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Damien’s eyes widened, the specks of forest green appearing to shine under the sunlight. “That’s why she said, ‘a hall you’ve walked before.’ She wasn’t talking to me—she was talking to you.”
“Holy shit,” Maddox said, a hand digging into his shorts. He pulled out his phone, the screen cracked but still functioning. “Holy fucking shit.”
“What?” Dawn, Claire, and Damien all asked at the same time.
“I got an invite months ago. With everything going on, I totally forgot about it until now.” He turned his phone around so that we could read what was on the broken screen.
“Maddox Blackthorne,” Claire started to read it out loud. “You are formally invited to Marmont’s Chateau for a party to end all others. We’re celebrating Marmont’s most imminent demise, so bring a bucket and a mop in case you need to clean up his ashes before the night is done. And be ready to dance and fuck like the world is ending, because it is.”
I couldn’t hold in my excitement, doing a comical jump-in-place. Damien’s emerald eyes shone like precious gems. “We did it,” I said, matching the handsome red dragon’s grin.
“You did it,” he said, putting a hand (the one that wasn’t cut) on my arm. “We wouldn’t have realized what the statue meant if you hadn’t been here to help.”
That made my cheeks flush with heat for some reason. Or was that his touch? The warmth flowed down my jaw. I knew my throat must have been turning a strawberry pink.
I felt… useful for once. Not like I was the powerless human being dragged along or protected from the big bad vamps. I had offered something necessary to the group—potentially to all of the dragons. Sure, maybe they would have connected Marmont’s Chateau to the Huntress’ riddle eventually, but every second counted when their little brother was withering away back at home.
“This is perfect,” Maddox said. “Marmont’s known to throw elaborate parties, but there’s a moment in every one of them when the rooms fill with thick colored smoke. Like a foam party but colorful and less messy… well, depending on who you’re with. People use it as a chance to hook up—not that many of his guest need the modesty anyway—but I think that ‘mist moment’ would be the perfect time to go and break into Marmont’s hoard.”
Dawn sucked in a breath. “You think the cure is in his hoard?”
“It has to be,” Maddox answered. “He wouldn’t keep something like that out in the open. The entrance to his hoard has to be inside of that hallway.”
“Is breaking into a dragon’s hoard… not great?” I already knew the answer to my question based off their expressions alone, but I decided to ask it anyway.
Damien gave a grunt. “That’s putting it lightly. You saw how I instinctively reacted to you just getting near the door handle to mine. Breaking into another dragon’s hoard is one of the most heinous crimes we can commit.”
“Okay, so then why are we breaking in?” I asked. This time, the question felt obvious, but the answer eluded me. “If this saves his species, then why not just ask him to let us in?”
“We can, but it’s unlikely he’ll cooperate,” Damien said. “Since the dragon fall started, there have been a few of our kind who’ve embraced it. They’ve turned themselves into a group called The Falling. They consider the curse a blessing, meant to bring them back to the paradise they think we came from—from the other side of the Tears. That’s why he’s having this party—he knows he’s set to die and welcomes it.”
“Honestly, I don’t think we should even ask him,” Maddox said, arms crossed against his barrel-chest. “It’ll send up red flags. He’ll revoke the invitation, and then it’ll be even harder to get inside.”
“I agree,” Claire said. “I’ve worked with him before. He wanted some artifacts disenchanted so that he could use them as decorations. He’s also a big buyer of potions and tonics. He’s usually more paranoid than that one time I ate too many of those pot brownies Xavier got us.”
“You were wide-eyed for like two days,” Maddox said with a chuckle.
Claire rolled her eyes. “You weren’t all the much better. Didn’t you think the Nutella we were eating had sewed your mouth shut?”
Dawn and Damien both laughed at that. “Alright, you two,” Damien said. “We’ve got work to do. Let’s get back to the castle and figure out what we’re going to do next.”
“Let’s,” Maddox said, starting down the brick path and out of the small clearing, the scent of lavender and eucalyptus carrying on the breeze. “I’m picking up some brownies on the way home. Let’s try it again.”
As we were leaving, I turned to look at the statue one last time. For no reason other than my own gratefulness, I mouthed a silent thank-you, giving up my gratitude as if it were another offering.
