“It’s not, but I’ll be fine.”Sol had had a few nightmares since he’d left this place, but he’d dealt with them, and he would deal with this, too.He liked that Dallin was worried and wanted to help, but he needed to do this.He needed to be the shield Dallin deserved.
Sol expected Dallin to argue.He would have if the roles had been reversed.He only ever wanted to protect Dallin, and that included protecting him from bad memories.Instead of arguing, though, Dallin nodded.Maybe he knew that Sol wouldn’t take no for an answer and that he wouldn’t leave.
Sol stayed tense and ready to react if anything happened, but it was all for nothing.By the time they were done exploring the house and gathered with the others outside, no one had found anything, and Sol didn’t think that anyone would.
“I poked around in Carlyle’s office,” Keylon declared.“He was definitely trying to bond Sol to him.”
Emory arched a brow and looked at Sol.“That’s what he was doing to you?”
Sol nodded.Doing so made him uncomfortable, but Emory didn’t seem particularly offended or hurt.Carlyle had hurt him in a way no one else could, and Emory had had years to accept that and work through the grief.Maybe he didn’t care about Carlyle anymore.Maybe he only cared about him because he wanted revenge.
“Sol is the only dragon Carlyle managed to get his hands on, but I don’t think he knew that Sol was already bonded to Dallin,” Keylon added.
“Even if he’d known, it wouldn’t have stopped him,” Emory said.“It’s not like he cares about the bonds.He just wanted to create one so he could use Sol.”
Sol had already known that, but hearing it gave him the creeps.“Well, he didn’t get me.”
“And we didn’t get him, either,” Tyne snapped.“I knew we should’ve come right away.”
“If we had, we would have been in trouble,” Jarvis pointed out.“Carlyle might be weaker now than he was when we faced him, but you saw the spells he left on this place.He’s not weak by any means.”
“We’re not weak, either.We could have taken him.”
“We couldn’t risk it.What would have happened if we’d been defeated?We're not the only ones in danger here, Tyne.You have to think about everyone else.”
It was clear that Tyne wanted to tell everyone else to fuck off, but instead, he gritted his teeth and set his jaw.He stared at Jarvis, who sighed.He looked tired.They all were.Waiting for Carlyle to do something was getting on everyone’s nerves, and fighting each other would only help Carlyle.
“Let’s go home,” Jarvis said.“Keylon, did you find anything else in Carlyle’s office?”
“I don’t think he had time to pack up most of his things.There were books and journals, as well as ingredients.”
“We should take the journals.We could gather precious information from them.”
Keylon raised his hands, showing Jarvis a few notebooks he was carrying.“I’m ahead of you.”
Jarvis nodded and turned to open a portal.Sol had been as excited by all of this as he’d been terrified, but he was glad nothing had happened.He still didn’t know what he’d do if someone attacked Dallin, and it was good to know he wouldn’t find out today.Eventually, they’d have to deal with it, but for now, Dallin was healthy and as safe as he could be considering the circumstances, which was all Sol cared about.
When Sol and the others had left the castle, there had been a small group of people who worked and lived at the castle who’d gathered in the courtyard to see them off.They were still there, including Pippa, who made a beeline for Sol.“How was it?Did you have to fight many mages?”
“We were looking for two of them, but they were gone, so no.”
Pippa pouted.“That sounds boring.”
“I wouldn’t call anything in this situation boring, but yeah.Carlyle was gone.”
“I wonder where he went.Do you think he has other safe houses around the country?”
“Probably.”
Graham had mentioned that Carlyle didn’t seem to have any money problems and that initially, they’d moved from one house to the other so that the mages wouldn’t find them.Once Carlyle had grown a bit stronger, he’d used spells to ensure that he wouldn’t be located.The mages would never have found him if it weren’t for Sol and Graham.
“I really wish this mess was over,” Pippa murmured.
Sol wrapped an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.“It will be eventually, and when it is, we’ll celebrate.”
“Maybe I can talk to Thorne and Jillian and start organizing the party.”
Sol loved that Pippa was convinced they would win the fight.He wanted to feel the same, but he was also afraid of what would happen if he allowed himself to hope and have that hope dashed.He supposed that if it was, he’d be dead, so would it really be a problem?
