Kiss of Frost (The Dragon Stone Saga Book 1)(25)

"Not yet. I'm going to stay up all night if I need to to find it. It's here, I just need to sort through the masses of paperwork." Jem pauses, casting an annoyed look at Ann. "You really should go digital, Mom."

"I don't trust computers." Ann frowns. I roll my eyes, but I guess everyone has to have their quirks.

"Whatever. Let's just get the ring back, work on finding the bracelet, and get Beck's family freed once and for all." I rub at my forehead, a headache forming between my eyes. "Instead of you looking for the bracelet, Jem, you should work with Kay and Zoey. Leave the searching up to us. Divide and conquer."

"I can do that. I just don't know if you guys will understand my system…"

"I'm sure we can figure it out. Just show us what you haven't gone through and we'll handle it." Time is of the essence here with Dayphis on his way, after all.

"We need to speak to Desmond again." Beck growls the mage's name and I eye him for any signs of flying off the handle again. His eyes remain a crystal blue, but his body is tense, his hands clenched into fists.

"I think that Ann and I should speak to him. I know you're frustrated and I know you want answers, but if you get upset again and turn him into a human icicle, it's just that much longer we have to wait for him to thaw out." I intertwine our fingers and squeeze. "You can trust me, Beck. We'll do everything we can."

"I know I can trust you." He shakes his head. "You don't understand the feeling of helplessness I have right now. I'm so close to saving my family. So close to freeing my brothers and now I must get my sister back and protect her as well."

"I can't imagine it, but we'll figure this out. You and I, and Ann and Jem. We've got your back. You're not alone in this."

"I know. I just can't understand how they would get her to go against us in this way." He shakes his head. "She was the stubbornest of all of us. And that's saying something."

I twist my lips and blow out a breath. "I know. So why don't you go with Jem and start searching through the paperwork. Ann and I will go speak with Desmond if he's thawed out by now."

"He should be. It was only a light frost." Beck shrugs.

Only a light frost. The guy looked like he'd been chipped out of the middle of a glacier. I clap my hands together. "All right then. Let's do this thing."



Ann and I discuss what we want to get out of Desmond and how we want to approach him. He already knows me as the good cop. So now it's up to Ann to play bad cop. Or witch willing to turn him into a toad as it were.

Desmond is shivering in the middle of the cell when we approach him but sympathy is the furthest thing from my mind when I see him.

"I see you've thawed out. You ready to keep talking?"

He opens his mouth to talk and his teeth clack together. "Give me dry clothes and a blanket and I'll talk."

I move like I'm going to fulfill his request but Ann steps in. "Since it seems you're going to be a baby…" She waves her hand and a warm breeze blows through the cell, drying Desmond's clothes and hair. Almost instantly he stops shaking. His eyes widen at the show of Ann's power. Yeah, she might be middle-aged but the woman's got power like you read about. "How are you using Isobel to find dragons?" Ann asks, her tone impatient.

"We found her hiding in the mountains with her mate. We captured and tortured him until she agreed to help us." Desmond's gaze moves between the two of us, but we keep our faces blank.

"And you had no issues using a young dragon to do your bidding, did you?" The question is thrown at Desmond like a knife and he flinches.

"It was all Dayphis's idea. Her brothers are the last of a powerful line. He wants their powers for his own. Blood calls to blood and once we lost the stones, Dayphis went mad trying to find them." Desmond shakes his head.

"And you went along with his plans like a spineless worm." Ann clicks her tongue against her teeth. "Typical of a mage. Where is she now?"

"She is never out of Dayphis's sight. She'll be arriving here with him." He stands, stepping closer to the bars, and despite the instinct to step back and distance myself from him, I hold strong. "He'll kill you before he lets her go."

"That's for me to worry about, not you," Ann retorts. "Where is he going to stay when he gets here?"

"They've rented a warehouse in the city. It will be heavily warded and guarded."

"Will her mate be with them?" I ask.

"I am not sure. Usually he only allows them to see each other once or twice a year so they don't get any ideas of trying to escape."

I bite the inside of my cheek at the cruelty. I've only known Beck a matter of a few days, but already the thought of not being able to see or touch him for an extended period of time sends anxiety through my entire body. It would cripple me if I wasn't able to be around him.

Ann looks to me and I meet her gaze. "Well, I think that's all we need for right now." She turns and starts to walk away, pausing when Desmond shouts at her.

"Hey! They said you'd let me go! I answered your questions."

"We said we'd let you go. We didn't say when we'd let you go." Ann shrugs. "We might have a use for you as of yet." With that, we both leave the basement and I rub my hands on my jeans, trying to get the icky feeling off of my skin.