Page 26 of Dragon Awakened

I bite my lip, unsure how much to say. I don't want to get her hopes up based on a half-baked theory.

"Yeah?" She lifts a brow and waits me out.

"I stole something else. A..." I let out a rough breath. "A Soul Sphere." I already explained the concept when I was telling them about my escape from the Citadel, but I left out the part where I took one with me. "When I released the others and destroyed the tower, there was one that just...didn't want to be set free. And I think..." I swallow hard. "I think it said your name."

Her eyes flare wide. "Wait--"

"What if it's your father?" I blurt, and wow, so much for trying not to get her hopes up.

Her father was a wizard, and he and the rest of Rhiannon's mates--including Jett's dad--stayed behind to defend their commune when the Shadow Dragons attacked. Rhiannon barely managed to get Amy and Jett to safety. By the time they were able to go back, the place had been destroyed, and none of Rhiannon's mates were ever seen or heard from again.

Ever since I met her, Amy's been trying to find her father.

"Oh my god." She reaches for my hand, her eyes going glassy. "You really think it could be?"

"I don't know," I tell her honestly. "But it was vibrating like crazy in my bag this morning when I hugged you. Whoever's spirit is in there, it has some connection to you."

"Wow." Letting go of me, she sits back. "Just...wow."

"I can try again to set it free. When I released my parents, I was able to talk to them. Not for long, but it--" My parents' ethereal faces float back to me in my vision. "It meant a lot."

She shakes her head. "I don't think I'm in any kind of state to be even thinking about having a once-in-a-lifetime chat with my dad's ghost--or anybody's ghost for that matter--right now."

Okay, yeah, good point. "Freya's chocolate martinis aren't messing around."

"Seriously." She lets out a breath and nods, decisive. "Even if I weren't tipsy. That's something a girl needs to get her head around."

"Anytime you want." I glance toward the kitchen. "Also, I'm guessing if I could figure out how to release a spirit from a sphere, your mom might be able to, too."

"I have no doubt." She goes quiet for a moment.

Before she can say anything else, Sister Grace returns. As she approaches, she must sense that we're having a deep conversation. Grace lifts her brows in question, and Amy nods, beckoning her over.

"Did I miss anything?" Grace asks, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Amy.

"I'll fill you in later," Amy promises.

She leans into Grace, and Grace loosely wraps an arm around her. They've clearly gotten more comfortable with each other over the past few days, and I'm happy for them and their new relationship.

"Actually," Amy says, focusing on me, "I was going to mention that Grace and I have been doing some research of our own. About my situation"

I crinkle my brows. "Oh?"

"Yeah. The whole half-dragon, half-witch thing. I like your idea about looking more into Shadow Dragon Emergence rites." Her throat bobs, and she darts a quick glance back at Grace. "But we've also been exploring the opposite idea."

"Oh." My stomach sinks.

Sister Grace is--or was?--a disciple from the Grand Stone Temple in Shítou. She has dragon ancestry, but she's mostly human, and a skilled practitioner of the witchly arts. Even back in the Stone Kingdom, she was dazzling Amy with stories of the Sisters and their millennia of separating their bloodlines from those of the dragons. She believed it made them more powerful.

Jett and I weren't so sure.

Conspiratorially, Amy leans in. "There may be a way to excise my dragon half."

My dragon recoils, a rush of fire filling my lungs.

"What?" I say it too loud, and Freya and Rhiannon cast looks at us from the kitchen. I smile to reassure them before lowering my voice. "Amy, that's--"

Messed up. Wrong. Even thinking about it tastes like chewing glass.

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