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“Who?”

“Equinox. He is still your heir as of this moment, and he will be the keeper of the seals in time if you do not conceive with this human. It is his responsibility.”

“Equinox is in the dungeon for starting this problem in the first place.”

“I could go,” Jak says.

The number of dragons in the human world at any time should never exceed one. It needs to be me. My advisors may not like it, and leaving Melissa here unattended may be less than ideal, but it is unavoidable.

“There are only so many places it could be. I will portal to the human world when she is asleep and return before she wakes. It is likely the seal is still in the house of my business partner. It may only take minutes. The longer I wait to go and get it, the more likely it is that it is taken somewhere and will be harder to find.”

“I don’t think that is a good id?—”

I don’t hear the end of the sentence because I am already stepping through the portal. It is night in the human world now, and the house is dark.

I do not feel the seal. That is an immediate concern. It should be singing to me. But the world is as silent and mundane as ever. I wonder if it isn’t actually here.

I am aware that for every minute I spend here, much more time elapses in the dragon realm. If I am to stay as long as several hours, days will have passed before I return.

A magical needle in a mundane haystack. How hard can this be?

CHAPTER 9

Melissa

“Where is Ornix?”

I ask even though I don’t really want to care. I went upstairs after Ornix left and ended up going to sleep in the bedroom. I woke up alone in that massive bed, and nobody brought me breakfast, and I couldn’t even ask Equinox because he’s down in the dungeon.

The dragon I’ve asked looks at me as if I’m a bug who just spoke.

“Ornix does not answer to me, or to you.”

“I’m hungry.”

He gives me another faintly annoyed look. “I’m an accountant.”

“Where do I get food?”

He sighs and rolls his eyes, and walks past me. This is the first time I have been treated like I am less than here in this realmand it is a jarring experience. It makes me think that I have no place here, no standing except when Ornix is with me.

I go back down to the dungeon to see Equinox.

“They’re not feeding me,” I complain, slipping through the bars into his cell. Everything here is made for creatures far bigger than humans. Dragons, even in their dragonkin form without all the wings and whatnot, which is their normal form, are twice as big as most people.

Equinox smirks and slides the remnants of his breakfast tray over. “There’s some bacon if you like.”

“Thanks,” I say, sitting down on his cell bed with him and nibbling at a strip of bacon big and thick enough to comprise a whole meal. That’s one problem solved for the moment. “I don’t know where Ornix is.”

“Interesting. I wonder if he’s not here. I wonder if he went to the human world.”

“Probably. I left the fifth seal there by accident.”

“You what?” Equinox chokes with laughter and gives me a slight nudge with his foot, the energy of an older brother. “How did that happen?”

“Yeah. It kind of felt like mine. When I held it for the first time, I felt it sort of… you know… running through me.”

“It attuned to you?”