Free Shared By The Dragon Clan: Part Three by Rosette Bolter

 
    CHAPTER ONE
     
     
    “Take your clothes off. Give them to
me.”
    With her arms
folded over her chest, and her legs crossed tightly, Stacey watched Conrad move
from one side of the room to the place where her dress lay discarded. The same
dress Zane had conjured for her with his powers.
    Conrad
scooped it up and held it in front of her with both hands outstretched. Stacey
saw a flickering of light at his finger tips, and soon enough the dress had
been eaten up with flames. Conrad dumped it on the floor again and moved back
to the closet.
    Within a few
moments, the burning garment was nothing more than a pile of ash.
    “Up,” Conrad
ordered.
    Stacey slid
up the wall, still trying to conceal her privates. Conrad turned slightly and
gave a snort. “Come here.”
    Stacey
reluctantly moved around the bed towards him. Conrad reached into the cupboard
and pulled something out.
    He offloaded
a bunch of grey, dusty rags into her arms.
    “You wear
these now.”
    He closed the
cupboard.
    He then moved
towards the bedroom door. He opened it and stepped out.
    “Follow me.”
    Stacey obeyed
his command.
    The tears in
her eyes were stinging. Her face was flushed with humiliation, and the longer
her skin was exposed, the more fragile she became. Inside, a harrowing despair
had taken hold. Not only was her protector in the hands of their enemies, but
now he no longer loved her, believing he was betrayed. She remembered Zane’s
face when he looked at her. She remembered the relentless hate that filled his
eyes. Although she had not meant to hurt him, there didn’t seem to be any way
to undo what had been done. For now at least, their love…
    Was over.
    A little
further down the corridor Conrad was standing in the mouth of an open doorway.
She followed him there and saw that it was a bathroom.
    “You can have
ten minutes,” he said. “Clean yourself up and put your new clothes on. I’ll be
back to fetch them.”
    Before she
could respond, he put his hand to her back and nudged her inside. He then
closed the door and locked it.
    Stacey
stepped away and moved towards the mirror, clutching the clothes.
    She let them
fall away and hit her feet below.

 
    CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    Before Zane had a chance to fight
against the other dragons in Conrad’s courtyard, the Human Mage had cast a
paralysis spell on him. Now Zane’s hands and knees were planted into the earth,
and he was unable to move.
    From behind him,
Zane heard someone exit the house and move across the grass towards them. The
Mage’s gaze followed him until he had moved around to the other side of Zane to
face him.
    “I’m sorry,”
Conrad began. “But you left me no choice, little brother.”
    “No … choice? ”
Zane rasped.
    Conrad
crouched so they were eye to eye. “You could have gone anywhere. You could have
visited any part of the globe. They probably wouldn’t have found you. With your
strength and powers, you could have survived for years on your own. With or
without that skank.”
    Zane gritted
his teeth.
    “But you had
to implicate me. Because as soon as anyone here found out you were here – if
someone had even just caught a glimpse of you in town, then I’d be finished.
Because of you. Because you put your needs ahead of mine.”
    Conrad stood
back up. “That’s all I’m doing here.”
    Zane tilted
his head upward, the rage in his eyes saying more than any words could.
    The Human
Mage reached into his robe and produced a scroll. He showed it to the circle of
dragons that surrounded them and then unrolled it.
    “Zane Hunter,
Commander of the Firebound Guards, you have been found guilty for the crime of
regicide, against your clan and your king. Under the authority of the seven
grandmasters, and the Kingdom of Aries, you shall be executed as you sit now
before the court. Do you have any final words before it is carried out?”
    Zane breathed
heavily. He looked from the Mage to his brother.
    “Make him do it.
By the sword.”
    The Mage
rolled up