Page 60 of Dragon’s Rogue

“But you’re the type of person who shares.”

“You must have forgotten the pepperoni debacle.”

That made him smile. It seemed that just the idea of food was making her feel better. He thanked the zefir and it left with the tray, Blaze watching it until the elevator doors closed.

Zane poured Blaze some tea and added more sugar than she probably wanted. It was good for shock. Then he buttered some baguette for her while she dug into the soup.

Tyr stopped searching through books and papers and watched him, a speculative look on his face.

“What?” Zane asked.

“Nothing,” he said slowly. “Just gathering evidence for my theory.”

“Which is what?” Thorne snapped. “At this rate, Vyrkos is going to erupt out of that mountain and burn down the city before you finish your goddamn sentence.”

“Ah,” Tyr said, pulling out a book. “This is it.” Zane could hear the excitement in his voice, and he knew what was coming.

He recognized the book, and by the look in Thorne’s eyes, he did too.

This was about to get ugly. And loud.

Tyr turned to Thorne. “I think the second treasure was one of the Seals. I think the sorcerer who taught Finnbar was Arkyld, and one of the first Keepers of the Seals was in the Silver Raven coven.”

Thorne threw his hands up. “Where are you even getting that from? You’re fucking obsessed.”

“No I’m not. Well, yes I am, but I’m not wrong.”

He turned back to Blaze. “I’m a student of Draken lore and legends,” he said. “I used to go all over the world, hunting for whatever books and fragments they left behind. So when Thorne begged me to come here and help look for the Seals—” Thorne snorted— “I agreed, under the condition that I could search the Guardians’ archives.”

Blaze nodded.

“And I found this.”

Blaze looked at the book. It showed a drawing of three women, each holding a round object in their hands. One had a dragonfly on it, one had a dolphin, and one had a phoenix rising from the flames.

“Are these the three Seals?” she asked.

Tyr lifted one shoulder. “They’re representations,” he said. “Nobody seems to be sure what the Seals actually look like. It might be that they can take different forms.”

“Which is why finding them is something of a challenge,” Thorne put in. “But if you have anything tucked away in a drawer that looks like that…” He gestured at the book. “Feel free to hand it over.”

“Sorry,” Blaze said. Thorne snorted in disgust, shaking his head.

Tyr said, “There are a number of different versions of this story, but the ones I found here in this house are the oldest and closest to the source material. And they tell the story of how the Seals were removed from Vyrkos’ tomb.”

Thorne opened his mouth, but Zane shook his head at him. He wanted to hear where Tyr was going with this. Thorne pressed his lips together and threw himself back in his chair, growling in frustration. Zane cut a piece of chocolate cake and handed it over to him.

“Cake? Seriously?” Thorne muttered. Zane passed him a fork, and then cut a piece of cake for himself. Thorne stabbed his fork into the cake and began eating.

Cake could improve almost any situation.

Blaze nibbled on a piece of baguette, and Tyr launched into his story.

Long ago in the dawn of this world, there lived a beautiful sorceress named Maia. She and her coven were descended from humans who came from another world, to live side by side with the Draken Guardians in a green river valley in a great wilderness. Together, their purpose was to guard the tomb of Vyrkos, one of the ancient and evil Draken Lords.

Maia was the fairest of the coven, with hair the color of fire-gold, that which Draken hold the most dear. She was powerful, yet good, and beloved by the Draken, especially the Midnight Draken, Arkyld.

But love between Draken and humans was forbidden, and Arkyld never spoke his love. Maia was pursued by another sorcerer, named Corwyn. He was handsome, but arrogant in his power. Unbeknownst to the others in the coven, Corwyn took to visiting the tomb of the Draken Lord, dreaming of the kind of power that Vyrkos once had. The power to shape the earth itself, raising mountains and channeling great rivers.