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CHAPTER1
Alana slipped off her black leather glove as heat radiated in her hand. The sharp rock had punctured the material and cut her skin, but it would simply add to the cluster of scars already marring her palms. She used to joke with Mara that hand-modeling wasn’t in her future. How she missed the days of teasing and laughing with her sister. It seemed like another life now.
Her phone made a beeping sound, so she grabbed it to glance at the message, though there was no reception this deep inside the mountain. She swallowed her anger as she noted the six unanswered calls from her sister. How long could she keep this up? Hadn’t Mara been through enough? She deserved so much more than an absent sister who caused her nothing but pain. Her betrayal was monumental, but she had a lot more to do before she could make it up to Mara. If that was even possible.
She put her phone back in the inside pocket of her insulated jacket. Despite the high-end material, she shivered from the damp cold of the cave. There was no wind, and her headlamp illuminated the dust in the air from her invasion. It had been thousands of years since anyone was in this cave and it seemed to shriek at her for intruding on its slumber.
While she sold many of the items she acquired, this item would not fatten her bank account. The acquisitions she took for money were only practice for the real thing. The rare artifacts to assist the temple. She’d been looking for this one since the day she found out she would become a druid. Nothing would stop her. Her sister’s life depended on it.
The rock face to the next tier was a vertical climb with almost no handholds. She could create the bolts needed, but judging from the loose debris at the base of the cliff, she wasn’t sure she wanted to start an avalanche. This wasn’t like the cliffs she climbed for recreation. She’d already unbound the wards to access this tunnel. There was a reason no human had been here in thousands of years. Only a being of magic could sense the aversion spell that warded the entry to this cavern. And she doubted it was the only one.
She replaced her glove and grabbed a protruding rock before anchoring her climbing shoe on a larger ledge a foot above the ground. Once she was sure she had her footing, she looked for the next handhold. Swinging her lithe body from one grip to the other on the damp rock.
A drip of water hit her cheek before a trickle ran down the face of the cliff. Was there a stream above her? She checked the map and there were no known reservoirs in this area. If it was a magical trap, it was a good one. She had sensed nothing, but she couldn’t take any chances. She moved to the side as a rush of water streamed down the face of the rock, splashing to the ground below.
It was over quickly, so she assumed it was a pocket of water that let loose or something she had tripped by touching a rock. Either way, the water stopped, and she resumed her climb, though the slick face slowed her pace. She was shivering when she reached the top and flipped over the side and rolled onto her back.
Alana took a few seconds to regain her breath before darting down the secondary tunnel she knew existed atop the rock face. The small room was hollowed out with a single stone altar in the middle. The black onyx circle with a fox with one eye etched into the smooth surface sat quietly on the stone. “I’ve been looking for you, baby.” She picked up the circle and looked it over. It should have been covered in dust or debris, but it looked like it had been hand-polished moments before her arrival.
She slipped it into the compartment in her jacket and exited the small room. As soon as she crested the entrance, a cracking sound echoed around her. She barely had time to turn when the room collapsed in a shower of boulders and dirty smoke rolled toward her in a dust cloud of fury.
Alana dodged the boulder that rolled off the edge of the cliff to crash at the bottom, but as she stood on the side, the face gave way and she fell over fifty feet to the ground below. She tried to call her magic, but it was still a trickle of power and while it softened her fall, the resounding crack and pain that ricocheted through her body alerted her to the broken ribs before the air rushed from her lungs and wouldn’t return.
She gasped through the pain as her body curled into the fetal position before dirt and rock rained down on her fragile body. How ironic that the end would come so close to victory. All she wanted to do was return her circle to the temple before she met her fate. She had feared it her entire life, but she was tired and it would come as a relief. Maybe then her sister could heal.
As she struggled for breath, the voice of her dragon whispered in her mind.Alana?
This isn’t a good time, Blue.She knew who her dragon was now that he had awakened from his eternal slumber, but she had been calling him blue since the first time they chatted telepathically. Back when she thought he was a figment of her imagination. When he thought she was.
You are in pain. What has happened?
I set off a magic trap. My stupidity, I guess.
Tell me where you are.
She got the sense of wind against her skin and knew he was flying. She’d always envied that ability in the dragons. How freeing that must feel. She hadn’t felt safe or free since the day she learned she had magic. Or would have it.It’s too late. I’m sorry. Tell Mara...she couldn’t remember what she was going to say. Her voice died off as her eyes closed and her body struggled for breath. Internal bleeding was a bitch, but at least she wouldn’t be in pain for long.
Where are you, Alana?His voice was a command. More forceful than it had been before.
I would rather die.The thought escaped her before she could censor it.
Do you hate me that much?The pain laced in his voice cut deeper than the wounds she inflicted every time she ignored her sister.
Not you. Me.In her last seconds, she would give him the truth. She owed him that.
Tell me why you believe this,he asked with compassion in his tone. His empathy was worse than his anger. She didn’t deserve it.
I am too tired, Kell.
He was silent for a moment.That is the first time you have called me by my name.
It took me a while to figure it out. I didn’t until you emerged from the dragon caves.
But you avoided me?
Yes.
She was thankful for the cold. Her body entered a numb state of near paralysis. Maybe everybody did this, minutes before death. The pain returned when he spoke.
