Unable to stop himself, he looked at the simple throne and the shattered scepter that lay on the seat exactly where Draca had set it after telling the First Circle that the Queen of Ebon Askavi was gone and the Dark Court no longer existed. Did seeing those reminders of what was lost ever bother Draca or her mate, the legendary Prince of the Dragons? Or did they think of it as a memorial for a Queen who had been the most powerful witch in the history of the Blood?

He looked away—and saw the dragon’s large golden eyes were now open and watching him.

“Lorn,” he said.

*Ssaetan.*

“I need answers.”

*You have assked no quesstionss,* Lorn replied, sounding amused.

Saetan didn’t feel amused. “What is Twilight’s Dawn?”

*It iss the Jewel for Kaeleer’ss Heart.*

Frustration welled up inside him. “But what is it? How can one Jewel act like it’s many Jewels? How did you create it?”

*I didn’t. You did.*

Saetan stared at Lorn.

*Father. Brother. Lover. You created Twilight’ss Dawn.*

Webs of power stretching across a chasm somewhere in the abyss. Him, racing up to intercept Witch as she plummeted toward those webs, Lorn’s warning that if she smashed through all the webs they would lose her ringing in his head. Catching her, smashing through the White, the Yellow, the Tiger Eye webs while he fought to slow her descent. Lucivar, taking his place, rolling Witch in the Rose web as they smashed through it. Rolling her in the other webs, beginning to slow the descent while wrapping her in a cocoon of power. Daemon, taking over at the Green web, fighting to stop the fall, fighting to hold on to the person who held his heart. Finally coming to rest on the Black web.

A Jewel formed by layers of power? A Jewel that had, somehow, retained those distinct layers? Extraordinary, to be sure . . . but still less than her Birthright.

“We didn’t know,” Saetan said quietly, deep sorrow weighing on his heart. “If we’d realized, maybe there was something we could have done differently.”

*Your tassk wass to hold the dream to the flessh. You did what needed to be done,* Lorn said.

“But we changed her.”

*You changed nothing, Ssaetan. Sshe iss who sshe hass alwayss been.*

He shook his head. “If that were true, Jaenelle would still wear the Black. She lost that.”

*Sshe losst nothing.*

“How can you say that? It is a loss!” Saetan raked his fingers through his hair. “If I broke my Black Jewel, broke my power back to the Red, I would adjust. I would have to relearn some things, but I would adjust, like a person who loses a limb adjusts to the loss. But I would always remember what I had.”

*That iss you. That iss not Jaenelle.*

“Who had even more to lose!”

*Who grievess the losss, High Lord?* Lorn snapped. *You or Jaenelle?*