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I could sense the magic that both Dusek and Cicely were casting. They were trying to soothe me. To take away the darkness that boiled in my soul and replace it with calm and comfort. Ridiculous. They were as ridiculous as this damned failure of a mission.

Sanka's warm hand touched my back briefly as we descended the stairs. It was a risk. The beta might get his head bitten off if he kept on coddling me. But I felt something in me grudgingly give way with a huff and a snort of offended pride. I am an alpha, I remanded the draconic part of me that had very nearly taken over. I have people to protect. Mates and a court who depend on me.

It worked. But barely. I felt the watchful presence inside me, my dragon side feeling even more… separate… more independent from my human side than it ever had before.

Time was running out. And I wasn't sure what would become of me when it did.

I forced myself to concentrate on the path before me, following the rather nondescript stairs down to a basement that was more like some sort of movie set. The colors and decorations were garish. Like a human had decided to play pretend wizard. But I ignored all of that as I zeroed in on the power that drew me toward it like a magnet.

This aura was familiar to me… and… not. I tilted my head, scenting the air, reaching out with my magic, trying to sense what was here, both calling to me and making me want to turn tail and leave at the same time.

Sanka touched me again, this time in caution rather than comfort. His hand wrapped around my arm, dragging me to a halt. "Wait. Let me check for traps."

I huffed. Of course he needed to sweep the area. Why was I so completely, utterly off my game today? It was disgraceful. I waved him forward impatiently. "Of course. Go on."

He arched a brow at me and gave me a wry look when I gave him permission to do the job he always did, as if he needed my direction to function. But he didn't say anything as he cast about with his spell, searching for hidden magical danger.

I felt the flare of power right before I saw the small flash of light, Sanka's spell finding and containing another spell near the door on the far side of the basement. There was a muffled whump of sound as the trap triggered and Sanka's magic bubble contained it.

My sorcerer grunted, unimpressed. "Amateurs," he muttered, finding and disarming two more traps before he finally waved me onward. "All yours, Alpha."

Cicely shifted forward a step, coming up beside me as his fingers flew. "Ruya?" he asked. His pretty green eyes darting between me and the door.

I growled softly. I didn't have to ask the faun what he meant. The powerful magic aura that pulsed from behind that door, calling to all of us, was familiar for a reason.

Martina moved past me, placing herself between her leader and potential danger as she turned the door handle and shoved it open with a foot, her gun braced in her hands and ready to fire.

We followed her into the room, each of us readying whatever weapon we were most proficient with. My claws were elongated and fire ready to spew from my lips. Sanka was humming with demonic power. Dusek turned to writhing shadow, his mere presence giving off an aura of terror that would make most people drop to their knees babbling with fear. Cicely hung back, as instructed. He wasn't really a fighter. But he had a gun and a knife, and had been trained how to use them.

The sight that greeted us as we poured into the room had me halting in my tracks. A woman. She had silver hair and blue eyes, just like Ruya's, but otherwise didn't bear much physical resemblance to our witch. She was older, and far more petite. Delicate. Fragile looking at first glance. But her aura was the same as the power that threaded through Ruya's.

The emperor's banshee. She had to be. The power I sensed in her was the same as the strange power that flared up inside Ruya when that side of her activated. This woman's power was clearer, though. More pure. She wasn't mixed blood like our Rya.

There was something else there, though. Something I hadn't expected. Ruya and this woman weren't just similar because they shared a species. I could sense it immediately, now that I was in the room with her. There was a connection between this woman and my mate.

I swallowed down my flames and retracted my claws, smoothing my shirt and lifting my chin, meeting those pale blue eyes. I had so many questions. But it never paid to be too hasty. I needed to know what this person's intentions were.

She sat on an overstuffed loveseat in the corner of the room. When we approached, she sat up, and a glint that I hadn't noticed before caught my eye. A fine silver chain encircling her neck, anchored to the wall behind her. I sensed magic in it. Probably meant to keep her here.

"Hello, dragon," she said in a high, clear voice as she met my eyes. "I've been waiting for you."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Oh? And the emperor left his prize pet here why? Surely, he knows a banshee can't defend herself from physical threats."

She arched a brow. "So sure of your superiority. But that's dragons for you, I suppose. If you asked the emperor, I'm sure he'd say that arrogance was what led to the downfall of the last dragon clan in the US." Then she smiled, a wry, evil little thing. "Of course, he doesn't seem to know about you."

I gave her an unimpressed look. "You've been shielding him. Helping that maggot evade assassination attempts for years. Tell me… why shouldn't I just roast you and eat you, banshee?"

She laughed, the sound high and clear, and a bit surprised. "Oh, you should, probably. But I have to believe that you won't. Not when you could use me for information or ransom instead." She shrugged. "I don't see much in my visions, aside from death. But I've seen enough to make me hope you will be my savior, dragon, rather than my demise."

This woman knew what I was. I kept my dragon nature secret from everyone outside my court. The outside world knew I was a shifter of some sort, but that was all.

A sliver of fear slid down my spine, and my dragon self perked up immediately, half our attention suddenly miles away while we continued to watch the woman before us. The bond that had slowly been forming between me and Ruya was suddenly sending me bursts of anxiety.

Sanka was asking questions about where the emperor was. I held up a hand and cut him off as I forced my attention back to the present moment. "Why are you here?" I snapped. "Make it quick, I have more important things to do than stand here and play games with you."

She stood. "Of course you do. We both do. I saw you in a vision. I knew you'd come for the emperor, and that he would die. I had to tell him. He has… ways of making sure I don't keep things from him." Her grimace said those ways involved something very unpleasant. But she honored my command and got on with it. "I had long ago given up hope of ever escaping him. But my most recent vision gave me back a glimmer of hope and made me determined to find a way to get free."

Those blue eyes bored into mine and she crossed her arms over her chest in a defiant posture. "I saw her," she said tightly. "I thought she was dead, and yet, there she was, in my vision, standing behind the shifter who would kill the emperor." Her voice shook slightly as she continued. "If there was even a slight chance that my daughter was still alive, I knew I had to take it. It meant the emperor would live, but… I told him that he had to leave me behind. That a faceless killer had some way to track my powers and that if he took me with him when he fled, this killer would follow."

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