The old man’s gaze flicked to me again, and that massive presence froze me in my tracks. Inside, my dragon was cringing in abject, primal terror, making it hard to even look at him, but the fear that I was going to watch Garret die right in front of me was stronger. “Please,” I whispered, shaking. “Let him go. Do whatever you want to me, just let him go.”
The old man raised a thin white eyebrow. “My dear, if I wanted to kill you, any of you, I would’ve done so already. We would not be having this conversation.” He glanced at the soldier with a frown. “However, if you keep squirming, human, I will crush your trachea right here. Please be a reasonable hostage so that we may be done with this, and I don’t have to dispose of yet another body.” Garret slumped, lowering his arm in defeat, and the old man nodded in satisfaction. The knot in my stomach loosened the tiniest bit, but I couldn’t relax until those bony fingers were away from Garret’s throat.
“Ex-Agent Cobalt,” the old said abruptly, making my blood chill. “I would advise that you lower your weapon.” From the corner of my eye, I saw that Riley had his gun drawn, but his face was pale. “I’d rather not have to Shift,” the old man went on. “It’s very cramped, and I would spend days trying to reorganize everything again. My assistants would be quite unhappy. Right now you are in no danger. I only wish to have a conversation, like civilized people. So please, Ember Hill...” He smiled, and I trembled as those ancient eyes flickered back to me. He knew my name. He’d known who we all were, from the start. “Behave yourself in my Vault. You know you are no match for me.” He twisted Garret’s arm, and the soldier’s jaw tightened in pain, though he didn’t make a sound. My pulse spiked, and I bit down a gasp. “Don’t make me tear out this human’s throat and destroy you all.”
I shared a desperate glance with Riley. He looked stunned and grim, but after a moment, lowered his weapon and raised both arms to signal compliance.
“All right,” I told the old man as I turned back. “You’ve made your point. We won’t fight you, just let him go.”
“A wise decision, hatchling.”
He released Garret and shoved him at me. I caught the soldier as he staggered, supporting him as his shoulders heaved with raspy coughs, feeling his heart race. Mine picked up, too, desperate relief flooding me as his hands closed on my arms.
“You okay?” I whispered.
“Yes,” he rasped, and straightened slowly. For a moment, our eyes met, and I saw a glimmer of longing in them, making my heart skip. I didn’t want to let him go, but Garret drew back, and I dropped my arms as we turned to face our opponent.
The old man calmly regarded the gun in his fingers, then placed it on the shelf beside him. “Now, then.” Dusting off his hands, he smiled at us. “Here you all are. I will say, your break in to my Vault was amusing, if ill-advised. And yes, I know about your human hacker friend lurking in my office. Did you really think you could sneak past me?”
“Who are you?” Riley growled, easing closer to Garret and me. His tone was defiant, but I heard the faint tremor below the surface, and knew he was fighting a battle within, too.
The other sighed. “You know who I am, ex-Basilisk Cobalt.”
“I know what you are,” Riley answered. “But I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure of meeting. And I think I’d remember if I was introduced to a Wyrm.”
A Wyrm. I shivered. So it was true, then. The Wyrms were the oldest and most powerful entities in Talon, dragons who had lived for over a thousand years. Not counting the Elder Wyrm itself, there were only three of them living in the world today. To meet a Wyrm...that was like running into a celebrity. An extremely dangerous, powerful celebrity who could swallow you whole with scarcely a thought. Actually, it was more like meeting a fickle, unpredictable demigod and hoping you could sneak away without getting changed into a pile of ashes.