Page 119 of The Storm of the Empire

I had no fucking clue how to do any of this, but Hazel had been teaching me how to shield myself in our very limited down time. She’d tried to show me how to shield my magic from myself when the foresight started to get bad, but I hadn’t gotten the hang of it yet. It felt like I’d be cutting off a vital organ I didn’t even know I had. I needed it to breathe.

But I wasn’t trying to do that now. I took everything Hazel told me and reversed it, and a vision rushed at me. I absorbed it, and then with everything I had in me, I reached out for Hazel. Even with the power overcoming me, I knew she was there. She held my hands, and I felt her drawing on my power. Then, before I knew what was happening, it was over. I was back in the tunnel, exhausted, but now I knew where to go.

“Come on,” I panted, catching my breath. “The guard is changing. We only have a short time.”

We turned three more corners and walked into a cavern filled with warming baskets cradling the dragon eggs. Right where I knew it would be.

“Is there any magical protection?” I asked, glancing around. I was worried about walking into a trap, but it felt safe. I just didn’t have the experience to know if I was missing something.

Faolan cocked his head, listening. “There’s no wards, and the guards are in the next chamber.”

“They’re switching shifts and filling each other in.” Hazel’s eyes lit up. “They have no idea we’re here.”

“How long do you think we have?” I asked, reaching under my robes for the opening to the padded pouches we’d had sown into the robes.

“Maybe ten minutes,” Hazel said, still listening.

“You find Alora’s egg,” I said to Hazel. “Faolan, you listen. I’m going to collect as many as we can to bring with us. Hazel, when you find it, go. Don’t wait and take more. Get out of here with it. Stick with the plan.”

“I didn’t know there would be this many,” she murmured as she walked deeper into the room. “We’ll rescue as many as we can.”

She slowed her breathing as I moved basket to basket, slipping the eggs into the pouches and replacing them with dummies we’d brought with us. A dragon would know, but the priests shouldn’t unless they checked them for health. Still, we’d have time to get away.

I didn’t have enough space for all of them, and neither did Faolan. The three of us couldn’t do it alone, but we’d restore a lot of them to their parents, and that was something. But it killed me to know we would have to leave some behind, and I knew it would haunt Hazel—Faolan, too. I kept collecting eggs, moving as quickly as I could without making noise, and Faolan followed me so I could fill his pouches, too.

Hazel was in the back corner with an egg in her hands, eyes closed. It was the one. I already knew.

“Go,” I told her.

“Give me a few. We have time.” She pleaded with her eyes. “I don’t know if I can make it out of here without you. It’s better we all stay together.”

I looked at Faolan. “What do you think?”

He tilted his head side to side. “Maybe a couple. We have to get as many as we can.”

I quickly filled the space Hazel had with the ones from my robes. If anyone was getting caught in this, it was me. I then made them wait outside the chamber as I grabbed a few more. We were only leaving a few, and I prayed the priests or whoever was guarding this place wouldn’t notice right away as I slipped out to join them.

“How are we?”

Faolan grabbed me, and that told me enough. We ran carefully, trying to keep our steps from echoing in the tunnels.

I knew the way out suddenly and without a vision of it. Like my intuition used to work before. We didn’t come upon anyone, and I could only believe it was because I’d kept myself from finding the location before the time was right. When we were clear of the tunnels and safe from detection, we stopped. It was time to part ways, and I was not happy about it, but my gut told me it was the right thing to do.

We packed the eggs for me to carry on the flight home, and Hazel grabbed me, kissing me hard.

“Make it back to me,” I pleaded

“I will,” she promised. Then she shifted and picked up the sack with Alora’s egg, giving me one last look before launching into the air and heading for the Storm Kingdom.

THIRTY-NINE

LUKA

We landed silently far into the middle of the night to be greeted by trusted fae on the platform. They’d camouflaged themselves, waiting for our return. Faolan landed and let me carefully slip off his back before leaning down to let the waiting fae unload the satchels. Eggs were pulled out of the cases, carefully wrapped only to vanish immediately into waiting bags.

We weren’t taking any risks because we didn’t know who was in on this with the priests—what had happened with Octavian had proved that. Kiera and her Gran had repurposed a room within their family suite to create a place for the eggs, and they all moved them quickly and quietly. Hazel would deliver hers to Alora, and then they would have to try and figure out where the rest of these eggs belonged.

Faolan shifted, leaving the satchel to pool on the ground around his feet. He balled it up and tossed it at me before taking a pair of sweats from Jaxus.

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