For the Kingdom of Dragons Read online

  For the Kingdom of Dragons

  The Dragons of Eternity Series

  Julie Wetzel

  Contents

  Also by Julie Wetzel

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  White Lies

  Kindling Flames

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  * * *

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  * * *

  For the Kingdom of Dragons

  Copyright ©2018 Julie Wetzel

  All rights reserved.

  Crimson Tree Publishing

  * * *

  Summary: It's a dark day for the kingdom of dragons. Kyle Markel, the King of Dragons, is presumed dead when his plane disappears over the cold waters of the Northern Sound.

  * * *

  ISBN: 978-1-63422-332-4 (paperback)

  ISBN: 978-1-63422-333-1 (e-book)

  Cover Design by: Marya Heidel

  Typography by: Courtney Knight

  Editing by: Kelly Risser

  * * *

  Cover Art:

  © DM7/fotolia

  © trahko/fotolia

  Also by Julie Wetzel

  The Kindling Flames Series

  Book 1: Kindling Flames: Gathering Tinder

  Book 2: Kindling Flames: Flying Sparks

  Book 3: Kindling Flames: Smoke Rising

  Book 4: Kindling Flames: Stolen Fire

  Book 5 : Kindling Flames: Burning Nights

  Book 6: Kindling Flames: Blazing Moon

  Novella: Kindling Flames: Granting Wishes

  Boxed Set: Kindling Flames Boxed Set #1

  Boxed Set: Kindling Flames Boxed Set #2

  Dragon’s Of Eternity Series

  Book 1: On the Accidental Wings of Dragons

  Book 2: For the Memory of Dragons

  Book 3: For the Heart of Dragons

  Book 4: A Castle for Dragons

  Book 5: For the Kingdom of Dragons

  Stand Alone

  White Lies

  To Jessica,

  From childhood to adult, you’re still one of my favorite people to get in trouble with.

  I love you.

  1

  The queen of hearts taunted Carissa. She studied her hand, trying to decide if she should make Mary pick up the card or not. If she ordered it up, she would have the right bar, the king, and the nine of trump plus an offsuit ace.

  Was that enough to take the hand?

  She glanced across the table at Tilly. Years of living without a voice had taught her how to read people. What she saw in her best friend’s eyes didn’t give her hope.

  Probably not.

  She’d be on her own if she ordered up the heart. Since it was late in the game, Carissa knocked on the table, passing over the gamble. Evelin and Mary only needed three more points to win, and Carissa didn’t want to take the chance on going set.

  “Hearts are down,” Mary said as she flipped the card back into the kitty.

  “Spades,” Tilly called.

  Carissa’s mouth twisted up in irritation. She should have ordered the heart into Mary’s hand and played out her luck. As it was, she wasn’t going to be of any help to Tilly. Carissa didn’t have a single black card in her hand. She shuffled her cards around so the high ones were lined up and watched as Tilly led out with the high bar in spades.

  Halfway through the hand, a loud knock rang through the room. The door swung open, and all four women turned to look at the men interrupting their euchre game.

  A smile turned the corner of Carissa’s mouth as she saw the shocking white hair of the man she loved. It was short lived as she turned her gaze to the man leading Michael into the room. Daniel’s face was grim.

  “Lady Markel,” Daniel said as he and Michael came closer. “We need to talk.”

  Concern washed over Carissa as she looked up at the head of Eternity. She laid her cards on the table before standing to face the men. Leaning forwards, she accepted a soft kiss from Michael so she could magically borrow his voice. “What’s the problem?” Carissa asked as she refocused on Daniel. There was something in the way he stood that worried her.

  “There’s been an accident.”

  Dread shot through Carissa. “What happened?” Taking a step away from the table, she reached to Michael for comfort.

  He took her hand and moved so he was standing behind her.

  Daniel glanced down at the three women still sitting around the table. He swallowed before meeting Carissa’s eyes again. “It’s your brother.”

  Carissa’s knees went weak, and she was glad for Michael’s arms around her. She leaned back into him, steadying herself for the next words out of Daniel’s mouth. “And?” she asked, dreading the worst.

  A forlorn look crossed Daniel’s face. “Earlier this afternoon Kyle left to meet with Minister Lewis.”

  “Yes,” Carissa said. “They were going to talk about some new legislation concerning dragons.”

  Daniel nodded. “He never made it.”

  Carissa stared at him in disbelief.

  “I got a call from FAA. About thirty minutes into the flight, air traffic control received a distress signal from Kyle’s plane.” Daniel’s voice was bleak. “They were having trouble with the engines. A few minutes later, they lost both radio and radar contact with the plane.”

  A shiver of fear ran through Carissa. “Where did they go down?”

  “Somewhere over the Northern Sound.”

  A blip of hope bloomed in Carissa’s heart. There was a higher chance of Kyle surviving a water landing than a land crash. “And?”

  Apprehension filled Daniel’s eyes. “The Coast Guard has a search and rescue team on the water, and I’ve already sent a flight of dragons to help,” he explained. “But I need you to prepare for the worse. The temperature in the sound is frigid this time of year. If they can’t find him within the next hour, they aren’t likely to find him at all.”

  Tears welled in Carissa’s eyes and she opened her mouth to breath. Shivers raised goosebumps along her arms as panic raced up her spine. “Do what you can.”

  “I will.” Daniel raised his eyes to meet Michael’s gaze. “I’m going to go help with the search. Stay with her.”

  Michael nodded and tightened his hold on Carissa.

  Daniel brushed his hand over her arm to comfort her. “I’ll call as soon as I know something.”

  Carissa gave him a weak smile of thanks.

  Turning around, he hurried out of the room to join the search.

  Spinning in Michael’s arms, Carissa buried her face in his chest. Tears trickled from the corners of her eyes. This could not be happening. She tried to breathe through the fear and anxiety, but couldn’t bear the thought of losing her brother. Kyle had always been there for her. What was she going to do if he was really gone? What were the dragons going to do
? The loss of their king would be a crippling blow to the whole community! She clutched Michael’s shirt, praying to everything that was holy that they would find Kyle alive and well. They just had to.

  Carissa’s heart was heavy with misery as she pushed open the door to Kyle’s office. It had been three days since his plane had gone down. Three very long days. The first two had been filled with held breaths and hope, but as time ticked on, things became bleak. There had been a few moments of excitement on the second day when the Coast Guard had discovered some debris, but they hadn’t found anyone. Alive or dead. After three days, Carissa had to face the truth; Kyle was most likely lost in the frigid waters of the Northern Sound. That left her to pick up where he’d left off.

  Turning on the light, she crossed the room to Kyle’s desk. She wasn’t ready to admit he was gone by taking up all of his responsibilities as ruling monarch, but she couldn’t leave his work with Eternity untouched any longer. There was too much going.

  Kyle’s chair felt too large for her, but Carissa sat in it and looked at the desk. There were piles of paper everywhere. Drawing in a deep sigh, she pulled the first stack over and opened the top file.

  Upon finding the report on Noah Byrd, her heart ached. His story had been a tragic case of wrong place, wrong time. Both she and Kyle had gone to see the young dragon when Daniel had brought him home. The poor man had been so damaged by Raven Nightingale’s death that he’d gone feral. There was nothing either of them could do.

  Curious to see how things had turned out, Carissa read through the report. Her brow creased in confusion. There was something extremely wrong with the file. His medical records listed him as human, yet she clearly remembered him being a dragon. He’d been assigned to Miss Kara Rose, a therapist specializing in treating dragon separation issues. Carissa flipped through the rest of the file trying to piece his story together. She didn’t have any problems believing that a human could be made into a dragon. She’d read many old stories of dragons sharing their essence with the one they loved, and twice now she’d seen that miraculous transformation in person. Her own mate had been human before she’d accidentally turned him into a dragon. Yet, there was nothing in the report that explained how Noah went from being human to dragon or what his current status was. Closing the file, she slid it off to one side. She was going to have to follow up with Daniel on this one.

  The next file in the stack belonged to Alexander Fied. The details of his case flowed from Carrisa’s memory with ease. Alex had been sent out to investigate a series of missing dragons. He’d crashed in a field and was rescued by a young woman named Terra Watson. She’d helped him regain his memory, but was captured and injected with an experimental serum that damaged her beyond repair. She’d been caught between forms and nothing she or Kyle did could stabilize her. It had taken a mate’s bond to allow her to transform fully. Oddly, Carissa couldn’t recall what happened to the newly bonded pair.

  She opened the file to read the report. He mouth fell open as she pulled out a single sheet. A list of the dragons that had disappeared. It had been Alex’s assignment to investigate the disappearances and give some conclusion as to where the dragons had gone, but there was nothing here. Where was his report? The file contained nothing on any of the missing dragons, Alex’s memory loss, Terra’s transformation, or the follow-up reports. What’s going on? Shocked, Carissa slid the page back into the folder and set it with the first. The complete lack of information was unacceptable. This was part of the largest case that had ever come through Eternity.

  The next file in the stack was huge. Carissa opened it to find a statement from internal affairs regarding the case against Michael Duncan. Not sure what Kyle would be doing with this file, she read through the loose pages at the top. There was a recount of the incident in the park and the arrest records for both Michael and Jareth. Michael’s release papers were signed by Kyle, but Jareth’s papers listed him as deceased. How can that be? Carissa flipped through the pages, furiously looking for an answer. She was sure that Jareth had been taken into Eternity’s custody for further questioning. What the hell happened? Unable to find the answers she needed, she slapped the file closed and piled it with the other baffling records.

  Moving on to the other files on the desk, she read through each as thoroughly as she could. They were all linked to the missing dragons, and all of them were incomplete. Something’s not right.

  Pulling out Kyle’s planner, she looked at the last appointment her brother had before he left. A single name was scrawled on the page: Alan Meyer. It took Carissa a minute to search the man up in Eternity’s directory. She was surprised to find that he was the aide to one of the ministers. Grabbing her phone, she sent Michael a quick text. There were a lot of questions that needed to be answered and she was going to need a voice to ask them.

  2

  “Thank you for coming,” Carissa said as she welcomed Alan into Kyle’s office. She refused to think of it as hers yet.

  Alan took Carissa’s hand and cradled it in his. “Anything for you, Lady Markel,” Sympathy filled his eyes. “I’m sorry for your loss. Your brother was a good man and he will be missed.”

  Carissa clenched her jaw against the pain and lowered her face. Something inside her told her that he was still alive, and she hung on to that hope trying to keep herself together. When the burn in her nose subsided and she was sure she wouldn’t burst into tears, she spoke. “Thank you.” She pulled free of his hold and quickly turned towards the desk to hide the quiet sob that worked its way up. Waving a hand at the empty chairs, she pointed him to a seat. “Please sit. I have some questions for you.”

  “Of course,” Alan said, taking the chair offered. “What can I do for you?”

  Taking a final breath to compose herself, Carissa sat on the other side of Kyle’s desk and considered the aide. She didn’t really want to talk about her brother yet, but she needed to know what the mess on his desk meant. “Did you meet with my brother before he left?”

  Alan jerked up straight in his chair. Surprise covered his face. “Yes,” he said timidly.

  “What was the meeting about?” Carissa asked.

  “Well,” Alan said as he fidgeted in the chair. His eyes landed on Michael leaning against the wall behind Carissa. He looked back at Carissa with imploring eyes. “It’s a sensitive matter.”

  “Please,” Carissa pushed. “I need to know.”

  Alan’s eyes darted to Michael again, but the aide placed his hands on the desk and leaned over it.

  Carissa leaned in so she could hear him.

  “I think there’s a traitor in Eternity.”

  Drawing in a sharp breath, Carissa sat back as if he’d slapped her. Kyle hadn’t come out and said as much, but she was sure her brother had suspected something was wrong with the organization that policed and protected dragons. He had become very secretive with his work and had spent a lot of time on wing with Daniel recently. She felt Michael’s supportive hand touch her shoulder. “Who?”

  Alan’s eyes jumped up to Michael once again, but he leaned closer and spoke softly. “Daniel Callaghan.”

  Carissa’s eyes widened in disbelief. That couldn’t be! She could feel Michael’s hand tighten on her shoulder. She didn’t need to look back to know that he was yelling in silent protest. Daniel was Kyle’s most trusted friend. “Impossible,” she said for them both.

  “Then how do you explain this?” Alan asked as he sat up and waved to the stack of files on Kyle’s desk. “All of these reports were filed by Commander Callaghan and all of them are incomplete.” He stood up and grabbed the first file, looked at it, and dropped down in front of Carissa. “Here’s a missing person’s report, yet there is no investigating agent and no follow-up information.” He picked the next up. “Here’s one about a shipment of dragon hormones intercepted by Eternity, yet there’s no explanation on how they were taken or what happened to them after they were confiscated.” He dropped that file and grabbed Michael’s thick file. “There’s no i
nquiry or explanation for Jareth Rosenthorn’s death.” He went for the next thin folder. “Alexander Fied’s report is completely missing and the man hasn’t been seen since he was put on medical leave.” He looked at the next file in that stack. “I’ve yet to locate any investigation into Raven Nightingale’s murder, and Callaghan won’t give up Noah Dove’s location so I can bring him in for questioning!” He dropped the paperwork back to the desk and held his hands out towards the inconsistent documents. “These are all part of the biggest case the Ministry has ever seen. People are dying, and your top man is doing everything he can to hamper the investigation. Tell me what I’m supposed to think.”

  Sliding her fingers over the top of her head, Carissa pulled at her golden curls in shock. “Can’t be,” she groaned unable to believe all of the damning evidence piled on the desk.

  Alan tapped the stack of files. “This is just a sampling of the incomplete reports I’ve found. All of them filed by Commander Callaghan.”

  Carissa shook her head again. Daniel was working hard to solve this case. Kyle promised they were on this.

  “And don’t you think it’s rather convenient that Kyle goes missing as soon as I brought this up?” Alan suggested. There was a suspicious tone to his voice.

  Carissa’s eyes snapped up to meet Alan’s. “You don’t think Daniel had something to do with the plane crash?” Daniel would never hurt Kyle.