Ash’s fragments began to knit together. With each stitch, his stiff body relaxed. Until he sighed.
For a few precious moments, the balance was complete.
Then the hand on her arm softened and lost substance as Tyrez began to fade away. Ash’s silvery eyes snapped open in alarm.
“No—”
But Tyrez was already gone. Ash reached for her, even as he started to fade as well.
“Dani! They can’t come. Don’t let them come—”
His voice was ripped away in the wind, and he was gone.
Tears ran down her face. They hardened to pellets as they bounced off her arms and fell to the beach below. Dani caught one—it gleamed rainbow hues in the moonlight.
Her tears were that of a Dragon.
And then the beach was gone, and the darkness rose to claim her.
26
Tyrez woke up with a start, his every instinct screaming at him.
He lay curled up as a Dragon in Cara’s lush garden. His body ached, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.
Ash had tried to kill himself.
Tyrez no longer believed himself to be dreaming. While Ash couldn’t transform to Dragon with Rindek’s collar on, the golden Dragon’s spiritual desire to die was very real.
If Tyrez couldn’t find him soon, there would be nothing left to save.
But Dani—she had been in that dream too. Was she really there? She’d folded her energy into the mix. And it had felt—right.
Did Dragon soulbonds ever come in triads? Tyrez shook his head. Nothing about this had any precedent.
But the dream hadn’t been the reason for his sudden awakening. A gate had activated nearby. Even as that awareness came to him, a shadow passed over him.
The garden had a new arrival. Tyrez rose to greet his brother.
Razir landed with a thump, his spikes bristled with rage.
“Whats the living shardss have you done?” he thundered.
Tyrez had left Jacques with instructions to pass on what he’d done to Razir. He supposed that if the roles had been reversed, he’d be pissed as well. He wound his Dragon tail around his hindquarters and sat down. A deliberately calming pose. But he held his chin high.
“I dids whats needed to be done.”
“Did yous really do it? Did yous bite that woman?”
“I ssaved her life.”
“By turning hers into a Dragon.”
“That remainss to be sseen. She wass already a Dire. Sshe may nots be able to turn.”
Razir’s eyes were incandescent. “Yous have committed the highesst form of treason by ssaving the life of a worthless Dire?”
Tyrez lunged to his feet. “She is my ssoulbond!” he roared at his brother. “She hass never been, and wills never be, worthless.”
