Page 58 of Dryad’s Treasure

Both wyvern were partially shifted, horns on full display, serrated teeth bared and taloned fingers spread and at the ready. Most likely the room’s size wouldn’t accommodate their wings, let alone a full transformation.

“You would keep them from me?” The female spat, more acid falling to the ground, the tiles sizzling. She was beautiful in a horrifyingly deadly way. With hair so dark green it almost appeared black and eyes equally dark and menacing, deep green scales shimmered along her exposed flesh. Had we been in the sun, their gleam would have been blinding.

Staring at the enraged wyvern female, my gut sank. Were the eggs hers? I thought their mother was dead. If not, and they belonged to this wyvern, then why was Lazarus standing in her way. If this was their mother, then⁠—

“They have never been yours,” Lazarus seethed, clouds of smoke billowing from his mouth and nose. “You murdered their mother, Verona, and now claim the eggs as your own.”

Oh. Yeah, not hers at all. Wait. “Verona?” I knew that name. She was the wyvern from South America. Verona Perez. The only reason Keir had contacted Lazarus instead of Verona was because he was geographically closer.

Verona roared. “I would be a good mother. Much better than that fool who birthed them.”

“How dare you! Vidia was no fool. She might have been young, but she was very capable. You had no right to end her life and even less right to her offspring. The eggs are not yours. You were exiled for a reason, Verona. If you pursue this path, death is all you will find at the end of the journey. The elders were lenient with you. You try their patience and mine.”

Verona’s lips pulled back, revealing even more wicked-looking teeth. “I care nothing for what the elders think.”

Lazarus scoffed. “That has been made perfectly clear. I will inform Thalia of your opinion when she arrives.”

Verona stiffened at the mention of Thalia’s name. “She would never leave her nest.”

“She would and has. Thalia is on her way here as we speak.” Lazarus sounded smug.

Verona backed down, retreating a step. “This is not over, Lazarus. I will not be denied a second time.” Without a backward glance, Verona stomped away. I heard her take flight the moment she was outside the door and far enough away to transform.

Gray coughed, waving a hand in front of his face and finally pulling Lazarus’s attention to us. Before that moment, I doubt he even knew we were in the room.

“Little hazy in here,” Gray said. “Good thing Verona busted through the door. The place could use a bit of airing out.”

Gray was right. The door was broken off its hinges. This area, this room in particular, was the only part of the compound that was above ground. It was the greeting room. Security grew tighter the further into the compound one went.

Gray shrugged. “Of course, it might not matter if Thalia gets here and the eggs tell her the whole place needs to be razed. Could be Verona was just getting a head start on the expected proceedings.”

I hung my head, tossing it back and forth.

“What?” Gray asked. “I’m just saying that it might not be such a bad thing, or maybe not the worst thing, considering what might come later. Nothing to get too upset about yet. We⁠—”

“I get it,” I said, waving Gray’s chatter off. Walking to the broken door, I went about setting into place as best I could. That done, I turned to Lazarus and said, “Let’s go see Keir. You’ve got some explaining to do, Lazarus Azure.”

“Lots of explaining,” Gray helpfully supplied.

Lazarus didn’t say a word. He puffed out another stream of smoke and by the time he walked across the room, his horns were gone and his talons had receded. Gray and I followed at a sedate pace. I don’t think any of us were eager to find out what the hell that was all about.

We traveled deeper into the compound until we reached Keir’s quarters. Lazarus didn’t bother knocking, he simply opened the door and walked in. Keir stood from his seated position in front of the eggs. One look at all our faces and Keir said, “I’ll get the tea.”

“Thank you,” Lazarus politely answered, not a hint of his earlier posturing. “And thank you for staying with the eggs.”

Keir waved him off as he walked to his kitchen, coming back out with a pot of tea and several cups. “It’s fine.” Pouring the tea, Keir looked to me and said, “Thank you for attending when I could not, Martin. Elvira mentioned it was a bit of an…inconvenience.” Keir sent a wink my direction.

Gray and I sat on a loveseat across from Keir and Lazarus. Cheeks heating, I answered with a brief “it was no problem.” Not that I thought I’d really done much. At most I’d stood there and been witness to two posturing wyvern.

“She’s got acid,” Gray commented, seemingly out of the blue. “Acid,” he said again with a lot of trepidation and a full-body shiver.

Keir inhaled deeply before sitting down with his own cup of tea. “I was not aware Verona had that particular ability,” Keir said before taking a sip of tea. “Considering Gray is aware of Verona’s particular affinity, I’m assuming the conversation did not go well.”

“You could say that,” Gray huffed, arms crossed and leaning back into the couch, his tea untouched.

Setting down my own cup, I looked to Lazarus and said, “Gray’s not wrong. Want to tell us why Verona seems to think she has a right to the eggs and while you’re at it, how she found out about them? You said she’d been exiled. I believe there was also mention of murder.”

“Murder?” Keir sat up straighter.