Page 9 of Microburst

Belinda

No one likes to admit they were behind on the times or feel outdated, but as an ancient, sometimes that wasallwe felt. This time was worse.

Much worse.

Technology had progressed drastically, and I looked at Maple as if I’d never seen her before when she wanted me to use that small brick mobile phone… Thing. I politely declined and continued trying to get acclimated.

I really needed to stop going so remote and living under a rock. I hadn’t thought I’d been this bad, especially with the summers Sagan had spent with me, but it was clear I’d lived like a backwater mountain woman.

Or whatever the appropriate reference this generation would call me.

So it was going to take me a while to catch up and there was so much else going on that I was beyond frustrated. I wasn’t doing enough and the girl I loved like a daughter was suffering more and more every day.

I was missing too much. Huge things like her attack. I’d almost missed that and—it was unforgivable.

The only answer was to contact help. To let Sagan live in the light and be the beacon Thovudin needed while letting othersbattle the darkness that people had allowed to fester because too many of us had hidden to protect ourselves.

“I should have expected this when I saw you on the news,” Otto sighed when I appeared in his living room. “I’m not coming to work for the queen. I don’t care how much I owe you or—”

“I want you to get the rats of Nerthus in line and help me help her from the shadows,” I interrupted. “Your specialty as a shadow dragon.”

He blinked at what he was reading and then slowly looked up at me. “You’re condoning me beingbad?You’re the one who found me and set me on the path of behaving.”

I snorted. “You were out of control, and your rage—you wanted the world to burn, Otto. I have no delusions I turned you into an angel. There are no angels; only liars.”

He snickered and closed his book. “So what are you plotting?”

“I’m going to use my power to bind the information to your mind.”

The dry look he gave me was amusing. “You mean you alreadyhaveand it’s juicy enough you don’t want me to fry my brain thinking I might be stupid enough to tell someone.”

My lips twitched. “You were always one of my favorite protégés. Yes.”

He sighed and waved me to go ahead. “I also know I won’t have a choice in this so okay, down the rabbit hole we go.”

I chuckled. “Don’t pout, darling. You’ll make money and I know you need it. Plus, you’ll get to misbehave, which you also need from what I’ve observed.”

Something too dark danced in his eyes. “There were valid reasons you found me so out of control, Belinda. I wasn’t burning kittens like a psychopath, but we both know my life hasn’t been fucking sunshine and rainbows.”

“No, you were valid, Otto,” I whispered, moving towards him. He acted a bit like a kitten as he leaned into my touch. “I need your help to save one who is like a child to me. I want to help you too. I stayed away too long to heal my own broken heart. I’m sorry I abandoned you also. Let me make it right and help you now.”

He swallowed loudly and looked away. He always wanted to be my favorite—and tried to be my lover once—but he was more like a nephew to me and I truly did care for him. “Enough dancing. Tell me what you want.”

The book he was holding slipped out of his hand and thunked to the floor loudly when I did. He was always so amusing.

It took Ottoseveralminutes to finally make his mouth work for something resembling words to come out and then he only had one question. “Do I get to keep the money?”

I laughed. I laughed in relief because he was my best—and really only—option. If that was what he was asking, he was in and wanted to help, not just my forcing him or out of loyalty. “No, you will be paying taxes eventually and a lot to help our people.”

He frowned but then sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. “Fine, your other protégé seems more competent than the last ruler.”

“First, she wasn’t my protégé like you were. She was a student I didn’t get enough time with. I’m fixing that,” I clarified. “Second, she’s so different from that idiot Rhys that I would question if she was really his child if she didn’t look almost exactly like an ancestor of hers.”

He shrugged it off and asked me what came next, knowing that I already had a plan.

Of course I did. I gave him the instructions and a few days to handle his life where he was, rolling my eyes whenhe grumbled about that. He barely had a life there. It was… I was disappointed. I had lived remotely, but it was peaceful and lovely.

This was a shithole of cheap rent and even cheaper people around him, and I didn’t mean they were poor.