As he stepped forward, it seemed odd to see him without a limp, but then I remembered. The spirit seal he had carried in his leg for so many years had caused that limp. Now the fire opal was hanging around his neck, sparkling in a way that was almost frightening. It seemed a part of him—and he a part of it.

Venus the Moon Child had been the shaman for the Rainier Puma Pride, until he’d been conscripted by Queen Asteria for the Keraastar Knights. I wondered how the grizzled and crude puma had fared among the regal elves. Chances were, he could strike any one of them down without a problem. The man wasn’t just a Were; he was magic incarnate.

He held out his arm and pulled Delilah to him, kissing her on the cheek. With his other arm, he motioned for Nerissa to join him and he squeezed her to his chest, kissing her soundly on the lips. He had taught my wife how to handle pain, how to translate it into pleasure and use it as a healing force. And he’d taught her well.

Camille let out a shout and ran over to Trillian and Smoky. The dragon caught her up, whirling her around, kissing her soundly as he set her back on the ground, for Trillian to take his turn.

I turned to Hanna. “Can you fetch Amber and Luke? They’ll want to say hello to Venus.”

She nodded and took off for the parlor as Venus motioned for room.

“Let an old man have a chair, would you?” His eyes sparkled, though. As ancient as he might be, he was far from old.

As he dropped into the rocker, Venus gave us a long look before leaning his head against the back of the chair and closing his eyes. It was then that I could see the weariness below the surface that seemed to ooze out of his pores. Smoky and Trillian looked beat, too. So did Roz.

“Trillian, Smoky—why don’t you two go shower and change? Roz, use Delilah’s bathroom.” Camille motioned to Vanzir. “Meanwhile, somebody fix a plate for Venus. Soup and biscuits… whatever we have. Unless you’d like to wash up first, too.”

As Vanzir vanished toward the kitchen, Venus shook his head. “I took a shower at the Elfin camp this morning. I’ll bathe after eating. I know you have many questions for me and I’ll do my best to answer.”

At that moment, Luke and Amber entered the room. They greeted Venus in an odd dialect, one I knew I’d heard before but wasn’t conversant with.

But Camille touched her nose. “You speak in Melosealfôr?”

Venus nodded. “Queen Asteria ran us through an intensive course. It’s a rare dialect, and not many goblins or other miscreants would speak the tongue.”

She nodded. “It’s said that if the language falls from the tongue of an enemy, it will burn their lips with every word. Most of the powerful Cryptos—the ones who are of relatively good nature, that is—know it. And all of the Moon Mother’s witches and priestesses are schooled in it.”

Luke and Amber sat on the sofa. Luke looked a little more comfortable, but Amber still seemed disconnected. My heart hurt to think how good a friend Luke had been to me, and how strained things were now.

Venus seemed to pick up on my thoughts. “The seals, they change the wearer, Menolly. I’ve carried mine since I was first initiated as the shaman for the Pride. It changed who I was long, long ago. You have only ever known me this way. I was vastly different before I underwent the ritual that implanted it into my leg. This pair—this brother and sister—they are young still, in the way of the werewolves. The seals will work on them for many years and alter them. It is the nature of the artifact. Don’t feel bad. This is the way of the world, girl.”

His smile was genuine, if stern. I nodded, holding his gaze. He was a handsome man, that was for sure, in a seasoned, wounded way. I could understand how Nerissa had been drawn to him.

Camille let out a slow breath. “Can you tell us what Queen Asteria was planning to do with the Keraastar Knights? And if those plans are still viable?”

A crafty grin spread across Venus’s face and he let out a low laugh. “Oh, my fair girl, yes I know what she was doing. And I can, and will, let you in on her plans. As for the question of whether they are still viable… that I do not know. The seal Tom had, and Benjamin—if they can be recovered, we can bind them fresh to others who fit the energy signature. The spare one that Luke carries? We were seeking a match for it when the storm hit.”

“So what were you guys doing over there? What were Queen Asteria’s plans for you?”

The silence hung heavy. Venus stared at me, then his gaze moved to Delilah and finally to Camille. It seemed like he was debating whether to answer us—or rather—how to answer us.

“Should we tell them?” Amber spoke up. She didn’t seem nervous, but rather reticent, and I thought I could detect an edge of resentment in her words.

“Of course they must know, especially now. We are not autonomous, Amber. The Keraastar Knights were never meant to be. At best, we are pawns in the hands of destiny, and you would do well to remember that. And now, with the star who guided our destiny sadly under a mound of dirt, we must seek out another to lead us. We were never meant to rule ourselves.” Venus let out a long breath as Vanzir brought him a mug of soup and a plate of biscuits sopping with butter and honey.

Venus eagerly slurped the soup, and we waited patiently. Meanwhile, Smoky and Trillian returned from washing up, and Roz trailed in after them.

“Queen Asteria had stumbled over an ancient text—did she tell you? The Maharata-Verdi?”

This was a new one. We shook our heads. “No, go on. What is it?”

“A scroll from when the spirit seal was first created and broken into nine pieces. It comes from the great Fae Lords. They wrote it down… it is both a prophecy and an incantation. They predicted that one day, a force of nine knights would carry the spirit seals forth… that they would lead an army of magical warriors against a ‘great horde’ who was set to bring the worlds crashing in on each other again.”

“The Keraastar Knights,” Delilah said, staring at him.

Venus nodded. “Yes. The scroll directed that the knights were to be called the Keraastar Knights because of the central stone their Queen wore—the Keraastar diamond. When all nine knights come together, with the nine seals, and their Queen at their helm, it will create a shield that would repel Demonkin and hold the worlds apart. Because the Maharata-Verdi claims that if the portals implode, the worlds will crash together in a cataclysm that will destroy much of both. Not so much like a nuclear bomb, but it will have far-reaching impact on the future of both OW and ES, and release a fuckton of magical chaos.”

With that, Venus fell silent.

We stared at him. He’d pretty much dropped a bombshell on us.

“Okay, do you have the Maharata-Verdi?” It wasn’t that I’d ever doubt him, but had Queen Asteria truly possessed this document? She wasn’t the lying kind but we’d been taken in before.

Venus glanced at Luke and Amber, then slowly reached into the bag he had kept by his side and brought out a small leather tube. He opened it and withdrew a crackling scroll. The antiquity of the paper oozed off it, and at first I wondered how it had lasted so long, but when Camille whispered, “Magic… ,” I knew that it was enchanted.

As the old shaman spread out the vellum on the coffee table, the energy rolled off it so thick that even I could feel it. Camille and Morio knelt down by it, almost reverently. The writing on it looked old—very old.

Camille pored over it. “A very ancient version of Melosealfôr, it looks like. I can pick out part of a word here or there but nothing substantial.” She ran her hand over it, then stood up. “Venus is right, this is ancient beyond counting. I’d say it was created before they made the spirit seal—before the Great Divide.”

Morio nodded. “There’s magic in this scroll that even the Scorching Wars couldn’t rival. You said that there’s an incantation in it?”

“Queen Asteria could read this… and she herself performed the incantations. It binds the spirit seal firmly to the bearer on a soul level, but there has to be a match there—you cannot be bound to the spirit seal if you don’t resonate to it on an energetic level.” Venus took a big bite of a biscuit slathered with honey and butter. “In essence, this scroll creates the Keraastar Knights.”

The room fell silent. I stared at the ancient scroll. “You mentioned the Queen bearing the Keraastar diamond. Did Queen Asteria have that?”

He frowned, then shook his head. “No, but the scroll has a twin, and that twin bears the location of the diamond. And… I know the location of the twin scroll. Queen Asteria entrusted it to me. Why, I don’t know, but she had her reasons and told me one day I’d find out.”

“But if she’s dead, then what good would the diamond do?” Delilah frowned, a confused look on her face.

Venus took her hand. “Little Kitten, understand that the scroll predicts a Queen will wear the diamond… but not which Queen. Queen Asteria was not the one destined to finish the task. It was not for an Elfin Queen… but a Fae Queen. The great Fae Lords made the spirit seal to begin with. Asteria was not, at first, in favor of dividing the worlds. She came around, but it was the Fae race who forged the seals, it was the Fae Lords who rained terror down in the form of the wars that surrounded the Great Divide. They locked Aeval and Titania away. They drove the juggernaut that created Otherworld. So… my belief is that it will be a Fae Queen—an Earthside Fae Queen—who will wear and wield the Keraastar diamond, and she will finish rebuilding the Keraastar Knights and become their leader and champion.”

Camille let out a long breath. “But who… Aeval? Tita- nia?”

I slowly turned to her. “I pray it’s not Morgaine. We would be in for so much trouble if she rose to that kind of power.”

“We can’t let her know about it. But if we keep it from her, that means we keep it from Aeval and Titania. I don’t know how feasible that is.” Camille frowned, pacing the room. “For now, though, as long as the dragons protect the knights, we should be okay. But Venus, you must not let the dragons know about the Keraastar diamond.”

We all glanced at Smoky and Shade to see how they’d take that statement. But both of them nodded in agreement.

Smoky spoke up. “My wife speaks correctly. My people are avaricious. Especially the white dragons. My father’s kin are among the worst of the lot, and they will stop at nothing to attain power and treasure. For now, when you return to the Dragon Reaches, keep silent. And you must hide this scroll.”

Venus paled. “Where, though? It must be protected.”

“Carter. Carter could protect it, couldn’t he?” Vanzir stopped short as soon as the words left his mouth. “Never mind. No, you do not want a demon having that much information in his grasp. Not even a half-demon. I’m amazed you spoke of this in front of me, considering my nature.”

“You are not out to destroy this world,” Venus said.

“There is a place,” I said, mulling over every word, trying to decide if what I was thinking was actually a good idea or not. “What about your barrow, Smoky? It’s sealed off from the rest of the world more tightly than just about any place we know of.”

Camille nodded. “Yes… of course! The barrow. There are spaces deep within the chasm there that we could hide the scroll in—no one would ever find it unless they first destroyed all of us, then decided to go mucking about in there.” She turned to Smoky. “Can we hide it there, my love?”

A strand of his hair reached up to tickle her and then he nodded, his eyes gentle. “You may hide it in my barrow. But we’d best do it soon because once my mother and her helpers arrive to take Venus and the others back with them, they’ll sense anything this old in the house. Shade, stay here. Menolly, you and Rozurial—bring the scroll. I will go with you to help you through the barriers. You can find a place to hide it that even I will not know about.”

“You’d best go quickly.” Shade cocked his head. “I sense a stirring on the wind. The dragons will be here soon.”

“Then we go now, and will return as soon as we finish.”

And with that, we scurried to gather our things, and to go hide the scroll.

Chapter 7

Traveling through the Ionyc Seas wasn’t always the most pleasant thing but it got the job done. And really, considering I was already dead and that it took one hell of a lot to knock me out of commission, the shifting waves of energy rolled over me like water on a duck’s back. I closed my eyes and leaned close to Smoky as he sheltered me in his arm.

Dragons smelled different than humans or Fae. Their pulses ran differently, too. The steady beat of his heart was similar, but it echoed a different rhythm, deeper, like the ancient pulsing of drums in the darkness. I’d noticed it before. As Smoky stepped off the Ionyc Seas, it felt as though we were exiting from a womb, breaking through a psychic amniotic fluid sac. We stepped through, with a sucking sound, and were once again on solid land, in the physical world.

We were standing in front of his barrow, which was out near Mount Rainier. When Camille had first stumbled on the hillock and met the dragon who now claimed her heart, Smoky had been embroiled in a dispute over the ownership of the mound with Titania, the Queen of Light and Morning. But at that point, she had not regained her powers, and had been a pale drunken shadow of her true self. She had been arguing with Smoky over who owned the barrow, while living in a cave inside it.

Now there was no issue. Titania ruled with Aeval and Morgaine in their sovereign nation of Talamh Lonrach Oll, giving up all pretenses to owning Smoky’s land.

Not far from the barrow, through the forest along a wooded trail, was a snug house where Smoky had offered refuge to Georgio Profeta, a man who believed he was Saint George. His childlike vision allowed him to see through the trappings and to know that Smoky was a dragon. For years he had sought to destroy the beast, dressed in his plastic chain mail, with a rubber sword. When his dementia grew too strong, Smoky hired a caretaker for him, and now Saint George and the dragon lived in a peaceful truce.