Page 71 of Fae Reckoning

Not very promising.

“If I were to hazard a guess,” Ivar said, “I’d say the land gifted you with it. Its way of saying it’s had enough of Talisa’s nefarious measures and wants a pure ruler as its steward.”

“It could do that?” Ryder asked.

Ivar shrugged. “I don’t know, but I would think so.”

“What’s she doing to the dragons in the dungeon?” Hiro asked. “It looks like she’s been experimenting on them. Is that true?”

“Aye.” Ivar nudged a fallen twig with his boot. “Since the time of Erasmus.”

Stunned silence hung heavily for long moments, during which El and I sat on a broad tree stump, until Ry asked, “She was hurting dragons when King Erasmus the Bloody was still in power? How?”

“King Erasmus was consumed with finding his missing brother. Once he decided Prince Lohan was never returning, he was too focused on punishing all the dragons to notice or care. Even if he’d discovered what his daughter was doing, do you think he would have stopped her?”

Hiro sighed. “No.”

“Exactly.”

“And did she kill Erasmus?” Ry asked.

“I don’t know, but I’ve long suspected.”

“Did Her Majesty kill Crown Prince Saturn?” This question came from Pru. Elowyn guided Saffron onto her lap, and the dragonling wenteagerly.

Ivar’s shoulders sagged. “Same answer.”

“I thought she included you in everything,” I said. “You were always trailing her around.”

“Yeah, well, I did too. I guess she did a lot more than I thought she did in the special private time she requested for her liaisons.”

I tensed at the memory of herprivate timewith me, and how Ivar had been very much present for it. “You did nothing to stop her abuse,” I whipped out.

“No, I didn’t.” This time, he cast a resigned look at his sister, whose eyes were closed as she rested. “And I should have.”

“Do you recognize any more of them?” I asked tightly with a jerk of my head that indicated the rest of the recovering fae.

“I do not. But they resemble little of their former selves. I only recognize my sister and Talisa’s because I’m so familiar with their features. Any of these fae could have shared passing time at court with me and in their current condition I wouldn’t know it.”

“Do you have any idea how we can find the rest of these cabins of hers?” El asked. “Where they might be, how many she has?”

He stared at my mate. “How many locations did this map of yours indicate?”

She grimaced. “Too many. We can’t let them all die.”

“We don’t have a choice. There’s no finding them now. Not withoutyour map.”

“Is this how she’s become immortal? By draining all this power and drinking the dragons’ blood?”

“I don’t know. I was as surprised to hear her pronouncement of her immortality as Rush was.” He sighed, sounding ancient. “It’s possible Braque may have found a way to help her with it. Over the decades they’ve discussed the possibility numerous times. But I never heard either of them mention it as more than that, an unattainable dream of hers. But Braque”—he sneered—“despite his many irritating characteristics, is a brilliant alchemist.”

Scratching under Saffron’s chin, where his scales were still soft, El turned toward Azariah. “You’re the only immortal among us, ‘cause dragons are just really long-lived, right? Do you think that might be how she’s done it?”

“My kind is naturally immortal,” Azariah answered. “Unless we’re murdered, of course. We’re born this way. I don’t know, Lady Elowyn, though I wish I did.”

“And you can’t track these fae she’s draining?” El asked him.

“No. I only detect royals and their magic. I could sense you, and had I known to search for them, I could have found the princesses.”

---