That was why I was on this roof, I realized. Because not wanting to do something may not matter. Tyrez might be more suited to the Emperor position, but I knew that if push came to shove, I would go where I was needed.
Which only left me hoping with a new kind of desperation that Breana’s idea that I had only been intended to bear the sword for another was bang on. Maybe its target had never been me. Tez might be the chosen one. But chosen to do what? He wasn’t a Dragon. He couldn’t help the Empire.
My brother could. He was everything an Emperor should be. But the sword had refused him. Why?
Cara had said the sword wasn’t just about leadership. That it was about change. Well, there was plenty of that going around.
My brother. Tomorrow was the funeral for our family. And Tyrez might have to attend.
The knot in my gut twisted tighter. Would Taran use the funeral to come after my brother? Tyrez could be walking into a trap…
With a poof of flame, a Phoenix emerged in front of me.
I jumped back from the teleporting bird, brushing at sparks that landed in my clothing. I caught only a glimpse of its distinctive coloration before it vanished again, leaving motes of ash drifting in the night breeze.
I cursed my hellacious luck, because I was certain that had been Cara’s bird. I rose and made for the stairs, intending to duck whatever new disaster the Watcher wanted me involved in.
Before I got there, the stairwell door opened, and Cara came through. She had the Phoenix sitting on her shoulder, and behind her was a small, cloaked form.
“I was pretty sure I sensed you up here,” the Watcher said. “So I sent Flash to be certain.” She gestured to her smaller companion. “He wanted to see you. I tried to stop him from coming, but stubbornness runs in his family.” She turned to address the hood that twisted toward her. “I’ll wait for you in the stairwell. You only have a few minutes. I want you gone as soon as possible.”
The cloaked form nodded, and as she closed the door, turned toward me.
Before the hood lowered, I knew who it had to be. I straightened and regarded the figure with an outward calm that certainly didn’t accurately portray the chaos in my soul.
“Hello, Mykal,” I said.
The hood dropped to reveal a boy with tousled dark hair and bright, questioning eyes so very much like my own…
I had only a millisecond to appreciate that before he ran into my arms and hugged me like he had the strength of ten men.
My world shook, and then flew apart.
When I next blinked, I was kneeling on the roof with Cara standing over me. Warm, soothing energy pulsed from her, into me, as I gasped for breath. Something hot flowed from one ear, and Cara grimaced.
“Hold on. I’ll lock that down,” she said.
“I’m so sorry, Dad.” Mykal was on his knees in front of me. “I shouldn’t have come.”
I gasped as the memories swirled through me, each one clamoring for attention. When I wiped at my ear, it had stopped bleeding, but my head still ached dully.
“It was only a minor issue,” Cara stated as she pulled away. “And it might have been time to push things.”
I struggled to put the images together. I saw an infant with a peach fuzz of dark hair, staring up at me with metallic Dragon eyes. The first time his wings had burst free from his shoulders, and how excited he’d been, even though he could barely walk. His tiny Dragon form clamped to my tail as I took him for his first flight.
Just fragments, but they came with an emotion that threatened to overwhelm me. I reached and pulled him against my chest.
He hugged me back. “I’m a little old for this display of fatherly affection. But I take it you now remember me?”
I nodded, unable to speak. More bits and pieces came to me. Very few were completely intact, but I didn’t care.
Irememberedhim. Myson.
“Okay. Dad, I didn’t come here to be smothered.” Mykal pushed me away. But his eyes were suspiciously bright as he sat back.
“Why did you come?” My voice broke on the last word, but I couldn’t completely let him go. My hands remained on his shoulders.
“I needed to know,” he breathed. “If you really had forgotten us.”
