and Janelle are not doing anything that could harm anyone in the castle or disobeying the King.”
I should’ve known Matias was with her, but he has better things to concern himself with. “Shouldn’t he focus on figuring out his own problems?” My question is rhetorical, but the sharpness in my tone is evident.
Santiago takes a seat without looking away from me. “What do you really want to know, Jesse?”
There isn’t a specific thing I want to know. I want to know what exactly she is searching for. I cannot ask her since I don’t want her to know I care. Yet I want to make sure that if there’s anything I can do, he needs to let me know.
I’m the juvenile one.
“Is there anything I can help with?” I finally ask.
“I need you to arrange a training session for Matias. He needs to learn to wield magic in self defense but not with all the soldiers. I don't need to tell you he is behind.”
He trained with Roman for a bit before he departed to Fierno. From what my brother shared, Matias was worse than Bianca when she first arrived. They blame it on the cursed book unbalancing him. I figure things could have only gotten worse now.
“Is that all?” I grunt more than ask.
“For now, If something changes I will let you know.” Santiago’s tone is chipper.
“I would appreciate that.” I knock on the table before pushing away from the desk. “I will see you around.”
With a teasing smile Santiago mocks-salutes me.
I fight the urge to flip him off over my shoulder. I’ve shown enough emotion on the subject. Giving him more ammunition will not help me. Instead, I begin my route to the training grounds. Releasing some steam on the training circles is all I need to feel better.
I’m not sure what I expected from Santiago, but not fessing up with what Janelle was up to was not it. Perhaps this is what I deserve. I need to stop thinking of her all together. He might be doing me a favor.
The training circles are packed with soldiers waiting their turn.
Today is not a regular training day. Once every two weeks, people may take their sparring sessions to another level.
It's a bit more aggressive than usual. This is used to sharpen senses and take off the safety net.
Death is not allowed, but anything outside of mortal danger is encouraged.
I spot Roman on the edge of the circle first. He is giving his second in command orders before dismissing him and making his way to me. The trail of dirt on his elbow tells me exactly where he was this morning.
“Are you okay?” Roman asks after a minute of standing next to me. I don’t answer with anything other than a head nod. “I hoped that after this mission you would be a little more yourself.”
“I’m fine,” I say, between clenched teeth.
My eyes find Resse across the circle. The old man once ran our best squad in the Royal Force.
Instead of retiring, he has found himself a place running the training circles.
He is the person running the order of sparring sessions taking place.
Resse will find someone to duel me, saving me from finding someone to agree.
The best part is that Resse always matches people to strength and ability, always keeping matches fair.
With a gesture, I catch Reese’s attention. A head nod in confirmation later and my intentions are known.
“Blowing off steam is one way of dealing with your problems.”
Roman chuckles and despite his remark, I can tell he doesn’t disapprove of my choices. He has found himself one too many times in the circles.
Roman gestures to Resse too, making the old man grin devilishly. I scowl at my brother, knowing damn well if he is part of the roster, Resse will partner him up with me.
“What are you doing?” I ask
“Saving whatever poor bastard was going to be stuck with you.”
I cross my arms. “You think you are funny?”
“What I think seems to not matter for a while. As a matter of fact, not a damn thing seems to matter, but your shit mood.”
The current duel on the circle ceases and Resse steps forward. He gestures to Roman and me. “Go at it, boys!” He hoots with a wide grin.
I step up to the circle. The crowd erupts in cheers and laughter. It’s not often that the brothers have matches against one another.
A soldier off to the side shouts, “Beat some sense into him, Roman!”
I follow the voice and narrow my eyes to the soldier that belongs to my brother’s squad .
“What?” Esteban asks, smirking. “Finally ready to let out some anger over the redhead?”
“He can’t help falling for her demonic tricks.” Eve, a soldier I trained in the past, says shaking her head.
“He can get over her and move on.” Esteban claps with the rest of the crowd. “I don’t even blame him. If I was dog-walked by a dragon, I would walk around looking half guilty too.”
His words hit too close to home. Have I truly been walking around looking half-guilty?
“Shut it,” Liz, a fellow soldier and friend, tells the others.