Demand of the Dragon by Kristin Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

double check of her appearance, Lucy opened the
bathroom door and nearly ran face-first into Caleb’s wall of a chest.
    “Took long enough,” he said, smirking.
    He’d changed into jeans and a white cotton shirt, which
perfectly matched his carefree persona. His dark hair was tousled and falling
down in front, and was still wet from the rain. She longed to run her fingers
through his hair again, to feel its silky strands brush between her fingers.
    “I still can’t get over the fact that you were here, guarding
the portals with Tristan.” She stepped past him into the cold hall. “How long
were you stationed here?”
    “Not long.” He led the way to the shadowed great room, where a
massive hearth rested on the far wall and a stone-arched doorway veered off the
side. “Maybe a month before...”
    ... before Tristan disappeared .
    “I see,” Lucy said.
    Why couldn’t he have told her what he was doing? And why did
she still feel like there was more that he wasn’t telling her?
    “Do you want to see the portal?” Caleb stood against the
hearth, his arms folded over his chest. “I can take you down there if you need
to see it.”
    Lucy couldn’t explain the reason, but she wanted to see the
portal that robbed the last three years from her. She had Tristan’s medallion,
and once she popped open the chest, she’d want to get out of the castle and on
their way as soon as possible. She knew it.
    If she wanted to see the portal, it was now or never.
    Lucy nodded, willing her frayed nerves to settle.
    Caleb took Lucy’s hand and pulled her past the hearth and down
a long, winding hallway that snaked around the southern wing. A narrow stairwell
appeared on the right and descended into the dark, around and around, spiraling
into the earth. They rounded the corner, taking the stone steps slowly, one at a
time. The lower they traveled, the colder the air grew, freezing Lucy’s breath,
and numbing her hands. They seemed to descend forever in the dark, silently,
holding onto one another. Just when Lucy thought they should turn back, that she
really didn’t need to see the portal, Caleb slowed. The stairs ended at a
wood-slatted door that Lucy had never seen before.
    Someone had built the door to keep people from finding what was
on the other side.
    Caleb fiddled with a heavy-duty combination lock that secured
the handle, then popped it open and swung the door wide. Was he the one who had
built the door?
    “There it is.” Caleb moved aside so Lucy could see the portal
with her own eyes.
    “It’s so―” the portal was set into the back wall of a narrow
room. It was black and oblong, no bigger than a television set “―tame.”
    Not at all what she’d been expecting.
    She stepped closer, but Caleb held her back. “Probably best for
you not to get too close. The portal is sealed, so that no other creature can
come out of it, but portals are temperamental things and can expand or contract
at a moment’s notice. You could still get sucked inside from this end.”
    She eyed its hidden depths, squinting to make something out
inside the dark mass.
    “You don’t want to be anywhere near this thing if it decides to
expand,” he said. “I’ve seen it take up this whole room like an enormous black
hole.”
    Her feet turned to stone. “Is that what happened that night?
When the beast came through?”
    As Lucy dragged her eyes away from the swirling black mass and
set them upon Caleb, her breath caught. He looked as if he’d seen a ghost. Hell,
his tanned skin had faded so pale, he could’ve been the ghost.
    “What’s wrong?” she asked, squeezing Caleb’s hand. It’d clammed
in seconds, chilling through her palm. “What’s the matter?”
    He shook his head, but answered anyway. “Lucy, there’s
something I’ve got to tell you.”
    Here we go , Lucy thought. He loved someone else. He valued
their friendship so much that he wanted to stop getting physical. He had to
leave to secure the rest of the portals