The Dragon Realm (Dark World The Dragon Twins #2) - Michelle Madow Page 0,9

back the moment she saw Hecate, as if intimidated by the goddess’s presence.

Ethan reached for her waist and steadied her.

I looked away, since for reasons I didn’t understand, my chest always tightened at the sight of the two of them together.

Probably because of that kiss…

But that hadn’t meant anything. At least, not to him. I’d just needed to snap him out of it, and he’d kissed me back because for a moment, he’d thought I was Mira.

It was an accident. I needed to forget about it.

He already had.

So I pushed the thought away and refocused on Hecate.

The goddess was as calm as ever. “I believe you have questions for me?” she asked.

“So many questions,” I said quickly.

“Then I hope you’ve prepared your best ones.”

I swallowed, then nodded. Because Ethan had his best question ready. From there, my best question depended on Hecate’s answer to his question, and then Mira’s on her answer to mine.

But I was ready to think on my feet.

“Come with me.” Hecate spun around and led us through the door that opened to a never-ending hall lined with bookshelves from top to bottom. A buffet table ran down the center, displaying a variety of food and drinks for those who’d been too impatient to wait for Hecate and had gotten lost wandering the Library, trying to search for the answers to their questions on their own.

How long had they returned to the Library, day after day, before giving up on getting an audience with Hecate and venturing to find a book with the answer to their question themselves?

What question was worth risking the loss of what could be years of their lives?

And why did Hecate appear in the Library some days, and not on other days? And why would she only answer our questions if she met us in the ivory hall, and not if we were lost perusing the endless books on the shelves?

But I wasn’t going to ask any of those questions. At least, not today. Because the answers wouldn’t help the situation on Earth. And saving Earth was the number one priority.

“Who wants to go first?” Hecate asked.

She’d barely finished speaking before Ethan stepped forward.

“How do we kill Lilith?” he asked, his voice low and deadly. His eyes gleamed with spite—with his need for revenge.

I was grateful he was on my side, and not fighting against me. Because anyone in Ethan’s path was bound to get burned by the dragon king.

It was so surreal that he was an actual king.

Hecate gazed down the hall. Her eyes swirled purple like the night sky, and mist poured out of them, ghostly tendrils reaching down the halls and shelves as they searched for the book with the answer.

It didn’t take long for a dark gray book to fly out of the shelves and into her hand.

The mist retreated back into her eyes, the book opened, and a breeze blew the pages until landing on one in the center.

She looked at Mira, then at me, and then her gaze returned to Ethan’s. “To defeat Lilith, you’ll need the fourth Holy Object,” she said. “The Holy Crown.”

“Wow,” I said, since the identity of the fourth Holy Object had been one of the questions I’d been contemplating asking. “Where can we find the Holy Crown?”

The mist swirled out of Hecate’s eyes again, searching through the Library.

I’d asked a question.

I hadn’t meant to ask it. But it had come out so quickly that I hadn’t realized it.

Mira’s lips were pressed into a firm line.

Ethan’s expression betrayed no emotion. Although it was impossible to truly know, since he still wouldn’t look at me.

The mist retreated, and a deep red book flew down the hall, smacking into Hecate’s waiting hand. She must have placed the other book down while I’d been lost in my thoughts.

Just like before, the breeze opened the book to a page. Although this time, the page was near the end of the book.

“Hm,” she said as she studied the page. As always, she didn’t let any of us see what she was reading. “Very interesting.”

I bounced on my toes and waited anxiously for her to continue.

“The first place you need to go to find the Holy Crown is in Ember,” she said. “To the hidden dragon kingdom. Ethan knows where it is.”

Ethan simply nodded.

“I didn’t realize the Crown could be in more than one place.” I made sure to phrase it as a thought instead of a question.

“Neither did I,” she said. “But, you asked where to go to