Page 85 of Born in Fire
“You’re not,” Caleb says.
I stop at the window, staring at the city below. Somewhere down there, Malakai is moving pieces on a board we can’t fully see. Somewhere down there, the people who killed Juno are breathing, planning, living their fucking lives while she’s nothing but dirt and memory.
“Did you find anything useful in that?” I nod toward the journal in Elena’s hands. Battered leather, pages swollen from years of handling. The spine cracked in multiple places.
“Maybe.” Elena turns it toward me. “My mother wrote about the Heartstone. I’ve read this journal a hundred times but never understood what she meant. Look at this entry.”
I move closer, not because I care about witch scribblings, but because standing still hurts worse than moving.
The Stone burns brightest when broken. What was one becomes two, but the connection remains eternal. The Shard calls to its source, a beacon in darkness.
“Poetic,” I mutter. “What’s it mean?”
“Actually, I always thought that’s all it was. Poetry,” says Elena. “It’s only now that I have some context that it’s starting to make sense. Though, to be honest, there’s still so much I don’t know.”
“It’s dragon history.” Caleb leans forward. “The Heartstone wasn’t always as we know it now. During the reign of our ancestor Kael Craven, the dragon king, there was a battle. Lyria Rossewyn—Kael’s lover and your ancestor—fought against Vaelric, a traitor to the clan. During that fight, a piece of the Heartstone broke off.”
“Right. The Shard,” I say. “Vaelric escaped with it.” My tone is sharp because my patience is threadbare. I need action, not history lessons.
“Precisely,” Caleb says with the forced calm that means he’s irritated. Probably because I’m snapping at his mate. “As you learned during the clan meeting, that Shard still exists. And if someone has it they can access the Heartstone. The Shard is drawn to its power. Like a compass.”
Elena looks at him sharply. “So whoever has it could be tracking us right now.”
“If they have the Shard, yes.” Caleb stands, moving to the Heartstone. Its glow reflects in his eyes, turning them molten. “But the Shard isn’t just a tracker. It contains power of its own. Not enough to control dragons like the Heartstone, but enough to influence them. Weaken their resolve.”
“You mean it can control you?” Her eyes are wide.
“Yep,” I interject. “We’re looking for a magical dragon roofie that doubles as a GPS.”
Elena’s lips twitch, almost a smile. Almost. “Then it’s good that we’re working on this thing together.”
I glance at Caleb before looking back at her. “How much do you know about dragon politics?”
“Enough.” She shrugs. “Caleb has filled me in, and I had a conversation with Lydia to get more detail. The Syndicate is a group of clanless dragons who’ve banded together to take over as many existing clans as possible. They want power over your entire species. The Circle of Fire is a group of traditionalists who want to go back to the old ways of when dragons ruled humanity.” She tilts her head. “Right?”
I give a reluctant nod. “In a nutshell. But there’s more to it than that. You haven’t even scratched the surface yet.”
“I’ll pick it up as we go, Dorian. I’m pretty smart for a girl.” She aims a level stare at me.
Caleb rests a hand on her shoulder, his eyes glowing slightly as he looks at me. “Stop being an asshole, Dorian.”
I scowl at him but don’t interrupt when Elena goes on.
“When I spoke to Lydia, she gave me a bit of background about locations of known operatives of the Syndicate and the Circle. I’ve been tracking unusual movement patterns since the attack. There’s something strange happening.”
She moves to Caleb’s laptop, pulling up a map marked with red and blue dots.
“Red is Circle of Fire activity. Blue is what I believe to be Syndicate.” Her finger traces a pattern. “They’re moving the same areas, sometimes within hours of each other, but never intersecting. It’s like they’re both hunting the Shard but actively avoiding each other.”
Caleb studies the map. “They’re working at cross-purposes.”
“But both want the same thing,” I say. “The Circle wants dragon supremacy over humankind. The Syndicate wants to control all dragons… and take over the world.”
“Different methods, same result—we’re fucked.” Elena closes the laptop. “Unless we find the Shard first.”
The room falls silent. I resume pacing, the pressure building in my chest. Two days since Juno’s funeral pyre. Two days of nothing but plans and theories while her killers walk free.
“I’ll keep the Heartstone with Elena and me,” Caleb announces. “It’s safest here.”
