Free Heroes (Eirik Book 2) by Ednah Walters Page B

treating you well? If he’s not, I can take care of him for you.” Her sweet laugh reached me first, and my chest tightened with feelings I couldn’t explain.
    “Well, now that you asked, there’s this really nice guy…”
    “Ditch him. Nice is boring.” What the hell was his name? I’d seen him stop by TC. It was time to have a little chat with Stubby. He was a little on the short side. “Tell me about school.”
    “You sure you don’t want to hear about Wes?”
    She was too damn chipper, probably enjoying my reaction. She also sounded like she’d moved closer to the walk-in closet. “Does Wes have a last name?”
    “Lyons. He’s really sweet. And if you hurt him, I’d never forgive you. I wasn’t sure about dating him, but I could see myself doing it now.”
    And I could see myself dropping him from five thousand feet to his death. “Sweet is not for you, Dimples. Sweet is nauseating. You chew and spit out sweet guys because they are wusses. When are you graduating?”
    “In two months, so I’m busy making sure I enjoy the little time I have left in high school. Then there’s the prom. I plan to attend, of course.”
    With Wes? Over my dead body. “And when not doing school-related stuff or hanging out with Wuss, what do you do?”
    “Wes, not wuss,” she corrected. “And FYI, I love sweet guys. When not with him, I work on spells. And you? When not accepting challenges from other dragons or hanging out with Immortals, what do you do?”
    “I search for my grandmother,” I said.
    “What?” Celestia appeared in the entrance of my closet, took one look at me, and whipped around, her face flaming. “Sorry.”
    “No need to be. I’m decent.” I had my underwear on.
    “Did she escape?”
    “No. Mother let her go.”
    “Why? Can I turn around now? I hate not looking at you while we talk.”
    I grinned. I liked her looking at me. “Sure. I’m not showing anything you haven’t already seen.” She groaned and muttered “shameless” before moving away. I yanked on my pants.
    “Anyway, my mother wanted to lock her in some dungeon for eternity, but I didn’t think it was necessary.”
    Celestia cursed.
    “What?” When she didn’t answer, I walked to the doorway. She was pacing. “You alright?”
    She turned, her eyes zeroing in on my bare chest and moving to my abs. I leaned against the doorway and let her look her fill. I might be shirtless, but I had pants on, yet she was blushing. She looked up. I expected her to hit me with a snarky comment about walking around half-dressed.
    “Did you bite her? Please, tell me you bit her and she is bound to you.”
    “Damn, you are bloodthirsty.”
    She glared at me. “I’m serious, Eirik. Did you?”
    “Yes, I did and yes, she is bound to me, which means I can control her.” Theoretically, since it hadn’t worked so far. “So as long as my sister is with me, she’ll be safe from Granny.”
    “Oh. I hadn’t thought about it that way.” She frowned. “Since you can control her, you can just call her and demand she tells you where Einmyria is, right? Before you answer”—she pointed at the shirt in my hand—“put that on. Your mother is going to send an army in here if you are not out there in the next five minutes.”
    I ignored her orders. I liked her eyes on me. No matter how hard she tried to keep her gaze locked with mine, she kept heading south to my chest and abs every few seconds. All the crazy physical regimen paid off if she noticed.
    I reached inside the closet and came out holding my mace. I lifted it, whipped it above my head, and commanded it to bond with me. The chain wrapped around my arm and the head stopped above my bicep. Then it bonded.
    “Whoa. How…? Where did it go?”
    “I bonded with it. It’s easier to carry this way.”
    Her eyes followed the chain of the mace. “It looks cool and badass.”
    I had distracted her from discussing my grandmother. I couldn’t control, call, or demand answers from someone