Page 105 of Ancient Magic

“If you and your fellow Cabal members hadn’t been so self-obsessed, you would have known that Kane never earned the loyalty of his people, he forced it,” Azra taunted. “He filled his very large dungeons with hostages and kept them for as long as their loved ones were useful. After that...” Azra snapped his fingers. “They simply disappeared.”

Micha felt a small stab of guilt. It was true that he’d turned a blind eye to Kane. And a lot of other things. As long as it didn’t directly affect him, he was happy to remain hidden in his caverns and allow the world to drift along without his interference.

It had taken his beautiful Skye to lure him out of his self-imposed exile.

Oh, and the threat of the earth being drowned in flames.

“What does any of this have to do with Lynx?” he demanded, refusing to waste time debating Kane’s vicious leadership skills.

Azra risked a quick glance toward the fairy, his jaw tightening as the crystal continued to pulse with a crimson glow. His desperate hunger to complete whatever had brought him to this place tainted the air with a sour stench.

Micha released a pulse of power, creating a crack in a nearby column. Just a reminder that he possessed the ability to destroy the cavern and bury them all beneath a mountain of rock.

“You want the truth?” Azra tilted his chin to a defensive angle. “Fine. I’ve never had any power. No matter how hard I trained or studied, I could never match my brothers. I’ve been weak my entire existence.”

The confession resonated with a blunt candor, making Micha frown in confusion. “You’re Sinjon’s most trusted companion.”

Azra released a bitter laugh. “Companion? That’s a joke. I’m a pampered pet who is kept on a very short leash. And if it wasn’t for my ability to share my mind with Sinjon, I’d be begging for crumbs.”

Micha couldn’t argue. Azra was weak. And without his ability to act as a spy for Sinjon he would no doubt be a servant who was barely above a demon in vampire society.

Micha shrugged. “We have all endured resurrections that left us at the bottom of our society.”

“Yes, and with no guarantee the next resurrection will be any better. For all I know I might be stuck in the gutters for an eternity,” Azra snapped, as if Micha had to be reminded that vampires had no idea when or in what form they would be returned to the world. The only thing they knew for certain was that they entered an afterlife and that they would eventually be whisked back into a vessel that had been chosen from among the humans. It could be weeks or endless centuries later. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the process. “Thankfully, I had a vision,” Azra continued, his bitterness replaced with a grim resolve.

“A seer?” Skye demanded from behind Micha.

“Better. Sinjon isn’t the only powerful creature who can enter my mind.”

“Lynx?” Micha guessed.

Azra made a choked sound of disgust. “A fairy? I’m not that desperate.”

“The original one,” Micha clarified.

The ice spread across the marble, revealing Azra’s shock that they knew about the origin of the crystal and what had happened in this cavern. Then, with a deliberate motion, the male ran his palms down the smooth material of his robe, as if forcibly calming his nerves.

“Very good,” he murmured, although it didn’t sound as if he thought it was good. Just the opposite. “No, Lynx was an important part of my vision, but he wasn’t the one who offered me a new destiny.”

“Then who?”

“Zanna.”

It was the obvious answer. There had to be a reason they were standing in the cavern that had been lost and forgotten for thousands of years, right? It wasn’t like they’d gathered there because they got a thrill out of battling lethal foliage or walking over floors made of lava, although that did sound like something humans would pay to do.

Still, he couldn’t keep himself from demanding confirmation. “The dragon?”

“Dragon Queen,” Azra chided.

Micha glanced around the empty cavern. “She’s in hibernation.”

“For now.” A creepy anticipation rippled over Azra’s face. “Soon, however, she will once again be free to walk the earth.”

A dark dread spread through Micha as he glanced toward the fairy, who was glaring at them in confusion. They’d feared that the dragon was somehow involved in Skye’s vision. But a vague suspicion wasn’t the same as having a demented vampire threaten to waken the Queen of Dragons to destroy the world.

That same dread clenched his heart as he glanced toward Lynx, at last understanding exactly why he’d been kidnapped and why the fairy had been manipulated into believing he would find the vampire-killing sword in this cavern.

“You believe the crystal will wake her up?”

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