Truth. He spoke in the certainty he believed, so it rang distinctly of truth.

He was about two feet from me, so I stalked myself closer, stopping when we were face to face. “It might be true that I don’t know the king’s intentions, but then neither do you. How do you know that by allowing the king to rise again, you’re not bringing about the destruction of the supernatural world?” I could feel the eyes of the other marked on me; they were listening closely. “We all know in the last thousand years nothing really terrible has happened within our prison communities. Sure, there were a few wars and battles, but mostly it has been peaceful. That is what we know. You, on the other hand, are simply guessing because you have never even met the king. All you have are your inherited memories and abilities as his council. You know nothing.”

Clapping broke the tension and drew all of our attentions. Louis was grinning lazily, applauding in slow motion. “You should listen to her, she speaks truth and reason. Something I think the mystics sorely lack.”

His laughing eyes flicked across to Quale, and I was pleased to see his brother simply flip him off. Uncharacteristic behavior for a member of this somber group, but it was a nice little insight into Quale’s developing relationship with the powerful sorcerer.

The mystic in front of me turned his back, dismissing my words in the only way he could, and moved back to join his lineup of grays.

He didn’t miss another beat, picking up the speech from where he’d been interrupted before. “We are here to strengthen your bond with each other and to learn how to call on the spirit of the dragon. Reach inside to the place of the mark. It should be easy to find, it is foreign to your other race energy. If you’re a vampire, it will exist near the home of your beast, but you will know it’s different. For the fey, your elemental powers are clear; you will find the marked energy nearby.”

It definitely did not feel that way for me. I had a wolf and a dragon chilling inside, creatures I could pretty much see with my mind’s eye. I could call on either of them if I wanted to – hopefully without the issues I had the last time I tried to connect to my fluffy beast – but there was no way I would shift into my dragon here. The mystics were already suspicious of me, I didn’t need any more supes to know about my unusual mark and abilities.