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was nauseating. “Tell us, then. How did you come by Nynn’s
     letter?”
    “You’re near to the general idea of it,” Tallis said. “Which is impressive for a Council.
     Well done.”
    Mal gritted his teeth. In the midst of fighting ten recalcitrant senators and the
     slow-wash tide of extinction, this bastard was testing the last of his patience.
    “Yes, there exists a collection of rebels who refuse clan associations. They found
     the letter. Reed of Tigony wasn’t a kilometer from the Asters’ complex when he froze
     to death. They’d known its general vicinity.” He chuckled softly. “Only when your
     cousin blew the roof off the lab did they know for sure. Reed escaped in the aftermath.”
    “You dare laugh about this?”
    “Save it, Giva. You need them to hear what I have to say. I was willing to deliver
     that letter when none of the rebels could. Anonymity is their great asset. My asset
     is to become anonymous when I will it.”
    “There are other rumors.” Mal stepped forward. He lifted his chin and prepared to
     kill a fellow Dragon King upon Tallis’s next answer—not there in the Fortress of the
     Chasm, but wherever the deed needed to be done. “There are rumors you killed Nynn’s
     husband, then handed her and her son to the Asters.”
    Tallis stared at Mal, emphasizing their impasse. Under the flippancy was a flicker
     of something deeper. Flash and gone. “Funny things, rumors.”
    “But you are a killer.”
    Tallis nodded.
    “Tell me why we shouldn’t keep you here and force you to stand trial? Or, more fittingly,
     return you to the Pendray who despise you?”
    Pendray Youth practically growled his agreement with that idea.
    “They do hold grudges, my beloved clan.” He shrugged. “But you, Giva, would rather
     believe me in hopes of saving Nynn.”
    Mal felt as if he held the weight of his people in his hands. The entirety of his
     race depended on his next decisions. Luckily, his great weakness was an overabundance
     of tenacity, not a lack of resolve.
    “Nynn and her son are in pain,” he said. “For now, for me, that is enough. With all
     due respect, senators, I’m adjourning this meeting. None of us are leaving until we
     reach a consensus. Take action against the cartels? Ignore them and hope Nynn’s fate
     is a single event?Follow this man’s lead? We owe our respective clans the answers they’ll surely demand.”
    The crackling energy in his blood could stay. It was the purest part of him, giving
     him strength from inside out, providing a reminder to remain stronger than his gift.
    “Take the night,” he said, his words spoken with deep confidence. “Take days if need
     be. Find it in yourselves to put away this petty bickering and lead our people. It’s
     your Dragon-damned duty and I expect nothing less than your full cooperation.”
    He turned to the Heretic. With a flick of his wrist, Mal signaled the guards to take
     him into custody. “As for you,” Mal said, “I will listen to what you have to say.
     I may even accompany you to a stronghold—the Asters’ or otherwise. But first you will
     answer every question I have about my cousin.”

SIX
    A udrey was exhausted—body, mind, soul. But she couldn’t sleep.
    She lay on the rugged ground and stared at irregular shadows distorting the depth
     of her cell. Training room, he’d called it. Sleeping quarters. She knew better. Bars
     and keys meant imprisonment. A breath of free air had not been hers in more than a
     year. Each one she drew was tainted with acidic pain. Helplessness should’ve become
     part of her after such demoralizing captivity.
    It had been.
    She’d nearly given up in the labs. Another few months, maybe weeks, and she would’ve
     done anything to end her life. And Jack’s.
    Every morning, she’d wondered if murder-suicide would be better than another day of
     torture. She was scarred, inside and out, but she could place blame where it belonged.
     A child, though . . . Jack