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“It certainly is,” Cornelius said, gazing at him and looking mighty impressed.

Kai went to hand him back the feather, but Cornelius shook his head. “Keep it.”

“Excuse me?”

“You earned it. Moreover, it may prove useful down the road. I am also certain that you will keep it safe.”

Kai looked utterly stunned. “I will.”

In the next moment, he sealed it away from view with his magic, locking it up somewhere out of sight.

Cornelius smiled, then snapped his fingers at the top shelf to Kai’s left.

Something enveloped in his magic levitated down.

He kept it hidden in his swirling silver as it hovered a few inches from his hand, while he told us, “This will provide you with some answers concerning Malrik Titanus. As I’m sure has been conveyed to you by now, it is not I who was responsible for his death.

However, he was, indeed, murdered at the will of the Celestial Plane. ”

“And Cassius?” I asked.

“He wasn’t involved either.”

“Do you know the name of the True Celestial who was?”

“Yes, but it won’t do you any good.”

“And why is that?” I bit back.

“Because he’s dead. Eradicated actually. By Draco. Once he found out that Malrik had been murdered by said True Celestial, Draco hunted him down, tortured him for days, then finally ended his life.”

“Draco?” Kai spoke up. “Why would Malrik’s death concern him?”

“Largely because Malrik was murdered because of him.”

“What? I don’t understand,” I pushed.

“This object that I recovered from Draco on his deathbed contains preserved memories regarding what happened to your grandfather.”

He swept his hand over it, then it landed on his palm, no longer concealed.

It was a pear-shaped stone that was the size of his palm. Partially translucent, it had a black tint to it with crimson flecks.

“A Stone of Recollection,” Kai uttered, staring at it in awe, his reaction indicating both that he’d never seen one before in person, and that it held significant power.

“Yes,” Cornelius said. “Each one possesses this same shape, but the coloring and tints differ depending on the magical signatures of those who came together to create the memories imbued within it.” He looked out at me curiously. “Do you feel it yet?”

I stared at the stone.

I was trying to keep my emotions locked down as much as possible, but I guess it was impacting my senses as well, if he was indicating that I should be picking up on something, yet I wasn’t.

I took a moment and opened myself up a little.

And that was when I felt it.

Magic so similar to mine calling out to me.

Not quite the same as mine, but definitely possessing an undeniable connection.

And then the awful realization hit me along with the identification.

“My grandfather… he… he created this with Draco. That beast didn’t just preserve memories that included what happened to my grandfather, they were complicit in making this together.

” I screwed up my face, not liking where I could sense this leading. “They were as one. Together.”

“They were,” Cornelius confirmed. “They were lovers and dangerous allies.”

I staggered back a step. “No. He wouldn’t… he wouldn’t do that… any of that… with a monster like Draco.”

Kai grasped my arm in an effort to ground me. “Is that why Malrik was killed by the True Celestials? His alliance with Draco?”

“Yes. However, I do not know the details of such an alliance. It was kept from me. It was kept from most True Celestials, in fact. I believed I’d be able to discover what was kept from us—and the Titanus family—through accessing the memories in this stone.

” He looked at me. “Alas, when I approached your father, Zepharion, and informed him of the existence of this object, he wanted nothing to do with it. It can only be accessed by Celestial magic and Titanus blood.”

“He knew about this?” I bit out. “My father knew Malrik and Draco were aligned?”

“Given how he reacted with so much disgust when I broached this subject matter with him, I suspect he knows much more than that.”

“Motherfucker,” I snarled, fisting my hands, and only just managing to leave it at that.

The itch to shift into dragon form and let loose was creeping up dangerously.

“V, I can do this for you. If it’s too much, I’ll view the memories. We’ll just access them with some drops of your blood and I’ll take it from there with Cornelius,” Kai offered.

I shook my head and took a beat, before looking out at them both in turn. “We came here to do this, let’s do it. No more preamble. No more guesswork or assumptions. Let’s pull out the truth from that thing.”

“As you wish,” Cornelius said, handing out the stone to me.

I took it, fighting against the part of me that didn’t want to know now.

I placed it on my palm like he had.

I jolted as the crimson flecks began glowing vibrantly at my touch.

“How much blood?” I asked Cornelius. “Drops, right? Like Kai said?”

“He is correct, yes. Merely a couple of drops.”

I called my talons forth on my free hand and sliced into the skin of one of my fingertips. Withdrawing them, I then closed my hand around the stone, smearing the blood on it.

In the next moment, Cornelius’ power flared, then his silver glow was encompassing all three of us. “Brace yourselves. This can be a disconcerting undertaking.”

The words had barely been communicated when a flash of black and crimson light exploded, feeling like it was sucking us in.

I grunted as a surge of uncomfortable energy ripped through me, and in the next second, our surroundings disappeared.

I blinked, the stone gone from my palm, Kai and Cornelius no longer there with me either.

I could feel my presence, my body, but I couldn’t see it, much like in most dreams I’d had. I was just an observer, incapable of impacting what materialized all around me.

I found myself in a volcanic chamber. I could feel draconic magic all around me paired with the might of Celestial power. It had a similarity to Ariana’s, except there was something more there too, something that tasted vile—the toxicity of a depth of darkness I’d never experienced before.

Heat rolled through me. An uncomfortable heat that was unlike dragon fire, or even that which emanated from the volcanic surroundings.

I took in the obsidian walls of the chamber that glimmered with molten veins.

And then I saw the Beast, the one I’d only heard about before, and seen pictures of from texts I’d been given as part of my studies at Maven Academy. Never in the Dracoryn Realm. Now I knew why. Why such a prominent figure hadn’t been spoken about once when I’d been growing up.

I took the bastard in.

He was clad only in a pair of animal skin pants that were a deep brown, his feet and chest bare.

He was a true behemoth, all hard muscle.

Across his skin were markings much like tattoos.

Each one was a name. I knew from my studies that they represented every single being whom he’d murdered.

There were so many, all over his mammoth torso.

I caught sight of his infamous sword with the Hellfire gem in the center resting against a stone table beside him.

His eyes flamed a moment before I saw him register a presence.

“You’re late,” he uttered, his voice low and dangerous, a gravely aspect to it.

“I ran into some complications that required unfortunate action to be taken,” another voice rang out, this one a lot smoother. “Our meetings have been met with suspicion. I had to cut that poison out.”

“You killed your own,” Draco spoke, not as a question, nor as a judgment. It was him knowing the answer already. Knowing the visitor well.

“Three of them.”

The other being came into view, and I choked at the sight of Malrik Titanus standing there talking with the Beast.

My grandfather.

His hair was a deep black, not wild like mine, but tied back neatly with an iron clasp that resembled a dragon’s jaw.

His eyes were a deep amber-gold. He was towering like me, built like a musclebound general, but he didn’t carry himself with the grace of a fighter, his movements were more rigid, on edge and tense.

He was dressed in battle leathers layered over dark crimson robes.

“Next time, bring them to me. I will turn them. Dragon kind is not in abundance. You cannot afford to lose more.”

“I will keep it in mind.”

Draco raised a sharp eyebrow. “You enjoyed the bloodshed.”

“I… you said you had something to show me. It’s why you summoned me here, yes?”

In a flash, Draco was there, his hand grasping Malrik’s jaw harshly. “Answer me.”

Malrik swallowed against his brutal grip. “Not just the bloodshed.” His eyes narrowed with undeniable cruelty, his lips lifting in a sadistic smirk. “Taking their lives. The lives of fools who cannot see beyond the immediate, who cannot comprehend the gravity of what you and I aim to achieve.”

Seemingly satisfied by his response, Draco released him.

That lack of contact only lasted but a moment, though, before Draco thrust a single palm into his chest that sent Malrik crashing into the stone table several feet across the chamber. It was utterly decimated under the impact.

Draco was there then, wrenching him around, then smashing Malrik’s face into the crushed stone several times over until he weakened in his hold.

He was then driven into one of the chamber walls with Draco holding him up with a single hand around his throat, his eyes on fire as he took in Malrik’s bloodied state.

As Malrik focused his gaze, I was shocked to see not fear or indignation there, but unadulterated lust and heat.

No. No. No.

Even though Cornelius had already told me they’d been together, I’d hoped he’d somehow been wrong, I’d hoped that there’d been more to it.

“Mmm… you were made to be one with me,” Draco rumbled at his ear.

He slicked two fingers in the blood drenching Malrik’s face, then swept it over his lips.

As Malrik’s tongue darted out and he groaned, Draco drove them into his mouth, sliding over his tongue and deep down, making him splutter.