Page 16 of Sapphire Seas

“Caspian had his arms around me while Mattias held us both, that’s when it happened,” I explained. “My ability to latch on to another dragon’s signature and follow it has never worked that way before. I’ve always had to be asleep or close to their location. With the dragon in the ice, the only times I sensed him being nearby was when I was out near the shores of Norway, the same as when I sensed Caspian for the first time.”

“I must not have been close enough afterwards for you to realize that I was trying to follow you,” Caspian said.

“It’s my fault. I’ve never been able to strengthen my abilities.”

“No, it is not your fault,” Ionus said. “Something or someone doesn’t want you to. You were scanned for leaches when you arrived in Dragon city, so it cannot be one of those, but that does not mean there isn’t another force at work. Tell me everything you’ve learned about the dragon in the ice.”

I downed the rest of my now cold tea before answering, to give myself time to put everything in order for him.

“He is completely encased in ice. Trapped in a thick wall of it that he can’t escape from. It’s not of his doing. He was encased in it because other dragons are afraid of…not him exactly but his element. He’s never been able to communicate what it is though. He’s tried several times but every time he does, the connection gets broken. He’s been there for several centuries. Sometimes he seems to be more aware than others, almost as if he’s just emerging from a state of hibernation. He is alone. There were others he was protecting and attempting to lead somewhere. They were attacked. He led their enemies away in the hopes that the other dragons would make it somewhere safe. What happened to them he does not know. He wants to be freed from the ice. At first, that was all he would say to me. It scared me so I tried to keep from connecting with him again, but my dragon has a mind of his own.”

“My dragon wishes yours would make up his mind about whether to talk to us or not, he’s very wishy-washy about it,” Caspian grumbled.

“He’s the same way with mine,” Mattias said. “Playful one moment, silent the rest.”

Ionus’ fingers drummed on the scarred wooden table. He’d done it so often that there were impressions worn into the wood from him tapping his fingers on it.

I hung my head, my shoulders so rigid that the tension radiated through my neck and skull, making the lingering pain from earlier blooming into something worse. It didn’t begin to fade until Caspian dragged his fingertips up the back of my neck, then down again, creating a blissful blend of rhythm and pressure that soon chased the worst of it away, leaving behind a dull ache.

Much better. I could focus again now.

“They were trying to get to the place they called…”

Oh, holy shit!

I smacked a palm to my forehead and dragged it down to cover my face.

“What is it?” Mattias asked. “Are you alright, mate?”

He still called me mate, even if I still felt as if I’d deceived him by not telling him about my broken abilities.

“I’m fine. I just feel kinda dumb right now for never associating the two before,” I admitted. “He told me that they were looking for the sanctuary city that lay beyond Serpent’s Ridge. Serpent’s Ridge was also what the dragons who pointed us in this direction called the mountains around Dragon City.”

“They were coming here,” Ionus said.

“Yes, and they were attacked not long into their journey,” I explained as the brother’s shared a look.

The rhythm of Ionus’ drumming was different this time. Slower and more deliberate, almost as if he was counting, deep frown lines etching grooves in his face.

“When Alex came to us, questions about his ancestry led us to spend a great deal of time in the archives and gave Caro and Emerson the chance to finally realize that they were mates. Upalo came here looking for Ronan and brought you, another protector’s mate. It stands to reason that you could be meant to lead us to Quint’s.”

“The dragon in the ice?” I murmured. “Do you think…. never mind, now I think it too.”

“Do we tell him now and risk giving false hope, or do we wait to learn more first?” Mattias asked.

“For now, we hold off in informing him,” Ionus said. “We can’t afford for him to not have his head in the game. He’ll want to seek them out immediately and right now, we do not have enough information to start. A long search would leave Dragon City and our compound too vulnerable, and we cannot risk him out there alone without anyone to watch his back.”

“Understood,” Mattias replied.

“Let’s take this into the office where we have room to study the maps of that region,” Ionus said, chair legs scraping against the stone floor as he stood. “You said he’s been there for centuries. We are going to need Emerson. I hate waking him in the middle of the night, but this can’t wait.”

“Breathe.”

Caspian’s voice and the breath that ghosted up my neck when he spoke helped ground me, but it was the way Mattias tugged me against him that truly helped settle my nerves.

“I need a moment with my mates,” Mattias declared.

“Of course, brother, my apologias,” Ionus said before leaving the three of us alone in the kitchen.