Page 106 of Ancient Magic

Lynx made a strangled sound, holding his hand over his head to allow the crimson glow to spill around him.

“What are you talking about?” he snapped. “The crystal is a compass to the Tempest and my—”

“Hush,” Azra interrupted the fairy’s angry words, and Lynx’s lips snapped together, as if an invisible force had glued them shut. Then the vampire returned his attention to Micha. “Where were we?”

“Zanna,” Micha said, needing to know exactly how he intended to awaken the beast.

“Ah, yes.” A strange, almost dreamy expression settled on the male’s face. “She came to me, revealing what had happened in this temple.”

“The treaty?”

“Exactly. A treaty she never desired and had no intention of honoring.”

Micha didn’t waste time wondering how a dragon had managed to touch Azra’s mind. The creatures possessed enormous powers that had been forgotten over the centuries.

Instead, he shuffled through the images that had been revealed in the memory spell.

“If she didn’t want the treaty, then why did she seal it with her blood,” Micha demanded.

“An unfortunate necessity. The dragons were weary of war with the vampires and pressured her into negotiating for peace.” Azra cast a glance toward the pedestal in the center of the cavern. “But she was wise enough to maintain a link to her captor.”

“Captor?” It took Micha a second to realize he was talking about the male who’d witnessed the signing of the document. “You mean the original Lynx?”

“Yes.”

Micha ignored the muffled curses from the Lynx-wannabe. “What is he?” he asked. “A demon?”

“She refused to tell me,” Azra admitted. “All I know was that it was the only creature capable of compelling both the vampires and dragons into signing the treaty. And that he forced her into hibernation.”

Despite the urgency of the situation, Micha found himself overwhelmed with curiosity. The rare manuscripts he’d collected over the centuries had hinted at mysterious powers that could step in and alter the course of history. But he’d never been able to find a text that revealed details about the strange creatures.

The thought that he’d seen one—if only in a memory spell—was dangerously distracting. His scholarly obsession demanded answers.

“So Lynx was more than just a witness to the signing of the treaty,” he pressed. “He was some sort of enforcer?”

“His magic created the crystal that holds the blood of Zanna and the vampire,” he grudgingly admitted. “And until the crystal is placed on the podium and the treaty destroyed, the dragons are stuck in hibernation. That’s why she marked him.”

Micha recalled the female dragon running her fingers over Lynx’s neck. “What was the mark?”

“A binding spell. Eventually the male would have been compelled to bend to her will.”

Micha hadn’t spent much time studying dragons. There were thousands of scholars that devoted their lives to probing the history of the oversized lizards. Many of whom concentrated on how best to defeat them when they did waken. He hadn’t felt the need to add to the plethora of information filling the libraries.

But what he did know was that dragon magic was some of the most powerful in the world. And it only made sense that the queen’s magic would be off the charts. So how had any creature managed to battle against the compulsion?

“So where is the original Lynx? Why use the fairy to bring the crystal here?”

“The creature realized what Zanna had done. After leaving this place he went to a remote location and sacrificed his life to protect the crystal.”

“Your temple,” Skye said, moving to stand at his side. “That was the magic I sensed.”

Micha glanced toward the beautiful mage. “That explains why the curse was so lethal. It wasn’t normal magic.”

Azra shrugged. “Zanna believed she was doomed to remain trapped in hibernation. Perhaps forever, since no one could touch the crystal. Not until a century ago. Suddenly she could sense his power moving through the world.”

Micha arched a brow. “How?”

“Either he possessed the vampire skill of resurrection—”

---