Free Shared By The Dragon Clan Complete by Rosette Bolter Page A

declared.
    Conrad
surveyed the rest of the room, and then closed the door behind him.
    “How long
have you been in here?” Conrad demanded.
    “Not long.”
    Conrad moved
through the room to take his place behind the desk. The Mage wasn’t looking at
him. Just staring straight ahead.
    “What can I
do for you?” Conrad asked.
    “There isn’t
too many places I know of where your brother might go,” the Mage stated. “I can
see he’s not here yet, so he must have stayed somewhere else last night.”
    “That would
be, the logical assumption.”
    “Nevertheless,
should he turn up, I trust you would keep him here for as long as you could.
And then contact me.”
    “Turn him
in?”
    “Precisely.”
    Conrad leaned
back in his chair. “I suppose you think I’m afraid of you.”
    “No,” the
Mage chuckled. “Not of me.”
    “Who then?”
    “I’m not
going to say. As you’ll be aware, it is not every day a Dragon King is
murdered. Much less on Earth. As you can imagine, this has the potential to
rock the boat.”
    “I’m sure,
whatever authority you’re flaunting here, would see reason enough that my not
turning in my brother, wouldn’t be a deliberate attempt to subvert justice.”
    “They would
see that, would they? They would see reason, for you?”
    Conrad shook
his head. “You know as well as I do, any dragon willing to sacrifice his
brother to save his own neck, isn’t worth anything.”
    The Human
Mage sighed. “I’m disappointed to hear you say that.”
    “Should he
come here, I’m sure you’ll have enough eyes about that you won’t need my
cooperation.”
    “But I do,
Conrad. It’s going to be a while before any of our otherworldly friends
show up. Horatio didn’t have children. He has no surviving family at all. In
fact , I was surprised to discover, that in the event of Horatio’s passing,
the chosen successor for the throne was Zane. Which obviously isn’t going to
happen now.”
    “Keep going.”
    “You know
what the dragons are like. They’re going to bicker amongst themselves for a
while. Chasing Zane will keep them busy in the meantime, but eventually they’ll
fight it out to find their new leader. It could get very messy.”
    “What?
They’re not going to listen to you?”
    “Oh, they’ll
only listen to me for as long as I’m saying what they want to hear. Eventually
they’ll figure out they don’t need me. I may be powerful enough to challenge
one or two of them, but … with the island as busy as it is, I’ll be soon
overpowered.”
    “Until the
others get here.”
    The Mage
stood up. He put his hands on the table. “If they find out that you let your
brother pass through here, that you helped him in any way, the ramifications
will be dire. We’ll get Zane eventually. He cannot run forever. Now if you were
to help us, I would like you to come back to your position as Head Guard.”
    “I’m retired.
I chose to leave.”
    “There is a
strong chance, if you were to return now, that you could take over as King. The
others might even allow you to stay on. Officially. Providing you have proven
yourself. I don’t have to tell you, how much power, a king has.”
    Conrad
stroked his upper lip. “That’s a very interesting offer.”
    “Do you
decline or accept?”

 
    CHAPTER NINE
     
     
    After crossing through many hills and
backstreets, Stacey and Zane were finally out the front of Conrad Hunter’s
estate, peering through the gates.
    “So your
brother is rich then?” Stacey asked, eyeing the courtyard.
    “I’d say he
lives rather modestly,” Zane remarked.
    “Do you guys
get along?”
    “We’re
brothers.”
    “But are you
like the type of brothers that get along very well, or do you guys have your differences?”
    Zane
shrugged. “We’re brothers.”
    A man in a
white jacket and dark trousers was moving towards them.
    “Is that
him?” Stacey asked.
    “No, that’s
just a servant.”
    “Oh.
Servants, huh?”
    “Come on.
Behave