Page 37

I n the dead of night, the Lapis library was as silent as a tomb.

A high fever had struck Vahly down, and they’d been forced to stay with Amona for over a week.

But the hallucinatory dreams and violent dizziness did nothing to dispel the strange urge inside Vahly, the bone-shaking urgency her magic thrummed through her body.

With every heartbeat, her magic demanded that she travel to the western mountains.

Now. Immediately. Before it was too late.

Too late for what? Vahly didn’t know.

The fever had abated, and the night of their departure was here.

Finally, Vahly could give in to that insistent drumming in her veins and rush toward the mystery of what her magic sought. She couldn’t leave fast enough to suit her.

Arc theorized that Vahly’s new magic had caused the fever, but it didn’t matter now. They had magic to follow and sea folk to overcome. And no one knew how much time they had left before the flooding started and the end began.

The western coast was such an odd destination, a place where humans had once flourished and now only sun-faded art, flooded streets, and castles eaten away by time remained.

Her mother Amona had taken her there a long time ago—to the lands above the great city the Sea Queen had flooded in one of her first efforts to cover the world in water—but Vahly had been too young to process the gravity and history of the place.

Vahly pressed a hand against her chest, the magic pushing, pushing, pushing.

No, the fever didn’t matter and neither did the strange quest. It simply had to be done.

The silence in the Lapis caves dragged a distinctly creepy feeling down her spine.

The library was always quiet, but not like this, not this deep sort of silence.

Usually, a youngling wailed from somewhere inside the labyrinth of tunnels and rooms, and oftentimes, dragons of mating age would stay up late drinking and teasing one another.

But tonight—nothing.

She really hoped the grave-like stillness wasn’t an omen for their quest to see the scant ruins and caves above the sunken human city of Bihotzetik.

What if the fever had been a warning? A counterbalance to her need to get into the western mountains?

Exhaling her stress, she held up a lantern. The light painted Amona’s blue-scaled hands as the Lapis dragon matriarch pushed a bookshelf away from the northeastern wall of the library to reveal a round, wooden door in the rock wall, a brass knob glinting from its center.

The door squeaked open under Vahly’s hand. “I had no idea this was here.”

Amona donned a half-smile. “I’m allowed some secrets, Daughter. Listen, I’ll keep an ear to the ground and contact you if I hear of anyone following you or if any intend to harm you.”

Nix stood beside Arc, a pack slung over one shoulder and wing. The black of her pupils nearly overcame the bright yellow of her irises. “Why would anyone want to ruin the one chance we have against the Sea Queen?”

Arc had a scroll open on the table beyond the secret door.

He probably hadn’t even noticed the door or Amona’s words.

Absently tapping his bottom lip with his thumb, he squinted at what appeared to be a list of dragon herbal remedies, complete with colored drawings of green leaves, purple stems, and white blooms. As an elf with royal blood, his vision was exceptional, far better than Vahly’s or any dragon’s.

The squinting and thumb tapping were simply his thinking pose.

Amona handed Vahly a bag of what smelled like fresh bread.

Amona had insisted on seeing them off herself, with no one else around to preserve their lie that Vahly and the others were closeted in meetings about the coming war and her new powers.

Amona had said none needed to know that Vahly’s earth magic was still rather limited.

Fear would only complicate things and dampen the hope Vahly had given the dragons and their new allies, the elves.

“My kynd are not perfect,” Amona said in answer to Nix’s question about a possible attack. “No kynd can be. The Jade matriarch, Eux, informed me that not all of the Jades came to the swearing in Red Meadow.”

Vahly gripped the door handle. “What?”

Amona grimaced. “Eux believed all had come because of her command through the Call.”

Nix’s wings flicked in agitation as she tied her red hair into a knot on top of her head. “I made the announcement to all the Breakers at the ciderhouse. Euskal and Aitor spread the word. I don’t think we missed anyone. I did a head count during the oath. They were all gathered up beside Miren.”

Nix was right. Vahly had heard Euskal calling around when she’d been in Nix’s rooms, helping her pack up.

And Aitor had ignored the fact that his face had been all but ruined by a Jade and had gone off gladly to round up any Jade Breakers who didn’t often come by Nix’s.

He’d returned with a full list of those attending the oath.

On the day they all swore allegiance to Vahly, every Breaker who had ever crossed Nix’s threshold—and many strangers as well—had stood near the bald-headed Miren.

Amona frowned at Arc, then looked back at Vahly, her eyes filled with concern. “Eux says there is a band of Breakers who keep far away from every other highbeast. They broke away years ago, and no one has seen them.”

“They’re probably dead.” Vahly walked over to Arc, then tugged on his surcoat. “Every time I turn my back on you, you’re trying to learn things. The reading will have to wait, my dear elf.”

A sly grin slid over Arc’s bow lips. “I don’t mind being called dear .”

Vahly’s heart thudded inside her chest. She chuckled at herself and shook her head.

“Vahly.” The matriarch’s voice held the sharp edge of a command, and Vahly found herself standing straight and listening intently.

Their bonding was definitely still intact, and she was glad of it.

It was almost as good as having Amona along on the journey.

The security of knowing she had backup in the form of a matriarch was no small thing.

Plus, the familiarity of her mother’s voice eased her fears about what she might be headed into and how she might very well turn out to be too weak to fight the Sea Queen.

“I don’t think the Jade Breakers are dead.

There are rams enough in the high mountains to feed a small group if they are smart about the way they hunt and manage the land. ”

Nix sniffed. “I would strongly prefer it if we didn’t use the term Breakers for these miscreants.”

Vahly grinned. “Like our Breakers aren’t miscreants?”

Nix raised her chin haughtily. “My Breakers would never skip out on swearing allegiance to you, Earth Queen.”

Smoke twisted from Amona’s nostrils. “Only to me and to Eux, hm?”

Vahly held up a hand. “Let’s remember we’re all on the same side here. The past is the past. All right?” She dipped her head respectfully to Amona. “My matriarch?”

Amona let out a smoky breath, her gaze never leaving Nix. “You know, I put up with quite a bit from you and yours over the years. And you pulled my daughter into your schemes as well, even though she had no need for more gold.”

“I didn’t befriend her until she came to me, and by then, she was an adult, and she made her own decisions. With respect, Amona.” Nix deigned to bow her head briefly.

Amona’s lips parted like she was about to say something, but then she closed her mouth.

“Time to go?” Vahly raised her eyebrows and forced her voice to sound cheerful. “Yes, I think it is time to go. Goodbye, Mother and Matriarch.” She touched Amona’s forearm.

The heat left Amona’s gaze as she looked at Vahly. “I wish you safe travel. Be wary of the rogue Jades. They may not believe you are what we know you are, or they may simply kill without stopping to consider the consequences.”

“Sounds about right,” Vahly muttered.

“Call to me if you need aid,” Amona said.

“Stars and Blackwater, Arc, come on,” Vahly said, eyeing him as he replaced the scroll he’d been reading.

He joined her, and they started into the tunnel.

“Before these two light one another on fire,” she whispered to Arc, jerking her head in the direction of the dragons.

Nix gave Amona one last nod, then walked behind them. “I think you and the elf are more likely to ignite than anyone else.” She winked a large, yellow eye. One of her blue wings masked the side of her scaled, round-cheeked face.

Arc took the lead, allowing Nix and Vahly to walk side by side. The lantern’s light flickered over his form, casting his powerfully shaped shadow across the tunnel’s dry rock walls.

“Who would’ve guessed we’d be traveling with an elf?” Nix smirked.

“Not this lady,” Vahly said.

Dark and narrower than any of the tunnels in the Lapis dragon palace, the passageway twisted and turned under the earth like the belly of a petrified snake. Cool water dripped from the ceiling, gathering on Vahly’s head and in the crook of her arms.

Buzzing and drumming through her feet, earth magic urged Vahly’s legs to run, but she held back. This couldn’t be a rushed trip. It was a good hike to the western mountains, and hurrying overmuch wouldn’t do anything except wear her recently healed body out too soon.

In silence, they continued on as the tunnel began a slow ascent. Dim moonlight filtered in from the distance, showing spindly ferns and thick moss on the passageway’s walls. A mouse squeaked and hurried past, making Nix grunt in disapproval.

“They could’ve tidied up a bit for us. You are a queen, after all,” she muttered.

North of the main Lapis palace entrance, the tunnel opened into the Red Meadow.

A crescent moon limned the flowers and the river, the sight forming a wish inside Vahly, a wish that they could stop here and enjoy the beauty instead of sneaking farther into the wilderness with no clue as to what they might find there.