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“Not so little now.”

He was saying something to me in the old language when Dom snapped, “English, please.”

How he managed to turn a please into an order was a talent all his own.

“How’d they capture you and keep you here?” I asked curiously. Both were feats on their own, but achieving them together was downright impressive.

“I let them. I wanted to get away from our family, and I wanted to talk to you.” His accent wasn’t strong, but he’d clearly spent more time in Europe than the States. “I just didn’t think it would take this long for them to let me see you.”

“I’ve been a bit busy,” I said vaguely. “Do you know who has Lynn?”

“I was taken not long after she was, if you’ll recall.”

“Yes, but you had to know something about what they were planning. I was taken by our family to a location close by. Where was she supposed to end up? You have to know something.”

“Not as much as you’d think, considering my talents. If it’s any consolation, I don’t believe she’s in any real danger, though I don’t have a clue where she is. All I know is that the one called Drake has her, and he wouldn’t harm her.”

Caleb, Christian, and I shared a look.

“Last time I saw her someone had taken her eyes,” I told my brother.

“That wasn’t Drake, it was Villi, and he was acting on his own. He was settling an old score. Those were not his orders.”

I’d guessed as much. “When did Villi ever take orders?”

“A fair point, but one our father was determined to learn the hard way. Villi won’t be ignoring any more of his orders any time soon now, will he?”

My brother seemed as pleased by that as anyone. If it was a trick, it worked, because I was reassured. “Our family let the Chinese dragons take Lynn. Why?”

“It was a deal I wasn’t privy to. Father’s learned to block me from his mind, so I only have bits and pieces. I do think the deal went sour after they took her, though. Our family is at war with the Chinese dragons as well as the druids now, if you didn’t know.”

I hadn’t. Even Dom had a thoughtful look on his face as though he was putting pieces of a puzzle together as Sven spoke.

“How do we know if he’s telling the truth?” Christian asked.

“We don’t,” I said. “I can’t read his mind. I’ve never had that talent.”

“Some druids were working with you,” I said to my brother, memories coming back to me even as I said it. “Who were they?”

He grimaced. “There were druids working with our relatives. At least two. I don’t know who. They went to some trouble to hide that from me, too. And for my part, I was just brought in to try to take you peaceably.”

“How’d that work out for you?”

“Worse than I’d hoped.

“You don’t say.

“Considerably worse. I don’t think Father understood that the full force of the druids was behind you. He didn’t imagine taking you could start a war.”

“I wouldn’t put it that way,” I said carefully.

“I would,” Dom cut in. “And he knows it now. I’ll have his head for trying.”

Sven just smiled and shook his head. “Very druid of you, Arch. I wish you luck. Let me loose and I’ll help.”

Dom looked half-tempted. “If only we could trust you.”

“I can help her,” my brother told him, his tone coaxing. “I can teach her all the things she needs to know, all the things she never learned because she and Lynn escaped so young and have been alone in the world without anyone of our kind to teach them.”