THE DRAGON BLOOD SON-IN-LAW

CHAPTER 3

The crystal was cracked before Adrian understood why.

A light snap. Than another, smaller crack. Hair thin cracks raced across the golden crystal beneath the black throne.

CRACK.

The sound rung through Adrian's bones.

Seraphine's hands had closed around his sleeve. "Adrian, move."

He didn't. He stared at the chamber below, the silver hair of the man still sitting upon the throne, still calling him his son.

He tightened his throat. "You know him."

Nyxara said nothing.

"Who is he?"

"Adrian—"

"Who is he?"

The ground shook beneath them and an opening in the ceiling above them crashed down the ruined hallway. Marbled pieces of fallen pillars and ancient dust littered the floor. Orren was shouting to everyone to retreat and Adrian barely registered it.

He crouched at the edge of the widening crack and Dragon Sight tore the mansion away from him. Stone turned to glass and he could see through to the chamber below - the throne, the chains, the golden Core, and the man beside it who radiated something old in Adrian's chest, something darker than the creature he had fought and the bloodlines flickering in the room upstairs, something that had learned to recognize him.

The stranger raised his head. "You should have never woke."

Adrian's fists coiled. "Then why did you let me?"

"I did not."

The crystal cracked again and Nyxara's hands were on his shoulder, pulling him back. "We have to go."

He shook her off. "No."

"Adrian—"

"You said you've spent twenty-six years searching for me. Stop being so obtuse."

Something flitted across her face, not fear of him - of the man below.

"If you stay," she said to him, "you will meet him."

"Good."You don't understand."Then make me."

Her eyes dropped to the throne. "The man down there isn't what you think he is."

Adrian's breath caught in his throat. "Is he my father?"

Silence. That was an answer enough.

"Who is he?"

Nyxara's voice was quiet. "Vaelric."

The name struck him like a punch.

A memory surfaced unbidden, a hand resting on a child's head, a voice whispering never let them see the mark, then fire, a red moon, a woman screaming, an infant crying.

Adrian staggered, and Seraphine caught him before he hit the floor.

"Adrian!"

He pressed his fingers to his temple. "He carried me."

Nyxara went still. "Who?"

"My father." The words came out before he could stop them. The look on her face was worse than if she had corrected him.

"Why don't I remember him?"

"Because someone made sure you would forget."

"Who?"

The front doors were slammed shut before she could tell him. BOOM.

The remaining guards threw their weight against the doors. Nothing budged them.

Orren looked at them. "What's happening?"

Nyxara unsheathed a small silver blade. "The seal is breaking."

Virelle's composure finally broke. "You said it was failing."

"It was." Nyxara's gaze flicked to the floor. "Now it is dying."

The marble exploded upward and a column of light tore through the hall and Adrian's body spasmed along with it, heat surging through his veins hard enough to fall to a knee.

Seraphine rushed to his side. "Adrian!"

"Stay back!"

His voice came out strange, not his own. Dragon Sight showed him the light in the room, not attacking him but searching, calling to something buried in his blood.

[ANCIENT CORE RESONANCE DETECTED.]

The words dissolved and he could see another message instead.

[Bloodline Stability: 11%.]

"Eleven?"

Nyxara caught the words. "What did you see?"

"Nothing."

She studied him for a moment too long. "You're learning to lie."

"I've had practice."

Something like a smile flickered across her face before the floor split open and black fingers curled over the broken marble.

Another hand joined it. A creature pulled itself from the chamber, almost human in shape, black smoke shifting beneath scraps of metal armor and a smooth mask in place of a face marked with one red symbol.

It looked at Adrian.

"Dravaryn."

Then it attacked.

Adrian threw up his hand. Nothing happened. The creature closed the distance in one stride and Seraphine moved between them, pulling a small metal device from under her jacket.

"Down!"

White light tore out of it and the creature slammed into a pillar sideways, the stone cracking.

Adrian stared at the device in her hand. "You had that?"

"My grandfather gave it to me." Her jaw was tight.

"You knew about all this?"

"No. I knew enough to keep it."

The creature rose and Nyxara moved in front of them. "Stay behind me."

Seraphine raised the device again. "No."

"Seraphine—"

"I'm not running anymore."

Something flickered across Nyxara's face - respect maybe, or resignation. "Fine."

The creature lunged and Nyxara met it head on, steel flashing but it twisted around her blade and caught her across the shoulder, throwing her into the wall.

"Nyxara!"

Adrian moved without thinking, heat surging beneath his skin and this time he didn't fight it but followed it. Dragon Sight traced a dark current running through the creature's chest and he pressed his palm flat against it.

Gold light exploded outward and the creature seized, shuddering and fell. Adrian went down with it and Seraphine caught him before he hit the floor.

"You all right?"

"No."

She almost laughed. "At least you're honest."

Everything else was forgotten for a second - the ruined mansion, the Core, the creature at their feet, just her hand locked around his arm.

Then Nyxara's voice cut through it all. "Adrian!"

He turned and she was staring down the chamber, the throne empty and the chains broken.

The stranger was gone.

"Where did he go?"

Nyxara didn't answer.

Instead a voice came from behind them. "You grew."

Adrian turned and a man stood by the broken windows, silver hair with a black coat, a scar cutting through one of his eyebrows and the same eyes Adrian had seen in the memory that had dropped him to his knees minutes ago.

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

"You have her eyes," the man said quietly.

Adrian's voice was barely above a whisper. "My mother?"

The man looked away. That was answer enough.

Adrian took a step forward. "Who are you?"

"Someone who should have reached you sooner."

"Why didn't you?"

"I couldn't."

"Why not?"

The man's gaze flicked to Orren. "Ask the Sterling family."

Orren's face went pale.

Adrian turned slowly. "Dad?"

Orren said nothing.

"Three years ago you knew something about me."

"We knew there were circumstances around your marriage."

"That's not an answer."

"I didn't know who you were."

"But you knew I wasn't ordinary."

Orren didn't deny it.

Seraphine stared at her father. "You knew?"

"I knew people wanted him kept inside this family."

"Why?"

Orren's eyes flicked to Virelle. "Because your grandfather ordered it."

"My grandfather has been dead two years."

"I know."

"Then why are you still following his orders?"

Orren had nothing to say.

The silver-haired man let out a low, humorless laugh. "Because the order was never really his."

Adrian turned on him. "What does that mean?"

The man didn't answer. He looked instead towards the broken floor. "The Core has woken."

Nyxara's face changed. "We need to leave. Now."

"You still haven't answered me," Adrian said.

"I will."

"When?"

"When you're strong enough to survive the answer."

"I've heard that before."

"I know."

The man's fingers slid into his coat and he drew out a black ring. Adrian's eyes snapped to it immediately - a dragon coiled around a broken crown. The same symbol from his mother's letter.

The man's fingers closed around it.

Then sirens tore through the night outside. Not police sirens but something lower, older, a warning tone rolling across the city like a held breath finally released.

Nyxara went pale at the window. "They found us."

"Who?" Orren demanded.

Her eyes went to Adrian. "The Ash Covenant."

"Who are they?"

"Hunters. They track supernatural bloodlines."

The silver-haired man's face hardened. "They're not here for the Sterlings."

"No." Nyxara's gaze didn't leave Adrian. "They're here because the Core found him."

Outside black vehicles poured onto the estate grounds and figures stepped out in formation, the insignia across their chests catching the light - a burning crown. One man walked into the courtyard alone and stared up at the mansion.

He smiled.

"Adrian Vale." His voice rang through the broken windows like it belonged there. "Your father spent twenty-six years hiding you." A pause as if gently telling him. "Now we know where to look."

The silver-haired man turned towards the window and Adrian caught his arm.

"Don't leave."

Their eyes met and something passed between them - regret, fear, and a third thing Adrian couldn't name.

"Whatever happens tonight," the man said, "don't let them take you beneath Veyrith."

"Why?"

His grip tightened around the black ring. "Because the thing under this city isn't sleeping anymore."

He pulled free and was gone.

The System flared to life.

[NEW QUEST: SURVIVE THE ASH COVENANT.]

[SECONDARY QUEST: IDENTIFY THE UNKNOWN DRAVARYN.]

Adrian stared at the second line.

Unknown. Not father. Not ally. Not enemy.

That was the first honest answer the System had ever given him about the man and some how it terrified him more than the truth would have.

The mansion doors blew inward and the Ash Covenant flooded the room.

And every member of the Sterling family turned to look at Adrian - not the useless son-in-law anymore.

The person the entire city had just come to hunt.