A strange way to put it, Ven thought, but he let it go. He had more urgent matters to consider than his dragon father’s odd choice of words. He could hear the dragon Grald sniffing around outside the cavern of his son’s mind; trying, as always, to find a way inside.

Ven stood in the center, wrapped in the blazing whiteness that had no color.

Thwarted in his efforts to pry apart Ven’s mind, Grald was forced to ask for information. “What happened to you, Dragon’s Son? Who stabbed you? Was it your brother?”

Ven’s lip curled slightly. “As if Marcus had the guts! The girl. Evelina. She stabbed me. When I went to meet with my brother, she followed me—”

“If you had not slain the monk who was given to you as guardian, that would not have happened,” Grald interrupted. His heavy head lurched near, the hulking body crowded close, trying to use his bulk to intimidate.

Ven did not flinch away. He looked the dragon in its human eyes.

“Guardian!” He started to laugh, then grimaced in pain. He shifted slightly. The monks had wrapped cloth bandages around his ribs, and they constricted his breathing. “The monk was a spy. Your spy on me.”

“If he was, what did you have to hide that you needed to kill him?”

Ven was silent a moment, then said quietly, “He was an annoyance. A nuisance. Mad as a rabid skunk. I didn’t like him. That was why I killed him.”

Far from being put out, Grald seemed to find this amusing. He gave a low chuckle and, dragging up a chair, settled himself at Ven’s bedside.

“I don’t like any of them,” Ven continued, casting a venomous glance at the monk hovering near him. “If they want to live, they’ll stay away from me.”

Grald jerked his thumb and the monk left gratefully, hastening from the room. Grald looked back at Ven and his amusement evaporated.

“You sneaked off” to meet your brother alone. That was stupid, as you found out. You should have been patient. I would have arranged a meeting between the two of you.”

Ven stared out the window. The sun was setting, pale yellow against pale blue, its colors muted as though it were trying to slip way without anyone noticing. “Marcus is my twin brother. A twin brother I never knew I had. I wanted to meet him alone. I had things to say to him in private.”

“You wanted to warn him, you mean,” said Grald. “Warn him that I was going to slay him. Help him flee.”

“I told you where to find him,” Ven retorted. “You could have come to claim him. It’s not my fault you didn’t.”

“I was dealing with other matters,” Grald muttered.

“Such as Draconas?” Ven asked.