My Dragon Desire

Chapter Eight - Overheard

✩Blake✩

Hanging up the phone, I shook my head. So, Tony had in fact left Gloria. After taking all of her money and family secrets. I guess, after talking with my Aunt, that Gloria would be staying here a while. I didn’t have much of a problem with it, but I would be keeping a close eye on my cousin. I sat back down behind my desk and thought about none other than Dawn. She has been on my mind constantly and every time I try to seek her out, something or someone interrupts me. It was frustrating and that was why I was waiting on Josephine.

“Hey, are you busy?” I looked up to see Kayne standing by the door.

“No, come on in,” I said as I relaxed back in my chair. Kayne came in and closed the doors. “Is everything alright?” I asked him curiously. It wasn’t every day that Kayne wanted to speak to me privately and him closing the door definitely piqued my curiosity.

“No, everything is fine, it’s just that I wanted to talk to you,” he said as he made himself comfortable on the sofa. I gazed over at him in wonder as I waited for him to talk. “I met someone,” he finally said, and I raised an eyebrow.

“Oh? Who?”

“She works here, actually, as a maid,” he informed me. “Her name is Bailey,” the name sounded oddly familiar and then I remembered that it was the girl he had gone for a walk with.

“Aha, and you like her?”

“Ai, I like her a lot,” he said as he leaned forward and ran his fingers through his hair. “And so, does my dragon,”

“So, then? What is the problem?” I asked.

“She knows that I am a dragon,” when Kayne informed me of this, I quickly stood up. It wasn’t uncommon for the staff to be aware of our species but suddenly I knew that it was this Bailey girl that had told my Dawn about me being a dragon.

“And?” I wanted to know more, for some reason, I had gotten this idea that if Bailey accepts Kayne then maybe Dawn would accept me.

“Well, she had a lot of questions and kept asking me if we eat people,” he gave me a look and I chuckled as I went around the desk and leaned against the front. “I mean, I don’t know where she got that idea from but anyway,”

“So, again, what is the problem?”

“It’s all she wants to talk about, she even asked me to shift,” Kayne said and that’s when I understood.

“So, you think she’s into because you are a dragon?”

“Exactly,” he sighed loudly as he laid back against the sofa. “I am happy she accepts it but she doesn’t talk about anything else, well, she does but that’s boring,”

“What does she talk about?”

“Some book she’s been reading,” Kayne rolled his eyes and I shook my head as I went over to him.

“Just give it a chance,” I advised.

“Ok, but Josephine seriously needs to cut their hours,” he said as he stood up. Little did he know, I was going to have a meeting with her to discuss something similar to that. “According to Bailey, she works them like dogs,” he pulled open the door just as Josephine was about to knock. “Oh look, talk of the devil,” Kayne said smartly with a wink before leaving.

“Welcome Josephine,” I said as I went back around to the other side of the desk and sat down. “Won't you please take a seat,” I watched as she hesitated by the door and then she eventually closed it and rushed in. she carefully sat down across from me and I studied the older woman. Her gray hair was perfectly put up in a tight bun and although she had lines on her face, she didn’t look as old as I knew she was.

“You wanted to see me?” she prodded, and I sighed loudly

“Why didn’t you tell me about Gloria?” I asked her. Josephine’s eyes went wide, and I waited for her to answer.

“My Lord, when she arrived here, she begged me not to tell you,” Josephine explained, and I hummed out in response. “I was ready to tell you, my Lord but she was so upset…with Tony’s betrayal and all,” she added.

“Of course, I do understand but yet, I still feel that you should’ve told me,” I said sternly. I wasn’t happy but I did understand. However, she needed to know that keeping things from me wasn’t going to fly.

“Ok,”

“Do you understand me, Josephine? I won’t tolerate that kind of thing,” I stated, and she sat up straighter and nodded.

“Of course, my Lord,”

“Now, let’s discuss the other matter,” I said as I leaned back. “Why are you overworking the staff?” I asked and Josephine nearly fell off her chair in shock. I wasn’t sure if she thought I wasn’t paying attention or if this was an act.

“My Lord, this is not a small castle and we only have so many helping hands,” she argued.

“So? Hire more help,”

“But I…are you sure?” she asked carefully, and I nodded. “Alright, then I will do so,” she added, and I nodded in approval.

“Good, very good, I expect that the staff will have more time to rest up and enjoy their time here, alright?”

“Yes, my Lord, I understand,” I could tell that she wanted to say something, so I didn’t dismiss her, allowing her to speak when she felt ready. “There is one other thing, if I may?”

“Go ahead, Josephine,”

“There is one small issue, that I would like to discuss,” I nodded, and she continued. “Some of the staff have been known to um…frolicking around,”

“Frolicking? That’s the word you are going to use?” I asked and I quite enjoyed the way she went a bright shade of red.

“Yes, frolicking,” she said, clearly embarrassed.

“Alright, let’s go with that then,” I said with a smirk.

“If you could maybe…not?” she asked and I couldn’t help it, I just burst out laughing. I held onto the desk for the support that’s just how hard I was laughing. Josephine was blushing and looking as if she wanted the earth to open up and take her away from this embarrassing situation. When I had finally calmed down, I patted my chest and shook my head.

“I promise you, Josephine, I will stop frolicking with the staff,” I promised but then I remembered Dawn and I knew I would have to explain that. “Well, all except one,”

“Oh? Who?” she asked, the embarrassment was gone but she was now as curious as a cat.

“Dawn Morgan,” I stated with a shy smile. Josephine looked confused and then she nodded.

“Alright…is she…”

“She is important, that is all you need to know,” I said as I stood up.

“Am I to give her any special privileges?” Josephine asked with a sly smile and I stared at the woman in great distaste.

“No, no one gets any special privileges,” I said before I gestured for her to follow me. I opened the door and tried my best to smile at her. “Thank you for your time,”

“Always a pleasure, my Lord,” she said before she hurried off.

“Frolicking!” I roared with laughter as I headed back to my desk. After all, I had work to do, I couldn’t be frolicking all day.

✩Dawn✩

“She’s doing what?” I asked Bailey as we washed the floors of the east wing hallway. I was grateful that there weren’t any of those long runner carpet type things. Those still looked like a b***h to clean.

“She’s hiring more staff,” Bailey repeated, and I rinsed out the mop before continuing.

“Why? Do you think we need it?” I asked. The castle was big and there was a lot to be done on a daily basis and although I did feel that the hours where long, the money was worth it. Well, despite the fact that I wasn’t here for the money, however, it was an added bonus.

“Not really, but all I heard was that the Lord had told her to stop overworking the staff,” Bailey informed me, and I couldn’t help but smile. So, Blake had something to do with it. That somehow made me feel better. It was almost as if he was giving me free time to spend with him. I wasn’t sure how true that was, but I quite liked the idea.

“And tell me, how are things with Kayne?” I questioned curiously. Ever since their walk, they had met up daily.

“Yeah, it’s going well. He even agreed to take me for a ride,” Bailey had stopped cleaning the floor so that she could tell me just how excited she was. I had to say, I was jealous. Blake didn’t know that I knew he was a dragon, but he had promised to take me for a ride. Now I wanted to have that experience more than anything else. “Kayne get’s bored with all my questions about him being a dragon,” she said as she rinsed out her mop and continued cleaning the floor.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, and by the way, they don’t eat humans,” she got busy with her job and I decided to do the same. It gave me time to think of a way to bump into Blake. We hadn’t seen each other since our date and I honestly missed him. Sad, but true. It still amazed me that in this short period of time, how much I had grown to like the dragon. I felt as if I was betraying myself or even my coven, but I just couldn’t help but feel that Blake and I were made for each other. When Bailey and I finally finished the floors, she went back to the kitchen. I, on the other hand, headed to our room. I was exhausted and my back was killing me. As I turned the corner, I could hear voices and I stopped to listen in.

“This won’t be easy,” I heard a voice say and I knew it was Gloria.

“No, but what else can we do?” another voice said, and I immediately knew that it was Josephine. What were those two up too? I decided to sneak a bit closer and try to figure out what exactly they were talking about.

“All you have to do is get him to drink it,” Gloria said, and I knew they were talking about Blake. What was it that they wanted him to drink?

“And you are sure that it will work?” Josephine asked.

“I didn’t marry a warlock for love,” Gloria spat out and I quickly covered my mouth.  What exactly did she mean by that?

“And this potion will make his dragon go dormant?” Josephine questioned.

“Well, it will either make his dragon go dormant or it will kill him, either way, our plan is successful,” Gloria said, and I cringed. It sounded like these two were plotting against Blake. I had to warn him but then again, I didn’t have much information.

“And you’ll help me get my husband back if I do this?”

“Yes, of course,” Gloria said, and I didn’t have to see her face to know she was looking smug. I didn’t need to know anymore. It was obvious to me that those two were planning to hurt Blake and that was enough for me to softly turn on my heels and head over to Blakes's office. However, when I got there it was clear that he wasn’t inside.

“Where are you, Blake?” I asked out loud and I thought about what I should do. I went in and closed the doors behind me. I would wait here for him. With a plan in mind, I sat down on the sofa.

 ✩✩✩

When an hour had passed and I had yawned so many times that my jaw hurt, I knew it was time to give up and go back to my room. However, as I left the office a thought suddenly popped in my head.

What if he had already taken the potion?

I hurried down the passage to the dining room. Blake wasn’t there either. I went into the kitchen, but it was empty. I had no idea where his bedchambers were. As I ran through the castle, I started to feel like a headless chicken.

“Dawn?” I spun around when I heard my name and came face to face with Kayne. “Are you sneaking around again?” he asked playfully, and I quickly shook my head.

“No, I am looking for Blake, do you know where he is?” I asked desperately. Kayne seemed to pick up on my mood.

“He is in a meeting with the Seniors,” he informed me as he took out his phone. “In fact, he should be finishing up,”

“Where should I go?” I asked.

“To his office,” he said, and I nodded, but before I could turn around, he stopped me.

“Dawn is everything alright?” he asked, and I wasn’t sure if I should confide in him or not.

“I overheard something,”

“A rumor?”

“No, it isn’t a rumor, I heard Josephine and Gloria plotting against Blake,” I explained. “This is serious,” I added. Kayne visibly pales and pulled on my arm to follow him back to Blake’s office. Once we were safely inside, Kayne turned to me.

“Gloria has always been jealous of Blake, so I need to know…are you sure you heard them correctly?”

“Kayne! They are planning to kill his dragon or worse! Him!” the thought depressed me as I couldn’t imagine what that must mean, but I knew that it was bad. Unbelievably bad.

“Damn it, you need to tell Blake as soon as he walks through that door,” Kayne pointed to the bookshelf and I nodded. He must be nuts if he thinks I am going to fall for that trick. When the bookcase started to move, that was when I could’ve kicked my own ass. Blake came through the secret door and when he spotted the two of us, his face went blank. It was as if he didn’t want us to know anything.

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking over at Kayne. He was avoiding eye contact with me and I didn’t like that. Had I ruined things so badly.

“Blake, Dawn said she overheard something,” Kayne said as he glanced over at me. Blake still didn’t bother to look away.

“About?”

“Something about killing your dragon,” he explained, and I nodded, not that he noticed.

“Gloria has been trying to kill my dragon for years, that is nothing new,” Blake said dismissively and I lost my cool.

“I heard her say that she married that warlock for a reason and now she has a potion or something that will hurt you,” I said and Blake finally looked at me.

“Thank you, Dawn, you may go,” he said softly. Little did he know that with each word, he had broken my heart. I huffed out before leaving the office., what had I done?