The Dragon's Scale (COMPLETE, EDITING)

14.1 || The Past's Hold

Important note: This chapter has a scene left out that was previously Patreon exclusive and is now a bonus scene at the end of the book!

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IT MADE NO sense, but no matter how many times Josh followed Harrison's finger, it always led straight to Mara.

"You can't be serious," Elisa snapped, sliding in front of the girl she had taken in. "Mara wouldn't help Shadow Knights."

Harrison threw up his arms, as if that accentuated his point rather than making him mirror a child throwing a tantrum. "Of course you wouldn't think she would if she's been a spy this entire time. What do you think happened instead? The Elder Dragon made a portal for the Shadow Knight with no insider help?"

Uneasy whispers spread through those gathered. Josh tuned them out, narrowing all his attention in on Mara. Shadow Knight loving parents? What was that supposed to mean?

"Or what about that kid's little brother?" Realizing Josh was "that kid," he turned to find Harrison jabbing an accusatory finger his way. "If he was with the Shadow Knight, maybe he let them in."

A firm hand pulled down on Josh's shoulder before he could rise. His dad waited to make sure Josh wouldn't move before taking his hand back. "Let the idiot talk," he whispered. "Ioana will handle it."

"I already looked into the Jodas situation, and although we still plan to investigate further, I currently deem the Elder Dragon innocent. As for the kidnapped boy, he wasn't a willing helper based on what I was told," Ioanasaid. She stood tall, exuding a mixture of power and "shut-up-before-I-punch-sense-into-you."

"Then what you're saying," Harrison continued, and Josh could have sworn Ioana swelled from the sheer force of will it took not to march over to him, "is that it was likely that Shadow Knight helping bi—"

"Cale!"

Elisa's call of warning didn't help. Cale had crossed the courtyard within mere seconds, grasped Harrison's shirt, and yanked him forward until they were face-to-face.

The look on Cale's face must have been deadly, because Harrison turned as white as a ghost.

"I suggest you carefully consider your next words," Cale said, "before your face is so swollen you cannot speak at all."

Harrison sputtered, growing paler somehow. "I was just... It only makes... Someone let the Shadow Knight in!"

"Perhaps it was you," Cale spat. "After all, you were more than happy to point fingers. Trying to hide your guilt?"

He didn't speak as if he actually believed it, but the threat laced his words. Ioana took a step toward the duo, but another voice spoke up before she could reach them.

"Caleb, release the man."

Cale froze for a moment, then let go of Harrison and stepped back. Tension stiffening his shoulders and jaw, Cale said, "Sorry, Father."

Jonathan stared holes into his son's back before turning a frown to Harrison. "Mara was in bed the entire night. Cale and I were up late discussing his recent mission. If she had sneaked out to assist..." He paused, his jaw twitching. "... to assist Peter, we would have noticed."

Harrison refused to look directly at Jonathan, but his eyes widened in the Michaels family's direction. "Then why would she—"

"Harrison, she has an alibi. If you keep speaking, I will throw you into the ocean and see if you can find a fish that will listen to your paranoid nonsense," Ioana snapped.