Starlight by Adrienne Woods
When it fell silent again the letter jumped into my mind.
“Sammy, can I ask you something?” I went over to my suitcase and took out Blake’s letter and handed it to her.
“What is this?”
“Just tell me what it says, please.”
She opened it and started reading. Her eyebrows knitted. “What are you doing with a letter from Tabitha?”
“Tabitha?” I grabbed the letter out of her hands.
“Yes, that’s her handwriting.”
“It’s not your brothers?”
She started to laugh. “Heck no, my brother actually has beautiful handwriting.”
I huffed as I looked down at the page where I saw the heart and Blake’s name. I shook my head. “She tried to make me believe it was from him.”
Sammy grabbed the letter back. “She what?”
“I’m such an idiot.” I shook my head. Why would Blake write me a letter? Another disappointment.
“You really thought it was from him?”
“Yes, I did, because it was the same handwriting that used to tell me where to meet him last year.”
“Yeah, my brother made her do all sorts of things for him back then.”
I gave her a broken smile. Disappointment was clearly evident on my face.
“I’m so sorry Elena. I wasn’t thinking.”
“It’s not your fault, Sammy. I’ll find out why she did this.”
“All I know is my brother really doesn’t want anything to do with her anymore.”
“It doesn’t matter, the damage is already done and I really don’t think that we are going to get through this one.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I mean it Sammy. I don’t want to talk about this, okay. Thanks for clearing it up.”
She nodded.
Isabel’s voice yelled Sammy’s name from downstairs and she got up.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said and Becky walked out with her.
I went to take a shower and crawled immediately into bed.
I wished that sleep would just come, but it didn’t. I was really bummed out that Blake hadn’t written the letter. None of the words had come from him.
Did he seriously not care at all?
I GOT TABITHA’S number from Isabel the next day and asked her to meet me so we could talk.
To my surprise she accepted and we met in the coffee shop at the mall in Tith.
I was obviously in disguise, wearing my hoody over my head in such warm weather.
I waited for her for like fifteen minutes and really thought she wasn’t going to show when she finally plopped onto the chair opposite mine.
“Didn’t think you would phone me.” She had that bitchiness in her tone again.
“Then why did you come?”
“Because I know what this is about. It’s the letter, right?”
“Why did you make me believe that it was from him, Tabitha?”
She just looked at me, her eyes shifted to the table as they started to glisten.
“Don’t cry, please. You got what you want.”
“No, I didn’t okay. He didn’t do anything.”
“It doesn’t matter what you say to me, it’s over.”
“Then you are an idiot.”
“Excuse me?”
“Elena, I would do anything just to get him back.”
“And you did.”
“No, I don’t. He wants nothing to do with me. Told me if I ever did anything like that again he would kill me.”
“I’m sure he didn’t mean it that way.”
“No, he did. It was my Blake saying those words to me. I know you think the Dent is something wonderful Elena. I know it’s not. You used to believe that too, but none of that matters anymore ‘cause he is miserable without you.”
“Just don’t.” I started to get upset.
“Fine, you don’t want to believe me, then why the hell did you phone me.”
“I want to know why you did this.” I waved the letter in my hands.
“I was trying to make it up to him. Trying to right a wrong. My mistake. Not his. I wrote everything I did in that letter.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but your handwriting is terrible.”
“Yeah, well I guess I can’t be perfect at everything.”
I just looked at her, confused was an understatement.
If she was telling the truth then why had he left? Was it really to give me time away from him?
“Please just give him another chance. I’m really trying to make it work with Peter because I really hurt his feelings in the process.”
“Sorry?”
“I know it sounds stupid. I mean, Peter and me. But I am trying, Elena.”
I nodded. “I don’t think I can.”
She sighed. “You once told me that if it was a spell he would shake it off and come back to me. He’s not going to shake this spell, Elena, and he is never going to come back to me. He made that very clear. He honestly deserves another chance. I want him to be happy. And it’s clear that that happiness lies with you, not me.”
I wanted to say something again and she put her finger over my lips. “I don’t want to hear it. I made a huge mistake that night, and I’m sorry.”
She got up and left.
I sat for another twenty minutes just thinking about what she’d said.
It could be one of two things. That she really was the one who’d tried something, meaning Blake was telling me the truth. Or he’d got so upset about me catching them that he’d taken it out on her and she’d gone out of her way and had taken the blame.
I would never know which one it was and I would always have her in the back of my mind, wondering if he still saw her from time to time.
That was the thing with trust. Once it is broken, you can never get it back, ever.
BLAKE
MY FATHER WAS seriously a killing machine when it came to training these dragons.
For the past few weeks all we did were drills upon drills, day in and day out. Boot camp from hell.
It was good, a great distraction from what a mess my life was at the moment.
I never thought in a million years that I would hate Tabitha the way I did at this moment.
Elena would never believe me. Searching for her brother, which had been a complete scam too, just made it worse. She probably thought that I’d screwed her around every fucking bush.
But coming here helped.
I started with a team. George, Taylor, Megan, Rikus, and Emile. We were going to be each other’s team buddies for the next eight weeks.
We all started at the bottom. Shaping up, getting fit, something I didn’t really need, but my father pushed me the hardest. He pushed my team members the hardest.
Taylor was one of Emanual’s ops girls. She was a Night Villain, but there was something familiar about her that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. She was always flirting with me, always wanted to be near me.
She gave me the creeps.
Megan and Rikus sort of became best buds, which I thought would probably turn into buds with benefits later on, and I was right in only a few short days. Emile was more or less the same as George and I. Crying over a Sun-Blast he couldn’t have.
We were a group of dragons that would learn what it takes to protect and serve our riders. To become whatever they needed.
George and I were the only Dents in the entire league and we really didn’t need to learn that much.
We were going to get our flag soon and then the hunting was going to start. Now that was the part we were actually looking forward to.
At night, which was the hardest, we would both sulk like pups. He was thinking about Becky, missing her like crazy. While I was praying that Elena would forgive me, even if I hadn’t done anything. Well, I wasn’t that innocent. Tabitha should’ve never been in my room, and for that I was sorry.
“Blake, can you please come to the office?” My father’s voice filled the system.
I finished my meal and took the tray to the drop off.
My father was seriously seen as a god when it came to the Dragon League. I really had no idea how he was going to act once he found out that his rider was still alive.
I knocked on the door and waited until he told me to enter.
The command came and I went in. I found Emanual sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk.
“Blake.”
I smiled softly and sat on the other one.
“You were right. They bombarded her at the port.”
“You got there in time?”
He nodded.
“You say anything about me to her?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Let me guess, she didn’t ask about me.”
“Sorry, Blake.”
I shook my head. “It’s okay.”
“Look, she is scared about this campaign but we all know she has the same stubborn streak as her mother, so she asked me to give her pointers. You think you can help out with that?”
“Of course.”
“Just tell her how to win over crowds and what to say, Blake.”
I smiled.
“Give me a day.”
“Okay.”
I got up, turned around and just before I opened the door I said, “Thanks, Emanual.”
“You are welcome.”
I exited. He hadn’t been happy with me when I told him what had happened but he believed that I wasn’t at fault after I told him everything. He hated that I’d given her space again. He didn’t think that it was the right move, said I should’ve stayed and fought this time and made her see my side of the story, but I knew her. Or I hoped I did.
I went to my room; the one I shared with all the guys from my team and grabbed a piece of paper.
I hoped that she wouldn’t know that it was from me. She would not do a thing on the list if she did.
I took a huge breath.
Bullet point number one. Never back down. Keep your chin up. You are the Princess of Paegeia.
Elena
EMANUAL CAME OVER around six with a file in his hands.
Oh my freak’n word. How many speeches was I going to have to learn?
Lucille allowed us to use her office.
“That was fast.” I sat down in front of Lucille’s desk.
He flashed me his perfect smile. “I’m a dragon of many talents, Elena. I could do this with my eyes closed.”
I laughed as he handed me the speeches for the radio.
“Radio is easy. Nobody can see you except the DJ who is going to basically give you free hand to speak. Now I based the questions and answers on all these guys’ personalities. Knowing more or less what they will ask you, and this is how you should answer them.”
He took me through all of the radio interviews. These terms made no sense to me at all. It all had to do with war and my head felt as if it was going to explode just by reading through them.
I smiled as I looked at the handwriting.
“What is it?” Emanual asked.
“You have a beautiful handwriting, Emanual. Very feminine. You sure you did this and not Queen Margerite?”
He laughed. “The queen knows a lot Elena, but I can promise you, war is not her department. And stop making fun of my hand writing. At least it’s readable.”
I wanted to laugh thinking immediately about Blake’s but realized it hadn’t been his.
Lucille entered with two cups of coffee and a plate of cookies, exiting immediately after she dropped them off.
We carried on with the TV interviews, which was my biggest fear. I was terrified of making a fool of myself, as all of them were streaming live. Meaning when you messed up, the entire nation saw it.
Blake would’ve been so much better at this than me.
Next were the briefings I would have in front of actual crowds.
This was nerve-wracking too, but the best part was that Emanual would be right behind me. That was a huge comfort.
The night flew by and around ten, we were finally done with all of the speeches and things I had to say.
“One more thing, and this is very important, Elena.”
I nodded.
“Never lose yourself. Work your own personality in through all of this.”
I smiled.
“That is the most important.”
“I see how people react to what is inside of you, just like at the fundraiser. Maggie said that she was going to get you involved in all of hers from now on.”
I laughed and shook my head.
“I’m serious. You reach people’s hearts. It was a trait of both your parents. They were amazing people, Elena.”
I remembered my mother’s words when she’d written about Emanual.
“She really liked you, my mother.”
“She did?”
I nodded with a smile. “She wrote about how you came to her rescue when one of the other dragons tried to pin her down.”
He flinched. “I forgot about that. She was so feisty. Beautiful too.”
I laughed.
“But your father owned her heart from the minute they met.”
“Yeah, a real fairy tale, one that didn’t work out so well for them.”
He cupped my cheek softly. “Don’t lose yourself in the past Elena. What if’s drive many people over the edge. We can’t change the past.”
I smiled and nodded.
“I’ve got to go, still plenty of things I have to take care of.”
We got up and I walked with him to the door. “Just go over them again, and you will do great with tomorrow’s interview.”
“Thank heavens it’s radio and not TV.”
He chuckled. “You know you can always call him if you need his help, Elena.”
“I told you before, I’m not that great of a pretender.”
“Okay. Good luck, Princess.”
“HA-HA.” I sounded sarcastic and he laughed as he ran down Lucille’s steps.
I watched him walking away.
“Creepy,” he turned around as he reached Lucille’s can-can fish lady. “But so Lucille.”
I laughed. “Goodnight, Emanual.”
“Good night.”
I closed the door and went back to my room. It was going to take a miracle for me to pull this campaign off!
THE FIRST TWO weeks flew by.
I had an entire team of people who organized the entire campaign.
Jenna was the main chick behind all of this.
She had a body any girl would kill for, with frizzy hair and the most beautiful chocolate brown skin that almost glowed in the sunlight. She was smart as hell too and one heck of a confidence booster.
She gave me so many tips on how to sit and where to place my hands if I wasn’t confident enough to speak with them.
It didn’t make much sense until I picked up on the way she talked. Her hands were everywhere. Confidence.
The first few days were nerve-wracking, but I read the words from the cards like a parrot every night and always remembered the first point on all of them. That I was the princess, I needed to never back down and keep my chin high.
Then we finally went to Areeth, which was a mess. I knew now that none of them were going to fight and I guessed that I had one man to thank for that: King Caleb.
Why was he so against me? He used to love my father and it was so hard not to blurt out that he was alive, but I couldn’t. For my father’s dragon’s sake, I couldn’t.
Thank heavens Emanual was right behind me. Although none of his words on the cards helped at all. These people wanted to see Blake with me. It was as if they could see what really was happening, knew the truth that we were so far beyond repair and my worst fears were coming true.
Once they started to shout out questions asking where Blake really was, it went downhill from there.
Then they started throwing rocks, and the first one hit me on my head. Emanual got me out of there as fast as he could and t
Still it was everywhere in the papers. All of them were asking where the hell Blake was, like I said my worst fear. And the newspapers were plastered with pictures of me when the rock had hit me. I looked like a mess. A head wound was always a messy thing.
Areeth was an instant confidence breaker too. But I had to push forward, no matter how scared I was of all the other appearances. We needed all the people and dragons we could get.
Elm was this week.
Becky, Dean and Sammy were a great help when Emanual wasn’t there.
A part of me wanted Blake with me, especially after Areeth, but I wasn’t going to give King Caleb what he wanted. I told them the truth: My dragon was at Dragon League, and that is where he would stay. If he showed up now, they would know I was scared and couldn’t do anything without him. I knew a little about how the people were thinking, but I was still so upset with him. I was so confused whenever I thought about Blake now, and the worst part was that I would never know the truth.
As I was pondering this in my room, a knock came on the door and Lucille entered.
I’d been going through the notes for tomorrow’s interview, which was the first after the incident in Areeth. I was so nervous that the DJ, who would’ve been easy going before, was now going to bombard me with questions about Blake and our bond.
Lucille was carrying a peace offering, a cup of hot chocolate.
She put it on my night stand. “May I?” She gestured to the edge of my bed and I nodded.
I put the paper with Emanual’s notes next to me.
“Elena, you can’t do this alone.”
“I have no choice, Lucille.”
“You always have a choice.”
“Please I don’t want to talk about Blake.”
“Baby, you need to deal with this. He is your dragon. How are you going to free Etan if you can’t even be near him?”
Angry tears filled my eyes again. She was speaking the truth, but how did I just forgive and forget? Especially when I had no idea what the truth was.
“Areeth scared the living crap out of me, when that rock hit you and you fell, all sorts of things were going through my mind. It would never have happened if he was by your side.”
“They would’ve seen that something was wrong.”