Page 43 of A Dawn of Gods & Fury

She means Jarek, of course. The sylx has an odd infatuation with him in particular. I don’t need to ask how Lucretia knows about last night. She was being creepy again, floating around the castle, unseen and listening to conversations she shouldn’t be hearing. “He’s waiting in my throne room. Why don’t you go and ask him yourself?” He’ll likely choke her. It wouldn’t be the first time.

She grins, showing off her perfect teeth. It’s all part of the form she’s designed—so much more appealing than the snake we first met. “I will do so later.”

I make a point of looking around. “Where are we?”

“In the place where my masters congregate when they must congregate.” Lucretia waves a hand at the nymph elders. “You see the healing brought to your world with my masters’ return, have you not?”

“Yes.” The nymphs’ power is impossible to ignore. All I need to do is look outside Ulysede’s gates.

“There is more yet to come. Wonders you cannot yet see.”

Gracen’s question stirs in my mind. It’s one of many unknowns I want answers for. “A baby was born in Ybaris with an affinity.”

Lucretia dips her head. “The first of a new age.”

“Before Hudem, though.”

“Before Hudem, but after you unsealed Ulysede, when my masters began restoring balance to the realms.”

I glance around us. “What about the stone doors? You said they might work again when your masters return. They’re gone.”

“They are not gone. They are just not here.”

Whatever that means. “Will they work again?”

“Some may. Some may not.”

I clench my teeth. Thirty seconds here and Lucretia is dancing around her answers.

Taking a calming breath, I meet the four sets of cold and calculating eyes that bore into me. I came here with my thoughts in order and questions to be asked, but as I stand beneath their harsh study, I wonder if there’s some formality Lucretia neglected to mention. “Thank you for your help with ending the blood curse.”

None respond. They don’t so much as twitch. If the Cindrae elder didn’t just blink, I’d question if they were even alive.

“Valk and Xiaric’s return have been helpful to you,” Lucretia says suddenly.

“I don’t … who are they?” I stammer.

Her lips curve with her typical condescending smile. “Caindra’s mate and their offspring. A male. They must have been eager to reunite.”

My mouth gapes. The chartreuse dragon is their child? Bexley had a mate and a child all this time? “How long were they in the Nulling?”

“Since Vin’nyla sent them to it, just before my masters left.”

“But that’s thousands of years.” Tens of thousands, maybe. “Why didn’t they come back when Farren tore the veil?”

“Because my masters were not here yet,” she says matter-of-factly.

“And they take this form when the nymphs are here.” I try to work out the logic aloud. Bexley said that with the nymphs’ return, she would become what she is again—a dragon. If that’s true, then whatever magic these dragons hold is ancient and tied to the nymphs.

“It is all connected,” Lucretia echoes what she has said before.

“Why did Vin’nyla send them to the Nulling?”

“You would need to ask Vin’nyla.” Lucretia’s grin is teasing, her answer unhelpful.

“Was it a punishment or for leverage?” Malachi sent Sofie’s husband to the Nulling and used her to do his bidding. So, if Vin’nyla wanted leverage over Caindra, what might her schemes mean for this realm?

“I do not offer speculation. But what does it matter? The Queen of All has reunited them. Caindra is more than a formidable ally. She is indebted.”

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