Dragon's Heart (The DragonFate Novels Book 3)

by Deborah Cooke

  Rhys saw the flash of silver light appear in the air behind Sylvia. It took him a precious second to realize that it was an opening to Fae. Pain exploded in his feet just as a man was flung through the slit between the realms. He heard Hadrian grunt across from him and assumed that Pyr felt the same excruciating pain.

  Alasdair didn’t move after hitting the floor.

  “Alasdair!” Hadrian shouted and got to his feet.

  The Pyr immediately rushed to help Alasdair and confront whoever was coming through the gap. The air was bright with the blue shimmer of Pyr on the cusp of change, and the firestorm burned with white heat. Hadrian, who was sitting beside Sylvia, shifted immediately, becoming a powerful dragon with emerald and silver scales. He braced himself over the fallen Alasdair and breathed fire at the slit of silver light, a fierce and powerful guardian.

  A Fae warrior suddenly leapt through the slit, slashing at Hadrian with a blade that seemed to be made of silver fire. Rhys smelled Pyr blood. Hadrian roared and snatched at the warrior, his movement sending his blood splashing over both of them. Lila gasped at her first sight of his wound and Rhys was shocked, too. The Fae warrior had sliced open Hadrian’s chest and even though the Pyr was fighting on, he was already fading from the severity of the wound.

  What kind of blade was that?

  The Fae warrior moved with lightning speed, evading Hadrian and looming suddenly behind Sylvia. He was tall and blond, and looked faintly familiar to Rhys. There was something about his cocky smile. Sylvia gasped and the Fae warrior took advantage of her surprise to scoop the book off the table. “Just what I need,” he said.

  “No!” Rafferty shouted.

  “Thanks for this,” the Fae warrior said to Sylvia with a wink.

  “No!” she cried and snatched the book, just barely grabbing onto its spine. The warrior tugged but she held on tightly, the battle over the book pulling her to her feet and sending her chair tumbling backward. She didn’t let go. The Fae warrior visibly gritted his teeth and tried to wrench the book from her hands, without success.

  “It’s mine,” Sylvia said with heat, giving the book a tug.

  “It’s not yours,” the Fae warrior replied and gave it such a savage pull that Sylvia stumbled.

  She still didn’t let go.

  Hadrian collapsed beside Alasdair, his blood spreading across the floor. He began to rotate between forms, which was a really bad sign.

  Rhys found Lila behind him and seized her hand, before racing around the end of the table where Eithne sat. The witch might have been struck to stone. She was pale and her expression was horrified, but she hadn’t moved. Rhys caught the back of Sylvia’s dress, but she was jerked away and it slipped from his grip.

  Arach, who had been sitting beside Hadrian, had shifted shape, although there wasn’t enough room in the restaurant for two dragons, even when one was injured. Rhys suspected he couldn’t help himself when a treasure of the earth was imperiled so close to his side. Hadrian shifted to his human form involuntarily and stopped rotating between forms. He was completely still as his blood flowed steadily onto the floor.

  Arach, in his aquamarine and silver dragon form, lunged at the Fae warrior, talons extended as if he would tear him to shreds. There was a roar from the front of the restaurant and the sound of smashing glass.

  Rhys turned to find Thorolf raging toward them, the blue shimmer of the change surrounding him. That Pyr had just barreled through the entry to the restaurant, Niall close behind him. Rhys caught only a glimpse of the tall warrior with his long blond hair before Thorolf shifted to his dragon form, becoming a massive dragon of moonstone and silver. He roared dragonfire at the Fae intruder and Sylvia screamed.

  The Fae warrior jumped over Hadrian and Alasdair, moving with that startling speed, and bounded back through the gap. He hauled the book and Sylvia with him.

  There was a heartbeat during which Sylvia must have seen what would happen. She could have released the book, but she didn’t. She stumbled over the two unconscious Pyr, hanging on grimly to the book’s spine even as she was pulled forcibly into Fae.

  The sliver between realms that was the portal began to close.

  Arach hesitated for a second to glance toward Drake, then dove over Hadrian and through the opening, shifting to his human form to fit through the gap.

  Rhys understood: Arach was going after Theo. At least one of them had made it into Fae. Thorolf raged closer, teeth bared, but his mouth snapped on empty space.

  The opening had been completely closed. Sylvia, the Fae warrior, the book and Arach had vanished, and the restaurant looked just as it had before the flash of silver light.

  Except that Hadrian was unconscious and bleeding profusely on the floor, and Thorolf had arrived with his family. Rhys feared it was too late for Hadrian, even as Balthasar rushed to Hadrian’s side. Alasdair moaned and stirred, while Eithne buried her head into her hands. She shrank before Rhys’ eyes, visibly aging another few decades, and he wondered if she would turn to dust.

  Rafferty swore. “She has the gem of the hoard and the book!”

  “And Kade took the stylus,” Rhys added. “We have no way to follow them into Fae.” He looked at Lila. “Unless we can find the portal where we met.”

  Nereus seethed.

  He clothed himself in the debris of Nyssa’s apartment building, then emerged to mingle with the crowd. He pretended to be another distraught victim but was simmering with fury. How dare Lila deny him again? How dare she choose a dragon over him? Their child would be an abomination, just when the world needed more selkies of true lineage. She would waste a year, if not more, in this folly, when every moment counted.

  Didn’t she understand what he had done for her?

  Hadn’t she learned anything from her experience with that fisherman? She would be trapped and abused again, and need to be rescued again. He had given her an entire century to heal, only to see her pursue the same stupidity again.

  He hailed a cab and headed downtown, to the dock where his yacht was moored. Its luxuries gave him no pleasure in this moment. He was aboard before he decided how to proceed. He couldn’t rely upon Lila to do the responsible thing. He couldn’t count on her to deny the dragon, much less to come to him. He’d cleaned up the debris of her errors before, and he would have to do it again.

  Nyssa had told him the dragon shifter’s name when he had called. Rhys Lewis. He owned a restaurant where they had gone.

  He should be easy to find.

  And if Lila was with him, she could witness the king’s justice herself.

  That might drive his lesson home.

  The attack had been quick and fierce. Lila had been startled that Arach had entered Fae of his own volition, but it seemed these Pyr warriors all shared Rhys’ principles. What would it be like to know that someone would help whenever you were in trouble? Lila couldn’t imagine having that confidence. She relied upon herself, and knew that if she ever was caught in a situation that she couldn’t resolve herself, that would be the end.

  But the Pyr had come for her when she’d been abducted, because of Rhys and the firestorm. She didn’t even want to think about how that situation would have ended otherwise. She had to help them in return.

  Drake was helping Alasdair to roll over and sit up. She didn’t think Hadrian would be able to rise of his own volition.

  “I’m sorry about Sylvia,” Melissa said to Eithne and the older woman shook her head. She looked even more weary than she had earlier.

  “She must follow her path,” she said simply, then sighed. “At least I told her the truth last night.” Melissa held her hand and Lila wondered whether she realized how much that helped Eithne. The witch was drawing power from Melissa steadily, and might not have even been aware that she did so.

  There was a shimmer of blue light as the moonstone and silver dragon regained his human form. He was very tall and powerful, like a Viking come to life, and his blond hair was in long dreadlocks. He prowled around the place where the
portal had been, his annoyance clear as he examined it from all sides. “How the fuck did he do that?” he demanded of no one in particular.

  “You owe Rhys a window and a door,” the other new arrival said to him with a roll of his eyes. He was blond, too, but his hair was cut short. He was shorter and built like a wrestler.

  “Hey, never let it be said that I don’t know how to make an entrance,” the big Pyr said with pride.

  “Everyone else uses the door,” Rhys muttered. He beckoned to Lila and as she moved closer, the firestorm burned a little hotter. The big Pyr took a deep appreciative breath and held up his hands, as if to bask in its radiance.

  “Killer firestorm,” he said with enthusiasm.

  Lila didn’t think it tactful to tell him how close he was to the truth.

  “Lila, this is Niall Talbot, the DreamWalker of the Pyr.” Rhys gestured to the smaller of the two newly arrived Pyr. He nodded to her and she sensed that he wasn’t one to waste words. “He and his mate, Rox, live in town and have two pairs of twin boys.”

  “More twins,” Lila murmured with a smile and Niall grinned.

  “They keep us busy.”

  Rhys gestured to the big Pyr who had shifted shape. “And this is Thorolf, apparently returned from Asia in time to trash my restaurant.”

  “I was trying to help!” Thorolf protested, then grinned and offered Lila his hand. “Some firestorm you’ve got going here.”

  “I didn’t exactly start it,” she said.

  He laughed as her hand disappeared in his. “But you haven’t stopped it either.” He winked. “Maybe you just like the burn.”

  Rhys cleared his throat. “Niall, Thorolf, this is my mate Lila. She’s a selkie and a healer.”

  “Don’t mind him,” Niall said in a confidential tone, gesturing to Thorolf. “He’s always like this.”

  Niall’s aura was royal blue, as steady and bright as looking into the heart of a sapphire. Thorolf’s aura was gold and powerful. Lila had the sense that he wasn’t just vital but very old.

  Niall moved to crouch at Alasdair’s side, surveying the injured Pyr with concern. Was he a healer? Alasdair seized Niall’s hand, apparently realizing he was there, and began talking in an insistent undertone. He might have been making a confession or a report, but his words flowed in an incoherent babble. His gaze wandered, his eyes out of focus. Niall listened to him, then looked up with a frown. “Do you know what’s wrong with him?” he asked Lila.

  “She’s been in his thoughts,” Lila said softly and Rhys glanced her way, obviously hearing her concern. “I can’t help him.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry but he may never be right again.”

  “No!” Rhys protested, but she met his gaze steadily.

  “I saw it once before. The damage to the aura is unmistakable.” His aura was green but it was burned, as if acid had been poured on it. There were gaps and ragged holes where there should have been steady light. “It means, though, that you were right about him, Rhys. He was compelled to betray you. If he chose to do it, it was to survive.”

  “Torture,” Rhys murmured and she nodded.

  “But how did he betray Rhys?” Niall asked even as he tried to soothe Alasdair, who was becoming more agitated. “Feel free to bring me up to date.”

  “He stole the gem of the hoard from my lair for the Dark Queen.”

  Niall nodded even as he frowned a little. “He probably feels guilty and is trying to explain himself. Can you tell me any more about what she does or how she does it, even anything about the effects?”

  “In the case I saw before, the individual had persistent nightmares,” Lila said. “I think he relived the violation until it drove him insane.”

  “A selkie?” Rhys asked.

  “A centaur. One of the last. It was said that the Dark Queen compelled him to reveal the locations of his remaining fellows.”

  “Maybe that was what drove him to madness,” Rhys suggested. “He felt that he had betrayed his kind.”

  “Niall does dreams,” Thorolf interjected. He must have been to the kitchen because he was eating a sandwich that Lila knew Rhys hadn’t made. It was too big and too sloppy. It was also disappearing very quickly.

  “Hey, stay out of my kitchen,” Rhys said. “You’ll leave it a wreck.”

  “Hey, I’m starving. Breathe dragonsmoke around it if you want to defend it. Or cook for me.”

  Rhys snorted.

  Unchastened and unapologetic, Thorolf turned to Niall. “Can you dreamwalk Alasdair?”

  Lila was intrigued. Niall could walk in someone else’s dreams?

  “I’m going to try,” that Pyr replied. “If I can find the thread of his sense of guilt, I might be able to unfurl things. It’s worth a try. Let’s get him to a quiet corner and I’ll see what I can do.”

  Dreamwalking was something Lila would like to witness. She rose to follow Niall.

  “If nothing else, this attack proves that the Dark Queen has the gem of the hoard,” Rafferty said quietly from behind her. “She has enough magick to open portals again.”

  Lila had to agree.

  She was going to follow Niall and Alasdair, but glanced at Hadrian first. What she saw stopped her cold. Balthasar was treating Hadrian’s chest wound, his expression grim.

  “Balthasar has studied with Sloane, the Apothecary of the Pyr,” Rhys told her quietly. “Sloane makes herbal ointments and salves specifically to treat the battle injuries of the Pyr.” Lila nodded, remembering that Rhys had used them. Balthasar had already slowed the bleeding and was preparing to stitch the wound closed.

  She didn’t want to interfere but hadn’t Balthasar seen the mark on Hadrian’s cheek? She’d thought she’d imagined it before when it had faded away, but it was back and darker than ever. The purple imprint of a woman’s kiss was spreading a taint through his aura. The hue of it and the way it grew, relentless in its progress, told Lila what it was. She’d heard of a kiss of death before but had never seen one. That was why she hadn’t recognized it earlier. Left untreated, she knew it would kill Hadrian.

  She glanced at Rhys and saw his concern for his friends. It wasn’t her place to judge the Pyr and their commitment to each other, the trust they granted so readily, but she wanted to help Hadrian.

  Because Rhys cared for him.

  “Can I help?” she asked impulsively and felt the weight of Rhys’ quick sidelong glance. He was surprised and obviously had guessed that she was using her talent as a gift to him.

  “I think I can manage, thanks,” Balthasar said lightly. “It’s a deep wound and it’s clean...”

  “No,” Lila said, wondering how he could ignore that mark. Maybe he couldn’t see it. “There’s something else. Don’t you see it?”

  “See what?”

  She pointed to Hadrian’s cheek. “There’s the imprint of a kiss there, one that I noticed before. It’s darker now than it was. And it’s spreading a taint into his aura.”

  “A kiss?” Balthasar asked and his tone revealed he didn’t see it. “A taint into his aura?” He turned to look at Lila. “Should I know what that means?”

  “No, because it’s magick,” Eithne said. “It’s a Fae spell,” she clarified. “Sometimes called the kiss of death.” Lila nodded.

  Balthasar looked mystified. “What does it do?”

  “It condemns the recipient. He sees a woman of beauty and is enthralled, especially when she gives him a kiss. It burns a mark on his soul and will eventually kill him.” Eithne shook her head. “He will think he has died of love for her, but the truth is that she chose to kill him.”

  “But why?”

  “Perhaps for the spark of his soul, in Pyr terms. Life is the root of magick and its origin. Taking a life is one of the crudest ways to obtain more magick.” She snapped her fingers more imperiously than Lila would have expected, maybe to keep Lila from saying anything more about that kiss of death.

  Eithne had shared only a part of the truth. Why?

  The witch snapped her finge
rs imperiously. “I need a stone. Any stone. The more plain and unremarkable it is, the better.”

  The Pyr looked at each other. Obviously none of them carried a stone.

  Lila indicated the one that she wore on a cord around her neck. She didn’t need it to remember Thomas. Maybe she wouldn’t be haunted by dreams if she gave it away. “What about this?”

  “Even better!” Eithne said with a smile and extended her hand.

  Why was it better? It was just a stone and she’d asked for a stone. Lila hesitated for only a second before she surrendered it, then told herself it was the right choice.

  She felt odd without it, almost naked, but that was foolish. She shook her head then glanced up to find Rhys watching her.

  What did he see?

  What had he guessed?

  “A hag stone embued with Fae magick,” a man said, his tone sardonic. “Possessed by a selkie in the middle of a firestorm. What could possibly go wrong?”

  Everyone looked around and Rhys doubted he was the only one surprised to see the vampire Sebastian lounging in the doorway to his cellar.

  “Sebastian,” Drake muttered even as Eithne bristled.

  “Your kind are always so critical,” she informed the vampire. “You might try to be part of the solution instead.”

  Sebastian blew her a kiss.

  Lila eased closer to Rhys, her hand sliding into his, and Rhys simmered, both from the heat of the firestorm and the potential threat to his mate. His heart was already aglow that she’d intervened to help with Hadrian’s treatment. He knew it wasn’t her inclination to worry about the team.

  She’d helped Hadrian for him, and Rhys knew it.

  But what was the importance of the stone? Lila had both wanted to surrender it and wished to keep it. Rhys had felt the conflict within her. Sebastian had called it a hag stone. What did that mean? Rhys doubted it was a reference to Lila’s age. The stone was important to Lila and he had no idea why.

  And why was the vampire suddenly in his restaurant?

  Sebastian was dark-haired and handsome, with eyes of cool clear blue. There was something predatory about him, something that Rhys didn’t think was simply due to his nature. The vampire’s watchfulness and his ability to move quickly made Rhys suspect that Sebastian had always been a hunter. Sebastian was dressed in dark jeans and a black hoodie, his dark clothes just making his face look more pale and his eyes more blue. Rhys wondered how often he had to feed and whether he had done so recently.