Page 40 of Dragon’s Rogue

He took it from her now, cradled it in his hands, but he already knew what he would find. He’d listened to all the dragonflies in the case a few minutes ago, heard their songs, and he would have known if one of them was the Seal.

This one wasn’t. None of them were.

Nonetheless, his stomach dropped, and it was hard to keep the disappointment out of his voice. “It’s exquisite,” he said. “But it’s not the piece we’re looking for.”

But the disappointment settled in his chest, weighing down his heart. If Blaze didn’t have the Dragonfly Seal, then she wasn’t one of the Three.

They were back to square one. The Seals might never be found.

And if she wasn’t one of the Three, was she even really his mate? Or was Thorne right, and the Three were a myth, or a prophecy that could never apply to Wild Dragons?

Blaze’s face had fallen too. She wanted to help, he realized. Somehow, they’d gone from adversaries to… he didn’t know what. But prophecy or not, he wanted it to be more. “I don’t suppose you have any other dragonflies?” he said hopefully.

Blaze shook her head. “Just a cheap music box my mother gave me,” she said. “It’s pretty, but it’s not magical. At least, not that I ever knew. It’s not even valuable.”

He knew he was grasping at straws, but he had to check every possibility. He couldn’t go back to Thorne and Tyr empty-handed. They were running out of time.

And he wanted so badly for her to be the one.

“Can I see it?”

Blaze hesitated, and he held his breath. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll get it.”

Chapter 21

Blaze hurried up the stairs to her bedroom, then closed the door and leaned against it, panting. And not from exertion.

She was insane, leaving a thief alone in her artifact room, with her dragonfly display case open. He could dump it all into a sack and walk away.

But somehow, she knew he wouldn’t. He could have claimed the Dragonfly of Morocco was this magical Seal he was looking for, but he hadn’t. And he hadn’t been faking the devastation in his eyes when he realized the thing he’d been seeking wasn’t there.

This was really important to him. As important as protecting the idol was to her. And she could tell his fear of failing at his mission ate away at him, just as the fear of not being able to keep the idol out of Silas’s hands ate away at her.

Maybe even more. She wished, suddenly, that he would tell her what he needed. What he was. Confide in her.

She went over to her bedside table and picked up the music box. This couldn’t possibly be what he was looking for, but she found herself desperately hoping that it could be, even though it would kill her to give it up.

Because she knew what it was like, to give your life to a lost cause.

She went back downstairs. Zane was still in front of the display cabinet, touching first one dragonfly, then another. There was a small, faraway smile on his face, and she felt like she’d caught him in a private moment.

He looked up as she came in the room, and smiled at her. A real smile, his eyes holding hers, making her feel safe and shivery at the same time.

“Here’s the music box.” She went across and held it out to him. “Like I said, I’m sure it’s nothing.”

He took it and opened it up, the tinkling sound of the music filling the room, sounding fake and tinny after the music he’d called from the gold.

He held the box for a moment, his fingertips touching the dragonfly inside it, his eyes going unfocused as he felt its energy.

She found herself holding her breath, and then letting it out in disappointment as he shook his head slightly.

He looked up and smiled at her. “It’s not the Seal, but it’s not nothing. You love it. You’ve spent a lot of time holding it, and it makes you happy.”

He could tell that just by holding it? Suddenly, she found herself blinking back tears. “My mother gave it to me,” she said. “Right before… right before I left our coven. Before I took the idol from Silas and had to leave.”

Her voice got husky as she tried to keep it steady. “The idol destroyed them,” she said. “It killed my mother. Thinking about them usually makes me sad, so I try not to. But this…” she reached out and stroked the dragonfly, “somehow, the memories that come to me when I hold this are always happy ones.”

He nodded, then closed the box. “I’m sorry about your parents.”