Chapter 34
Zane waited for his brothers, pacing back and forth near the door, running Blaze’s necklace through his hands over and over.
He’d put her on the bed, but he didn’t trust himself to get near her. He could still feel the idol’s evil influence trying to take him over; he could feel his dragon’s darkest instincts fighting to be set free.
She was still unconscious, but moaning softly as if she were in pain.
Every cell in Zane’s body wanted to go over there, but he couldn’t trust himself.
It seemed like an eternity before he heard his brothers’ hurried footsteps in the hallway, felt their presence.
Don’t let them near our mate! his dragon warned.
Ruthlessly, he beat back the idol’s influence. She’s sick. They have to heal her.
He’d described the situation to Thorne as best he could. Healing wasn’t one of his major talents; Tyr had made a study of it, though, and Thorne had more of the Drakens’ natural healing abilities than either Tyr or Zane.
Between them, he prayed they could cleanse the darkness out of Blaze before it got a good hold.
He remembered the shadows that had sprung from them as they fought the idol last night, connecting them with it. It seemed that brief contact had given it a foothold inside them.
Zane wanted to vomit, as if that would get the darkness out of him.
Thorne and Tyr burst into the room, Tyr carrying a box of magical supplies.
He immediately began setting up a spell circle, lighting white candles and incense made of cleansing herbs.
“Check on Blaze,” Zane said. “She’s—she’s hurting.”
The thought of her in pain made him physically sick. That and the knowledge that he’d practically attacked her. He could still feel his lip throbbing, taste the trickle of blood where she’d bitten him.
Thorne sat on the bed next to Blaze, putting one hand on her forehead, the other on her chest. Zane clenched his teeth, a strangled growl coming from his throat at the sight of another dragon with his hands on Zane’s mate.
Thorne was quiet for a moment, frowning in concentration. “I can feel the influence,” he said. “It’s trying its damnedest to take her over, and it’s strong. It’s going to take all three of us to get it out of her.”
“Well, let’s do it,” Zane said. “What are we waiting for?”
“We have to get it out of you first,” Thorne pointed out. “Or her darkness will feed off you and make things worse.”
“Then do it without me!” Zane said. “Look at her! It’s killing her. She’s burning up.”
Thorne said, “She’s okay for the moment. She’s got some kind of magical protection that’s fighting it hard. Maybe your necklace. That gives her some protection—” He broke off as he pulled the lapel of Blaze’s robe aside. “Where’s the necklace?”
“Here. She took it off. I don’t know why she took it off.” That still hurt, even though he knew she hadn’t been in her right mind.
“The idol’s influence, probably,” Thorne said. He held out his hand, and Zane tossed the necklace to him. As soon as Thorne put it around Blaze’s neck, Zane felt something inside him ease. The gold in the room sounded a faint harmonic, and Blaze’s whimpering stopped.
“Ready now,” Tyr said. Zane went to step inside the circle, but Tyr put up his hand. “Thorne first,” he said.
“What?” Thorne said. “I didn’t connect with the damn thing.”
“You were holding it when it activated, though,” Tyr said. “Last night, before we put it in the spell cage. And you started to get wacky right afterward. I wondered why you got treasure fever over something that wasn’t even in your hoard. And you wouldn’t let me heal you after what happened this afternoon, either.”
Now Zane realized that Thorne wore bandages under his shirt, both in the front where he’d been hit by Tempest’s magic bullet, and in the back where Tyr had clawed him.
Thorne looked startled, but stepped into the spell circle. Tyr ran his hands slowly through the air about an inch from Thorne’s body, scanning him. He stopped at a spot just below his heart.
“That’s what I thought. Here. Drink this.” He handed a small potion vial to Thorne, and he tossed it back like a shot of whiskey.
“Ugh.” Thorne made a face. “Put a little peppermint or something in it next time, would you?”
“Don’t be a fucking baby,” Tyr muttered. “Now, hold this.” He tossed a rough lump of gold at Thorne, about the size of his fist. Zane knew it was a part of Thorne’s hoard, one of his first pieces, and so one of the most precious and most attuned to him.
Tyr held a narrow dark crystal cylinder about as long as his hand. It was a harmony stone—a crystal that could be tuned to match the harmonics of a dragon’s hoard, focusing its power to help heal him. Tyr flicked his finger against it, making it vibrate, tuning it to the gold Thorne held.
Then he picked up a large clear quartz crystal in his other hand. “Here goes. Brace yourself. And no whining.”
He positioned the point of the clear crystal over the spot he’d identified near Thorne’s heart, and began to chant in ancient Draken. Slowly, Thorne’s gold began to sing, the harmony stone intensifying the song. The crystal glowed with a bright light. When it was almost too bright to look at, it shot a beam of light into Thorne’s chest. He gave a strangled cry as darkness was sucked out of him and into the crystal, dimming its light.
The crystal’s glow faded and Thorne was left in the middle of the circle, sweating and panting. “Fuck it all, Tyr, you have all the finesse of a construction worker with a jackhammer.”
“You’re welcome,” Tyr said. He rubbed the crystal with a white cloth specially anointed with magical oils. The darkness seeped out of the crystal and into the cloth. Tyr put the cloth carefully in a rune-stitched bag to be burned later.
“Next,” he said, looking at Zane. He gave him a vial of potion.
With one more agonized look at Blaze, Zane stepped into the spell circle, downing the potion in one gulp. Thorne was right; it tasted vile.
Tyr was circling the room, tuning his stone to Zane’s gold. As it all resonated in harmony, Zane felt a slight easing in his chest, and he heard Blaze give out a small sigh.
His heart clutched with worry. “Let’s get this over with so we can help her,” he ground out.
It was worse than he’d expected, and it took both his brothers. Thorne held the harmony stone, keeping the frequency tuned properly and directing the power of Zane’s gold.
When Tyr turned the crystal on him, he felt like it was gouging out his internal organs one by one. Everything went dark around him, and all he could feel was ripping pain. If it weren’t for the pieces of his hoard supporting him with their song, he would have screamed in agony.
He gritted his teeth, but he could still hear himself emitting strangled noises. It seemed to go on forever. Finally the pain ended and he was on his knees in the middle of the circle, soaked with sweat and panting like he’d flown for miles at top speed.
Tyr was wiping the crystal with a cloth that was quickly turning black. Zane shuddered, thinking that had been inside him, growing, eating away at his soul.
Blaze gave another moan. Zane got unsteadily to his feet, but Thorne was already at the bed. She was curled on her side, clutching her stomach.
Thorne had his hand on her forehead. “Damn. Her fever’s rising,” he said.
Tyr joined them, scanning Blaze magically. “There’s definitely something wrong here. It’s like a magical immune reaction. Maybe the necklace—”
He broke off as the smell of burnt cloth filled the air, and then the back of Blaze’s robe began to smoke. A hole burned through the robe over the small of her back. Zane suddenly remembered her tattoo, the way it had felt hot after they made love this afternoon.
Now the damn thing was about to set her robe on fire. As the fabric smoldered and disintegrated, light glowed from the tattoo, and he could see it was a circle with a dragonfly inside.
“What the hell is that?” Thorne asked.
“Fucking hell,” Tyr breathed. “I think it’s the Seal.”