All in all, Zai was a magnificent dragon, a battle-scarred warrior in Beast form that matched the man.
The man who presently stood beside Ben with an unfocused gaze, heavy brows drawn together, lost in his own thoughts.
Ben had no doubt Zai was thinking about Sin. He grimaced when he thought about how abruptly they’d left the liger just a minute ago.
What must Sin be thinking? How must he feel?
He’d already lost a Mate once. Ben didn’t think he could stand to lose Zai too.
He determined, right then and there, that he’d find a way to send Zai back or bring Sin to their world.
These werehisdragons.
They needed their Mates. Ben would do everything in his power to help them.
“And you, Benjamin,” Miss Seventh said, turning back to him, pulling him out of his revelations.
“You have discovered the Truth of Dragons, have you not?”
It was uncanny how she seemed to know his thoughts.
Ben inclined his head slowly, and as he did so, he was absolutely certain of what he knew.
“That each dragon is created with a cornerstone, a soulmate to balance them?” he laid out the Truth as best he could.
“That more than any other Immortal, they need their Mate to live in the Light and thrive. That to lose their Mate would lead to Darkness and despair, chaos and destruction.”
Miss Seventh didn’t indicate by notion or word whether Ben was right or not, but her Mona Lisa smile remained.
“There is a third truth you discovered as well, isn’t there, warrior?”
She tilted her head a little, and her smile grew sad.
“Your own.”
Ben’s breath froze in his chest as Seventh Sister’s swirling eyes speared into him, as if she saw straight into the depths of his soul.
But this was not the time to remember.
This was not about him. Later, when he was alone, when he could break apart where no one else could see, especially his family, he would examine the truths he’d learned about himself.
Not now.
He steeled his jaw and focused on the matter at hand. The reason he’d leapt into the Mirror Pond in the first place was to find a way to help Ere and Sorin. Zai saving Sol before he perished on top of the Fire Mountainmusthave made a difference.
It had to.
“I want to see Ere,” he told Miss Seventh in a commanding tone.
“I know he’s here. I can…feel him somehow. I don’t know how, but I can.”
“Yes,” she agreed easily. “Of all beings, you should feel an affinity to dragons when they are near.”
Because he would become a dragon himself at some point? Ben wondered. Why “of all beings”? As if Ben’s affinity to dragons was more powerful than others, like Zai, who was already dragon.
As if his thoughts had conjured the man into being, a rustling sound through the gardens made Ben turn toward it.
Ere, all dressed in black, his long dark hair loose and shiny, turquoise eyes bright with happiness, walked out into the sun from the secret shadows of the garden. The biggest, most brilliant grin stretched across his face as he spotted Ben.