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Zenos made a humming sound as he scratched the beard that had grown overnight. “Do ya want the fairy out of yer life as badly as ya wanted the other bastard who betrayed ya out? Yaspared yer ex-husband because of the child ya shared between ya. Ya spared the fairy’s life because ya shared a past. The fairy folk will consider the fairy to be the hero for retaining yer loyalty even after he attempted to kill ya. They will consider ya a fool, Aran.”

I threw up my hands. “If this is a lecture about being too merciful, I get enough of that from Conn.

“Because ya’re a passionate extremist. Revenge doesn’t always have to come from swiping yer sword through the air. Sometimes it can come from a well-placed spell of the proper magnitude and good threat.”

“But ya’re talking about spellinga fairy. They’re mostly immune to witch magick.”

“They aren’t immune to druid magick and that’s what ya carry inside ya. Druid magick is the closest to dragon magick. The Dagda wasn’t supposed to allow it to continue in the world but he wasn’t exactly a rule follower. His mother created the druids and The Dagda spared their lives the only way he could. Now then... how much of a rule breaker are ya willing to be?”

I put a hand to my chest. The stone vibrated under my fingers. Goddess, was I really thinking about this? “Are ya saying my stone might know a resurrection spell?”

“No, Aran. Ya’re getting ahead of yourself. I’m suggesting we drain the angel magick from the fairy and put it into yer anti-zombie talisman with the resurrection spell I’ll do for ya. But ya’ll have to put a binding spell on the fairy to keep him constrained until his people can collect him. This is yer best answer.”

I blew out a breath. Why did the idea of spelling Ezra bother me so much?

Zenos clapped his hands together and smiled. “Ya know... thinking this hard makes me hungry. I’m going to search out the lovely Gale and see if she’ll feed me. I’m sorry I missed breakfastearlier but I needed the rest. If I thought I could steal that demoness from Henry, I would. That woman can cook like no other. She’s easy on the eyes too.”

“Stop that. Gale has been Henry’s mate forever. Have ya no shame, dragon?”

“None that would make me pass up being with a beautiful woman,” Zenos said with a grin.

“Ya’re incorrigible.”

“Aye... that’s how I stay worthy of a woman’s walk on the dark side.”

“Henry would destroy ya over her.”

Zenos laughed. “Oh, aye, he would, but what a way to go. And I’d eventually regenerate. Everything I do is a win-win scenario for me. The demons and I have many immortal life perks in common.”

I blinked at his audacity. “Yer arrogance is worse than a guardian’s and that’s saying a lot.”

Snickering, Zenos walked to the door. “I might be arrogant in yer eyes, lass, but I call that confidence. And I know my idea will work. It will cost me but I can move the angel energy into the talisman ya create. The one it belongs to won’t like me doing that, which will be the best part for me. But don’t ya worry about it because we’ll be using angel magick for some genuine good instead of creating chaos like they usually do.”

And with that parting remark, the dragon mage left.

I chewed my lip and wondered whether or not I should warn Tony of what we were about to do. Then I remembered his wicked side—the one I’d clearly seen when he froze my daughter to shut her up. He’d seemed genuinely disappointed not to turn me loose on Hisser so he could watch me kill the snake. Something told me he’d pretend to be upset by our plans for using his magick to power a resurrection talisman but also might secretly admire our nerve.

Zenos and his big idea had given me a lot to think about. Plus, every plan this risky needed a failsafe.

My chest vibrated to get my attention. It was like a phone I couldn’t shut off.

We need to talk, Aran of The Dagda. We have an idea about how we can help you with your task.

I closed the spell book. Not only had the stone gotten in touch, but the magickals powering it had listened and heard every conversation I’d had with people about it.

I didn’t know whether to be shocked or happy. I chose the latter out of curiosity.

“I’m listening. What did have in mind?”

Instead of speaking words, I got shown a mini-movie featuring myself as the star performer. It was a little gruesome to find myself starring in a horror vision of a potential future, but it was also illuminating.

It made me wary to learn that the stone had its own motivations for getting in touch with me but no one ever got something for nothing. When this was over, I was calling The Dagda for a long talk about the druidic relic he’d passed down through his descendants. I didn’t want them taking me over. It was too late to remove it from my person so the only choice I had was learning to control it.

Yet I instinctively knew what they had shown me would work. It would also do what the dragon mage had suggested.

I picked up my notebook and jotted down the spell they’d provided before it slipped away.

Chapter Seventeen