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“What proof do you have?”

“My dragon is injured from the attack.” Should I have kept him hidden? Every word I said felt like the wrong one. I wasn’t good at this. I needed Nyx, but no more than he needed me right then.

The blade left my throat, and I heaved a breath, nearly collapsing. But then it pressed into my back. “Show me.”

I took a tentative step, and he kept the blade in contact but allowed me to lead him back to Nyx. When we rounded the inlet, he stopped, taking in the prone form on the shore.

Tears filled my eyes at the sight. I couldn’t bear to see him so weakened. But he needed my help, so I had to stay strong for him.

“Goddess, save us all. How is this possible?” the fae muttered behind me, but it was clear he wasn’t speaking to me. “Silas!” he barked.

A young male came over the dunes. “Yes, Jaxus?”

“Get Hadeon and have him send a healer.”

“Yes, Jaxus.” The young fae turned and set off for the village at a run.

I could have cried, but I held myself together. I had to show strength. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. You should not have been able to find this place. It’s untraceable. This is a problem for all of us.”

“I don’t understand. Untraceable, how?”

“Protected by magic. Hidden.”

“How can you hide an entire valley?”

“The mountains can’t be crossed—magic prevents it. Any who try die or turn back. Those are our protections—ones you somehow slipped by. How?”

“I don’t know. We were trying to rescue my dragon’s twin. We flew over the Wild Mountains to get to him faster, and I spotted the lake. When we reached his location, we were attacked and fled. This was the only place I could think of to hide. We won’t tell a soul this place exists. Your secret is safe with us, I swear.” I faced him.

“If only it were that simple.” He met my eyes. He was larger than any fae I’d ever seen. Easily a head taller than Kol and Nyx, who were both large for fae. His skin was tanned from constant exposure, and he wore nothing but a short cloth tucked low around his waist. His sun-kissed hair fell to his shoulders with a slight wave. He was larger than every dragon we had in the palace, and looked like he’d earned every muscle he had through hard work.

Then it dawned on me what he’d said. He believed there were no dragons outside this sanctuary… Was he saying this was a sanctuary for dragons? Was he…? Now that I studied him, he couldn’t be anything else.

Two more shirtless males approached with the young boy in tow, both much older than Jaxus. One was a smaller male who wore light green skirts and had ancient-looking, sun-weathered skin. The other was as large as Nyx, and though he looked younger than the first male, he had an undeniable air of authority that seemed to suggest age and wisdom.

Jaxus bowed to him.

“What do we have here?” he demanded.

“A dragon from the outside, Hadeon. Injured from battle and exposed to Dragon’s Bane.”

The male, Hadeon, frowned. “Pardon me?”

“I know. I don’t know what to make of it either. The girl says they were flying over and saw us.”

Hadeon frowned even deeper.

The older male knelt by Nyx. He must have been the healer. “Dragon’s Bane, you say? Are you sure?”

“As sure as smelling it in her hair,” Jaxus replied.

The healer lifted a brow and cut his gaze over to me but didn’t say anything more.

After inspecting Nyx, he stood and dusted his hands together. “We need to get him back to the healer’s tent. His magic reserves are completely depleted. It’s a wonder he got this far.”

Hadeon nodded his approval and then eyed me. “And we need answers as to how they even got here.”