Still in a daze, I rose and followed her back to the building, feeling my stomach twist and writhe with every step I took. Sallith’tahn. Life-mate. Well, now I knew why my dragon perked to life every time Riley was around, why Cobalt’s presence nearly caused her to erupt out of my skin. She knew we were supposed to be together. She had always known.

But that didn’t mean I was okay with it. Was I only supposed to be with Riley because of some ancient Draconic instinct? Did that mean I had no choice in the matter? And what about Garret? He was a human, but what I felt toward him wasn’t less. Just different.

Except dragons weren’t supposed to feel human emotion.

My thoughts continued to spin as we left the gardens and walked up the path to the main building, Jade pausing a moment to speak to a monk in what I assumed was Chinese. He bobbed his bald head, pointed to a corner of the building and pressed his hands together in a bow as we continued on. Inside, Jade walked quietly across the wooden floors, down the hall and opened the last door on the right.

Garret, Riley and Wes looked up from where they were huddled around Wes’s computer, squinting as the door swung open. The room was quite small, with only a cot and a tiny writing desk beside it, so Garret and Riley stood side by side as they loomed over Wes, who was hunched over his laptop per usual. Riley nodded as Jade came into the room, but then his gaze fell to me, sending my insides into a sickening swirl. Beside him, Garret also watched me, his expression unreadable.

“There you are.” Riley straightened. “Good. Close the door, Firebrand. You might want to sit down for this.”

RILEY

“I can’t believe the Patriarch would willingly ally himself with Talon,” St. George said firmly.

We were all still crowded in Wes’s room, myself standing next to the desk and the soldier leaning in the corner with his arms crossed. The Eastern dragon stood at the end of the cot, watching us with that serene, cool expression, her arms hidden in the sleeves of her billowy robe. She rarely glanced my way, but she and Ember had come in together, and I’d seen the look the red hatchling had given me across the room; it was almost terrified. I made a point to find out what had happened between them as soon as we were done here. My gaze went to her again, leaning against the door with her hands behind her back. She seemed a bit dazed, but she might still be processing the information St. George had revealed about the Patriarch and Talon working together. That would shake anyone up.

“Oh? And why is that, St. George?” Wes asked from the desk, bringing my attention back to the important conversation. “Talon offers the Order an easy way to kill dragons and get paid for it? Seems like a no-brainer to me.”

“The Order isn’t like that,” the soldier replied. “From the beginning, every member of St. George has been trained to resist corruption and temptation. They don’t take bribes, they can’t be bought, they don’t accept compromise. Talon hasn’t been able to infiltrate the Order because its leaders refuse to negotiate anything, and they never bargain with dragons. They teach their soldiers to adopt that stance, as well.”

“Really?” Wes drawled. “Well, maybe the Patriarch didn’t get the memo, because he’s so deep in bed with Talon he smells like lizard sweat. And now the organization has its claws in the bloody Order. Fabulous.” He shook his head. “Just goes to show you anyone can be bought, if the price tag is high enough.”

“No,” St. George insisted, his voice hard. “I saw that meeting. I heard what was said. The Patriarch wanted out. He would have never willingly accepted help from dragons. Which means Talon either tricked him, or blackmailed him, or both.”

“Yeah,” I broke in, making everyone glance at me. “That sounds like them. If they can’t buy what they want with money or bribes, they’ll get it another way. Threats, blackmail, planting false evidence—whatever they can think of, as long as it gets them what they want. It’s how they got so powerful, so fast. They’ve never been afraid to play dirty.”

“So, Talon is blackmailing the leader of St. George to hunt down dragons,” Ember repeated, as if making sure she was following along correctly. “That’s absolutely terrifying. How do we make them stop?”

St. George sighed. “We don’t,” he said quietly. “Or, more specifically, we can’t.”

“Talon will never stop what they’re doing,” I went on. “How long do you think they’ve tried to gain advantage in this war? And now they finally have the Order right where they want them, with the Patriarch under their claws.” I shook my head. “They’ll never give that up. Not for all the money in the world.”