“I’ll tell you in a moment.” Garrix’s response brought me back to the present. He rounded the massive desk and shooed Talon off the chair. The dragon grumbled but rose all the same. The old warlock folded his elegant frame into the seat and turned to me. “Close your eyes, Azara and try to clear your mind as best you can.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t sure how I felt about a warlock tampering with my missing memories, but I kept reminding myself he wasn’t Jasper. This man was my blood, the first real family member I’d met.
“I said closed, Azara.”
My eyelids snapped shut, and I inhaled a deep breath to clear my mind. Garrix’s muffled mutterings filled the air until the cloying scent of magic encompassed the room.
He’s powerful. My she-demon whispered. Imagine what he would taste like.
I shook my head chasing away her tempting thoughts. After Logan filled me in on what happened last time I was in here, I was surprised the warden’s magic-full office was chosen as the spot for our meeting. But then again, I supposed we’d have to be somewhere my grandfather could use his powers.
Firm hands gripped either side of my head, and I jumped. “Easy, Azara. It’s just me, GG. Let me in, little princess.” His words were like a caress to my soul, and my demon receded. For the first time since he arrived, I felt something. My heart felt full as he continued to murmur the words of the spell. A thick fog enveloped my mind, forcing its way into the dark crevices. I only resisted for a moment before the haze took over.
Images sped across my vision so fast I couldn’t grasp a single one. But I felt them—for a fleeting moment, I was happy, then bored, scared, then overcome with grief then… in love? Invisible bands stretched across my heart, squeezing until I couldn’t breathe.
As quickly as the visions had come, they disappeared. My lids snapped open and met a pair of deep azure ones. I sucked in a breath, trying to still my racing heart.
“Welcome back, Azara.”
“GG?” The name sounded more natural from my lips this time.
His hand came around mine, and he squeezed. “I’m sorry for what you’ve been through, my dear. I hoped I would have better news.”
“What is it?” Talon jumped off his perch on Logan’s desk.
Garrix ignored the dragon and glanced up at the warden. “She’s been poisoned for months. Probably the entire time she was missing. It’s a very strong potion, one with unfortunate and lasting effects.” He turned his softening gaze to me. “I’m so sorry, my girl. I’ll do everything in my power to get your memories back but interfering with the brain is a delicate endeavor. If I push too hard, I could make matters worse.”
“You have to do something,” Talon growled.
GG seared him with a glacial glare. “I understand that, young man. She’s my granddaughter, don’t you think I’d do anything I could to help her?”
Talon muttered something under his breath, but it was too faint to make out.
“We know you will,” Logan interjected. “The infirmary is on the second floor. Fiona has hundreds of tinctures and potions. You’ll find whatever you need. I can take you there now if it’ll help.”
He shook his head. “This isn’t a simple concoction. I’ll need to acquire a few key ingredients I doubt your healer would keep on hand.” GG turned to me again and gave me an indulgent smile I realized he saved only for me. “I’ll be back tomorrow with the potion. Don’t worry, little princess, we’ll get your memories back somehow.”
I nodded, an unexpected swell of emotion clogging my throat. “Thank you,” I finally muttered when I swallowed it down. I almost didn’t want to. After months of feeling nothing, I longed for those missing sensations.
GG stood, tugging me up with him and pulled me into a hug. Hot tears pricked at the back of my eyes, and I blinked quickly. I buried my face into his fancy suit and squeezed him back. Too soon, he held me out to arm’s length and flashed me that smile again. “You should’ve listened to me, Azara. You never should’ve stayed in this hell hole. Your parents will murder me for this, so we’ll have to keep them in the dark for a little longer. Once I’ve gotten this situation under control, we’ll explain the whole thing.”
My parents. A swirl of anxiety churned within my core. “Okay, whatever you think.” At this point, he knew them better than I did.
Garrix turned to Logan and Talon. “You two, it’s your fault she’s in this mess. I imagine I don’t have to explain what will happen if anything else happens to my granddaughter while she’s under your care?”
“No, sir,” they muttered in unison.
“It was my fault. I failed her.” Talon’s jaw was clenched so tight it looked like it had been carved in stone.
GG moved closer, standing inches from the big dragon’s face. “Then. Make. It. Up. To. Her.” He jabbed his finger into Talon’s chest, punctuating every word.
He huffed out a breath. “I will.”
I watched Logan as he stared at the screen on his old school computer monitor. “I’m sorry, I’ll be right with you, Azara.”
I still wasn’t sure what to think of our friendly warden. He seemed too good to be true. He’d explained his connection to my parents, but all the stories I heard about my family seemed so outlandish. GG had been the President of the United States, my aunt was a reality TV star, my uncle was the supreme alpha of all the dragons in Draeko, and my parents were like superheroes who’d thwarted bad guys as their day job.
So how was I an evil soul-sucking demon?
GG insisted I wasn’t evil, but my she-demon begged to differ. On the plus side, she hadn’t made an appearance in front of my grandfather. Maybe even she found him intimidating. He stayed for a while, filling me in on as much as he could cram into one sitting and Logan had let us use his office to catch up.
I tapped my foot on the floor as I waited, my eyes wandering the mahogany rafters crisscrossing the high ceilings. It was time for my daily check-in with the warden. He assessed my level of control over my demon and my general mental state. Better him than the psych ward, I supposed.
Logan’s screen blinked off, and he turned to me with a warm smile. “Sorry, again. There always seems to be something that requires my urgent attention around here.”
“I bet.”
His pale gray eyes, which were a perfect match to his hair ran over me. Genuine concern radiated from his pupils. “How was your visit with Garrix? Was he able to shed some light on your missing memories?”
“Well, he condensed the story of my life into a ten-minute bite-sized nugget.”
He smirked and walked around to the other side of the desk to sit beside me. “I’m here if you have any questions. I may not know everything about your family, but I do know quite a bit.”
“Right, because you were on the reality TV show, Hitched and met my aunt Kimmie-Jayne?”
“Correct. And that was before I stepped in as your mom’s trainer at Darkblood Academy a few years later, and then worked with your dad when he was with the SIA.”
“And you helped my parents take Luxora down—Thax’s mom and my half-aunt.” I paused, trying to straighten out all the crazy, tangled strings in my head. “How is everything so twisted?”