“Thanks, but I probably shouldn’t. I will run out of time to get things done quicker than I can even think about. Once these babies start growing, I’m going to be hard pressed to get things done.”
“I suppose you’re right. I’m going to leave the security detail on you while I’m gone, even when you go to your place. They will be invisible, out of your way, but they will follow and keep an eye on you at all times.”
“Yakov, is there something you are not telling me? Have you had some sort of threat?”
“I’m just doing due diligence. In the public eye, you are my wife. You are expecting my children. As with any newly elected leader, there is always the potential for credible threats from men who would do harm. I put nothing past Kevin or that diabolical fem-creature he has now married. It’s just a matter of being careful.”
“Okay. I understand.”
“Alright, well, I’ll get going then and let you get on with whatever things you need to accomplish,” he said, making his way to the door and opening it. About halfway out, he paused and turned to her. Aileen was sitting up on the edge of the bed and looked up at him. “Hey, you want to come with me for just a minute before I go?”
“Come with you where?” she asked.
“My room.”
“Your room?”
“Yes. You asked about it. You wanted to know why I never take you there. It’s easier to just show you.”
“Okay,” she replied, not sure why he had decided to invite her, but her curiosity was piqued.
She slipped on her robe and slippers and followed him down to the main level and through the hallway toward his room. It wasn’t locked. She found it curious that he would have trusted her all this time to not enter his private space, but it seemed he might have done just that. Perhaps, it had been some sort of test.
As she stepped inside the first door, he closed it behind them and then she understood that she had been wrong. There were three doors, one in front of them and one on either side. Yakov opened the one to his left to reveal a large walk-in closet and dressing area. It included a small reading nook and bar on one side.
“Oh, wow. This is the nicest closet I’ve ever been in,” she said.
“There’s a compliment you don’t hear very often,” he laughed, motioning for her to exit the door. He opened the one across the foyer and she stepped inside to look around.
It was a bathroom, but not just any bathroom. Like the closet, it had anything you’d want. There was not only a large garden tub style jacuzzi, but a side steam room, large shelves filled with clean linens and a marble counter flanked with mirrors and toiletries most men would need for all their grooming. It was sprawling and luxurious. If his bathroom and closet looked like this, she couldn’t imagine what his actual room must be like.
“I’m overwhelmed. My whole house isn’t as nice as this bathroom.”
“It’s a lot, isn’t it? I know, but you’ll understand why in a moment. These two rooms make up for my bedroom.”
“If you say so,” she laughed.
Yakov smiled knowingly and led her back out to the last door. He punched in another code and the doors slid open, revealing pitch blackness on the other side. She squinted, trying to see inside and became aware that she could see nothing. No light spilling in through the windows. No skylight. It was completely devoid of light and there was no light in the foyer in which they stood shining inward. She started to move forward, but Yakov stopped her, his arm shooting out quickly to catch her.
He spoke a command, a word in a language she didn’t understand, but recognized from some of the elders in her own clan as what they called old speak. It was an ancient language spoken and understood by very few in any of the local dragon clans. There was a clicking sound as lights turned on all around them, focused on the area right in front of her feet. She gasped and took a step back.
“Oh, my God!”
“Now, you know why we don’t go to my room.”
“What is this?” she asked.
“It’s the mouth of a cave that initially drops a hundred feet and then opens up into underground tunnels that spread throughout the mountain. Some of them end in nowhere. Others go too deep to continue following. A few climb back upward and end on the cliff overlooking the river more than ten miles away. Only the one on the far left has an exit on the other end big enough that you don’t have to squeeze through tight places.
“Where do you sleep?”
“I sleep in my dragon form. If you shift and drop down to the base, you’ll see my lair and a set of doors that lead into the archives where our family history and some very interesting remnants of our past are housed.”