“Ysolde was mated to the black dragon Baltic but was claimed by Constantine Norka as his mate. There is some confusion as to which wyvern she accepted— her diaries for that time are missing. But we do know that she was torn up by the Endless War, and determined to bring about its end before more dragons died at the hands of the two men who fought over her. She somehow acquired the shard of the first dragon, and used it along with the shards of Baltic and Constantine in an attempt to bind together the other shards. It didn’t work, of course—the dragon heart has a mind of its own, and it did not wish to be used in such a manner—and in the process, the phylactery which held the first dragon’s shard was destroyed, and it claimed her as its vessel.”

“What happened to Ysolde?” I asked. “I’ve heard her name mentioned before. Is she still alive?”

Kaawa was silent for a moment, absently stirring the fire with a long stick. “She disappeared when Baltic was killed by his heir. Some said that was proof she was truly his mate, but there is some evidence that she survived his death, remaining hidden. Nothing was heard from her after Constantine Norka was killed by an avalanche, however, so it could be that she was really his mate. It’s likely we’ll never know.”

“And was the shard destroyed with her?”

“No. She successfully decanted it into another vessel.” She raised her eyebrows as she looked over at Gabriel. “You will have to find the other shards, child.”

He nodded. “I know where they are.”

“Why do we have to find the other shards?” I asked, confused.

“The shard that resides within each vessel cannot be separated from it unless the vessel itself is destroyed.”

“Urgh,” I said, not liking the sound of that.

“Exactly,” she said, nodding. “It can be formed into the dragon heart, however, and then resharded into appropriate vessels. That is how Ysolde eventually decanted her shard—she brought together the shards, re-formed the heart, then separated the pieces again into their current phylacteries. Current with the obvious exception of you.”

“I thought you said that when she tried to bring the pieces together the heart objected and the phylactery was destroyed,” I said, more confused than ever.