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“Barros?” Rowan asked, forcing herself to choose to be a little more grown up than she felt.

“No, we gotta go.” Axel held her hands out to both Rowan and Miasma, a blue scale in each palm.

“Are those…”

Axel apparently had no patience for silly questions; she cut Rowan off. “Aqua’s scales? Yes. She gave them to me. Said they would phase us home when you came to after she finished dressing you. Now come on, before we get caught in the crossfire.”

“The dragons are fighting each other again?” Rowan narrowed her eye.

Axel waved it off. “Nope, they’re taking care of something else. Come on, you’re in no state to help anyone out.”

“Why not? I feel great.”

Axel let out a familiar frustrated groan. “Why can’t you just ask questions when we get there?”

Rowan spread her legs, grounding herself to her spot. “This might go quicker if you just answer my questions now.”

It was rare for Rowan to argue with Axel. Neither Lexine nor Zeva had influence over Rowan’s actions like their warrior sister did.

Perhaps it was because, out of all the sisters, Axel was the most like their father, or that she could physically subdue anyone who wasn’t listening. Either way, when the two locked horns, things broke. Things like priceless artifacts, windows, or sometimes even bones.

Axel mimicked Rowan’s stance, though she was admittedly more threatening with the extra four inches of height, as well as the definition of muscles underneath her contracted arms.

As Miasma had more often than not been in charge of healing Rowan and was prone to anxiety, she broke under the incurred tension. “We think this might actually be because of your presence.”

Axel shot her an exasperated look. “We were supposed to wait for my father to tell her.”

Miasma looked like she wanted to melt into the floor.

“Stop bullying her!” Rowan snapped.

Axel shot her a furious glare, but she stepped back to allow Rowan to take a peek outside.

A shaggy blue-haired dragon raced to put out small fires that roared to life over the lawn and up high on tree branches of massive oaks that dotted the pathways of Draconis.

His magic became misdirected and landed a heaping water wave over another dragon, armed with shears, trying to keep a rapidly growing tree at bay.

Unlike the concerned pair in the bedroom, the dragons were having fun combating the wild magic in inventive ways.

“My presence?” She asked, confused.

Axel groaned when she realized Rowan was going to refuse to move until she got answers, “We think the magic is acting out because it’s unable to get to you, so it’s trying to overwhelm them.”

“And there’s a reason I can’t just absorb the overflowing magic, isn’t there?” She sighed and balled her fists up. “What is it?”

“Your body can’t handle it at the rate it’s trying to get in. It’s like attaching a water balloon to a fire hydrant.” Miasma’s voice was soft and nervous. “With you awake you may regulate it, but without Ms. Darling here to null you out in case it gets to be too much, it could be dangerous.”

Rowan cursed. What the hell was her body playing at, betraying her by breaking? Hadn’t she been good to it? Given it all the cake and sex it demanded? Sure, she’d been an ignorant fool for misusing her power for years. But that hadn’t been entirely her fault! She’d been doing better!

Perspective!

The word came to her in her father’s voice.

She’d fucked up. Her succubi’s energy had been too low to use the magic she’d dug out on that mountainside. She’d crossed a line and took in life energy rather than just the sexual energy she was supposed to. Her mother and godmother had warned her there would be consequences, and here they were.

There was a way to fix her gates. Much like a sprained ankle, she needed to take some time off pulling magic in order to rebuild them brick by brick. Back to basics.

The solution to the manic magic around them was simple. But it didn’t include heading back to the Eastern Elven Kingdom. Like an improperly sealed hose with a nozzle, magic was trying to push through her to get out its normally open mouth, but was splashing out where it connected to the faucet.

She needed to pull out of magic’s flow path.

Normally a nulling charm should have done the trick, but her prolonged usage of them had finally exhausted their ability to keep her fully cloaked.

It was lucky for her that her great-aunt Liza had left her the perfect tool for such an event.

“Have there been sightings of my cabin?”

Axel raised an eyebrow, but she pointed to the giant house in the Estates that overlooked the forest behind and the city in front. “Apparently, it’s been taking up space in your boyfriend’s backyard.”

“The entire time?”

Axel’s knowing smirk was answer enough. Rowan tried not to react to the teasing, as she knew from experience it was her sister’s way to sus out information she wasn’t fully privy to, but she felt undeniably exposed.

The Traveling Cabin only moved from place to place in regular practice because it knew that Rowan had yet to find a place to lay roots.

Yet, if Axel was to be believed, it now took root in a portion of the Dragon King’s land.

Even after he’d made it clear nothing could happen between them.

Rowan turned on her heel and headed for the exit. “Come on, I need a quick catch up on our way over.”

“Aqua said we should go.” Axel reminded her sister.

“If the theory is correct, there’s only one place that can take my share of magic. If I went home, the same thing you see happening out there would happen to our land, and the dragons are more equipped to handle magic than our people.”

Axel let out an annoyed huff, but fell into step beside her.

“You think the cabin’s time and space irregularities can absorb it?” Miasma asked as she joined her princesses.

“Yes.” Rowan’s conviction melted as quick as ice on the desert ground. “Well, I hope so. Where is the Dragon King? I assume he isn’t here or he would’ve taken care of this.”

“In his hoard. Good afternoon Princess Rowan, I am Terra.” The voice preceded the entrance of Alessandro’s stunning Earth General. Beige dragon garb draped around her body, adorned with colorful glass beads along her waist and intertwined into the tight curls of her honey hued hair.

Perhaps it was her title being used, or more the fact that Rowan had seldom met anyone that fit the description of ‘queen’ so well that Rowan bowed her head as a sign of respect for the woman. Beside her, Axel and Miasma followed her lead.

Terra gave her own curtsy back with a grace that could’ve rivaled Lexine, the most proper woman Rowan had ever known.

Behind her, Stone, Rowan’s old classmate, grinned. “We were just on our way to make sure you could get home safe.”

“We’re actually heading to my cabin. I hear it’s parked itself next to your King’s house.”

“Yes.”

“Good.” Rowan picked up her pace once more. “Let’s walk and talk. Was it because of my succubus’ actions that the Dragon King isn’t here?”

She was half surprised to get a straight answer from Terra. Dragons, like the sphinxes, weren’t open by nature. Even if they’d been nursing her back to health, Rowan didn’t for a second believe that put her in their confidences.

“Yes. He has a failsafe way to check his beast when it gets out of control. He usually locks himself up in his hoard for a couple of weeks. However, with our current circumstances, I would rather it take a couple of days instead.”

“What exactly are our current circumstances?” Rowan asked as they exited the medical building and spilled out onto the once immaculate green lawns and paved paths, now destroyed by the wayward magic, allowing Stone and Terra to lead them the way they felt best to get to her cabin.

“After Barros disappeared, the Coven decided not to air out their dirty laundry. In doing so, the tension between us and the non-shifters has only increased. Things have been getting more violent. We’ve attempted to improve relations by engaging in community outreach especially geared to the less fortunate, however the speed in which this is garnering results is less than nominal. ” Terra answered once again.

Rowan could get used to the straight answers.

“Well, when the world has known the dragons to keep to yourselves, it isn’t hard to imagine why your help seems like an attempt to fool them.” Axel murmured offhandedly.

“Exactly.” Stone threw a side eye at Terra, packed with all the disgruntlement of a youth to an elder.

It occurred to Rowan that Stone was her age.

He was next in line for the Dragon King’s throne and Rowan wanted to know more about how it happened.

She wanted to know everything about the world’s oldest mystics, and she knew it stemmed from wanting to know absolutely everything about their enigmatic leader.

“We have our reasons to keep to ourselves, but dragons aren’t the only ones being targeted. Wolves, who are notorious for their goodwill to non-shifters, especially those untouched by magic, have also been facing the backlash of Barros’ actions.”

Harris and Marissa Knox took a space in Rowan’s heart, even though they’d only known each other for a few moments.

Rowan had a small army of people she considered hers from first contact, and the two wolf shifters had been her latest addition.

“So, you can only ease some of this antagonism if you find Barros, or if the Coven comes clean?” She asked to clarify how to best assist them in their goal of redemption.

The dragons were also apparently part of that army.

“Or if they leak audio and footage of Coven meetings. Something that should be impossible.“

Axel’s sharp gaze was on their two dragon escorts, reading every reaction to her words. Rowan recognized her sister’s not-so-subtle method of digging for information for what it was; Axel wanted to know how they’d done it.

“It’s helped not only with the anger towards us but also in digging up some leads of Barros.” Stone shrugged, unabashed.