“If he hadn’t asked you to—Neither of you are to blame for this. It’s the fault of whoever it was who knew what happened to his keep. Someone at your keep was responsible for it. Someone knew about this war or this genocide or whatever happened.”
Cain sighed, but there was a high color on his cheeks and Talon could tell he was angry more than anything else. “She had to have known. This seer. She had to have known what happened. Damn it. I wish she had told me so I could be prepared, so that I knew what to look into.”
“We’ll help you. Me and Reno. Triton.” Talon rocked Mercury in his arms. “We need to know because if this is going to be a threat to Mercury or to anyone else here, we need to take care of it now.”
“We’ll have a serious meeting about this tomorrow. Everyone who is involved in the rescue of the omegas will come.” He gave Mercury a pointed look. His hailee was wrapped in his arms, face against Talon’s chest, just hiding. “For now, I think you should take your hailee home and spend some time together.”
“Yes, of course I agree.” He nodded, rising with Mercury in his arms so he could carry his sweet love back down to their apartment. While he didn’t think Mercury had in any way been pining for his lost lover, at least not in recent times, this had to be a shock, and they would have to work through it.
“I feel awful,” Mercury said once they were out of Cane’s earshot, making their way down the long hall that led from his apartment. “I didn’t mean to get him hurt.”
“And I’m sure he didn’t mean to stumble over something that neither one of you was supposed to see, getting you locked up in a tower without your heartstone for years and years.”
Mercury searched his gaze. “Are you mad at him? At Biram?”
“No, sweet. I am mad at the ones who did this to you. I’m mad at dragons who wipe out whole keeps of other dragons and then act like it’s someone else’s fault or punish someone because they had the terrible luck of finding out what had happened.”
“And you’re not angry at me either?”
“How could I be angry at you? You’re my hailee, and without the situation I would never have found you. I hate that you were so unhappy. And I probably would give you your life back then if I could, but I’m selfish enough to be glad that you’re here with me now.”
Mercury nodded, wrapping both arms around Talon’s neck. “And I’m glad I’m here with you. My new stone is amazing. While I feel horrible for Biram and his people, I’m glad I’m not at my old keep anymore.”
“Good. I’m glad. I hope you won’t have terrible guilt about this. It’s not your fault.”
“I will try. It may take me a few days to work through it all, but I love you so much and I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
He squeezed Mercury tight, kissing his cheek. “Good. Now, I think we need to order milkshakes.” They had become his solution to a great many things.
Mercury just snorted the sound a little bit wet, but not unhappy. “I think that’s a great idea.”
Chapter
Eight
Mercury insisted on being in on the meeting the next day with Cain and all of his lieutenants. There were a few other seers there too, as well as all of the omegas. Even the fabled Jack, who he had yet to meet, and his mate were there.
Jack was a very urban-looking dragon wearing a suit, his dark hair brushed ruthlessly back off of his forehead, but his eyes spoke of a powerful dragon who could move mountains.
“So, what is all of this about?” Triton asked. He was Talon’s brother, a scarred, serious-looking dragon who had proven that he didn’t hold any sort of ill will in his heart toward Mercury. His caution to begin with had simply been that—caution.
Cain took a good look around, then gave Mercury an encouraging smile before he started. “It’s come to my attention that Mercury here was a witness, even in an oblique way, to the total destruction of a dragon keep. He had a very dear friend at his former keep who had asked Mercury to slide him to his old home. When they got there, they found it destroyed, completely, no life in attendance. This is quite a development, and something that I felt you all needed to be informed of.”
Kami gave him a look, eyes narrowed, but it didn’t look accusatory; it was more speculative. “So that’s why they lockedyou away. You had something you could hold over their heads. This very dear friend of yours, who was from this destroyed keep. Why did he end up at your keep?”
“He was some sort of envoy.” Mercury shrugged. “He had brought gifts and trade goods to my keep and was negotiating some kind of agreement. He never really told me too much about it because it was considered a private deal. Something I wasn’t privy to.”
Cerran whistled. “Right, so the negotiator shows up, he brings all sorts of riches and promises more where that came from. While he’s tucked away at your keep, they go kill everybody at his. Did your keep have alliances with anyone else?”
Mercury hunched his shoulders because he didn’t like to think about the warlike keep just to the south of them, who had always been their closest allies. “We did, and neither of our keeps were particularly rich with natural resources anymore, unless it was fish.” He wrinkled his nose just the thought of eating fish, making him want to gag.
“So there you go. This keep that your lover was from.” That was Jack, asking him a question directly and making him feel very exposed. “Was it full of natural resources?”
He shrugged. “I think so? Biram said it was filled with great artisans, vast quantities of gold and silver. I liked the idea of art everywhere…”
Biram had told a lot of stories about his home, and they had been almost like fairy tales. This beautiful, peaceful place where there was music in the streets. Everyone had food and was given opportunities to grow and learn whatever they wanted. It had been like a fantasy land. And Mercury had to admit he never really thought it was real.
Kami’s stare narrowed even more. “Could you slide us there?”
