“What do you know of Draconas?” Grald demanded, his eyes narrowing so that they almost disappeared in the shadow of the heavy brow.

“I know that he was here in the city. I know that he saved Marcus from your assassins. I know that he was using Marcus as bait to catch you,” Ven remarked coolly. “All very interesting, considering that you were using Marcus as bait to catch Draconas. What happened, Grald? Did you all end up catching each other? Is that why you blew up the city?”

The human Grald regarded Ven in grim silence. The dragon Grald, lurking outside the cave of Ven’s mind, struck at him in anger and frustration. Ven stood in the white center of his mind, safe, unassailable.

“So why did you blow up the city, Grald?” Ven asked. “And where is my brother? Where is Evelina? I wouldn’t mind seeing her again.” He pressed his hand over his wound. “I owe her for this.”

“You can contact your brother mind-to-mind,” Grald said suddenly. “You have that power, the same as dragons. Ask him yourself where he is.”

“I don’t think my dear brother will be eager to open his mind to me,” Ven said dryly. “Not after what happened between us. What’s wrong, Grald? Have you lost the prince?”

“I’m asking the questions,” Grald returned, somewhat belatedly. “And this time I want answers. What happened when you met with your brother? What did he do? What did he say?”

Ven shrugged and lay back on the pillow. “I met with Marcus. He was repulsed by the very sight of me. He loathed me from the start—a feeling that is mutual, by the way. He is what you might expect—a spoiled, pampered, royal darling. I could tell that he wanted to be rid of me, but he had to keep me around, of course, so that you could walk into the trap he and Draconas had set for you. Then Evelina showed up. She hid outside the door, eavesdropping on us, until she heard me refer to Marcus as a prince, then the mercenary little bitch nearly knocked the door down to throw herself into his arms.

“She told him what a beast I was—how I killed her father and tried to rape her. My brother believed her, of course. To give him credit, he didn’t intend for her to stab me. Marcus is soft and weak. He doesn’t have the balls for that sort of thing. Killing me was all Evelina’s idea. She flung herself on me like a wildcat. The last thing I remember was her driving her knife into my chest.”

“A knife you gave her,” Grald observed.

“That was my mistake and I paid for it.”

“And what happened then, Dragon’s Son?”