I Am the Night (The Night Firm Book 3) Read online

  "We," I clarify. "What we've accomplished. I couldn't have done this—any of this—alone."

  As we head to the carriage, it begins to rain, and a flash buzzes in my brain, giving me a low grade headache.

  We were already headed to see Lyx, but now I know, we must hurry. I just don't know why.

  The Dragon

  Do not stand at my grave and weep

  I am not there; I do not sleep.

  I am a thousand winds that blow,

  I am the diamond glints on snow,

  ~Mary Elizabeth Frye, Do Not Stand at My Grave and Weep

  My heart hammers in my chest in excitement as we head to the carriage. Lily rides up front to drive and the five of us pile into the back.

  It's a bumpy trip to the Light Dragon's home base, and not one particularly suited for a horse and buggy, but it's the easiest way for all of us to travel. I make a mental note that we should pave some roads along this path soon. For everyone's sake.

  While I didn't know Lyx well before, working with her these past few weeks has brought us closer. Even her relationship with the Night brothers has mended as we all worked side by side to build her and her people a new home. I've witnessed her devotion to Ava'Kara's baby, watching as she has cared for the dragon child as her own. I've seen her dedication to her people, tireless and unconditional. She gets her hands dirty, working with us day in and day out. At night, after a long day, we will sit with her around a camp fire, stew cooking over the flames in a cast iron pot, as we shared stories, made music, formed friendships.

  This work has been immensely fulfilling, and it's largely thanks to the Light Dragon and her vision for what could be. I can't wait to tell her what's now possible, thanks to the trees willingness to transform themselves. It's truly a game changer.

  The carriage wheel hits a stone and wobbles to one side, but Elijah uses his wind magic to help it stay righted as we hastily continue our journey.

  We stop abruptly and I lurch forward into Derek's lap, who catches me with a cheeky grin. "If you wanted to get closer, all you had to do was ask." He winks and helps me exit the carriage with some manner of dignity left.

  His flirtatious smile lingers as we look around for Lyx.

  We have come to a hidden cove carved into the side of a massive mountain. The shore is covered in a carpet of mossy green, dotted with brilliant yellow flowers that lead to a glassy clear stretch of water being fed by a tall waterfall crashing off the jagged rocks of the mountain.

  But a scream catches in my throat when I look at the water more closely.

  Floating face up is Lyx'Ara, her eyes open, a wound in her chest oozing a viscous purple.

  "Lyx!" I scream and run to the edge of the water, using my magic to pull her to shore.

  "Is that… her blood?" I whisper, unable to pull my eyes away. She practically glows in the water, her Light magic clinging to her and giving me some hope that despite all evidence to the contrary, she might still be okay.

  "Yes," Elijah says. "Dragons bleed purple."

  With tears stinging my eyes, I step into the lake and reach for her, pulling her to shore. Her blood stains my clothes and my hands, but I don't care. Once on land, I check her vital signs to no avail.

  "Liam, help her!" I scream.

  Liam is already by my side, examining her as thoroughly and carefully as he can, his face hard, his eyes serious.

  Finally he looks up. "She's… dead."

  "She… she can't be," I say, too astonished to form a clear thought. "That makes no sense. Try again!"

  Liam shakes his head. "I'm sorry. But… it looks like someone murdered her."

  "How?" I demand. "How can you even kill a dragon? I thought they were immortal? The most powerful beings in the world."

  Elijah kneels beside us, examining her himself. "They are. And the only thing that can kill a dragon… is another dragon," he says.

  "There's no murder weapon on her body," Derek says. "But it appears she was killed by a puncture to her chest from something cylindrical in shape with a very sharp tip."

  "And her soul hasn't departed," Elijah says. "It should have."

  "What do you mean?" I ask. I'm trying hard not to hyperventilate. My hands are still stained with her blood. I've still got her head in my lap.

  "When a dragon dies, it's thought their souls depart and their bodies turn to magic and dissipate, putting themselves back into the universe to live again," Elijah says. "But her soul is still attached to her body, and she clearly hasn't turned to magic."

  "Have you ever seen a dragon die?" I ask softly.

  The brothers all shake their heads. "No one has," Sebastian says. "Except you."

  He looks at me and I realize he's right. I was there when Ava'Kara died. And she did disappear into magic, though I assumed that was a byproduct of the spell, not the standard MO for magical spontaneous dragon cremation.

  "We need to get Ifi and Elal here," I say to no one in particular.

  Lily nods. "I can go. I don't need a carriage."

  I'm about to ask how, but she's gone before I get the words out.

  I return my focus to the Light Dragon and run my hands over her eyes, closing them. Even in death she is just as beautiful, with her silver hair and inner glow. It's then that I notice she's clutching something in her hand. I pry it open and find her signet ring within. I take it to study, wondering if this was some kind of clue about her killer. Why was she holding it instead of wearing it?

  Knowing how the justice system works here—which is not well—I pocket it, hoping to uncover any secrets it might hold, and then look around. "Where's the baby?"

  Liam glances at me, frowning. "That's an excellent question."

  "We need to find her before whoever killed Lyx does. Maybe they were after the child?" The thought makes me sick, but I know I can't afford to overlook this possibility. Ava'Kara tasked me with looking after her heir until she came of age, and I will be damned if I don't do everything in my power to honor her last wishes.

  Ava'Zara, the daughter and air to the Water Dragon, has grown more than expected in the weeks we've been working with Lyx. The child mostly stays in dragon form, but every so often she'll change to her more human form, I suspect to marvel at it. But she seems to prefer being a dragon, and who wouldn't, if I'm being honest.

  "Maybe they already have the child," Sebastian says darkly.

  "I refuse to believe that," I say, as I gently move Lyx off my lap and onto the mossy ground so I can look for the child.

  "Zara?" I call out to her softly, hoping she's nearby. The brothers join the searching, looking for clues, making notes about the crime scene.

  As I look for the baby, Callia's training comes back to me. "Use your magic to amplify your senses," she would tell me. "You are so much more powerful than you realize."

  So I do. I close my eyes and dig deep into myself, into the well of elemental power that lives within me, and I gently tug at a string. Another trick Callia taught me. To braid the elements into a string that I can use when I need a little bit of all six of my abilities.

  My skin tingles as the magic dances over me, as if it's lighting me up. I send the string out, imbuing it with myself, with my senses. What it sees, I see. What it hears or feels, I hear and feel. And that is how I sense the presence of Zara, hiding behind the waterfall deep within the cave. She's scared. And she's not alone.

  "I've found her," I announce to the guys, who all approach me. "She's close, but someone is with her."

  Sebastian moves to leave. "Stay here, I'll be back."

  I grab his arm. "We go together. I'm no damsel in distress, remember?"

  As if to prove my point, I raise my arms and as I do, the water before us parts, revealing the bottom of the pool and a path straight to the waterfall. Even Derek—the Water Druid himself—looks impressed, and we all walk forward, each of us on alert. We don't know what we'll find in the cave. Someone helping the child, or the person who killed Lyx.

  My fingers ignite
with flames as my protective instincts flare up, and Liam looks at my hands and shows me his. He's got a fireball ready.

  I nod and we continue. The waterfall parts for us at my command and I guide the brothers past the damp entrance into the depth of the cave that divides into tunnels leading in several directions.

  "Which way?" Sebastian asks, his muscles tense, his jaw clenched. All four of them look on edge, and I'm sure I look the same.

  I close my eyes and pull on that thread of power again, letting it guide me. "To the left," I say, pointing.

  The cave is musty and wet, and everything I step on makes a dead kind of squishy sound that makes my skin crawl.

  I hear a tiny roar, like that of a baby dragon, and I move faster, using the fire in my hands as flashlights to see. The others don't need it, they can see fine in the dark.

  The tunnel expands into an open space with crystals hanging from the ceiling and a small pond of muddy water in the center. A tiny blue dragon floats in the water, making playful growling sounds and spitting water from her mouth as she practices her dragon gifts.

  "Zara!" She looks up at me and makes a cute chirping noise, then flaps her wings and awkwardly flies to my arms, landing heavily against my chest, soaking me with mud and water. But I don't care. I'm too relieved that she's unharmed. She nuzzles her head against my chest and I hold her more tightly as I look around.

  "I know you're here," I say to the other person hiding in the cave. "You can come out now. We're not going to hurt you."

  I wait a moment, the silence deafening, but I caution the brothers to stay still with a sharp glance. If we make a ruckus, the person won't come out.

  Finally, a small shuffling sound alerts us to the presence of a young girl. She is soaking wet and looks about nine or ten years old. She wears rags that stick to her frail, bone thin body, her dirty blond hair caked with grime and clinging to a face that looks sunken in from hunger. Tears streak her skin, creating trails as they clear off the dirt from her cheeks.

  I kneel down to her level. "What's your name?" I ask in my softest voice. The child looks like a wild animal ready to bolt at the slightest hint of danger.

  "Ana," she says.

  "What are you doing in here?" Sebastian asks, his voice gruff, and she shies back, sinking into the shadows around her.

  "Sebastian, she's scared. Use your gentle voice." I reprimand.

  I hand him the dragon, who curls up in his arms happily, and take small steps towards the girl. "I'm Eve," I say. "I'm a friend of Lyx. Were you her friend too?"

  From the shadows I see her small head bob. "I tried to save her," she says softly.

  My heart leaps at that. "Did you see what happened to Lyx?" I ask. "Who hurt her?"

  The girl shakes her head, and my heart plummets. If only it had been that easy. "I was taking Zara for a walk. Lyx let's me help with the baby sometimes." She puffs out her chest, clearly proud of her trusted standing with the Light Dragon. "We got back and she was floating in the water, bleeding. I went to her, and she looked at me, like she was okay. But, but she was scared. She said to go, to… " She hesitates, her lower lip quivering. "To take the baby and hide. Then the light went out of her eyes and I ran in here with Zara. I… " She sniffles. "I didn't know what else to do."

  The child begins sobbing, and I close the distance between us and pull her into my arms, holding her close. She cries on my shoulder until her tears are used up, then sniffles and wipes her face with the back of her hand. "Is it my fault?" she asks in a voice that cracks my heart open.

  "No, love, it's not your fault. You did the right thing. You saved Zara."

  Liam clears his throat. "We need to leave. Once word spreads, Enforcers will be here."

  Shit.

  "We have to get Zara out of here before they arrive. I don't trust anyone else to take her right now."

  Derek looks like he's about to argue, but I stand firm. "She's coming with us, until we know what happened. All I know for sure is that none of us killed Lyx, so we are the only ones I trust at the moment."

  I take Ana's hand and lead her out of the cave. "Where are your parents?" I ask.

  She shrugs. "Don't got none. Lyx took care of me."

  Double shit.

  "Would you like to come home with us? At least until we can find you a proper home."

  Derek frowns again, but says nothing. Smart man.

  The girl looks at the brothers, then back at me, and slowly nods.

  "Good, let's get out of here and we'll show you the castle we live in. You're going to love it."

  The girl's eyes widen as I once again part the waters so we can cross back to land. "How'd you do that?" she asks.

  "It's part of my powers," I say. Then I point to our carriage. "I need you to go get in there okay? We'll be right behind you."

  She reluctantly releases my hand and does as instructed, petting the horses on the way, and I approach the Night brothers. Sebastian still has the baby dragon in his arms.

  "We shouldn't take the kids with us," Derek says, frowning. "It's a bad idea on so many levels."

  "I know," I say, "but what choice do we have? Ana has nowhere to go. She's skin and bones as it is, plus she may have witnessed the murder, or at least seen more than she remembers. And Zara's life could be in danger. We don't know why Lyx was killed or how, so we have to assume the baby dragon's a target until we learn more. And that means hiding her from the Enforcers and especially the dragons."

  Liam shifts, his posture still on alert. "I agree with Eve. We can't leave them behind."

  Elijah shrugs. "It would be fascinating to learn more about the behaviors and habits of a newly hatched dragon. So little is known about them given how rare they are in general."

  Derek sighs and looks to Sebastian for support, but Zara purrs against his chest, snuggled tight and looking quite content. The Earth Druid shrugs and I smile at the scene of him looking so nurturing.

  "You all realize we could lose our license to practice law for this, right?" asks Derek.

  "Maybe it's time we found a new calling anyways," Liam says, surprising us all.

  "You don't want to be a lawyer anymore?" I ask.

  "I didn't say that," he says, "but when you are immortal, it does well to change things up a bit from time to time. I've been thinking a lot about the past and what our future might hold. I'm just not sure I want to spend too many more years at this."

  Derek looks beyond exasperated, but shakes his head. "We can't have this conversation right now. We have to go. Particularly if we are kidnapping two children."

  "We are," I confirm, smiling at the baby dragon and trying not to look at Lyx's body lying by the water. "We should go.” But we don’t leave right away. Without exchanging words, we all pause before the water and stand in silence moment. In honor of Lyx's life, in mourning of her death. Then we turn to the carriage.

  Derek, still annoyed with all of our plans, sits up front to. Liam joins him, leaving me in the back with the two kids, Sebastian and Elijah.

  The plan is to head straight to the castle and to avoid any confrontation on the way.

  But, that plan is shit upon within fifteen minutes of driving.

  The steady rainfall that began earlier turns into a full scale storm, cracking the sky open and shifting the earth in its power and force. Everyone looks at me, but I shrug. "I'm not doing this."

  The horses neigh in panic, pulling against each other and toppling our carriage to the side.

  Sebastian clutches the dragon, and I reach for Ana, holding her close and cocooning us in a ball of air to cushion our fall.

  Still, we land hard, and I know I'll have bruises tomorrow to tell this tale.

  Liam rushes to help pull Ana out of the carriage just as a fire ball lands a few feet away, singeing the earth and nearly incinerating us.

  The baby dragon hiccups and a stream of water flows out of her mouth, quenching the flames, but another fire ball hits to our right and Ana screams and hides behind me.
<
br />   "What the hell is happening?" I shout, using my magic to quench the fires as fast as they appear.

  The wind is a frenzied thing, whipping around us as flames continue to rain from the sky and burn the earth. I look up and see them. Two giant dragons fighting amidst the thunderous clouds. I recognize the red one. Dath'Racul, the Fire Dragon. But the other is new to me. It's a pale blue dragon with shimmering white scales around its face. "That's the Air Dragon?" I ask.

  Elijah nods. "Ventus'Arak. He and Dath'Racul don't always see eye to eye."

  I snort. "That's pretty clear."

  Through the wind we can hear them speaking… or rather shouting at each other. "You killed her!" Ventus says.

  Racul roars, sending another fire ball flaming through the sky. "I did no such thing."

  "If not you, then who? You always hated her for leaving the Council," Arak says.

  "That does not mean I killed her," he bellows.

  Two more dragons fly up. One a deep green and the other dark as pitch. Ra'Terr, the Darkness Dragon, I recognize as the one who guards the prison. But I've never seen the earth dragon before. She's magnificent. Her scales sparkle under the Dragon's Breath and look like emeralds shining in the sky.

  "That's Brock'Mir," Elijah says. "And this is what remains of the Dragon Council," he says with sadness in his voice. "To lose two dragons so close together is a true tragedy for our world."

  "Brothers, cease this bickering. We must work together to find out who killed our sister," Brock'Mir says, but they ignore her and continue fighting, shaking the earth and splitting the sky with their fury.

  I fear their wrath will not end until another dragon has been killed, very likely taking us with them.

  "We need to get out of here," I shout, as I survey the damaged, overturned carriage.

  Pulling on my power, I use the wind to right the wagon, setting it back on its wheels, but still it tilts to one side since one of them are broken. The horses are still in a panic, and I approach them cautiously, infusing myself with light as I pour peace into them. They calm quickly, despite the tumultuous storm still raging around us.