Page 64 of Ash

She considered that. Truth was, shehadspent some time in the Archmage’s presence. She just would rather forget it.

“The meeting isn’t here?”

“No. It’s in your home realm. At the Watcher’s place.”

“The Watcher?” She thought Rindek had mentioned the term. Something to do with the portals to the realms...

Tyrez confirmed it a moment later. “Watchers are Cryptids who guard lodestone areas. Those are regions where the energy converges, and permanent gateways can be established to the different realms.”

Wow. Okay. She knew from Ash that Cryptids was a term used to describe four groups of creatures—humanoids, beastoids, plantoids, and shifters—that were not native to the realms they lived within. They hopped between them by using portals. Some realms knew all about them, and even welcomed them, but others, like the human realm, had no idea they existed.

She’d met the humanoids and shifters. Heard about the beastoids—according to Remy, the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot had unwittingly hopped to the human realm via portals—but she’d never seen a plantoid.

Likely, that was for the best.

She swallowed. “Who is going to be there?”

“A few people who are engaged in the search for Rindek.”

She debated that. “If I attend this meeting, will you let me go afterward?”

He straightened from scraping the eggs into a fluffy pile on the grill. “We believe Rindek is looking for you. If we let you go, he will find you.”

“I can look after myself.”

“He found you while you were looking after yourself.”

The Dragon had a point, but Dani wasn’t about to agree with him. “If he found me there, he can find me here.”

His dark brows rose. “No. He can’t.”

She glared at him. “Why not?”

He shoved the eggs onto a plate and flipped the bacon one more time. “Because he’s afraid of Dragons.”

Her mouth opened, and closed again, as she remembered how the Archmage had bolted at the cemetery. Ithadseemed as though he was running from Tyrez. “Why is he afraid of Dragons?”

“We are immune to his power.”

Her eyes rose to the scar across his temple. “Not all of it.”

His brows dropped. “That wasn’t Rindek. We’re still trying to figure out what that was and where it came from.”

Dani tabled that interesting fact. She’d only ever met Rindek, Remy, and Ash. In the forest, she’d seen others with them, but only from a distance. One hadn’t looked human, and he’d looked a lot like Rindek.

She filed that away. Information was power. She didn’t want to offer anything up for free.

Tyrez added the bacon to the platter and slid it toward her. When her mouth watered and her stomach growled, his lips twitched. Just how powerful was Dragon hearing? She shoveled a healthy portion of eggs onto her plate.

He waved fingers at her. “Take it all. I have eaten.”

She didn’t need to be told twice. He might only do eggs scrambled, but they were delicious. As was the bacon.

Tyrez cleaned up while she ate. No dishwasher, it seemed. He scrubbed the skillet by hand. Mind you, with those muscles, it was an easy task.

He was done about the same time she was. She handed him her plate, and he set it on the counter.

“Have to get going,” he explained, walking out of the kitchen and into the living room.

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