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The druids must be united in their effort to return to the temple. It is ironic that the two druids who should be the closest are siblings and barely speak to one another. How could their mother allow such a travesty to occur?
I don’t know, but I will find out.
Legion cleared his throat. He was careful to stare at his wife when he asked the next question. “Do you have any theories as to what is happening to the druids?”
Mara shook her head. “I tried to contact Adara, but she wouldn’t answer me, and I was unable to enter the temple. Natalie and Freya tried as well, but nothing. It’s like the temple isn’t there and my magic is non-existent. I can’t call on a vision or do even the most basic of spells.”
Legion sighed. “Natalie reported the same thing. Her hacking abilities are unaffected, but her magic is inert. She said three of her plants are suffering and she hasn’t had a brown leaf in her herb garden since she was a child.”
Alana leaned forward. “This has affected the druids’ magic? Their circle abilities?”
Mara nodded. “Those of us with onyx circles can use our natural power, but our inherent magic is all but useless.”
Alana nibbled her lip. “This is worse than I thought. I didn’t realize your magic would be interrupted if Adara wasn’t connected.”
Legion rubbed his chin. “There are scrolls in the dragon caves. One of them mentions the destruction of the first temple. The druids were forced to move to a sister’s temple. Many didn’t survive the trek. Until a sister temple connected their power, they had no access to their magic. It was before my time as leader, but I am guessing that the flow of magic is controlled by Adara.”
Alana nodded. “I think you are right. Do the dragons have a similar conduit?”
Kell motioned to Legion. “He is our conduit. Until a new generation is born, he must survive, or our species will fall.”
“So, if he died now, the dragons would all drop dead?”
Legion shook his head. “We have two children on the way. Provided one of them survived and was strong enough to take up the mantle of leader, the dragons would survive; there have been instances in our history where they were without a leader for a few years awaiting the new gold.”
“I don’t understand. Why can’t another dragon become a leader?”
“Only a gold can house the spark. The soul of our species. It can only be imbued in one who is yet to shift. That is when their color is revealed and there is only one gold leader and one gold apprentice when we are lucky.”
Mara turned to him. “I didn’t know there were two golds? I thought you emerged when Magnus was near death?”
“I did. But back when druids and dragons flourished and were at peace with the mages, we had a leader and a second. The gold leader would train his second for centuries, so he was ready when the leader fell. We are immortal but we can be killed, as can our mate.”
Mara touched her husband’s arm. “We make you weaker.”
Legion’s eyes flickered. “No, Mara. You make us stronger. Without you, we are destined to turn dark, and every dragon would exchange one day of happiness over an eternity of pain and loneliness.”
“That’s for sure,” Alana whispered. She seemed shocked the words had escaped, and Mara’s eyes narrowed on her sister.
“We need to figure out what is causing Adara to break contact with us. Legion, is there anything in the scrolls about this happening before? Without a temple being destroyed, that is. I still feel the connection, but it is faint. Maybe a sickness that afflicted the druids or a spell that was cast by a mage?
Legion shook his head. “There is nothing like that recorded. Only the temple’s destruction should alter your connection to it.”
Mara frowned. “You don’t have any idea why Adara is doing this?”
Kell hated what he needed to do. He felt like he was betraying his mate, but she was so stuck in the past and her own pain she couldn’t see what her family was offering her. “Alana does.”
She looked at him like he had smacked her, and anger flared in her eyes before she cut his connection to her mind. His dragon roared in torment as Alana turned to her sister.
Mara huffed. “And she isn’t offering the information. What a surprise.”
CHAPTER8
Alana retreated into herself. She wouldn’t let anything show on her face. Not how much her sister’s comment hurt her or that the dragon she assumed would protect her had effectively thrown her on the witch’s pyre. She had let his sexy exterior and the way the other dragons worshiped their mates affect her judgment. Why had she assumed a betrayer would deserve anything less in a mate? She deserved to be burned at the stake. She couldn’t even fault him or Mara for their assumptions. They were all true.
She remembered their early days together. You wouldn’t recognize Mara and Alana if you had seen them before the camp. The druids assumed the camp was to unite the girls that didn’t have anyone in the human world, but Alana suspected it was for Mara. Her sister was destined to abandon her, and Natalie would fill that void when Alana left.
Still, there had been a time when Mara and Alana had done everything together. Gone to the fair and rode the scariest rides they could get on. Baked together, though any successes back then were squarely on Mara, who had inherited their mother’s skills in the kitchen.
