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N ix flew away from the Lapis palace, glad but feeling guilty as she left the cries of the dying and the rightfully fretting but still exhausting Kyril. His questions about Vahly’s abduction and the rescue efforts—images in Nix’s mind of Vahly’s face and the elves—never ceased.

Wings sagging a bit, she landed outside the cider house and closed her eyes in relief to hear mugs clanking and the exchange of gold and precious stones. She was home. Source, please help Vahly get home too.

Nix walked through the front door and crossed her arms, surveying the gorgeous mess of gamblers, smugglers, and old friends. She smiled. “Call Breakers, we have some work to do.”

Heads turned and a welcoming shout went up.

“Nix! Come here and let me welcome you home properly!”

“Oh, my finest dreams have become reality. Our matriarch is returned!”

Nix snorted though she was mightily pleased with the flattery. She sauntered through the main room, dragons stepping aside to let her through. She found Aitor and Euskal near the kitchen door, smoke streaming from their nostrils.

“Did I interrupt an entertaining argument? So sorry, lads.” She patted Aitor’s scarred face, and a lazy grin spread over his damaged mouth.

“It’s nothing, Nix.” Euskal blinked his shifty eyes. “How is Vahly doing?”

Nix saw no need to hold back information from her Call Breakers. She turned, spread her arms wide, and told them the story of their Earth Queen and what the sea kynd had accomplished.

“And so we must break into three groups. The first will remain here.” She noticed Baww behind the bartop. “Baww, you will select those who stay to keep the cider house running. A second group, volunteers only, will go to the Lapis and help them with their sick.”

“I heard they had some right awful plague,” Baww said, an empty mug in his hand.

Nix nodded. “Indeed they do, and if you volunteer, I will reward you handsomely. But know this. You may become infected yourself. Granted, we are a strong bunch—”

“No leader, no leash!” they all called out in unison.

“So perhaps some of you will kindly risk it for our new allies in this war against the sea. A third group will come with me and see what we can do to help Queen Vahly in her escape. The elves might need defense if they must escape themselves or if they have Vahly and need to get onto land.”

“I’d like to go with you,” Aitor said, raising a hand.

“Of course,” Nix replied before facing the room at large. “We will talk about this in one hour after I’ve had a bath. Drink on and think about where you’d like to help, my darling Call Breakers.”

“To Nix!”

All raised their drinks.

“To Nix!”

As the drinking and discussions rose in volume, Nix looked at Euskal. “Will you come with me to aid our girl too? And Miren perhaps. Where is she, anyway?” The bald female was usually attached to Euskal’s hip.

Euskal swallowed and looked out the side door. “Miren’s sister died from the wounds she sustained during her battle with the sea kynd.”

Nix knew Miren and her sister had been estranged ever since Miren had broken the Call with Amona.

Miren’s sister had been suffering from spelled salt water wounds for well over a month.

Nix’s blood boiled, thinking of how the sea kynd had given that female one of the longest and most painful deaths there was.

“Please give her my condolences. I would be honored to attend a ceremony if I haven’t already missed it.”

“It was three days ago.” Euskal shook his head, then leaned in to whisper, “Miren isn’t right in the head. Something about the death changed her. She seems…desperate. And she’s been avoiding me.”

Hmm. Nix would have someone tail Miren for a day and see if anything was amiss and then report back to Baww while she was gone.

She took Euskal’s chin between her thumb and forefinger and tipped his head toward hers. “Don’t you worry. I will figure her out, and we will help her. She is one of us. Forever.”

Euskal frowned and shifted his weight. “I don’t know, Nix. I have a very bad feeling about what she’s getting into.”

“I’m sure I’ve dealt with worse, darling.

” Nix left him and headed upstairs for that bath, knowing that one of her Call Breakers would have filled and heated the tub the moment she’d arrived.

Baths were a ritual for her, and she never missed one upon returning home after a job.

But she was in a hurry now, and there would be no relaxing.

She’d slept for a few hours at the Lapis palace, and now she was desperate to get back to Vahly, to find her, to aid in any way possible.

This bath was not a luxury but a means to an end; it would help Nix fight and fly her best.

Upstairs, she hurried through her chamber’s round doorway, her hand brushing the wrought iron red hat flowers that decorated the framing.

Thankfully, no one was inside her bedroom.

She needed peace, and her Breakers somehow sensed that.

They truly were family. She crossed the carpeted floor and entered a side room where a bath steamed in the corner.

She disrobed and sank into the water, fully planning on visiting the edges of the fire marshes afterward to renew her energy before taking off with those who decided to join her.

But what if they flew to the western mountains and the elves hadn’t found Vahly? What then?

Inhaling the scorchpepper leaves that some lovely soul had placed in the water, she tried to calm herself. It wouldn’t do any good to panic.

After a sound scrubbing, Nix flew from her balcony, veering away from the flooded Lost Valley and toward the earthblood that flowed at the borders of the fire marshes.

The night sky showed off diamond stars and thin veils of cloud. The air had grown crisp with the change in season, and it was easy to see the ground below.

Someone was leaving through the back door of the cider house.

Nix focused. It was Euskal.

Remaining high in the midnight air that dried her wet hair, Nix watched as Euskal met someone in the last section of the cider house’s orchards. Between the zigzagging rows of apple trees, he spoke to a dragon in full dragon form, one with no spikes. Miren.

Euskal’s human form wings spread wide as he gestured with his hands.

He was obviously angry or upset. Miren’s wings remained resolutely tucked as her head dipped toward the ground.

With the lack of light and the angle from which Nix watched, it was impossible to tell what Miren was doing.

Then there was a blast of fire and Miren had shifted into her human form.

Their voices rose, then fell as they looked toward the cider house.

There were two bags at Miren’s feet. She removed clothing from the first bag and dressed quickly as Nix hovered far above.

Then Miren took up the second bag and started off, taking the roundabout way toward the Red Meadow and the Lapis palace.

What was she doing?

Euskal flung up his hands and stormed back into the cider house.

Nix flew off, her mind setting the puzzle pieces into place.

Miren was definitely up to something foul. Euskal was trying to talk her out of it, but she wasn’t listening. But what was Miren doing exactly?

Well, whatever it was, Nix didn’t have the time to find out. She could set another Breaker on Miren’s trail as planned. Vahly was Nix’s priority for now.

Nix descended quickly and reclined beside a particularly powerful earthblood vein, soaking in the heated magic that wafted from its glowing and sluggish depths. Her fire magic sparked inside her, dragonfire rising and ready to roast some sea kynd.

Oh, she hoped she had a chance to burn down that sea kynd male who’d taken Vahly. That would be a job she’d savor fully. She felt absolutely no guilt about it at all.