Chapter Eighteen

EVERYONE WITHDREW THEIR weapons when they sensed someone or something approaching from deep inside the cave.

"Whatever it is, it isn't fully human," ?se growled, her dragon eyes flaring. "Nor is it dragon." Her nostrils twitched. "I do not like its scent."

"Yet it is a familiar scent," Ulrik murmured as Tyr and ?se fell into a protective formation around him and Keira. "One I have been around before."

"Tá, my old friend," came a deep voice from the shadows, his accent different. "As we fought alongside each other in a battle for the ages."

"I know that voice," Zoey murmured, narrowing her eyes at the shadows. "I know that Irish accent."

"As I know yours, Beireoir na Síochána," he replied. "For I have long heard it in my dreams as they have heard it in theirs."

Magnus tensed at his familiarity with Zoey. His inner dragon simmered beneath the surface, and he prepared for battle when a man as tall and broad-shouldered as he and his kin emerged into the light, fell to a knee facing Zoey, and lowered his head.

But not before all saw his golden eyes flash with his inner beast.

"Wolf," ?se sneered and started in the man's direction, only for Ulrik to shake his head sharply that she stop and let the wolf speak. That it was all right.

"Who are you?" Zoey said softly, moving closer to the man despite Magnus wishing she would not. "How do I know you? Why are you bowing to me?"

"I am Tréan, Alpha of the Wolves of Ossary," he said. "I bow because you are Beireoir na Síochána, Bringer of Peace, and I am thankful you watched over them when things were so very different for them."

"Watched over who?"

"That is not for me to say." He lifted his head, met her eyes, and offered a warm smile. "You will know soon, though, Beireoir na Síochána, and it will be a much-welcomed reunion, I think."

"Call me Zoey," she insisted. "Please."

Magnus didn't much like the way she looked at the man with his white-blond hair and warrior's build. Clearly, they had some sort of history together. Had they lain together, and she'd forgotten it? Had this wolf, of all things, been with his mate?

"Stand down, Magnus," Ulrik warned when Magnus's dragon eyes flared, and his inner beast didn't just simmer near the surface but nearly erupted, eager to make clear where the wolf stood on the food chain around here.

"It is good to see you, old friend." Ulrik embraced Tréan before holding him at arm's length and grinning. "It seems you have been busy in ways I've yet to discover."

"I have," Tréan admitted. "And I suspect soon enough, you will understand why."

Ulrik eyed him for a long moment before he nodded and redirected his attention to the others. "You may keep your weapons drawn to defend against rogue dragons, but they are not to be used against Tréan, for he is friend, not foe. Someone I fought alongside when I went to the aid of Irish friends from another era." He looked Rafe's way. "Celtic friends, for we do have them despite the wars of old."

"I will respect your wishes not to slay him or, better yet, eat him, King Ulrik," Magnus kept his eyes narrowed on Tréan in warning. "But I demand to know why he's so familiar with my mate and queen." And for good measure, lest Tréan not recognize the scent Magnus had left all over Zoey. "The future mother of my offspring."

"I forgot how possessive dragons could be." Tréan grinned despite Magnus's warning. "Ye need not fear, friend. I come in peace." He shook his head and winked at Zoey. "Nothing more, as wolves and dragons rarely mate, ta?"

"It would prove awkward," ?se admitted, shrugging when Magnus shot her a look.

"Well, it would," ?se replied. "The act of rutting alone when not in human form could—"

"Enough, ?se." Athena shook her head even as she bit back a chuckle. "Now's not the time."

"On that, we agree," came Zane's deep dragon voice from all around them, echoing off the cave walls in every direction. "Rafe and Magnus, you might not see my dragons, but they surround you. Throw down your weapons, or we will attack, and you will not survive it."

Magnus clenched his weapons tighter, shook his head, and ground out, "I will not."

"Yet you will," Zoey said softly, resting a gentle hand on his forearm. "You have to lay them down and see this through because we need to understand things." Her gaze flickered from Tréan back to Magnus. "And I have a sneaking suspicion Tréan was referring to Zane's arrival when he said we would know more soon, so please, for me, lay down your weapons."

Unfortunately, he understood what she asked of him now was what his grandmother had been referring to.

"Listen to her when she eventually says something you will not much like," his grandmother's words echoed in his mind. "Listen to her because she is right. More so, her council will make all the difference."

Not about breaking a promise to his grandmother and trusting Zoey because his dragon gave him no choice, he held her gaze a moment longer before slowly laying down his weapons. In turn, Rafe did the same.

Rafe and Magnus exchanged a look, prepared to back each other and battle as dragons if need be, when Zane emerged from the darkness, not in dragon form as they'd expected, but in human form.

"I know you," Zoey whispered. Her eyes narrowed on Zane as he stopped, nodded at Tréan as if he knew him, and focused on her. "I didn't realize it when I saw you before, but I know you."

Any hesitation Magnus might have entertained about ending Zane vanished with those words, and his vision hazed red with a dragon that was ready to rip his brethren to shreds.

"Try it, and you go no further," Zane growled. His dragon eyes flared at Magnus in return as he clearly caught his inner beast"s intentions. "And mark my words, traitor, you want to go further. Want to understand what happened."

"What did you do with her?" Magnus seethed, clenching his fists in an attempt to hold back his furious inner dragon. "What did you do with Aada's body? My daughter's body? My offspring your errant dragons so ruthlessly murdered?"

He didn't care if Zane had seemed tender and regretful. Did not care if he'd shed a tear. In the end, he'd done the worst possible thing one could do to a fellow dragon, never mind one who was kin.

"She is gone," Zane replied, stoic. "Never to return."

Magnus had promised his grandmother and then promised Zoey he would listen and communicate when the time came, but nothing, not even his dragon, could stop his human half from punching Zane square in the face.

"Do not attack," Zane roared to dragons they couldn't see as he staggered back and shook off the punch. His dragon eyes narrowed on Magnus, and a small, challenging smile curled his mouth before he sneered, "Is that all you're capable of these days, Dragon Prince?"

Clearly provoking him, Magnus more than rose to the occasion and charged Zane, sensing rather than seeing Ulrik ordering the others to stay back as Magnus crashed into Zane's midsection, and they hit the ground. After that, the red in Magnus's vision only grew brighter, and his fury became more enflamed as they fought hand to fist like they had when younger.

Sometimes Magnus got the upper hand, sometimes Zane. Either way, nothing felt better than pummeling Zane for all he'd done. For how much he'd changed since they were boys. For ruining the friendship they had once shared. For making war with his father and driving the kingdoms apart.

He got in a good round of solid punches to Zane's mid-section, for ever allowing his men anywhere near Magnus's village. For the terrible harm they had caused. But most of all, for denying him his daughter in the end. For taking away a father's right to say goodbye to his child properly.

By the time they were done landing punches, kicks, and choke holds, they landed on their backs on the rock, both a bloody mess as they struggled to catch their breath. Yet somehow, Magnus hadn't felt this good in a long time. It felt as if his inner beast had found justice it didn't know it craved.

In the meantime, even though everyone had held back, he sensed Zoey's overwhelming need to come to him. How hard it had been to watch what just transpired when she was such a big believer in communication over violence. Yet sometimes, violence is what it took in this era between dragons. Between him and his kin.

Eventually, after he'd caught his breath, Zane accepted Tréan's hand and stood. "Come. I have a healer that will tend our wounds, and then we will discuss what I expect from you next, Magnus."

"I am a healer," Magnus grunted as he accepted Rafe's hand and stood. "As are Rafe and Quinn, so I will—"

"Use my healer, or you will never receive answers to the questions you seek," Zane made clear, heading down the darkened tunnel from which Tréan first appeared with the wolf by his side. "You, your mate, King Ulrik, and Queen Keira can follow. Nobody else. If they do, I will not hesitate to have them slain."

"Don't do it, Magnus," Tyr growled in disgust at Zane's retreating form before looking at Magnus with approval. "You fought well. I am impressed."

"Not well enough," Magnus grunted. "Given he's still standing."

"Nonetheless." ?se nodded at him once with approval. "Outside of Tyr, Zane has always been one of our better fighters, and you held your ground."

"Is that what that was?" Zoey muttered, her heart in her eyes as her brow furrowed, and she looked Magnus over with worry. "That was awful. Unnecessary. You promised you wouldn't."

"Yet I did, and it was needed." Feeling Zoey's deep worry over his state, he slid his hand around the back of her neck and rested his forehead against hers, trying to soothe her inner beast. "I'm all right, min lille droning. Better than I have been in some time."

"This wasn't the best way to do that, though," she whispered, wiping away blood that trickled from the corner of his mouth. "When words—"

"Were never going to be enough." He massaged the tight muscles in her neck and met her eyes. "This had to happen, Zoey. It was the only way for me to get to a point where I would listen to him. Please understand that."

"Whether she does or not, you best follow me now if you want answers,"Zane rumbled into their minds. "I will not wait."

"Of course, he won't," Magnus muttered with disgust. "If things are not on his terms, what is the point?"

"Even so, we need to follow him." Zoey went to touch his swollen, bruised eye but flinched and pulled back, clearly not wanting to hurt him further. "We need to follow him because questions aside, I know him, Magnus. Moreover, Tréan and I know each other, and I have no idea why."

"We will follow at a distance," Tyr assured Ulrik as Magnus finally relented, took Zoey's hand, and they started after Zane. But not before he scooped up a small dagger and shoved it into his boot, bedamned his cousin's threats.

Next time they fought, Magnus would end him once and for all.

"No," Ulrik said to Tyr and ?se when they attempted to follow. "We will heed Zane's request that all of you remain here." His gaze swept over everyone remaining. "Your inner beasts do, however, have an open channel to me and Keira so that you might follow what we learn. So we may all understand together."

Although they clearly didn't like his order, Tyr and ?se complied, and the four of them headed down the darkened tunnel into one of the many mountains rimming the Realm.

"Once again, this is so very familiar," Zoey murmured as they kept traveling through a tunnel not all that different than any other mountainous tunnel in Norway.

"That's far enough," Zane eventually grunted, rolling a wounded shoulder while flinching at the immense pain his other dislocated shoulder must be causing him. He shook his head at Ulrik and Keira. "You must break your telepathic connection with the others now. If you do not, we go no further, and you will not get answers." He looked at Magnus. "And you must heal us because we should not be seen this way."

He frowned. "I thought you had your own healer."

"I do." He gestured at Magnus. "You. Now heal us." His gaze went to Ulrik. "And again, you must break off your connection. Otherwise, we go no further."

"You understand how suspicious that sounds," Ulrik countered.

"He does." Tréan looked at Ulrik with reassurance. "But he's right, my friend." He shook his head once. "You do not want anyone connected to you when you meet them."

"Who are we going to meet?" Keira asked.

"You will see soon enough." Tréan gestured at Magnus. "If he'll use his healing powers and if you will trust us."

"Why should we?" Magnus scowled at Zane. "And why would I want to heal someone I still want to kill?"

"Because soon enough, that will be the last thing you want to do,"Rune whispered into his mind. "Trust him, Magnus. Trust him as you did when we were children."

Something about the way she said it, the strange octave in her voice, took him back to a time when he was truly happy. When he was a child, then a father. The moment he found Zoey again because Rune had made sure he did.

"Because you are to be trusted," he whispered aloud, feeling Rune all around him, lending him strength for a moment before she faded from his mind.

"Who is to be trusted?" Zoey said, looking at him with concern.

"While I never thought I would utter the words...Zane," he murmured, meeting his cousin's eyes. "I will heal you. Heal us both."

What he could never have anticipated, not in a millennium if he had one to mull it over, was what happened after he did.