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“I didn’t see much,” she said. “But I saw enough. I know Marcus Drakharrow left to go belowground into the dwarven realm. Viktor sent him to retrieve dragon eggs from some kind of a crypt. Marcus has a plan—once he gets what he came for, he’ll trigger something that will destroy the vault and everything on the other side.”

I gasped. “Blake and Medra are down there.” The relief I’d started to feel was curdling. Kage swore under his breath.

When Nyxaris spoke, his voice was like iron. “Florence and I will head down to the vault. There’s a route near here that Marcus used. We’ll follow his trail as quickly as we can.”

Florence looked at us, her eyes moving from me to Lysander then to Kage. “I need to ask something of you. Of your triad.”

The word landed hard. Triad. I glanced at Kage in time to see his brief smile, then his look of pride. I looked at Lysander on my other side. He touched a hand to my waist. Wasn’t it silly that in the midst of all this grief and heartbreak I could still feel such joy? Or maybe it wasn’t silly at all.

Kage answered for us all. “We’ll handle Catherine Mortis. Don’t worry about her.”

“I’m sure Catherine still has lofty ambitions,” Nyxaris said grimly. “Put a stop to them as quickly as you can.”

Kage nodded. I suddenly thought of something. My eyes darted back to Florence’s. “Listen, there’s something else you should know.” Quickly I told her about the prophecy and how I believed Rodriguez must have told Medra it was about her. “If Medra thinks she has to sacrifice herself for the greater good …”

Florence nodded. “I understand. I’ll do everything I can to protect her.”

“I know you will,” I said softly. Our eyes met. “Maybe when all of this is over and we’re back at Bloodwing—”

Florence smiled. “You, Medra, and I will have to talk.” She reached for my hand and squeezed it one last time. “But I know one thing. Our friendship is only just beginning.”

My throat felt tight. I couldn’t find words, so I simply nodded.

“We should go,” Nyxaris said.

We watched the two of them walk away. Kage reached for my hand. I looked over at Lysander. He’d been so quiet. His face was distant. I assumed he was thinking of his sister. Now I touched his arm lightly. He looked down at me, blinking. Then his face cleared.

“The stables are this way. Let’s see if there are any horses left,” he suggested.

We moved toward the outer building. We were together; that was all that mattered. My triad was powerful, and we were united. We were ready for whatever was waiting for us in the Bonewood.

Chapter 67

BLAKE

The interior of the vault was round and hollow like an egg. We came through the southern gate. As we entered, we could see the northern gate in the distance. To my relief, it was closed and looked untouched.

Inside, the walls were made of a pale, glowing stone. The ceiling curved over our heads in a smooth dome. A ring of interconnected pillars formed a high wall in two semicircles within. At the highest point above our heads sat a warm ring of light—like a lamp left on in a nursery. Beneath the ring, in the center of the room, sat a large, high basin of polished black stone, raised on a broad pedestal.

Inside that bowl were the eggs.

They were larger than I’d expected. Prettier, too. I’d thought they’d be similar to a bird’s eggs, but these were the largest eggs I’d ever seen, each one nearly Neville’s size. Some had a pearl-like whitish surface—those must have been the Silvrayne eggs. Others were a warm, honeyed-gold, Molindra’s.

Neville broke the sense of solemnity with an excited yap. “Wait, Nev,” I started to say, as the fluffin launched himself forward. I stared in horror as he leaped up onto the edge of the nest.

“Neville, careful, you’ll break them,” I exclaimed. “Careful, you little—”

Too late. I groaned as he dove into the clutch. We all moved to look down into the nest. But the eggs seemed fine; Neville hadn’t broken any. He didn’t look like he was planning to leave the nest anytime soon either. He wriggled himself down between some of the eggs, turning in small circles until he’d found a comfy spot. Then he flopped down, wrapping his large floofy tail around three of the closest eggs while resting his head against another, as if he’d been doing this kind of thing all his life. No one spoke as Neville began to purr.

“Remarkable,” Rodriguez murmured from beside me.

I was just opening my mouth to say something smug about how of course Neville loved dragons when a familiar voice cut through the chamber.

“About fucking time, little brother.”

I whirled, my blood going cold as Marcus stepped out from behind a semicircular ring of pillars. My heart sank lower. He was tossing an egg in one hand. It was blackened, as if it had been burned. The shell was cracked in several places. Instead of beautiful and gleaming like the eggs still in the nest, this one was dead and dull.

“Think I killed this one,” Marcus remarked. “Whoops.”