“But the Bloods have no honor.” Vesper’s lip curled. “They know only ambition and greed.”
His words rankled. “That isn’t true. We would never have made it out of the arena if Bloods hadn’t helped us.”
“Gustov lied,” Orion said. “He broke the laws of parlay and he attacked and killed the queen.”
I knew this. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yes,” Orion said. “So am I. But according to Illyrian’s account, there is one thing none of us except Illyrian knew. That the queen had laid her royal egg and that her wyvern had been guarding it for weeks. As the queen suspected, there was a traitor in our ranks, and she didn’t want anyone to know about her egg until she’d rooted out the traitor. When she left, she brought the egg to Illyrian and instructed him to protect it with his life. She made him vow to take it far from the fortress if she failed to return.”
“If she was so worried something would go wrong, why did she go?” I didn’t get it.
“Hope,” Dante said. “Anara always hoped for the best, but she was smart enough to plan for the worst.”
“She could have trusted us,” Vesper said, his tone laced with bitterness. “She should have trusted us.”
Orion sighed. “Maybe. But what’s done is done. When the queen was killed, Illyrian took the egg and ran. He hid for decades, always moving. The egg finally hatched, and he placed a suppressor on the child to hide its power. He intended to raise it as his own in the Outlands, to keep it safe until the power within it was strong enough to defend itself. But the spies found him. He claims the attackers were cloaked and hooded, but he recognized the mageri mark on one of their arms. He fled with the heir and paid a Skin couple to raise the babe, promising to return for her soon.”
My pulse sped up. No. It couldn’t be. It was a coincidence.
“But years passed while Illyrian was hunted, hiding, and running. He was weakened, as most of his magick had been channeled into creating and maintaining the suppressor for the heir. The last attack was a fire, one which Illyrian only narrowly escaped. After that his pursuers left him alone. They thought he was dead. Illyrian waited six months and then went back for the child, but the couple he’d left the child with were dead. Murdered, they told him.”
My heart beat too fast and my mouth went dry. “No…”
Orion took my hands in his. “He searched for months and finally found her. The heir.”
I shook my head. “You’re insane.”
Orion’s gaze raked my face. “The suppressor is your anklet, Anya. You are the dragon queen’s heir.”
Chapter Nineteen
The queen’s heir.
I was the queen’s heir?
I had no argument against the evidence, nothing except shock.
“Take a minute,” Orion said.
“We don’t have a minute,” Vesper growled. “We have traitors in our midst. People who wanted her dead. Illyrian kept her safe for years for the cause. We need to act now, get that suppressor off by mating with her.”
The word mating pulled me out of the haze of shock. “Wait a second, what’s this about mating?”
It was Dante who answered. “The suppressor won’t come off until you mate with one of us. It’s how Illyrian created it. A mating will remove the suppressor and allow your Dreki power to surface.”
Dante stepped closer, his handsome face eager. “Your power can make the Dreki whole again. When the queen died, our power was diminished. She was a beacon that fueled us. Without her, many Dreki lost their ability to shift. Some remain stuck in Dreki form. Only the most powerful of us have maintained full function.”
“You want me to be a battery?”
“I do love the way you get straight to the point,” Vesper said.
“And I have to mate with one of you to be able to help?”
“Yes,” Orion said.
I looked to Dante, the Dreki I felt the closest to, the one I’d formed a connection with.
“Hell no!” Vesper snapped.
“Vesper…” Dante gave him a what-the-fuck-is-your-problem look.
Vesper crossed his arms. “Like hell am I sitting back and allowing you to claim the lion’s share of the power?”
Orion held up a hand to silence them. “Anya, the lord mated to you will share your power and thus so will his Dreki army.”
Which would cause an imbalance…Was this why the queen…My mother. Fuck…Anara had been my mother. I took a moment to absorb this.
“That’s why she wouldn’t take any of you as a mate, isn’t it? Why she did the blood binding instead.” My gaze fell on Dante, and there was no missing the anguish on his face. He’d been in love with my mother. Okay, that was kind of gross. But she’d loved a human. Eamon was my biological father. I had a human father…
“Is there another way to get this off?” I touched the anklet. “Another way that doesn’t involve causing an imbalance of power?”
“No,” Orion said. “But there is a fair way.”
“The flame?” Dante’s eyes widened. “You want to use the flame?”
Vesper looked appeased. “Fair.”
“We need to do it now. Tonight. And the mageri can’t know,” Orion said. “I can’t believe Primian is involved.”
“But the flame is inside the mageri tower under lock and key,” Dante pointed out. “Only Primian has a key to the chamber where it’s housed.”
Vesper cleared his throat. “Not the only key.”
Dante and Orion turned to look at him.
Vesper smirked. “Insurance policies are my modus operandi. I didn’t like the mageri having the only key to our hoard.”
Orion looked pissed, like he wanted to yell at Vesper, but the expression was fleeting. Dante, however, had no such qualms.
“The key to the hoard is specifically in mageri hands because Anara wanted to maintain a balance of power.”
“Yeah? And now she’s dead and a mageri spy or maybe several spies are responsible.” He narrowed his eyes. “Who
