Page 83 of Mantle

His shoulders dropped, his brows pinching. “Ah, I see now that they didn’t tell you.” He actually looked upset for me. “I’m sorry. I thought that much had been conveyed. I wouldn’t have brought it up so… flippantly if I’d known.” He grimaced. “Torvek is your unborn little brother’s given name.”

As dragon also, he knew the power in a name.

And not being told that my own brother had been given one, was a painful slight from my family.

Yet another one.

“He’s not in danger,” I told Draven. “He’s their new heir, their new hope. Their means to ensure control of the Dracoryn Realm for centuries to come.”

“He’s notcurrentlyin danger, because protections have been put in place for him.”

“What protections?” Kai demanded. “And likely, more importantly, why are these protections needed for an innocent unborn baby?”

Draven eyed me. “Your parents believe that Torvek was untouched by Malrik’s infection of the Titanus bloodline. He was not.”

I choked. “What? That can’t be. They were so certain.”

“It was made that way. The same protective shield that they have enforced on you to hide your Celestial abilities so they can avoid the shame of having animpureheir, was placed on your brother—by my mother, Elyrren. You are aware that her senses are unlike anything under the Dracoryn sun, she is unmatched. The moment the baby was conceived and felt by dragon kind, she recognized it being different, and she took immediate action, using the assets that she has deep within House Titanus to perform the spell before your parents caught on.”

My breath caught. My brother wasn’t safe. Not from what they feared.

I looked at Kai. “A spell like that… would it be compromised during my brother’s birth? The intensity and power implosion involved in a dragon birth is colossal.”

“It could very well be, yes.”

“I need to retrieve him then,” I told Draven. “He’s unborn, but there’s a way to remove him from my mother without harming him… keep him in magical containment while he grows… until he’s born.”

“You cannot, Vorzyr,” Draven rumbled. “To interfere in an active pregnancy of a dragon ruler would require pure draconic magic, not the manufactured, warped kind that your sorcerer lover here used. It would also require House Titanus magic—yours—to break the bond between mother and child.”

“I’m aware. I’m a dragon heir, Draven.” I caught myself, the gut punch of it hitting me all over again. “Former dragon heir. But I still have the means to do this until that is made into Draconic Decree and actually enforced, something they havebeen unable to do as yet because of what Kai leveraged over them.”

“You set foot back in Titanus Castle and you will perish. They are waiting for you. They are prepared this time. What they arenotexpecting is action to be taken by House Vortimer—my mother, myself, and all our people.”

“Let me get this straight, you want me to stand down and leave my innocent baby brother there in the middle of a fucking revolution?”

“If you intervene, all will be lost. Things are already in motion—pieces being moved across the proverbial board. The only way this won’t end in undue bloodshed—your brother’s included, because if a confrontation happens too early, we’ll have to eliminate Serapha—is for you to stand aside and let this unfold. You know my mother. You know how protective she is of dragon children—not just those in her own House. She would never allow harm to come to a baby. But she can’t protect him if you interfere and send the plan to hell in the process. We’ll have no choice but to overrun them—brutally. She doesn’t want that. I don’t want that. And you certainly don’t.”

Every instinct screamed at me to act. To tear through the walls of that castle and rip my brother free from everything I’d once endured.

But Draven’s words rang too fucking true.

“Why bring this to him?” Kai asked with a noticeable edge as he slipped his hand into mine, a quiet comfort that felt so powerful.

I sighed, already knowing the answer.

“He wants my key.” I looked at Draven. “Isn’t that right?”

“Yes. They’re coming. Word has reached us that your parents are sending soldiers to retrieve it—agents of shadow, so the Guardian Movement won’t be alerted. If they succeed, it will be taken. You will be killed for it. Or... you can lend your support toHouse Vortimer—to dismantle your family’s legacy, one that has inflicted cruelty and tyranny without your knowledge. Without the knowledge of many dragons. They are no longer fit to rule. You’ve seen that for yourself, through what they did to you—invoking the horrific Ashbinding ritual. House Vortimer will rectify it. And we will protect your brother. My mother has already made preparations. Torvek will be raised within our ice palace, but surrounded by House Titanus dragons as well—so he learns the way of fire, his true nature. The shielding spell will remain in place until he comes of age. Then, when the time is right, the truth of his Celestial power and the corrupted bloodline will be revealed to him. You know he must be raised among his kind. Not here. Keeping him here would deprive him of too much. It could damage him. And you… you cannot return to the Dracoryn Realm.”

“Handing you my key will see to that with certainty. I’ll be branded a traitor by all of House Titanus, not just my parents.”

“It is an unfortunate necessity. Even though what you will be doing is honorable, it will come at a cost because of draconic nature rooted in the belief of ultimate loyalty. You also being shunned as heir, even though dragon kind as a whole aren’t aware of the reason, sullies you in their eyes.”

“What is thiskey?”Kai queried.

Yeah, even he wouldn’t know about that.

It was a highly secretive thing.

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