Daughter Of The Dragon Princess(11)

Mal pushed her toward an armchair. "Sit."

"Yes, sir," she muttered and sat. She didn't understand him. Why would he kiss her like that, as though he cared?

He seemed about to say something but instead moved away to peer out of  the window. She followed him with her eyes as he came back and stood  over her again, rubbing a hand across his face.

"Lily … " he said.

She searched his expression, and he shifted under her gaze, not meeting her eyes. "What?"

"This man you are to meet tonight..."

"The one you're handing me over to like an unwanted parcel?"

"Jesus," he almost snarled the word. "Just don't get him angry. Do as you're told, and you'll be all right."

Was he actually afraid for her? "You're frightening me," she said  slowly. "Mal"-for the first time she used his name-"am I going to die  tonight?"

She held her breath waiting for the answer.

"No, he won't kill you." He paused. "But there are worse things than death."

Icy cold washed through her. "Now, you're really scaring me."

He ran a hand through his hair. "That wasn't my intention. Remember,  he's a powerful man, who's used to having his own way. I'm just  suggesting that, whatever he asks of you, give it to him. It will be  easier on you."

Lily opened her mouth to ask just what it was he was likely to want, but Mal turned on his heel and left the room.

Something worse than death?

Nausea churned in her stomach. What was that all about? What had Mal  gotten her into? She swallowed and tried to shut her imagination down  before it could come up with anything too grisly.

She rattled the cuffs. Her wrists were tied, but she could still run.  She stood up and moved across to the window, peering out into the dark  yard. A bolt of lightning lit up the sky. In the bright light, something  moved in the shadows of one of the outbuildings. Another flash. Two  figures appeared out of nowhere in the center of the yard. Lily blinked,  then stepped back from the window. It must have been a trick of the  light. She forced herself forward again. Two more figures appeared to  the left of the yard. There were six now, all moving with careful  deliberation toward the farmhouse.         

     



 

She hurried across the room and stood in the open doorway.

"Mal," she called softly.

No answer. Had he abandoned her here? A wave of fear and dismay ran over  her, and she gritted her teeth and tried to get her brain working  again. Sure, there were guys outside, but maybe they were here to rescue  her. Maybe that Detective Cole had realized his mistake and sent  someone after her.

But she knew in her heart that the men outside were not good guys. Maybe  there was no such thing as good guys, just varying degrees of bad.  Besides, for one moment, as the lightning lit up the yard, she was sure  she'd recognized the two men from last night.

"Mal," she called again, and he was beside her. "There are-"

"I know."

As he reached for her hands, she stepped back. Then she caught the glint  of the small silver key he held. The key to the cuffs, and she held her  wrists out obediently. He released her, and she rubbed her reddened  skin.

"Who are they?" she asked.

"Not who I was expecting. Stay close to me."

Frowning, she watched as he stripped off the shoulder holsters then  shrugged out of the sleeveless jacket he wore. He handed the vest to  her. "Put this on. It's bullet proof and will give you some protection."

She slipped it on, and he fastened it for her then cupped her face with  his large hands, tilting it so she stared up at him. "We'll be okay, I  promise." He kissed her lightly on the lips and stepped back. Lily's  whole body quaked. She forced herself to take slow, deep breaths as Mal  crossed the room and peered through the window.

"Can you see anything?" she asked.

He shook his head.

The roar of gunfire shattered the silence and the glass in the windows  splintered into a thousand pieces. Lily stepped back instinctively. Mal  didn't move, but his body tensed. Blood trickled down one cheek, and he  swiped it away.

"Lily Palmer."

The voice came from outside. Mal put his finger to his lips to indicate  she shouldn't answer. She hadn't been planning to anyway. She recognized  the voice-Stark. A bunch of dried flowers on the table burst into  flames. Mal glanced at it and grinned.

Lily's eyes narrowed. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Didn't I mention? One of the things dragons like to do best is fight."

"No, you didn't. But then you didn't mention you were crazy either."

"Lily?" The voice came again from outside. "Come out, and we won't harm you."

"Yeah, right," she muttered. Though it did occur to her that at least  they were pretending they didn't want to hurt her. That had to count for  something. Mal's words echoed in her head.

Something worse than death.

Perhaps she should negotiate. If they offered her something that wasn't worse than death, then maybe she'd agree to it.

"You're thinking too hard," Mal said from besides her.

"Just considering my options."

"You don't have any options."

"Two minutes," the voice outside said. "Come out in two minutes and you  will not be harmed." There was a short silence. "Dragon," the voice  continued, "Send out the girl. We won't harm her. After all, we want the  same thing."

Mal stepped back from the window and Lily turned to stare at him intently.

"So who are they?" she asked. "And why do they want me? And if you say  ‘because you're the Dragon Princess' I will dive head first through that  window."

"I'd reach you first."

"Probably, but why don't you just save us both the trouble and tell me. I  doubt I'll believe you anyway, so it doesn't matter. Just humor me."

"They belong to the Conclave of Sorcerers."

"Sorcerers? And they are what? Like witches and wizards? They can do magic?"

"Some."

"Yeah, right."

"Lily, what do you think is going on here today? Just how do you think they evaded the police when we rescued you?"

"I'm not sure rescued is the right term for what you did. The phrase  ‘out of the frying pan' comes to mind. And I don't know what they did,  but I have to be honest with you here, magic wouldn't be my first  explanation."

She remembered how puzzled the police had been. But magic? Then she  remembered something else. She couldn't believe she had forgotten about  it, not asked him before. "Last night, Stark said he knew my father.  How?"

"How do you think?" He'd drawn one of the pistols and was peering out the window again.
         

     



 
She thought. "My father was one of them? He was a sorcerer. My father was a sorcerer?"

"Yes."

"Is he alive?"

Mal glanced at her quickly. "We don't have time to talk about your  father now. They have us surrounded. Someone has betrayed us and we have  to get out of here."

She wasn't happy, but she did see his point. "So what sort of magic can I expect?"

"They won't use magic until absolutely necessary. It takes a lot of  power and precious blood. Also much of their magic won't work against  me."

"Why? No, don't answer that, I can guess, it's because you're a dragon."  A slight smile flickered across his face at her obvious sarcasm. "So  what about me?" she asked. "Will it work against me?"

"I don't know. Normally I'd say yes, but you're different. You shouldn't  be able to make the fire, but you do." He shrugged. "I guess we'll find  out soon enough."

"Maybe we should call the police. What about your friend, Cole?"

He just gave her an amused glance. "There are only six of them."

"Obviously we don't need the police, then. So what's the plan?"

It was weird, but she trusted him to get her out of this. After all, he  had to hand her over to his king, so he wasn't likely to let the men  outside have her.

Another flash of lightening lit up the yard and two more figures materialized. Then two more, and two more after that.

"Shit. Lily, just do as I tell you."

Then the world exploded about her. Gunshots roared outside and plaster  erupted from the wall behind her. Mal pushed her down against the wall.  "Stay there." He stood up, faced the window, and sent out a volley of  shots. For a few minutes, she could hear nothing but the blasting of  gunfire. She huddled, facing the wall, hands clamped over her ears,  trying to tuck her head in as tight as she could.

At last, there was a lull and she peeked out between her fingers. Mal  crouched in front of the broken window, replacing the clips in each gun  before holstering them. He peered over the ledge.

"They're in the house." He moved to stand between Lily and the door. "They'll be here soon."

***

Mal tried to concentrate on the door, where he knew they would appear  any moment. But questions roared through his mind. He hadn't been able  to get hold of Vortigen. Where the hell was he and what had happened?  Cassandra was the obvious culprit-she'd told him of the meeting place.  Had she betrayed them?