Page 104 of Dragon’s Rogue

“I hope we can get the others back there with less drama,” Zane said.

Blaze wasn’t so sure about that. Maia had killed Corwyn and sacrificed herself to seal the tomb. It was Blaze’s willingness to sacrifice herself—to honor her mother’s sacrifice—that had finally set the Seal free.

But the darkness hadn’t taken her. Zane had saved her. He’d gotten here in time, and he’d saved her—and she’d saved him back. Love and light had conquered evil and darkness. Maybe they’d finally broken the cycle of death and betrayal.

She picked up the idol. It no longer felt evil. She could get a faint sense of Vyrkos through it—it was still a part of his hoard, and linked to the tomb. But the other presence, Corwyn, was gone. Maia had won their fight after all.

And Blaze had finally beaten Silas. The thought gave her no pleasure, only sadness at all that power and talent lost to the world.

She gazed over at his body, still lying at the base of the stalagmite. Zane took her hand, and they walked over and looked down at him.

“Goodbye, Silas,” she whispered. “Goodbye, brother.” She wanted to remember the good that had once been in him.

Zane glanced at her, then straightened Silas’s body and laid him out, his arms folded on his chest. “Let him rest here, at least for a while,” he said. She nodded wearily.

There was nothing else she could do for him now.

They met Tyr and Rebel in the hallway, racing to help them—Tyr in human form, and Rebel armed with her Colt.

Zane embraced Tyr in an unashamed bro hug, to his brother’s surprise. “Where are the others?” He looked behind them for Thorne and Tempest. “Are they okay?”

“More or less,” Tyr said. “They’re looking after each other. But what happened in the tomb? This place shook so hard we thought it was the end. Are you two all right?” He held Zane back away from him, and then looked over at Blaze. “You both look like hell. Where’s Harper?”

“Silas,” Blaze said. She did look exhausted, Zane thought, but to him she looked beautiful. Strong and courageous and utterly amazing. “It was Silas in the warehouse, using the life force he’d stolen from Jack to take his form and sucker us in. It was an almost perfect illusion.” She looked at Rebel. “He must have known you’d suspect a trap and call us, and we’d bring him here—right inside our defenses.”

“Bastard,” Rebel muttered, fingering her Colt. “I hope you killed him. It will save me the trouble.”

“Yeah. He’s gone,” Zane said. He put his arm around Blaze, holding her close. He understood how Rebel felt, but he also knew this wasn’t something to be celebrated. Watching Silas’s destruction had wounded his mate deeply, and she’d nearly destroyed herself as well. It would take her time to heal.

“And Vyrkos?” Tyr asked.

“We put him back to sleep, for the moment,” Blaze said wearily. “And the Dragonfly Seal is back in the tomb, with Maia’s help.”

“You actually saw Maia?” Tyr’s mouth was open. “What the hell happened in there?”

Zane shook his head. “Not now. I, for one, really need to sit down. And I need cake. Let’s get the others and go upstairs where there are couches, and then we’ll tell everybody the whole story.”

“Yeah.” Tyr rubbed the back of his neck. “All of us going upstairs will be a little bit of a problem.”

“Why?” Zane asked.

Tyr sighed. “You’ll see.”

Chapter 47

They walked back down to the room where they’d tried to cast the spell. Tempest was sitting on the floor, talking to Thorne.

Who was still a dragon.

Thorne? Zane said. Are you okay? Why aren’t you Changing back?

Because Vyrkos told me to be a Draken, Thorne said testily. Thus, I am a Draken. It seems that all I can be is a Draken, at least until the force of his command wears off. If, in fact, it does.

Zane found himself sinking to the floor next to Tempest. This could be a disaster. If Thorne were stuck in dragon form, his Draken side would eventually take over—and not in a good way. Not to mention they needed him human—able to work his computer magic and talk to his contacts and help them find the other two Seals.

Rebel asked him, “Why could the others change back, and you can’t?”

Thorne didn’t answer her.