The infamous Maran Gordan herself.

“If you’ve hurt my brother or my friends,” I said evenly, “I will cut out your goddamn heart and feed it piece by piece to the local rats.”

Maran raised an eyebrow. “Such violence from someone in your position shows a great deal of bravery.”

“It’s bluster rather than bravery,” Vincentia drawled. “The blood curse threat will impede any overly violent actions toward any of us.”

I switched my gaze to hers. I wasn’t sure what she saw in my expression, but her face paled.

Oh, yeah, I thought, be afraid. Be very afraid.

The shifter untied my hands, then grabbed my shoulder and pushed me forward. I stumbled briefly, then caught my balance and hobbled through the parking area and onto the sandy path that led through the dunes. The tide was still on the retreat, but the causeway between the beach and the island now sat high and dry.

My feet sank into the wet sand, slowing progress until I reached the granite “tail” of the island, which was basically a long serpentine series of rocky outcrops separated from the mainland by erosion. It loomed above me, majestic and yet somehow threatening in the darkness. The small “spines” of the dragon ran through the middle of the island in the same manner depicted in most drawings of the mythical monster. The cave was located at the creature’s “head” at the far end of the island, and there were actually two—the mouth, which was entry point I’d seen in my dreams, and the creature’s eye, which was where the church was located.

I stepped from the causeway onto the island and then paused, scanning the immediate surrounds, trying to decide what path to take. There were three, though the one straight up the middle was never going to be an option, given the madmen in my head were already complaining about the current level of exertion.

“Right path,” Maran snapped. “And don’t be thinking about slowing down, because we’ll just start killing off the hotel’s inhabitants. We have watchers there for that very reason.”

I didn’t say anything—though I certainly thought plenty—and moved to the right and the path that swept around the base of the dragon’s “spine.” There wasn’t much vegetation to be seen other than scrubby clumps of grass, but the thick layers of bird shit that covered just about everything suggested there were plenty of seabirds using the island as their nesting grounds.

As we reached the middle of the dragon, the slightest whisper of air stirred. Only it wasn’t just the wind that had arrived.

So had Beira.

Or rather, her metaphysical presence had.

I sucked in a breath and tried to contain the surge of excitement.

The storm comes, she said. Use her power and use her wind, but do not, under any circumstances, call to the lightning. You will die if you do.

I didn’t reply. I didn’t dare. Vincentia had admitted she’d been catching some snatches of conversation, and I couldn’t risk her also being able to catch some of my thoughts now that she was closer.