Page 109 of Born in Fire

“Oh, I don’t know… maybe because I’d just been abducted by a madman who turned out to be a freakingdragon, Caleb!” She looks at him. “I’m sorry, it slipped my mind.”

“Well, it’s important. Because it tells us that he couldn’t control it,” says Caleb.

“Why didn’t you know that before?” Juno asks.

“Because in all the centuries we’ve had it, it’s never been out of our care,” he says to her. “The Craven line’s main purpose has been to guard it for our clan.”

“And my brother takes his job very seriously,” I say, trying not to sound sarcastic, because I can’t deny that he’s devoted his life to that responsibility.

“Okay. So this Stone is intensely powerful and can control your species, but only if it’s handled by a Rossewyn,” says Juno.

“Looks like it,” Elena confirms. “Which brings us to what I figured out.”

“And that is…?” I press.

“The Syndicate has the Shard.” She looks convinced.

“And how did you get to that conclusion?” I ask.

“Well…” she shuffles some pages on the coffee table, “I figured that since Blackthorn was affiliated to NyxCorp, and NyxCorp was a Syndicate holding, there might be something in there that would lead me to more information.” She holds up a folder. “And I found this.”

“What is that?” asks Juno.

“It’s a list of items belonging to a subsidiary of NyxCorp that specialized in historical acquisitions. They—”

“Heritage Assets,” I interrupt. “How the hell did you dig that up?”

“I had one of my flashes.” Elena shrugs, flipping the folder open,

“Flashes?” Juno looks confused.

“Elena sees things,” says Caleb. “She’s really quite… extraordinary.”

“You mean like visions?” Juno asks. She turns to me. “Like I have.”

“You have visions, too?” Elena asks.

“Yes.” Juno nods quickly. “I saw Dorian. They had him and—”

I put my hand on her arm. “Let’s not jump to conclusions. We can’t say for certain that’s what it was.”

“But—”

“Can we get back to what Elena’s trying to tell us?” Caleb says impatiently. “Show them what you found.”

With a nod, she pulls out a set of photographs and fans them out on the table. I find myself looking at a series of images showing a cylindrical item. It’s iridescent. Red and gold. Exactly the same colors as the Heartstone on its pedestal right beside us.

“Fuck!” I say. “How did we miss that?”

“My guess is that nobody was looking for it.” Elena shrugs. “It was filed with literally hundreds of other items purchased as part of an estate. An old monastery.”

“Near the Carpathian Mountains,” I finish, reaching for a photo and examining it. I look over at the Heartstone and then back at the image. “Shit.” There’s no doubt in my mind that they’re connected. “They’re the same,” I say to confirm it.

“Certainly looks that way.” Caleb nods.

“So what does all of this mean?” Juno looks around at us.

“It means that our most powerful enemy has a tool to manipulate us,” Caleb says grimly. “And if they get their hands on the Heartstone too, it would make them unstoppable.”

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