Page 55 of Dragon My Crazy

Cassian looked surprised to see me.

“I’m glad we have more help, but Emmett is not going to like it that you’re here when the castle wards are low. It’s not safe, especially when Leroy made it clear that some strange wizard is after you.” He looked up into the sky where a big bronze dragon circled.

As if detecting my presence, Emmett turned and started flying toward us.

I shrugged. “Last time I checked, he’s not my boss. And what’s it to you anyway? I don’t see Flame and Blaze getting their balls all in a knot over this.”

“Because they don’t have balls.”

“Hey! I resent that,” Flame said. “I do too have balls.”

Blaze ignored the interruption. “Elana can feel Melly through the bond from when she was still inside her egg. If we can amplify that connection, it might lead us to her.” He turned toward the castle doors. “Let’s get something—”

The words died in his throat as the castle started to shimmer around us.

What the hell?

It wasn’t just the castle, but the very air itself began to glitter with gorgeous golden threads, the glow intensifying and swirling into something powerful and ancient. My breath caught as I recognized it as the very soul, the magic of the castle. It condensed into a ribbon of light that streaked toward me.

I didn’t have time to react. It wrapped around me in a whirlwind of magic. My skin prickled, and my chest vibrated so hard I couldn’t breathe. Then, just as suddenly, it absorbed into me, settling into my body like it had finally found its home. The pulsing quickened to match my own heartbeat, and after just a few seconds, it was like it had always been there.

The entire courtyard watched in silence.

I patted my chest. But all there was, was me.

Emmett had landed in a crouch in his half-shifted form. His golden eyes burned into mine, and he was the first to speak. “Sena’s magic was woven into the castle itself. It is the only part of her that’s still with us. With Leroy’s connection to it severed, it must be finally free to choose its next keeper.”

It took the meaning several seconds to settle.

Then I barked out a laugh, surprising everyone. It had chosen me because of my magic; I knew that because it was part of me now. “So now even a building is using me for my magic? Fantastic.”

Just what I needed—more freeloaders. But I didn’t come to play housekeeper. I came to help find Melly.

But as my chest rose and fell, breathing in the mountain air and the magic around us, the power inside me pulsed. And the connection to the castle didn’t feel like chains; it didn’t feel like a burden. I felt the castle’s presence, just like I did with Melly, and dare I say, Emmett’s? Almost as if all three were a package deal.

“Fine,” I said, meeting Emmett’s eyes. “We’ll hash this out after we get her back.”

The part that was unsaid but understood by both of us was that hashing it out meant more than just the castle’s claiming of me. I needed to know if Emmett ever considered using me for my magic. Because I didn’t think my heart could take it if he had. But that would have to wait.

I turned and stomped toward the door. “Let’s find our little dragon.”

Chapter 25

Elana

Melly’srattleandherplush dragon had helped me narrow it down to one mountain, several peaks over. But that was all. She could be on it, around it, above it, or in it. And no amount of concentrating on the little dragon tyke got me anything more.

Emmett, Cassian, and the two ifrits were out there right now, scouring the area while the rest of the castle residents held down the fort. The castle hummed around me, its magic thrummingbeneath my skin, but even that wasn’t enough to ease the gnawing fear. We were on high alert. The video Emmett had recorded made one thing painfully clear: the wizards weren’t just after me, Dizzi, and Melly.

They were after the castle too.

Because let’s face it, a fortress like this hidden away from the world and with magic woven into its very bones was the perfect hideout for three evil wizards.

And then there was the identity of the third, new, and still-unknown wizard. Had Samuel found where I was and come to ruin my life again? Or was I just jumping at shadows?

I looked around the room again. I was in Sena’s favorite casting room, which, to my surprise, wasn’t what I expected from a powerful witch’s private workspace. It was bright and cheerful. Sunlight poured through the tall arched windows, catching on dozens of crystals suspended from the ceiling. Plants hung everywhere, their vines trailing from ceramic planters. Someone had kept them alive, and I had a feeling it was Dizzi.

Herbs dangled in neat bundles from the ceiling, and I suspected from their lack of scent that they’d been there for years and were no longer potent.