The dragon’s idea of alternate transportation turned out to be flying, and while Virelai initially wasn’t thrilled with the idea, the ride to the top of the mountain turned out to be a vast improvement over their previous method of transportation. Mostly because for once, Ren was silent and not badgering her about staring at him. It also helped that he hated every second of it if the way he held on to Riv’s scales was any indication.

  Instead of flying straight up the side of the mountain, Riv took a circuitous route, spiraling around and showing off for them—or attempting to terrify them—she wasn’t sure which. The wind ripped at their clothes and hair, growing ever colder as the dragon swooped and dived. By the time they landed outside of the cave the dragons called home, Virelai was breathless and dizzy.

  She slipped from Riv's back first and stepped away from the giant beast to study their surroundings while Ren took his time crawling off the dragon.

  "Doing all right?" she asked him when he was back on his feet. His face looked a little green.

  "Never been better," he ground out, "but next time I would prefer to walk."

  Virelai was about to suggest they ask for a ride back to the Seelie Court since the dragon had scared off their horses, when a red-scaled nose poked out of the darkness of the cave.

  "What is this I smell?" a voice rumbled. "A human and an elf? Have you brought me a snack, Riv?"

  “Indeed, I have, but I call the elf.” He lowered his snout to brush the top of Ren’s head and made a show of sniffing him. “The human smells a bit tainted."

  Ren, to Virelai’s delight, went almost as white as the snow blanketing the ground in some places.

  The red dragon snorted. "It figures. Always leaving your castoffs for me."

  "While I find this all very amusing," Virelai said, cutting in before they could make any jests about her, "we are here on important business. We have some questions for you, and then we will be on our way."

  Riv turned his attention away from Ren to focus on her. "You know, on second thought, I take back what I said. You can have the elf girl, Isa. She sounds like she would be too spicy for me."

  She gritted her teeth. If this was what Seraiah had to deal with when she’d visited them, Virelai didn’t know how the seer had managed to accomplish anything in a timely manner.

  "Ooh, I think you've made her mad now, Riv. Look at the way her face is getting red."

  “And the tips of her ears too,” Riv added, tilting his head to inspect her.

  Ren snorted softly, and she glared at him. Oh, she was definitely volunteering him for dinner if the dragons decided they weren’t teasing about being hungry after all.

  “Seraiah is going to hear about this,” Virelai muttered. She should have warned them that the dragons would be impossible to have a serious conversation with. If Virelai had known, she would have tried harder to make Wisteria go in her place.

  "What was that? Seraiah, did you say?" Isaour asked, coming all the way out of the cave to join them on the ledge. "Are you a friend of hers, angry elf girl?"

  "Acquaintance. She sent us to find out some information on her behalf, as we have already told Riv here." It wasn’t technically true since she and Ren had come up with this plan on their own, but Seraiah had suggested it might help if they mentioned her since the dragons had been so helpful to her before.

  "And what information would that be? Are you keeping secrets from me, Riv?” Isa turned her focus on the other dragon, all signs of teasing gone.

  The blue dragon snorted, sending up a puff of smoke. “Of course not. That’s why I brought them here to tell their story instead of hearing it where I met them.”

  “Seraiah needs to know how to kill a queen," Virelai announced.

  Ren made a choking sound, and she gave him a warning look to keep his mouth shut. If making wild statements was the only way to get the dragons to focus, then she would do it—even if those statements weren’t entirely truthful.

  Both dragons stared at her without blinking.

  "Well, do you know how to help her?"

  “Perhaps. Depends on the queen in question,” Riv said. “However, this does not sound like a request from Seraiah. What do you think, Isa?”

  “I think you are right,” the red dragon said, “but things have been shifting. Much has changed in the world since last we saw the human seer. Explain yourself, elf, and do not exaggerate this time.”

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  “She would like to kill the thing living inside the queen and using her as a puppet, but if needs must, the queen can go as well.”

  The dragons exchanged a look. “Go on,” Riv said.

  Virelai told them of the predicament with the shadow creature inside of Sterling and how they were seeking a way to get rid of it before it could carry out the destruction Seraiah had seen. Ren interjected occasionally to add details.

  Riv let out a whoosh of hot sulfur-infused breath that ruffled Virelai’s hair when she finished relating the story. “Do you know where your magic comes from, elf?” he asked.

  “Our Queen acts as a source and has access to all types of magic. Without her, the rest of us have nothing.”

  “Correct, and what does one do when their wellspring is contaminated?” the dragon asked.

  “Find a new source, but the magic can’t be transferred to a new host unless the current host is dead. Are you suggesting our original plan is the only option?”

  “Not the only option,” Isa said, “but the easiest, or perhaps that’s not the right word.” She seemed to think about it for a moment, then said, “It is the option that will provide guaranteed results.”

  “But there is another way?” Ren asked. “Another option, even if it is not guaranteed?”

  The blue dragon tilted his head back and forth, his expression almost like a grimace. “There might be something,” he said. “Results can vary, assuming you can even find what is needed.”

  Ren didn’t like the sound of that. “Is it something I could test on myself? I’m sure you know I possess my own shadows.” He didn’t bother to peel off his gloves or lift his sleeves. If the dragons were anything like the faeries, they would already know what lay beneath the fabric.

  “Yours are not the same,” Isa said. “It may work for you. It may not. It won’t solve the original problem.”

  “Then how are his different? Would solving the original problem, as you called it, fix his?” Virelai asked before he could.

  “Mmm, I believe it would,” Riv said. “You can think of those as an offshoot of the mother plant. Removing them from yourself will not kill the mother plant. However, removing the mother plant will kill those.”

  “So these are related to the shadow creature in Sterling, then?”

  “I believe so, yes,” Riv said. “There is a possibility we are dealing with more than one type, but I have only ever heard mention of the one before.”

  “Well then. What is this other option that may or may not work?” Virelai asked.

  Isa huffed. “There is a spell.”

  “A spell?” Ren asked cautiously. “What kind of spell?” He’d done enough work with spells to have a decent knowledge of what they could and couldn’t do. There weren’t any that he’d ever heard of to help their situation.

  “It is a transfer of power,” Isa said. “Take the Queen’s magic and transfer it to another vessel.”

  Definitely not anything Ren had ever worked with. He would have remembered a spell like that. The mages would have loved to possess it and likely use it to steal others’ magic.

  “Have you ever heard of a spell like this?” Virelai asked, rounding on him. “You’ve worked with mages before, so you must have.”

  Ren shook his head. “I’m glad I haven’t. It sounds like dangerous knowledge to have. If there were mages who possessed something like this . . .” He shook his head again.

  “We did not mention it at first,” Isa said, “because someone must find the spell. As he has said,” she bobbed her snout at Ren, “it is dangerous knowledge that must not fall into the wrong hands. Not even we know the spell. We have only heard of it.”

  Ah, so that was why they’d said killing Sterling would be the option to give a guaranteed result. This spell could be nothing more than a rumor.

  “Then who does?” Virelai asked. “Someone must know where it is and don’t tell me it is in one of the faery courts.”

  “The mages are the spell workers,” Riv said. “They hold the largest collection. Where do they find their spells?”

  All eyes turned to him.

  Ren sighed. He already knew the other mages would be of no help. Prior to Sterling entering his life, he had been the spell researcher for his group. They had asked him to find new spells in ancient crumbling libraries forgotten by the rest of the world. He thought of the pile of pages still waiting to be studied on his desk. Those particular ones had been found in the human world hidden inside another text. If this transfer of power spell was anything like those, it could be hidden anywhere. It would take years to find it, and they didn’t have years to work with.

  “Do you know what else might be required for this spell when we find it?” he asked. Some spells needed certain ingredients or items to have a chance at working, or they needed to be performed at a certain time of day or year or when the moon was full. Other spells were simple incantations.

  “Someone suitably strong enough to take on the magic, I would imagine,” Isa said. “Beyond that, I do not know.” Her claws scraped against the rock as she adjusted herself to a more comfortable position, curling her spiked tail around her body.

  “And how will we know if someone is suitable?” Virelai asked, taking a step back to avoid being hit by the moving tail.

  That had been Ren’s next question, along with what exactly would happen to a person if they were not strong enough?

  “You won’t know until you perform the spell. This is why it is best to let the magic choose for itself. It is usually able to choose an appropriate carrier.”

  “Except for Sterling,” Virelai said.

  “She is strong if she is still able to withstand the shadow creature, but even those of great strength will eventually crumble under such a force.,” Riv said. “You’ll want to be careful whom you decide to use as a vessel. It may kill them outright, or it could be a slow death like the one your current queen is headed toward. Perhaps it might still be best to let this run its course.”

  “And let who knows how many people die with the destruction the shadow creature could cause wielding her magic? No, not an option,” Virelai said. “We will look for this spell and find someone who can take the magic. I’ll even volunteer to be the vessel if I have to.”

  “We can figure all that out later,” Ren said to her. “We still have to find the spell first.”

  He wasn’t sure he liked the idea of Virelai being the one to take on the magic.

  “There is one other thing we should warn you about,” Isa said.

  “What is it?” Ren asked, already knowing he wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “There is a possibility of losing the magic entirely.”

  “You mean like forever?” Virelai asked.

  “Yes, that is exactly what I mean. All elves could find themselves as powerless as the humans they so detest. Consider your options carefully.”