House of Royale (Secret Keepers #4)(39)

Daniel drew our attention. “Rao is a dream seer. Could it be him?”

Colita looked confused for a beat, until recognition cleared that expression. “Rao … your brother who went missing? Your father declared him dead. I remember the farewell ceremony.”

Daniel nodded stiffly. “Yes, apparently he didn’t die. He was taken by Laous—he’s been using him in his cause ever since.”

“But we think he might have switched sides,” Callie added. “He has helped more than one of us.”

Colita nodded a few times, her eyes misty. “There was a man in my dream. He kept his face in the shadows, so I couldn’t see him clearly, but he was very big, with a dark aura.”

“That could be him,” Daniel said shortly. “He’s even bigger than me, and his face is burned. He was caught in the fires of the justices, and Laous was the one to find him, faking his death so that we would stop looking for him.”

There was an extended silence; I didn’t know most of the people they were talking about, but I could sense how serious this information was.

“How long do we have?” Callie asked, her voice devoid of emotion.

Colita squeezed her eyes closed tightly. “I can’t tell,” she said with a wavering voice. “The vision is not clear. It’s not … it’s not giving me enough information!”

Lexen pulled her close, hugging her tightly. “You’ve helped immensely,” he said, as he pulled back. “We know where Laous is now … we’re prepared.”

Colita straightened, purpose and determination filling her. The fear and panic that had been defining her features faded. “You won’t do it alone either.” Her voice thundered. “The council will rally the houses, and all of our warriors. While you’re off finding the location of the stone, we’ll be making sure that you can make it through Astoria.”

She kissed Lexen on both cheeks, as well as Emma, bade the rest of us farewell, and rushed from the room as quickly as she had arrived.

“Before we discuss this possible battle situation,” Maya cut in when Colita was gone. “What did you learn from the Draygo? Did you find him?”

Lexen and Emma moved closer, tightening our circle. When Lexen started to speak, it was in a hushed voice. “We didn’t find him, the one who was there when the secret keepers were born, the one who hid the stone. But we did chat with a relative of his.”

“Lexen had to go full-on dragon hybrid mode before any of them would talk to him,” Emma cut in, her voice wavering. “I mean, I thought Lex was scary when he dragoned out, but this group was … very animalistic.”

Lexen rumbled, acting very animalistic himself right then. “I shouldn’t have taken Emma. There was probably more information I could have gotten from them, but my instinct was to get Emma away from their threat. So I didn’t stick around. Thankfully, Qenita was there, keeping an eye on her for me.”

Emma pursed her lips, and we could all tell she had not been happy about being swept to the side by his dragon.

“There were a few there who knew of the Draygo I sought,” Lexen continued. “They said he moved to another sector in Overworld. I’m not sure I believe that, because it’s never been done before, but it would explain why no one has ever crossed paths with him.”

Chase let out a low breath. “So, dead lead, basically?”

Lexen shrugged. “Yes … and no. While we didn’t get the information about the starslight stone’s location, I did find out a little about the reason for our bond, which was one of the main questions I had for him. Turns out that when the first secret keepers were born here, the bond was done just through a basic energy sharing technique through the network. This connected the four in the chain, and they received Daelighter energy for longevity. The Draygo thought this would be enough. But they didn’t have as close a connection to Overworld as he hoped.”

“Why did they want them to have a close connection to Overworld?” I asked. “Was it important in the location of the stone?”

Lexen nodded. “Yes. While they had a connection to each other, and they had some of our energy, none of them would have actually led to the stone. They weren’t bonded to it. Or to Overworld. This wasn’t discovered until Callie’s father died.”

“So … what happened?” Daniel asked. “Why are our girls different?”

Emma picked up the story. “The Draygo used the actual stone with us, and this time, when he performed the birth ceremonies for the four of us, he did things differently. He not only placed the stone in the legreto we were born in—”

“But also the crystals of the ancient overlords,” Lexen added quickly. “He believed this was the way to tie the girls not only to the stone, but also to the four houses.”

Chase let out a surprised huff. “That’s why their energy feels like the ancients’. The Draygo basically tied each of the girls to the overlord family. To our energy.”

“And our bonds were formed,” Callie breathed. “Could it be as simple as that? The overlord energy you all possess recognizes the overlord energy we possess?”

Daniel pulled her into him, his eyes burning. “It makes you our perfect matches, and I have to say, fate chose very well.”

Callie snorted. “Always with the fate thing.”