When he finally speaks, his voice is measured. Controlled. “Let’s walk slowly down toward the egg chamber and the hot spring.” He stares into the dark surface of his coffee as if reading prophecy in its depths. “I don’t feel her here, but that could be because her dragoness is hiding to protect itself.”
His hands tremble as he sips the coffee. The slight rattle of ceramic against his teeth betrays the fear he’s trying so hard to contain. When he empties the mug, he sets it aside and rises, flexing his massive wings. The joints crack and pop, membranes stretching taut before folding against his back.
He walks, and we follow.
Corvus takes point, leading us deeper into Blackhaven. The tunnels grow darker as we descend, the bioluminescent moss casting everything in shades of blue and green. Our footsteps echo off the stone walls, a somber percussion that matches the dread pooling in my gut.
“She’s definitely hiding.” Thauglor’s voice is low, barely above a whisper. “The normal pressure isn’t here.”
I walk beside him, matching his pace. “Maybe she left?”
“When was the last time any of you saw her?” He doesn’t look at me, his gaze fixed on the darkness ahead.
“About seven this morning.” Solaris’s brogue seems heavier now, weighted with worry.
I glance down at my watch. The digital display glows a soft blue in the dim light.
Eight thirty.
“She would have passed you guys on the way out.” I look at my bond mates, and I watch the realization dawn on their faces. We all go pale.
“So she’s in there somewhere.” Thauglor’s jaw tightens as we stop at the threshold of the egg chamber, peering into the barely lit hot spring beyond. Steam rises from the water’s surface,curling through the air like phantom fingers. The scent of sulfur and minerals fills my lungs with each breath.
Cautiously, I poke my head into the chamber and scan the space. The black sand beach is empty. The water’s surface is still, undisturbed, reflecting the soft glow of the bioluminescent algae clinging to the cavern walls.
“She’s not on the beach.” I pull back and look over my shoulder at everyone gathered in the corridor. “I can’t see her face sticking out of the water.”
We step into the chamber together.
Nothing.
No growls rumble through the stone. No oppressive pressure shift crushes against my chest. The cavern is utterly, unnervingly silent. Just the gentle lap of water against rock and the distant drip of condensation falling from stalactites high above.
“If I were her, I’d be there.” Thauglor points toward the island at the center of the hot spring, where a massive stalagmite formation rises like a jagged crown.
“Why there?” I furrow my brows, studying my mate’s father. For a moment, I wonder if grief has unhinged him.
“Solid stone. In the middle of a hot spring.” His eyes narrow as he assesses the structure, reading it like a battle map. “She can feel vibrations through the water—anything approaching from any direction. Knowing my daughter, she probably made a hole just big enough for her to squeeze through.”
I stare at the dark formation, understanding dawning cold and heavy in my chest.
“I’ll swim out and look.” I’m already stripping off my shirt, the cool air raising goosebumps across my skin. “At least I can vanish if she charges.”
I meet the eyes of my bond brothers, then Thauglor. He held my gaze for a long moment before nodding, something like gratitude flickering beneath the fear.
I strip down to my boxers and slip into the water.
The heat envelops me instantly, silk-warm and thick with minerals. It seeps into my aching muscles, loosening knots I didn’t know I carried. I move slowly and silently, each stroke deliberate, barely disturbing the surface. The water laps against my chin as I swim, my eyes fixed on the looming shadow of the stone fortress.
The closer I get, the more the unease builds.
The air is too still. The cavern is too quiet. Even the gentle sounds of dripping water seem muffled here, swallowed by a silence that feels intentional. Predatory.
Then the scent hits me.
Sea salt and jasmine, warm and heady—but beneath it, something else. Something new. A comforting, almost honeyed undertone that wraps around my senses and squeezes. Female blink hounds’ scent turns warm when they’re pregnant. My mother smelled like this. My sisters smelled like this.
My heart stutters in my chest.
