Embers (Scales 'N' Spells 4)

“So, it’s true,” Gunter murmured beside them. “You do know her.”

‘Know’ seemed like a really strong word. At this point in their life, they knew Cameron and the Burkhard Clan far better than they’d ever known Lina, but Nikki still nodded. “Yeah. Not well. But we talked occasionally.”

Nikki crossed the rest of the distance to the table and dropped into a seat opposite of Lina. She didn’t look great. Well, she looked better than the last time they’d seen her at the Jaeggi compound. The hair color was new, but the teenager had been constantly looking for a way to rebel against the Jaeggi leaders. They wouldn’t have liked it. The black and red made her stand out too much, made her too memorable. One of the keys to Jaeggi survival was their ability to blend in and escape notice.

She also looked paler, thinner. She was more hollow in the cheeks and around the eyes. They’d forgotten how bad things had been with the Jaeggi. Never enough food. Never enough supplies. Too hot in the summer, too cold in the winter. Life was miserable even if you weren’t having the magic drained from your core.

Life would change quickly for Lina if she was permitted to stay at Burkhard. Always enough food and warmth to go around.

But did Nikki want her to stay? She was a reminder of what they’d escaped, but they also couldn’t forget she’d never done any harm to them. Didn’t she deserve to escape the same hell they’d escaped?

Gunter’s hand landed on their shoulder as the dragon took the seat next to them.

Nikki placed both arms on the table and leaned closer. “How did you escape?”

A little hint of a smile teased a corner of her mouth, and there was some lightness to her eyes for the first time. “It was after the move. You know how chaotic those can be.”

Nikki nodded. Memories of people running around and shouting at the same time. Moves were the only time restraints were put on them and the other prisoners.

Lina’s eyes darted left and right, taking in all the other dragons who were also settled around the table. “My family created a cover story, that I was going to stay with an aunt for school for a while. I left and then just…didn’t go where people expected. No one really questioned it. Things have been worse in the last few months. More frantic, careless. My parents thought it was a good chance for me to get away.”

“Your parents helped?” Rodrigo asked, and Lina flinched, her fragile smile disappearing.

Looking at her expression, Nikki felt sympathy like an ache. That smile was one they’d worn many a time, trying to put a brave face on things. Nikki broadened their own smile and reached a hand out, placing it in the middle of the table. After a second, Lina took it, her fingers cold in theirs.

Gunter’s hand tightened on their shoulder, but he didn’t speak. Nikki could feel his worry in those five digits pressing into their skin, but Gunter was giving them space, trusting them. There was no better feeling in all the world.

“Lina, your parents? They helped?” Nikki asked carefully, drawing her fearful gaze back to them. This was why they were needed in the meeting. Nikki was someone familiar when she was surrounded by people she’d been taught were her enemies.

“Yeah, my siblings, too. They planned to cover up my disappearance for as long as they could.”

“How long have you been on your own?”

Lina shoved a hand through her hair and scratched her scalp in thought. “A few days. I got lost on the wrong train and ended up hitchhiking. I didn’t know if anyone would be looking for me already, and I had only a little money on me.”

Nikki’s head snapped around to look at Gunter. “Sora—”

Gunter’s expression immediately softened. “Sora and his parents have already looked her over. She was dehydrated and malnourished when we found her, but we’re already working to correct that.”

“And my magical core is broke,” Lina grumbled, but she bounced back in the next breath. “But they’re starting to fix that too. They think I’ll be able to do magic one day.”

“If you help us,” Alric said in deep, heavy tones.

Part of Nikki wanted to snap at the king of the Fire Dragons. She was just a kid. They should be helping her regardless. But they swallowed back the angry words because they got it. The Burkhard Clan had lost so much because of the Jaeggi. All the dragons had over the long centuries. Family, mates, the chance to have children. The Jaeggi stole all of that from them.

And right now, this scared teenager represented their best chance to stop the killing and finally have the lives they’d been fighting so long for.

Lina nodded stiffly and retracted her hand from Nikki’s, lifting it to reveal a folded piece of yellow-lined paper. Her fingers trembled as she opened it up. “These are my terms.”