Page 60 of The Soul of the Dragon

I smiled. "Oh, I think you will. Just give it some time." On that note, I bent her backwards over my arm and kissed her harder. I pushed my tongue deep into her mouth and explored every sweet inch. This wasn't just a kiss anymore, it was a possession.

When I finally let her up and got a glimpse of her glassy eyes and kiss swollen lips, I groaned. "We need to hurry to that village you were talking about."

Suddenly she frowned and I had a feeling whatever she was about to say I wasn't going to like it.

"First, we have to find the place my mother would have chosen to leave us a clue. I was joking about the stone and the simplicity of her just telling us exactly where it was instead of with a vague statement, but there is actually a spot near here that was always my mother’s favorite…

Dammit, she was right. "Okay, but lets make it quick or you're going to find yourself bent over the nearest rock taking my cock deep into that sweet pussy of yours right here in broad daylight."

Her eyes widened and her mouth opened on a small, silent gasp. When I thought she might finally protest against my filthy words, my nostrils flared as I caught the heightened scent of her arousal. Damn. I scrubbed at my face and tried to think of anything but stripping her naked and making my claim.

"You've got about thirty seconds before it's too late,"I warned.

I caught a ghost of a smile before she turned and ran, making the dragon leap to life. I shook my head and followed, deliberately taking slow steps instead of giving chase. The little beast had no idea how much trouble she was in right now.

By the time I caught up with her, I found her bent toward a rock formation on a cavern wall. Her fingertips tracing a pattern in the stone.

"Did you find it?" I asked.

"I think so. But I thought Ensley would be here to help us figure this out. Didn't she say she was going to meet us over here?"

"She is unpredictable," I offered as an explanation. "Although if I had to guess, I would probably say that means she's up to something and it's probably no good."

"You're too suspicious. Maybe she hid because of the guards."

While that made sense, it didn't give me any real comfort when it came to that little minx. Her disappearing and reappearing acts were annoying at best and dangerous at worst. We had to be prepared for anything.

"Can you decipher the message?"

"I think so. But it's been a long time since I've seen this language."

I stared at the wall and looked at the series of symbols and pictures. "That's a language?" It looked like a child's drawing.

"It's ancient. It's been lost for probably centuries. My mother may have been the last to truly use it. Although there are probably more like her out there who could at least decipher it if they had to."

"So what does it say?"

"It's kind of confusing. It indicates that the amulet is hidden in the palace, but then it also talks about a tree, and a book. I have no idea how the amulet connects to all three of those or which she might be talking about."

"Of course it's hidden in the palace. The one place that will be almost impossible to get into." I guessed Magnus and I would be working through that bullshit he threw my way sooner rather than later.

"Well, but how does a tree and a book connect to that? Unless..." She placed her hands over the roughly carved symbols and pictures, this time using both hands, her fingertips connecting to several different indents. A second later, the tell-tale blue glow of fae magic lit beneath her hands.

"Is that safe?" She ignored my question and started mumbling words that had no rhyme or reason.

"I know where it is." She stepped back with her hand wrapped around her neck, an emotional look across her face.

“Okay, are you going to tell me?”

She looked up at me, her eyes awash with tears. “When I was little, my mother commissioned a special gift for me to play with. She had an elaborate castle carved from wood that was a replica of the one I was born in. She said since I couldn’t remember it very well, and she didn’t want me to forget where I’d come from, she’d had it made special. I played with that thing forever. For hours on end. And then eventually as I got older it became a decoration, until I declared myself too old to keep a child’s playhouse in my room. So it had been relegated to nothing but a decoration from then. She said I had to keep it though, because one day I would want to revisit it and give it to my own child. I don’t think anyone has touched it in years. It had a small library filled with books, and a tree carved into the outside of the palace just like our home. It has to be there.”

I nodded, thinking that sounded exactly where it would be. My mother would have done the same thing if she’d had a girl I’d bet. “So where is it? I don’t remember anything like that in your quarters.”

Her forehead creased with worry. “I don’t know for sure. Maybe the King had it moved? But it has to be in the castle somewhere.”

“Do you think Sprite would have an idea?”

“Maybe.”

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