“What is it?” Zohar asked, his voice still raspy.
Dolph looked up, pain flickering in his eyes.
“The humans took Juno.”
Zohar’s breath caught.
“No.”
“He was pulled onto a boat. I couldn’t stop them.” Dolph shook his head. “I couldn’t protect him.”
Zohar groaned and tried to sit upright, gripping Nessie’s back tighter as she floated beneath him, tail sweeping slow arcs in the water.
He turned his head, eyes narrowing.
In the distance, bobbing up and down on the rough surface of the loch was a boat, long and sleek, sitting low in the water. It had a long, glass-covered center section, open stern, and a top deck lined with seats. Dark figures moved on deck—humans, he guessed. Some standing. One seated, wrapped in a blanket.
Juno.
Zohar clenched his jaw and turned to Dolph.
Dolph nodded grimly, his fingers already curling into the water’s edge as he prepared to move.
Zohar turned back toward the boat, his dragon stirring fully awake behind his eyes.
“We’re getting Juno back,” he said, voice hard.
Dolph nodded grimly. “You bet we are.”
And Nessie was coming with them.
Chapter Fifteen
The moment Orion stepped into the upper archives the next evening, a ripple shivered across his skin.
The air was too still.
The water… too unsettled.
The reflection pool, nestled at the center of the great domed chamber, rippled as if a breeze had passed—yet no draft stirred the thick tapestries or disturbed the ancient scrolls lining the walls.
His boots echoed on the polished stone floor as he moved forward, the trident strapped across his back humming faintly in response to his unease.
His gaze narrowed.
He didn’t want to worry Jenny—not until he was certain. But something had shifted.
Dolph and Juno had been too quiet lately.
Too well-behaved.
And when it came to those two… silence wasn’t peace.
It was a storm holding its breath.
Orion raised his hand and drew it slowly over the pool’s surface. The water answered with a faint glow. Power stirred in the depths, then twisted upward in a spiral of light.
“Show me,” he murmured.
