“What were you doing to her?” Riley asked in a hard, dangerous voice.

“I don’t think I can tell you that.”

“No?” Riley pressed the muzzle of the gun harder to the man’s forehead, his eyes glowing yellow in the brightly lit room. “Then I guess we don’t need you, do we?”

“All right, all right!” The scientist held up his hands. “I’ll tell you, for all the good it will do now.” He leaned back from the gun and ran a hand over his face, seemingly unaware that the rogue was fighting hard not to Shift and tear him into tiny pieces. The Dractylpromazine was starting to wear off, because the flicker of a dark blue dragon suddenly overlapped with Riley for the barest of seconds, gold eyes blazing in fury as they glared at the scientist. Who, dangerously for him, didn’t notice.

“Ms. Hill was...is...the Elder Wyrm’s vessel,” the human went on. “That is why she is so important to the organization. As one who shares her blood and DNA, she was genetically engineered to house the memories and consciousness of Talon’s CEO.”

“Wait, what?” Riley gaped at the scientist. “Shares her blood? Are you telling me that Ember is—”

“The daughter of the Elder Wyrm, yes.” The scientist nodded and glanced at Ember, not seeing Riley’s pale face, the shock filling his eyes. “She and her brother are the heirs to Talon, though it was always the Elder Wyrm’s intention to raise a daughter for the sole purpose of extending her own life. We were extracting Ms. Hill’s memories so that the Elder Wyrm’s presence could take over her mind without opposition.” He frowned then, shaking his head, and glared back at the rogue. “Of course, now that you and your friends have quite literally pulled the plug on this fragile operation, there is no telling what state of mind she will be in when she revives. If she wakes up at all.”

Horror flooded me. I looked down at Ember’s body, willing her to wake up, to open her eyes. She lay like a doll in my arms, her head lolled back and her hands limp at her sides. With shaking arms, I gathered her close, pressing my forehead to hers, praying my thoughts would reach her.

Wake up, Ember, I thought, fighting the despair clawing at my insides. You’re too strong to let this beat you. Come back to me, dragon girl.

Ember didn’t respond.

Chapter 29: EMBER

EMBER

I raised my head, and found myself alone. The beach was gone. The ocean was gone. I was in the middle of a black void, darkness surrounding me like a vacuum. It wasn’t nighttime; there were no shadows clinging to the ground or hanging in the air. There was no ground. No sky. Just...blackness.

“Where am I?” I whispered.