Page 187 of I Dream of Dragons

I stare at him. I wait for more, but he seems to be done. “Thank you,” I finally say, “for… the warning. If that’s what it is.”

“The Pillar is made of nightgold,” he says. “The backbone of a god.”

“Okay. I know. But what does that have to do?—?”

“Nightgold and dragonbone. Same material. Once you are changed, your bones turn into nightgold. You become an extension of the Gods.”

“What is it you want, telchin?” Jai asks again.

He blinks. “Look at the Great Dara. Beware of them. They are the way across. They are the answer.”

I go still. Those were words Mars had spoken, a hundred years ago on the river shore. And then I remember something about the prophecy, something Lynn had told me before the first trial, something about the Pillar…

“I have to find Lynn,” I whisper.

“Only the dead talk to the dead,” the telchin mutters, turning to go.

A chill goes through me.

“Wait!” Turning away from Jai, I hurry to stop him, grabbing his sleeve. “Answer me this. Would my magic break through the king’s defenses?”

“You ask dangerous questions.”

“These are dangerous times,” I reply. “Please, tell me.”

“The power of the water,” he says, “will change him. His dependence on his mark is his downfall. He’s unaware that yours is stronger.”

“I haven’t put a mark on the king,” I protest. “I don’t know what you mean.”

His dark eyes seem to focus on me, at last. “Then you’d better find out, and fast.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

RAE

“Are telchins always so cryptic?” I grumble as I return to Jai’s side.

“Yes.” Jai is frowning after the telchin whose tall form is heading toward the dais with the still empty throne. “That’s their defining feature.”

I think of Lynn. How do you call on a ghost? Was what she told me when I first met her important?“They say that if you control the big dragons, the Great Dara, command them to fly anti-clockwise around the Pillar, its rotations will slow, and a gate will open to the other worlds.”

My head throbs.

The music is still playing, I realize, and couples are dancing. I think I see Mera together with a fae lord, but I’m not sure it’s her, and the next moment she’s gone.

And then the guests scatter, screaming as a winged shape descends on us.

A pale darakin. Breathing plumes of fire. And aiming straight for me.

“Remi,” I gasp when he lands on my shoulder with a flutter of his leathery wings, “now is not a good time. I?—”

“I have a bad feeling, Aethry.”His teeth click.“A very bad feeling.”

A very bad feeling about what?

“What you’re about to do.”

“What is she about to do?” Jai turns to me, eyes flashing, and I realize he can hear our silent conversation, too. “Little Thorn, what is he talking about?”