The phylactery began to shake in my hand as it struggled to free itself from me. I had a momentary vision of me telling Gabriel I’d lost the phylactery, the horror that it instilled within me giving me the strength I needed.

“I may not be a dragon, but I am a dragon’s mate,” I yelled, and gathered to myself not only the shadows that were so much a part of me, but Gabriel’s fire. I let both build within me, clutching the phylactery tightly with both hands as I started to channel the shadows and fire through it.

The man hesitated for a moment, a curious expression passing over his face. “No,” he simply said, as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Oh, yes,” I said, then released the phylactery.

It hung in the air in front of me for a moment, suspended in time and space, then exploded in a nova of fire that made the very earth tremble. The explosion knocked me back several feet, the room filling with a giant fireball that, in my last few seconds of consciousness, seemed to consume everything in it. I sank down into the conflagration, giving myself up to it, becoming one with the dragon fire.

Chapter Fourteen

“Are you sure this is the right road?”

Cyrene consulted the map we’d purchased in Faro before setting off west along the coastline to the small town of Sagres. “It’s the only road, so it has to be the correct one.”

“I just hope we don’t end up lost. I don’t have a lot of time to deal with this situation of yours.” I slowed the car as the road shot around a hairpin curve, perched high on a rocky cliff overlooking the pounding surf. Judging by the intensity of the waves crashing into the cliff side, I wasn’t surprised people came to Portugal for surfing.

Cyrene slid me a coy glance. “Are you going to tell me about that?”

“About what?” I asked, knowing perfectly well what she was talking about. I still hadn’t decided what to tell her about the conversation Gabriel and I had had with Jian the previous day.

“You know perfectly well that you’re hiding something from me. It’s written all over your face.”

“Nonsense,” I said, wishing for something like the five thousandth time that I could see my reflection. “I have a perfect poker face.”

“If that’s the case, then you’ve got a full house and you’re trying to make me think you’ve only got a pair, so spill.”

I drove silently for a few minutes, trying to decide if I could trust her with the details. I’d never kept secrets from Cyrene, not big ones, and I was fairly uncomfortable with holding back information that I knew would interest her . . . and likely impact her, if she continued her fling with a certain black dragon. But I had promised to protect Gabriel and his dragons, and if that meant keeping things from my twin, then that’s what I must do.