Prologue

Amelia watched from the shadows as her brother paced angrily, fierce features twisted into a stern scowl. He growled beneath his breath, hands gripped tightly behind his back. She knew he was trying to find a solution, but really everyone in the manor doubted that anything would help at this point. Antrey spun on his heel and retraced his steps, brain whirling recklessly. Back and forth, back and forth; simply watching made her dizzy. She finally stepped from the shadows and he stopped dead in his tracks, face growing pale as he faced her.

She waited for him to speak, her heart tugging in her breast as her gaze traveled from his dusty boots up over his muscled torso and up to his strained green eyes. His short-cropped black hair was mussed, as if he’d been running his hands through it. She moved closer and reached up to smooth the tousled locks gently. His hand shot up to grip hers tightly as his eyes searched her face intently.

“Did you discover anything helpful?”

She shook her head. “Not yet. But I am still looking, so don’t lose faith yet.”

He growled, and she flinched away. He tightened the grip on her hand and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault, I know that.”

“I did find one thing…” She frowned slightly at the acute hope that flooded his face. “Don’t get too excited, Antrey. This might be a long shot.”

“A long shot is more than we have now, isn’t it? What do you have?”

"Well, I found some references to the Dragon Knights." She watched his face carefully, swallowing hard at the disbelief that twisted his sculpted lips. "Before you heap scorn upon me, just listen. The treatise I found was vague, but it described the symptoms suffered by one of the acolytes of the Shadow Temple. While the end result of the acolyte's fate was rather grim, the priest who wrote the treatise describes the symptoms in great detail. They match Rea's symptoms precisely."

The disgust fell away, and he swallowed hard. "Are you sure?"

Amelia shook her head fiercely. "Would I even bother to bring you this information if I wasn't?"

"But there are no more Dragon Knights. No one has even seen a dragon in the last fifty years." Antrey released his hold on her hand and returned to his pacing.

"That's not precisely true, brother-dear. There is one..."

He barely glanced at her. "That's just a legend."

She was quiet for a long moment; then again she shook her head. "I don't think it is. I think it's more than just stories told to scold the children. I think that there is a true Dragon Knight alive today, and I think that we need to exhaust every possibility to find out if that is true, don't you?"

He turned back to face her, a determined glint in his eyes. "Of course you're right."

She didn't try to hide the hope that flooded her face. “You deal with the details of the journey, and choose who to trust with this task, and I will return to the library.”

Antrey nodded. As Amelia turned away, he called her name. She glanced over her shoulder at him, and he thanked her. She smiled sadly. “Of course… I’d do anything for my nephew, you know that.”