They have been planning this forever, Lennox realized, pacing through the glass cage carefully constructed to keep him inside it. They have been waiting for me to do anything to cause my own undoing. This has been their plan for ages.

It had to be. There was no way that the prison in which he stood could have been made in a matter of days. His brothers had been plotting his demise for longer than Lennox could even begin to comprehend, and the dread was almost overwhelming, threatening to bring him to his knees.

How much anger and hatred did they hold against him to do such a thing? What were they going to do now? Were they just going to keep him locked up in a glass cage for eternity?

They had said little to him, forcing him through the doorway while he breathed fire and fought against them, having fully shifted. In the end, he was no match for all four of his brothers, and he forced himself to calm down and find a way to escape his prison.

But how could he calm down when all he could think about was Gia, who had been left trembling and terrified as he was hauled away from her?

Lennox’s fury grew with each passing hour. If they had done anything to her…

The door to the room opened, and Castor shuffled inside, carrying a tray of raw meat.

“Your Highness,” he announced, shifting his eyes downward. “I’ve brought you food.”

Lennox froze, staring at his driver as he approached the glass cage. “Castor, you have to let me out of here,” he said. “I’m the ruler of the Hollows! This is treason!”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness, I have my orders,” Castor said. His tone made Lennox doubt how sorry he actually was.

You haven’t always acted regally, he reminded himself as Castor leaned down to shove the tray through a slot. He was probably still bitter about his sisters. Even after all this time, Lennox still hadn’t apologized for it.

The metal tray clanked to the floor, and the lycan turned to hurry away.

“Castor!” Lennox called him. He froze in his tracks but kept his back to Lennox, as if he feared making eye contact.

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“Who’s in charge up there?” Lennox asked. “Is it Wilder?”

Castor slowly turned to face him. “I’m not entirely sure,” he confessed. “There seems to be some dispute over who is ruling the Hollows at the moment.”

Well, that can’t be good, Lennox thought, biting on his lower lip. If the rest of the Hollows saw how weak they were now, they would smell the blood in the water like sharks.

“Castor,” he said. “I need you to find Gia Cirone. I need you to bring her—”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness,” Castor interjected, “but you’re not allowed visitors.”

“This is bullshit!” Lennox roared. “They can’t do this! I won’t let them get away with it!”

“Eat, Your Highness,” Castor said, gesturing toward the metal tray on the floor. “You should keep your strength up.”

“Castor!” Lennox yelled pleadingly. “Can you at least find out what they did to her?”

Castor’s brow knit. “To whom?”

“Gia Cirone! Is she hurt? Did they lock her up too?”

Castor shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he answered. “Their issue was not with Miss Cirone.”

The relief that flooded through Lennox at Castor’s former response quickly changed into more dread at his latter answer.

“Castor,” he tried again, his tone plaintive. “I am not the enemy here. They are making a mistake.”

“It is not my place to dispute the brothers, Your Highness. Is there anything else?”

Lennox could see Castor was eager to be on his way, so he sighed in defeat. “Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t do right by your sisters. I know I haven’t always been the best creature, but I never intentionally hurt anyone. I hope you and your family can forgive me.”

Castor’s mouth fell open in surprise, though no sound came out of it.

“You can go,” Lennox mumbled. It was clear to see that pleading with Castor would get him nowhere. At least he had said what he had wanted to.

His driver disappeared, leaving Lennox to rest his massive head against the cool, indestructible glass, his huge body falling back into his mortal form as he slowly resigned to his fate.

I’ll never see Gia again, he thought. Everything will go back to the way it was before I was granted my wish. Wilder will become the same tyrant he always was, and it will all have been for nothing. Why did I ever agree to the wish?

His wish.

Lennox raised his head, feeling the hairs on his arms standing on edge. Mira had told him that she had foreseen the outcome of granting him his wish. She had known this would happen. And not only that—she had sought Lennox out in New Orleans. Had Wilder sent her? No, that didn’t make any sense. But then why had she offered Lennox a wish? Had it been to execute some petty revenge, or had it been something even worse?

Lennox recalled a time, eons ago, when the inhabitants of the Hollows had tried an uprising against him and his brothers. It hadn’t succeeded, of course, but it had started in such a seemingly simple manner: an unrest in the palace, a struggle for power amongst the dragons.

Lennox started furiously pounding on the walls of his glass cage.

“Wilder! Reef! Keppler! Owen!” he screamed as loudly as he could. “Someone! Anyone!”

His pleas were met with an echoing silence that chilled him down to his fire-eaten core.

He couldn’t remember when he had fallen asleep. At least his dreams were merciful, allowing him to see Gia one more time.

“Lennox?” Gia tenderly reached out to him, her heart-shaped face shining with worry and innocence as she pressed her hands against the glass. “Lennox, can you hear me?”

“I hear you,” Lennox mumbled, smiling at her. “I love you, Gia. I’ll find a way for us to be together again, I promise.”

“Lennox,” she called him again, glancing nervously over her shoulder. “Lennox, wake up!”

Castor came into the room, grabbing her arm. “We can’t stay long! If we’re caught here—”

“Please!” she cried, wrenching her arm away. The desperation in her voice sounded too real to be a dream. With a startled, choked-off gasp, Lennox suddenly realized that he was not dreaming. Gia was really standing on the other side of his cage.

“Gia!” he yelled, leaping to his feet. “How—how did you find me?”

Gia glanced at Castor, who was glancing around the room, his expression panicked.

“Castor brought me down here,” she told him. Lennox moved to press his own palms to her impressions on the glass. “Lennox, something is happening. I can feel it.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “You have to tell my brothers to get over themselves and work together, because another uprising is brewing while they fight.”

Gia’s blue eyes widened. Next to her, Castor gasped.

“What?” she choked. “How do you know?”

“It’s too long a story to explain right now!” Lennox said. “You need to find a pixie named Mira and bring her to the palace. I think she’s playing a major role in what’s happening.”

“Mira?” Gia whispered. “Ginger-haired pixie, black eyes?”

“You… you know her?” Lennox growled. “What did she promise you? Please tell me you didn’t accept any wishes from her!”

“No,” Gia answered, shaking her head. “No, I didn’t.”

“Are you sure that’s what this is?” Castor interrupted. “The last uprising left so many dead. It took centuries to recover from—”

“We’re wasting time discussing this!” Lennox snapped. “You need to make my brothers listen! Find Mira and bring her to me under their guard. If she reverses the wish she granted me, this can all be avoided.”

Gia studied his face uncomprehendingly. “What wish did she grant you?”

“Gia, it has nothing to do with how I feel about you,” he assured her. “Now we must act quickly. Castor, you deal with my brothers. Gia, you find Mira.”

For a moment, all Gia and Castor did was stare at him dumbly, like they weren’t sure Lennox should be taken seriously. He didn’t blame them. He probably sounded like a madman trying to redeem himself, but he knew he was right. Wilder was much too formidable to overthrow when he was in the throne, and Mira had found a weaker target to attack.

Lennox couldn’t believe he had allowed his ego to interfere with his common sense. But there was still time to make things right, and he was determined to put an end to this before it began.

“Please,” he begged them. “You can look at me funny later. You need to do what I’m telling you before a civil war breaks out and the Hollows suffer.”

To his relief, Castor nodded his head and headed out of the room. Gia stayed behind.

“Are you sure about this, Lennox?” she asked him.

“Gia,” he said. “If we catch them in time, you and I will never have to worry about being together again,” he vowed. “I made a grave mistake accepting that wish from Mira, but it can be undone. You need to hurry!”

She nodded and reluctantly turned away, leaving him to pace the room again, his pulse racing.

He hoped his brothers would listen to reason, because if they did not get over themselves and unite, they would lose control of the kingdom they had worked so hard to maintain.

And it would all be Lennox’s fault.