Page 5 of I Am the Night

"What do you mean?" I ask. I'm trying hard not to hyperventilate. My hands are still stained with her blood. I've still got her head in my lap.

"When a dragon dies, it's thought their souls depart and their bodies turn to magic and dissipate, putting themselves back into the universe to live again," Elijah says. "But her soul is still attached to her body, and she clearly hasn't turned to magic."

"Have you ever seen a dragon die?" I ask softly.

The brothers all shake their heads. "No one has," Sebastian says. "Except you."

He looks at me and I realize he's right. I was there when Ava'Kara died. And she did disappear into magic, though I assumed that was a byproduct of the spell, not the standard MO for magical spontaneous dragon cremation.

"We need to get Ifi and Elal here," I say to no one in particular.

Lily nods. "I can go. I don't need a carriage."

I'm about to ask how, but she's gone before I get the words out.

I return my focus to the Light Dragon and run my hands over her eyes, closing them. Even in death she is just as beautiful, with her silver hair and inner glow. It's then that I notice she's clutching something in her hand. I pry it open and find her signet ring within. I take it to study, wondering if this was some kind of clue about her killer. Why was she holding it instead of wearing it?

Knowing how the justice system works here—which is not well—I pocket it, hoping to uncover any secrets it might hold, and then look around. "Where's the baby?"

Liam glances at me, frowning. "That's an excellent question."

"We need to find her before whoever killed Lyx does. Maybe they were after the child?" The thought makes me sick, but I know I can't afford to overlook this possibility. Ava'Kara tasked me with looking after her heir until she came of age, and I will be damned if I don't do everything in my power to honor her last wishes.

Ava'Zara, the daughter and air to the Water Dragon, has grown more than expected in the weeks we've been working with Lyx. The child mostly stays in dragon form, but every so often she'll change to her more human form, I suspect to marvel at it. But she seems to prefer being a dragon, and who wouldn't, if I'm being honest.

"Maybe they already have the child," Sebastian says darkly.

"I refuse to believe that," I say, as I gently move Lyx off my lap and onto the mossy ground so I can look for the child.

"Zara?" I call out to her softly, hoping she's nearby. The brothers join the searching, looking for clues, making notes about the crime scene.

As I look for the baby, Callia's training comes back to me. "Use your magic to amplify your senses," she would tell me. "You are so much more powerful than you realize."

So I do. I close my eyes and dig deep into myself, into the well of elemental power that lives within me, and I gently tug at a string. Another trick Callia taught me. To braid the elements into a string that I can use when I need a little bit of all six of my abilities.

My skin tingles as the magic dances over me, as if it's lighting me up. I send the string out, imbuing it with myself, with my senses. What it sees, I see. What it hears or feels, I hear and feel. And that is how I sense the presence of Zara, hiding behind the waterfall deep within the cave. She's scared. And she's not alone.

"I've found her," I announce to the guys, who all approach me. "She's close, but someone is with her."

Sebastian moves to leave. "Stay here, I'll be back."

I grab his arm. "We go together. I'm no damsel in distress, remember?"

As if to prove my point, I raise my arms and as I do, the water before us parts, revealing the bottom of the pool and a path straight to the waterfall. Even Derek—the Water Druid himself—looks impressed, and we all walk forward, each of us on alert. We don't know what we'll find in the cave. Someone helping the child, or the person who killed Lyx.

My fingers ignite with flames as my protective instincts flare up, and Liam looks at my hands and shows me his. He's got a fireball ready.

I nod and we continue. The waterfall parts for us at my command and I guide the brothers past the damp entrance into the depth of the cave that divides into tunnels leading in several directions.

"Which way?" Sebastian asks, his muscles tense, his jaw clenched. All four of them look on edge, and I'm sure I look the same.

I close my eyes and pull on that thread of power again, letting it guide me. "To the left," I say, pointing.

The cave is musty and wet, and everything I step on makes a dead kind of squishy sound that makes my skin crawl.

I hear a tiny roar, like that of a baby dragon, and I move faster, using the fire in my hands as flashlights to see. The others don't need it, they can see fine in the dark.

The tunnel expands into an open space with crystals hanging from the ceiling and a small pond of muddy water in the center. A tiny blue dragon floats in the water, making playful growling sounds and spitting water from her mouth as she practices her dragon gifts.

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