They were all gathered over Emrys’s body.
“How can this stone free the dragons?” Urian cocked his head to stare at it.
“I don’t know.” Blaise pulled the ring gently from the man’s hand.
Which was so strange to Medea, as she realized how much younger Emrys Merlin had been than Blaise. “How is he your father when it’s obvious you’re at least ten years older?”
Blaise let out a sad laugh. “He aged backwards.”
“Seriously?”
Nodding, he smiled. “Both he and Nimue. It was a spell.”
“Damn… I need that magick. Any chance you know it?”
“Sorry, Dee. If I did, I’d sell it to Lancôme and retire on an island like Savitar.”
Falcyn snorted. “Having been retired in such a manner I can tell you not to bother. Some asshole always turns up, wanting a favor. Usually when you’re at your most zen… or naked.”
Now that was intriguing. “Spend a lot of time naked, do you?” Medea arched her brow to warn him he’d best be careful with that answer.
He grinned at her. “Only in my natural dragon body. Hard to find clothes that fit.”
Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. “You’re such a goof.”
“I’m a goof? You’re the one asking for aging cream when you don’t age.”
“Yeah, but I can sell it to the humans and make a killing.”
Falcyn gave her a gimlet stare. “That Daimon humor?”
“Kind of.”
“Har… har.” His voice dripped with his sarcasm.
Blaise slid Merlin’s ring onto his hand, then lifted his body and carried it to where Nimue was trapped in the wall.
Silently and reverently, he used his powers to place his father into the wall beside her. As soon as Merlin was a sketching like Nimue, his image reached across and took Nimue’s hand into his. Then, expelling a breath, he settled into the wall and turned pale.
With a ragged breath, Blaise splayed his hand over his father’s image. “They might have fought constantly, but they loved each other more than anything. I couldn’t let them be apart. Not even in death.”
Falcyn patted him on the back as he looked at the two serene frescoes. “They appreciate it.”
A single tear slipped past Blaise’s control to slide down his cheek. Without a word, he wiped it away. “I want Kessar’s heart in my fist.”
“I will hand it to you myself.” Falcyn’s eyes burned with his fury as he made his promise.
Medea cleared her throat gently to get their attention. “I don’t mean to intrude, but I do have one question.… With them gone… how do we get out of here?”
***
“They’re in Val Sans Retour.”
Narishka froze midstep at the last thing she expected to hear. “Pardon?”
The Adoni warrior who’d been serving her for centuries shifted nervously as he rethought his report. He actually took a step back into his two-man armed escort in the narrow hallway that was lit by the glowing entrails of the gutted demons who’d displeased the mistress they served. As soon as they parted and he collided with the wall, he grimaced and swallowed hard. “I heard it from the Sylph queen myself. They entered her realm a short time ago. A mandrake, a dragon, an Apollite, a Deathseer, and a man whose powers they couldn’t identify. Apparently, they’ve befriended Brevalaer.”
She cursed Morgen’s lack of foresight for banishing her toy right into Emrys’s treacherous hands. “A Deathseer, you say?”
