by Riley Storm
“Yes,” Jax said. Sarah nodded along in agreement.
Valla shrugged. “Sure. I can be convinced,” he said before anyone else could get a word in.
Sarah turned to Victor, sensing he was ready to speak next.
“They make a valid point,” he said slowly. “None of us has a plan on how to win this. We need someone who can come up with that. I have the utmost faith in your abilities, my brother,” he said directly to Aaric. “But we both know an elder would be the best suited to lead us now.”
All eyes turned to Aaric, the de facto leader of the dragons up until this point. It was he who would need to willingly embrace this plan, knowing it would remove him from leadership if it worked. Aaric had to go along completely, she felt, or else it would not work.
The fire dragon, in turn, looked over all of the dragons, as well as Sarah, Olivia, Cheryl and Liv, the last of whom cradled her child in her arms, the sleeping babe completely unaware of everything going on around her.
“I have done the best I can do,” Aaric said at last. “I believe I’ve made the choices that were best for the House, even if they weren’t always approved of. I believe I could continue to do that, to lead.”
Sarah tensed. They needed his support. His belief in the plan. If he refused…who knew what the awakening process would do when she and Jax ventured forth into the cavern below?
“But just because I believe I could do it, does not mean I should,” Aaric said heavily. “You are right, an elder would be better at this job than I am. And I’m sure Olivia would be more than happy to have me to herself a little more often.”
“You got that right,” the feisty little real-estate agent said. “I am not going to be the last one here who has a child,” she said. “But to do that, you’ve got some work to do, mister.”
The shifters shared a laugh, the sound carrying with it a note of relief from many assembled.
“Go,” Aaric said. “Take the artifact. Begin the ritual. As you said, we’re running out of time, and it will take a while to bring whoever is awakened up to speed. We must not delay.”
Jax shot to his feet, and Sarah was only a beat behind him, her heart brimming with excitement. She couldn’t fight the vampires, but she wasn’t about to sit around idly while her mate and his brothers did all the work.
She was going to help.
“This is going to work,” she said as they left the room, heading for the hidden staircase that would take them to the cavern below. “It’s going to work.”
“I know,” Jax said. “I know.”
But she wondered who he was reassuring. Her…or himself?
Chapter 39
“A leader,” he said quietly as they descended the last of the stairs. “A leader. A leader. Hmm.”
“What are you saying?” Sarah asked several stairs above him, following swiftly.
“A leader,” he repeated thoughtfully. “Need to awaken a leader.”
“Yes. We discussed that,” she said as he paused at the entrance to the cavern.
As always, Jax was overwhelmed by its awe and grandeur. The ceiling disappeared into the darkness above. Even the permanently lit torches spaced at regular intervals around the perimeter could not cast light high enough to find it.
The giant space spread out wide in front of them, filled with massive stone statues of dragons of all types. He spied fire dragons, wind dragons and storm dragons. Ice dragons here, and other earth dragons over there. All of his species were represented.
The stone statues looked like nothing but very intricate carvings, but Jax knew the truth. He knew that underneath the exterior, a dragon waited to be brought back to life, contentedly snoozing away the years, dreaming of piles of gold and fair maidens in the meantime.
Or something like that, at least.
“It’s beautiful,” Sarah said from beside him, resting her head on his arm. “Oh, Jax, look at it. Look at them.”
He smiled. This was the pride of House Draconis. Its beating heart contained here in the cavern.
“Which one is the King?” she asked, waiting respectfully until Jax had entered the chamber.
He flinched slightly as he walked past a powerful spell, one that removed most of his powers, dampening all magic that entered the chamber. But he bore up under it stoically, not wanting to show weakness in front of his mate, though he knew she would not judge him for it.
Still, the times were dark, and she deserved to feed off every bit of strength he could provide her.
“The King?” he echoed before pointing off into the darkness on his left. “He lies over there. A right crotchety old fire dragon,” he muttered.
“So, let’s go awaken him then!” Sarah said eagerly, tugging on his arm, trying to pull him in that direction.
Jax didn’t move.
“What’s wrong, Jax?”
“Nothing.”
“Then…King. Magic. Awaken. Us. Let’s go?”
He smiled at her blunt words. “I came down here with a plan, Sarah. That plan was to awaken the leader we would need. The one who could help us win.”
She was smart, one of her qualities Jax most appreciated, and it didn’t take Sarah long at all to understand his meaning.
“You don’t think your King is the one to lead you,” she said quietly as it dawned on her.
“No,” he replied. “And I don’t think any of the others do either. The King is…old. He inherited the position when our last King fell in the final days of the Shifter-Mage war. He did not have much time to demonstrate his leadership before we retreated into the deep sleep, waiting until the magic needed us once more.”
“Oh. Well, then who do you think we should awaken.”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I can think of several, but the question is which one.”
She was silent for some time. Jax kept pondering his options, not able to come to a firm conclusion on any of them, unfortunately.
“Let it decide,” Sarah said softly.
“What?” he asked, looking at her in surprise.
“The artifact,” she said. “You told me about it. You said it decided who to awaken, choosing both Valla and Victor, even though neither was explicitly chosen, right? Even Aaric, it seemed, was more of a hope than anything.”
“Yes. There is a…maybe not sentience, but a soul to the artifact, as near as we can tell. It guides the magic.”
“Then just release the magic. Tell it you need a leader, and let it choose who to awaken.”
Jax pursed his lips, looking at his mate thoughtfully. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.”
She smiled. “Why thank you, sir dragon.”
His booming laughter echoed back from the cavern. “Thank you, Sarah. You truly are one of a kind.”
“I know,” she said playfully. “That’s why you keep me around.”
“That and a few other reasons,” he growled suggestively, before growing serious once more. “Okay. Let the magic choose. I can work with that.”
He guided her forward among the statues until he arrived at a place he was comfortable with. Three statues lay close to each other. A fourth lay further back, closing off a lopsided oval, if one chose to look at it that way.
“These are three of the dragons I think could help,” he said, gesturing. “May as well sit close to them and give the magic a bit of a nudge.”
“Sounds good to me,” Sarah said.
Jax sat crossed-legged. Sarah sat opposite him. He extended the matte black box in front of him and pushed some of the magic of his being into it. Intricate carved lines exploded into golden light.
“What now?” she asked, showing her first signs of nervousness.
“When you’re ready, simply touch it, and think of me,” he said softly. “Think of the bond we share. The artifact will draw on that strength and release the magic.”
He looked into her eyes, wondering how long it would take her to be ready. To feel comfortable.
Sarah’s hands were moving before he
’d even finished speaking.
The box grew brighter and brighter until they were forced to shut their eyes. The golden light bathed all the nearby statues in light.
Then it faded abruptly.
Jax opened his eyes, scanning the three statues, waiting to see which one the magic had chosen. Sarah, facing the other direction, was the first to react, her eyes going wide.
“Um, Jax?” she said.
He followed her vision. Behind him. To the fourth statue.
Where cracks in the stone were beginning to appear.
Chapter 40
Three Days Later
Jax approached his quarters slowly. Nervously.
He had no idea how this was going to go over with Sarah, and so he lacked his usual confidence.
“Hello, my darling,” he said on entering as she lounged out on the couch, reading a book she’d found in one of Drakon Keep’s large libraries.
“Jax,” she said happily, sitting up. “You’re back. How was your meeting?”
He smiled wearily as she got off the couch and swept into his arms. Her touch always reinvigorated him, and now was no exception.
“Long,” he said. “Tiring. Things are…difficult, with the new dragon. But we’ll get there,” he said, projecting confidence he didn’t necessarily feel.
“Time, my love. Give it time,” she said, seeing right through him. “I believe.”
“I know you do,” he said, smiling. “That is why I love you.”
“Among other reasons,” she teased, rubbing up against him.
“Yes, that too.”
Sarah pulled back. “There’s something else,” she said, watching his face. “Not just your meeting. Not the vampires. What is it?”
Jax sighed. He couldn’t keep a secret from her if his life depended on it.
“I want to do something.” He chewed his lip. “I may have already done something. Something I put into place before we became trapped here in the Keep. I kind of forgot about it in all the hubbub, but now that I have a moment to think, I need to make sure it’s okay with you.”
“What do you mean?” she asked cautiously, looking at him from the corner of her eyes.
“Well, I told you that I arranged for your grandmother to go south, right? A fake vacation she won, that she had to go on right away?”
“Yes. Though I don’t know how you managed to get her to do that without hearing from me,” Sarah said.
Jax shrugged. “I may have signed my name all over it, so she would feel confident. Your grandmother trusts me, you know.”
Sarah shook her head. “I should have known you would do something like that,” she said, laughing.
The two had been talking every day now, and Jax could tell that Sarah always felt better after her conversations with Grandma Mingott. Especially hearing about how well taken care of her grandmother was now.
Though he could do without G-Nance’s vivid descriptions of the various men she saw at the pool, or the beach, or the gym—her grandmother worked out now?!—or on her daily walks; he didn’t want her giving Sarah any ideas.
“That’s not what I was referring to, however,” he said quietly, wanting to get this over with.
“Well, what are you referring to?” Sarah wanted to know. “Just spit it out, mister. Please, no more delay.”
“Well, I’ve only been there twice, you know, and never really inside. But even to my untrained eye, it was clear you two were making ends meet to pay the bills, but that was about it, with regards to the house,” he said.
“Yes, and?”
He could sense Sarah getting her back up already because the conversation was about money.
“Sarah,” he said softly, pointing that out to her.
“Sorry,” she said, taking a deep breath and forcing herself to relax. “Go on.”
“Well, I kind of signed off on having some people go by the house. To um, like, repair-everything-that-they-could-so-that-the-house-would-be-nice-and-safe-and-work-better-and-fix-it-all-up-for-you-two,” he said in a rush, stringing it all together into one near word.
To his surprise, Sarah grinned wide from ear to ear.
“Thank you.”
Jax’s eyebrows lifted. “Are you sure? You’re not mad I just spent money without asking?”
Sarah shrugged. “Jax, money still makes me uncomfortable. But you’re spending it on my grandmother. A woman you barely know. Yet you whisked her away to safety at a beautiful vacation resort, and on top of that, you fixed all the things wrong with her house. You’re not thinking about yourself here. You’re thinking about others. That’s really kind of you. So yes, thank you,” she said, flinging herself back into his arms, squeezing tight. “You’re very generous.”
He shrugged. “I just want you two to be comfortable there.”
“You keep saying the two of us,” Sarah said. “Do you not want me moving in here after all this vampire nonsense is dealt with?”
Grinning, Jax lifted her into the air, swinging her around so her feet went out wide. “You would want to do that?”
Sarah shrugged. “I love you, Jax. I want to be as close to you as possible.”
“And I you, Sarah. And I you, my love. I cannot wait for what our future holds.”
***
***
Thank you for reading Earth Dragon’s Kiss.
Next Book: Claimed by the Dragon King (Keep Scrolling)
Claimed
by the
Dragon King
High House Draconis Book 5
Riley Storm
Claimed by the Dragon King
Copyright© 2019 Riley Storm
All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic means, without written permission from the author. The sole exception is for the use of brief quotations in a book review. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.
All sexual activities depicted occur between consenting characters 18 years or older who are not blood related.
Edited by Annie Jenkinson, Just Copyeditors
Cover Designs by Kasmit Covers
Chapter 1
“Begin.”
Her voice was strong, confident, and her body language conveyed the same message to the circle of men and women around her.
Kyla Langston wasn’t afraid of them. Not one bit.
All around her, red and green light blossomed into existence, casting wild patterns across the massive domed room within which they all stood. Twelve members of the Mages Guild stood arrayed around her at even intervals.
Some of them, she knew, were nervous about the test, and some were eager. She’d purposely chosen the mix. Kyla needed some who would not hold back in their attempts to break her, who would take great pleasure in inflicting harm on her.
There were a great many who felt that way, so it hadn’t been hard to find volunteers.
Her staff lifted and fell with a precise tap as the first bolt of red magic lanced in at her from the side. A circle of green appeared in the path of the attacking magic and stopped it cold. Kyla countered two more in quick succession, letting her brain go free, merging with the wild of the magic, feeling the attacks as they came, countering each of them.
Taking on twelve mages was a new feat for her, and despite her outward appearance, Kyla wasn’t sure how it would go. She’d held off a full ten mages for half an hour during her last attempt nearly six months ago. Now she was adding two more.
The attacks came fast and furious now, flashing in from all sides. The bottom of her staff, cased in copper, tapped a furious rhythm on the stone floor, occasionally sending up sparks as she fell deeper into the magic itself.
Though her eyes were closed and she couldn’t see it, her senses told her that the green was beginning to coalesc
e around her as she slowly fed magic into her shield. Instead of fading after every attack, her blocking spells remained in place, giving the other mages fewer and fewer places to launch their spells as the gaps filled.
In a short period of time, she was encased in an oval egg of green shielding magic. The attacks from outside glanced off.
Something slammed into the rear of her shield with astonishing force. Kyla stumbled and cracks appeared in her shell. Caught off-guard by the strength of the attack, her protective bubble nearly failed.
Nearly.
Kyla was a member of the Mage Council. The youngest member, by several decades. At only thirty-nine she was a prodigy of magic, and her strength only continued to build as she trained.
She wasn’t about to succumb that quickly.
Spinning, she eyed her attacker, absently pushing more magic into her protective layer. Smoky gray eyes landed on a thirteenth figure in the circle.
Male, perhaps thirty years older than her, though he looked to be in his fifties at best. A long robe of deep red encased the slim figure, barely revealing his hands and face. He stared at her with open disdain.
Morak.
She smiled at him and waved, giving him an obnoxious smile. Morak was an ass-kisser to the ultimate degree, and he had assumed because of his constant sucking-up to the other mages on the Council that when a position opened, he would be appointed by default.
Unfortunately for Morak, very rarely did the Council simply appoint a replacement mage. His brown-nosing hadn’t been enough to convince them to bring him on board, so he had been forced to participate in the Challenge, like every other mage who wished to gain the spot.
Her smile wasn’t received well. A reminder that she had won the Challenge, and he had bowed out in the second-to-last round, before they had even had a chance to meet. She was on the Council now, a veritable phenomenon, and he was reduced back to sucking up to the others.