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Alessandro leaned his head on his hand as he stared down at her. “I’m not the one who forgot to keep their core engaged and feet firmly planted. Forms only do so much if you don’t engage the basics as well.”

Talia moved in a dash and she was face to face with him, covering his eyes with her hands. “You look scary. Go away.”

Naseem was moving to intervene, but Alessandro held a hand up in his direction. He didn’t remove the girl’s hands but stayed crouched there. Naseem watched in horror as Talia began to tear up and cry.

It was only then that Naseem noticed every child was on the verge of tears. As Talia wailed, it broke a dam of emotions and all fifteen kids fell into sobs.

Alessandro pulled the small dragons into his embrace and they sat there for ten minutes, just crying and holding on to one another.

Naseem recalled the first time Alessandro had met Stone. He’d been as gentle as he was now. Kids were his king’s ultimate weak spot.

Alessandro whispered something to the group and then laughs bubbled up and it was as if it had never happened.

As they walked away from the group, Naseem asked, “What was that about?”

Grim faced Alessandro answered, “They’re overwhelmed by the panic the adults are trying to hide from them. They know something is wrong, but no one will tell them what.”

Right, and seeing their Dragon King upset had been the breaking of the hold on their emotions. “What did you say that made them feel better?”

“That my old knees were on the verge of giving out. Kids find old people hilarious.”

It was a joke, but there wasn’t a trace of humor on the Dragon King’s face.

Naseem gave a grunt of understanding, though he didn’t, and then said. “Since you’re being so open, mind telling me what’s happened overnight that you feel like a bomb about to explode?”

The Dragon King stopped mid step and turned to him. “The crown feels heavy today, that’s all.”

And Naseem knew he would get nothing else out of his king. He frowned, but continued following him through the cobbled streets of Dragon City.

Chapter 18

The winding paths of the labyrinth underneath the pyramid hadn’t seemed like the best way to sneak into the sphinx lair, but Rowan trusted that the map Kin had procured for their break in would be accurate enough to get them to the dungeons. It was where Louisa thought the sphinx leader had locked himself away, preparing for his execution.

Rowan hadn’t expected the ceilings to be so tall that they weren’t visible as she looked up. She had never actually met a sphinx, and she wondered if in their beast forms they required so much space to move.

Ahead of her, Kin and Zeva moved with confidence. As they both enjoyed hunting treasure, they were the logical choice to lead their walk to avoid booby traps.

They learned their lesson at the beginning of the tunnels when boulders erupted from the sidewalls. If they hadn’t been suchexcellent spellcasters, Rowan was sure they would have ended up as nothing more than piles of pulp.

“Okay, one more left turn and we should reach this ‘Chasm of Eternal Pain’. Once we pass that, the dungeons should be right there.” Zeva’s tone was cheerful.

The way she had said ‘Chasm of Eternal Pain’ was a contrast to how dreadful the thing sounded. Her heightened senses could pick up the screams from the dark pit before they arrived. The bottom of the pit was too far to locate the source of all the noise.

Rowan turned to Louisa, whose breath got slow and deep. Her eyes were wide and glowing.

“There is so much blood down there.” She whispered.

“You brought your hunger suppression tablets, right?” Rowan asked.

Louisa nodded and reached a shaky hand into her fanny pack to extract a small red pill. She was shaking so much that it slipped out of her hand. Rowan caught it mid-fall.

“Let me help you with that.” Rowan suggested. Ever since the incident in Greece, Louisa hadn’t seemed as controlled as she once had been with her cravings. She’d taken to carrying around hunger suppressant pills Rowan had only seen her take twice in their whole friendship.

Rowan waited until some color was back in her cheeks before she turned to Kin and Zeva, who were observing the chasm oblivious to the redhead’s plight.

“There’s a bridge, but it looks a bit worn.” Zeva pointed to a rickety contraption of ropes and slabs of wood.

“Zev, we can fly. I’d suggest phasing, but there are some wards preventing that kind of magic in here.” Rowan watched the realization hit her sister’s face, lighting her blue eyes to an electric level.