"Jake… will you please stop?" Rose pleaded, almost irritably. Jake stared at her then stopped walking back and forth their living room and sat down, opposite of Rose.

There was silence as he looked at their rug while Rose looked at him.

"Jake, you can spit it out if you want to" Rose said.

He stared at her once again. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, actually, it was more of a demand.

Rose noticed his tone and stared back angrily. "Back at you, dragon" she said coldly.

"So you're now getting angry at me?"

"Jake, don't be an idiot. We both had a dark secret and neither of us told each other even after all these years of being together"

"Tell me something I don't know"

"You mean like why?"

"That's a start"

"Try asking yourself that question"

Jake went silent. Why had he kept it all a secret, surely Rose would have found out soon? But why didn't he have the guts to tell her anything?

Rose sighed. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I thought it was unimportant anymore" she said, looking away from Jake for the first time.

"What made you think that?"

"You know why, Jake. You know I stopped being the Huntsgirl right after our wedding because I didn't want to have anything to do with the Huntsclan ever again. That's when I thought it was the end of it but I guess I was wrong…" she said.

"But it was you who decided to take Jade to your uncle's- I mean, to the Huntsmaster's place. You could have not taken her there so this wouldn't happen"

"I know my uncle, Jake. He would never have rested until Jade was on his side, that's just the way he is. He wants numbers in his army, powerful numbers. Jade specifically because she is a direct bloodline of me"

Jake just stared at her.

"Don't you think it's your turn, Jake?" Rose said.

"What?"

"I told you the reason why I didn't let you know about my secret, let's hear your excuse" she said.

"Oh, well, I… er… see I… and…" Jake stammered.

"You never thought I'd have found out, correct?" Rose supplied.

Jake reddened a bit. "I just thought… that maybe… you know…"

"No, Jake, I don't know" Rose replied, going back to her cold tone.

"Look, Rose, I'm sorry, ok? I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I just… I guess followed my mom's example of not telling her husband any of this, even though she said she would" he added resentfully. "But I wanted to, however, I thought keeping this a secret was the best way to protect you"

"Protect me? From what?"

"From… my enemies and…"

"What enemies, Jake? I was your most mortal enemy, in case you've forgotten" Rose said, crossing her arms.

Jake stared at her with apologetic eyes. "I'm really sorry Rose, I didn't mean to hurt you"

"I suppose there's nothing much that we can do anymore, is there?" she replied, unfolding her arms and looking at Jake with a tired expression. "What's important now is about Jade. Now that the Huntsmaster knows that one of his expected apprentices is a dragon, he'll never rest until he puts an end to her life"

Jake sighed. "You're right, we can't let that happen" he said, leaning on the chair. "And she is supposed to be on a mission right now"

"What mission?"

"To find a phoenix spotted here last week, the Dragon council has just informed this afternoon before all this started"

Rose's eyes narrowed. "No doubt the Huntsclan will be on the move as well. We have to do something"

"I know but right now, that'll have to come second. We have to make sure that not any of the Huntsclan will be anywhere near Jade"