Page 94 of Ash

He shot her a look, as though he understood that the remark wasn’t entirely about the gardens. His lips twitched again. Sirki smiled all the time, but Dani had never seen either brother do it. Were all male Dragons so grim?

Sirki sailed into the kitchen with a large square vase.

“Tyrez!” she exclaimed. “Did you bring supper?”

He raised a jet-black brow. “Was I supposed to?”

“Well, you arrive at suppertime...” She frowned at his wings. “You aren’t staying?”

“I’m here to ask Dani something.”

Dani tensed. Sirki shrugged as she filled the vase with water and began to arrange the flowers.

Tyrez focused on Dani. “Did Rindek ever take you anywhere other than the human realm and the one with the giant trees?”

Dani shook her head. “No. I was in the house until—well, until I transformed. Then he took the entire pack to that forest. It was the first time I’d been through a portal.”

Tyrez’s mouth twisted as though the reply disappointed him. “You never heard him mention a place near an ocean?”

Dani’s eyes widened. “He never said anything about a place like that. But Ash brought me something to read while I was in the house. And he gave me a bookmark that he’d carved. It was polished, quite pretty. He said it was seashell.”

She swallowed when the turquoise gaze lit, as though glowing from within. “Seashell?” he rumbled. One wing flicked.

“Yeah. I don’t have it anymore, though. It got left in one of the huts beneath the giant trees.” Dani bit her lip. “It might still be there. Could it help?”

Tyrez shook his head. “Being polished, it’s not likely we’d get any DNA off it. Sometimes we can track the realm that way.” But there was a new intensity to his expression as he turned away.

“Leaving so soon?” Sirki pouted.

“I’ve got a question for Jacques,” Tyrez commented over his shoulder as his wings expanded. “Need him to do some digging for me. I’ll be back for supper.” He shot Sirki a look. “I’ve got steaks marinating in the fridge.”

“You barbeque?” Dani hadn’t seen such an implement on his ledge.

He flashed her a twisted grin, and she nearly dropped the flower she was handing to Sirki. “I am a Dragon. Of course I barbeque.”

“So long as you like it seared on the outside, and bleeding on the inside,” Sirki added.

Dani considered. “I’m good with that.”

His turquoise eyes flashed as his face lengthened. “Thought you would be.”

He dropped off the ledge, only half-shifted. Dani ran to the opening and breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of him soaring off into the clouds.

“He loves to do that.” Sirki rolled her eyes. “It’s a boy thing.”

“Boy” wasn’t how Dani would have described him. The flash of a grin he’d given her had her heart leaping like a startled deer. The Dragon had the ability to test her every resolution.

Perhaps this wasn’t the safest place for her after all.

* * *

Tyrez soared over the Arandagian forest where the Satyr lived.

He’d remained in phase one. The smaller size was better for navigating between the trees. When Sparkle flashed into life directly in front of him, he backwinged to a hover.

She chirped at him and vanished again. Tyrez peered through the canopy and dropped with care between the trunks.

Jacques’s origin as a forest creature was evident in his home. His house had begun life as a massive tree. The trunk had fallen many years ago, but he’d reinforced the remaining hollow stump and expanded on it. The walls were alive with plant life and mosses, so much so that it was difficult to spot from even a short distance away.

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