Page 82 of Dragon Blood

Keone turned on his heel, moving several paces toward the temple entrance, allowing Astred and Kai to fall in line behind him as the petitioners. King Long, followed by Bayn, then the remainder of Keone’s entourage and the imperial guards completed the parade.

They were going into the world of the spirit; Keone Sun’s domain, where kings, emperors and princesses were trifling titles.

Kai’s gaze swept the temple room. This room he’d never before entered, though he’d participated in many rituals over the years, they were usually at his tribe’s temple. Never this one.

This was the personal temple meant only for the king and his closest family, resplendent with the regalia and carvings appropriate for the royal air dragons.

An altar dominated the center of the room, and power vibrated through the space, forcing the hair on Kai’s body to rise. Stone, so finely carved that it appeared as though a mist lifted from the face of it, encircled the room. Dragons appeared to writhe in and out of fluffy cloud banks, while along the base of the wall rose a jeweled jungle, and mountains sparkling under the firelight.

The dragons remained unadorned. Colorless.

The Watchers.

His eye skimmed the bottom, opulent, portion of the decor where jeweled tigers prowled among the shadowy foliage. Kai swallowed the rise of emotion, having never expected the dragons to honor the tiger clan in this way.

From the corner of his eye, he saw Astred’s head turn as she too appreciated the beauty of the room, sweeping the areas where the tigers lurked. A smile tugged at her lips as she cast Kai a glance.

Both parts of his heritage were represented in this private royal dragon temple. Kai’s grandmother, Keone’s mother, and sister to Bayn and King Long, was an air dragon. She was the reason that the king’s family had been so welcoming to him, as a hybrid.

“Are you ready, Princess?” Keone’s dark eyes bored into Astred.

Astred turned to King Long. “Before we retrieve the star stone, I humbly request that the Watchmen safeguard something else of immeasurable value in its place.”

Astred pulled down the collar of her shirt, bearing the expanse of her chest above her breasts, covered in dragon scales, which then dissolved, revealing a disk.

Kai met Astred’s unapologetic gaze, then slid to King Long’s startled expression. The queen’s seal.

A dragon entwined with a smokeless flame, one of the three keys to dragonkind’s greatest treasure: The Mother Goddess’s sanctuary.

Kai’s gaze shot to Bayn and the king, who’d exchanged surprised glances, but maintained their silence as Dai Zen considered her request.

Accepting the seal could bring trouble to the neutral clan, should the secret be revealed.

“We would be honored to protect the sacred seal of the divine Mother.” The king nodded to Wu Sun.

Keone’s hand swept through the air with a breath. His voice intoned the first notes of the shadow work spell, drawing on the essence of the netherworld. An added layer in which to hide the Aeleftherian seal from detection.

Magic flowed from his body, filling the temple.

The song, combined with the shadow flow, created a protective barrier against remnants as Keone opened the sacred space to the liminal.

Keone led them around the altar, where on one side, a singular piece of jade, bearing the lines of a tiger and a dragon encircling each other, slowly appeared under the magic’s call.

It was the same etching as was on the back of Kolina’s locket.

Kai’s breath stalled. His pulse beat in his ears as his gaze shot to his father’s steady eyes.

Keone turned his attention to Astred before the questions could pass Kai’s lips.

Kai returned his focus to the seal, the importance of this artifact, and the power it represented.

His gaze returned to Astred’s taut face, intent on the ceremony.

She didn’t tell me she had it all this time.

Removing it from the protection of her people, to this nearly forgotten sanctuary. Kai’s pulse increased as Keone’s notes rose to an abrupt stop, now that the room was filled with shadow magic. King Long approached the dais, placing his palm over the solidified dragon and tiger emblem. The internal locks clicked. He stepped aside, turning to Kai with a nod. Keone gestured for him to do as the king had done.

Unsure as to why he was part of the ritual, Kai obeyed, startled when a pin pricked his palm on contact, triggering the next set of locks. Keone turned the seal, releasing the final layer of tumblers inside the mechanism.

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