Rindek’s voice crackled with anger. “The parasites die with their hosts. By the time the Legion inspects further, they won’t have a clue what killed them.”
“It brought the slavers down in minutes.” Demeti sounded sullen now. “We have no reason to assume it wouldn’t be effective against the full Dragons, as well.”
“I agree.” Rindek snarled. “But we have to be certain. I want one more round of energy mutations to perfect the weapon before its use. But we should have had that woman. You have got to work on your control, power is useless without it.”
“She wasn’t dead,” growled Demeti.
“Yet,” snarled his father.
Dead? No. The Mover couldn’t die. It was as though Demeti’s words thrust a sword straight through Ash’s heart. Why did it hurt so much?
Dani was vital to the timelines. If she died, none of the ones he’d hoped for would come to pass. She had to live.
His heart ached as though it was tearing in two. As though this was much more than just a glitch in the timelines.
She’d touched him. In the dream. When despair had threatened to engulf him, she’d stopped it cold.
A footstep nearby—through lowered lids, Ash saw the Archmage move to stand over him and spread his hands, reading the Dragon’s energy.
“Are they full-sized yet?” Demeti asked.
Rindek’s brows had lowered even more. “Did you give him his latest crystal infusion?”
“I didn’t think he needed more.”
Rindek spun on his heel and backhanded his son so hard that Demeti staggered.
“If I tell you to do something, you do it. The crystal level has dropped so low the parasites have almost gone dormant.”
The Archmage’s eyes glowed crimson and his lips were pulled back from his shark teeth. For a moment, Demeti’s hands illuminated, and he looked as though he might strike out at his father. But then his eyes lowered, and he subsided.
“Yes, Father.”
Ash gritted his teeth. In one timeline, the two had destroyed each other. But only one, and he hadn’t foreseen it for a while.
Lately, he hadn’t been able to discern much of anything.
Rindek grabbed a syringe off the counter, filled it, and jabbed it hard into the side of Ash’s neck.
He couldn’t help his wince.
“Awake, are we? Well, that’s good. Because I’m in a very bad mood, and you can help brighten my day.”
Power surged from the Archmage, through Ash’s collar, and into his brain. It shredded his tearing worry about the Dragon, and the Mover. It tore its way through his memories, his thoughts, his hopes.
Eventually, it took it all.
* * *
Dani’s brain was in pieces.
At least, it certainly seemed that way. Chaotic images flashed through it, and none made any sense at all. Where was she? Why did she hurt like this?
Her world lighting up like the fourth of July. Free fall. Had she hit ground? She’d seen an angel. No, Tyrez, his Dragon wings folded over his human back. Jacques’s furry face leaning over her. Tyrez—he’d been beside her, and yet so much more—like he’d folded himself around andinsideher, somehow.
Pain. Like she’d never experienced before—in every cell and fibre of her body. And a warmth that spread through her until she felt as though she was on fire.
She had a dim recollection of being lifted, which sent new, searing agony through her. And then nothing.
