by Zoe Chant
“He was scratching it off,” Bird said.
“So it appeared, but if we had a chance to go back there, you’d see the letters begin to reform again, bit by bit. I did my best to convince him he was destroying it permanently in order to buy you time, my brave Bird. But that text is not so easily destroyed.”
Bird looked troubled. “I was beginning to feel sorry for him. But then I remembered you in those chains, and I don’t. That goes double for deliberately destroying art.”
Mikhail kissed her ear. “He will have a lot to account for when the empress catches up with him.”
Joey said from the front seat. “You’re going to have to stick around to guard the entire mess until the empress decides what to do, right?”
“For the time being,” Mikhail said.
“Good.” Joey pulled up on the quiet lane below Bird’s cottage. “Here you go. I’ll talk to you two later.”
Mikhail and Bird walked up to the cottage hand in hand.
“Oh, I don’t think I’ve ever wished for a hot bath more than I do now,” Bird exclaimed. He was glad to see that she was no longer shivering. “Every bone and muscle in my body feels like . . . feels like I was crawling around a cave, then running for my life. Is every day going to be like this from now on?”
Mikhail stopped inside the front door, worry flaring through him until he looked into her smiling face. She said, “Life is never going to be boring again, is it?”
He smiled back, still concerned, wanting her to understand—hoping that it would be enough. They’d had so little time before things accelerated so suddenly.
He said carefully, “I might be gone for periods, once this situation is resolved. But you will always be able to reach me. Your mental bond is very strong. Not every mate bond includes it if one is a human partner, is my understanding.”
“Blame my imagination.” She wrapped her hands around his and tugged him further inside. “Let’s get cleaned up, and treat ourselves to a dose of normal. We can make a third try at Linette’s pastries, plus tea. How’s that?”
By the time she had had her shower, Mikhail’s burns had healed enough to enable him to shift, arrow to his motel for fresh clothing, and bring it all back. And when she emerged, clean and freshly dressed, his healing had progressed enough for him to bear hot water on his tender skin.
They soon sat at the tiny table, eating the pastries Bird had warmed and drinking a fine Oolong. He so looked forward to taking her to the clan tea farms, to the palace.
He looked forward to telling her everything, and showing her off everywhere.
But first things first. Beginning with her life.
He polished off his plate, then took her hands. “I had an idea,” he said. “Tell me if you like it. Why not solve the wedding problem by hosting it in this beautiful garden?”
Her face brightened, then clouded. “It would be a beautiful setting, but we couldn’t run the reception out of this place.” She looked in despair around her cottage. “My stove is old and cranky, and my fridge is almost as old. It needs to be defrosted every week, or the ice builds up. Even a tiny wedding would be too much to manage here.”
“But we could from the larger house if your landlord liked the idea, could we not?”
“Oh, I think Mr. Kleiner would adore it. He loves company. But that house has as many problems as my cottage here. More, really.”
“It wouldn’t,” he said, venturing on the idea he had been turning over in his mind all morning, until Cang sprang the trap. “If I were to arrange for it all to be fixed.”
Bird’s eyes widened. “What? It would cost a fortune.”
“Bird, this is your home. I would like to make it worthy of you.”
“I do love it here.” She gave him a wavering smile. “But I just rent. The property belongs to Mr. Kleiner.”
“As it happens—it seems never have occurred to you to ask—I have a great deal of money. Not a fortune. I’m an imperial knight, not a billionaire. But there was a fund established at my parents’ treaty, and I have my own earnings, including rewards for service rendered. I’ve never had much interest in any of it before. Until now I was content to live out of my travel bag. But I like this place, this town. I like your friends and your children. This is your home. It would make me happy to establish myself here.”
“But . . . isn’t your home a palace?”
“Technically, two of them. I was born in one and trained in another. But neither has ever seemed like home. Not like the home you have made here, with your friends in this town.”
“I always meant for it to be temporary,” she admitted. “But it really has been my home.” She touched her heart. “Here. Not on paper. I kept thinking I’d lost my home, though actually I hated that huge house Bartholomew insisted we buy. I was never happy there.”
“I understand completely,” he said. “When I returned to the mountains above Prague, which is where my mother’s people live, I always felt like a guest there for inspection. The imperial palace was my school, in effect.”
Her eyes widened. “Are you going to ask Mr. Kleiner if you can rent a room, or . . .”
“I want to buy the house, but he could go on living in it as long as he wishes. Then he won’t need to deal with repairs—I can handle that. The house overlooks the ocean, and it’s quite large. We could make your landlord truly comfortable, accommodate your son’s family if he wishes, and make certain the other residents were permanently protected. What say you?”
Bird’s eyes had filled with tears. “I can’t believe how happy I am.” Then she startled them both by a huge yawn. “Oh! I don’t know why I did that!”
“After-battle fatigue.” He chuckled. “Come. I think we’ve earned a little rest.”
They withdrew to her room, and stretched out together on the bed. She was clearly tired, and his body was still healing. She snuggled up against him, her hand tucked under his cheek. He caressed her, tender and slow, as her breathing lengthened into slumber.
Was this a condition of age? To lie peacefully in his beloved’s arms was a better reward than all his years of gold, accolades, medals, beautiful and eager young shifter women wanting a trophy romp with a silver dragon. He regretted none of those things—they had been excellent in their time and place—but he had discovered, at this point in his life, that he’d sought something more meaningful, without even knowing what he sought.
And now he had found it.
As he drifted off to sleep, he was aware of his dragon humming contentedly, and smiled as he sank down into dreams.
He woke to a warm, fragrant bundle stirring in his arms. A moment’s startle, for he had always slept alone, brought the happiness rushing back.
“Bird?” he murmured, loving her name, her scent, loving the fact that he never knew what she would say next.
“Mikhail.” She turned in his arms, and smiled.
“You woke me,” he said.
She chuckled softly. “You woke me.” Her hand drifted down his chest, down and down, eager and insistent. “Or should I say, you poked me?”
“Oh.” He laughed.
And then they were too busy for laughter.
EPILOGUE
BIRD
Ting Ting!
Bec delicately tapped a silver knife against a wine glass.
The wedding guests seated under the flower-decorated arbors turned expectantly to the pretty gazebo in the center of the garden, where Skater, resplendent in his full dress uniform, and Dalisay, gorgeous in a wedding gown of pink and white, were about to cut the cake.
Bird watched, her eyes stinging with tears.
Mikhail’s hand slid around hers. “Bird?”
“It’s okay. Tears of happiness,” she said mistily. “Tears of gratitude, too. For second chances.” She nodded at Skater and Dalisay, who gripped the cake cutter together.
Dalisay had been married to a Marine in Skater’s unit, who had died in a tragic accident while on duty overseas. Skater’s unit had promised
one another that if anything happened to one of them, their buddies would look out for their loved ones. Skater had come back to help Dalisay after his tour was done, aiding the stunned and grieving bride who was at that time six months pregnant with her daughter. Three years later, that friendship had blossomed into love. And now—today— they were officially a family.
Mikhail gripped her hand. “To second chances,” he said, and he kissed her.
Bird kissed him back. She, too, had gotten a second chance. The two of them had married quietly a month ago, so as not to divert attention from Skater’s wedding. Bird still occasionally had nightmares about her first huge, empty wedding, but her second, though much smaller, had been a pure joy.
Mr. Kleiner had sold his house and land to Mikhail. He had been relieved and delighted to do so, as he could still stay in his home, and it got his nephew off his back. He had been made comfortable in his favorite rooms, with a full-time caretaker whom Dalisay had recommended, and who the elderly man liked very much. They watched old movies together, and he still painted his seascapes.
The house gleamed in the light of sunset, freshly roofed and repainted. Bird and Mikhail’s wing overlooked the ocean, with a new floor to ceiling door opening onto a balcony, from which Mikhail could launch into the air.
Mr. Noko was secure, as well as the animal rescue. No one could disturb any of them. They were all gathered to celebrate the wedding. One of Ash and Morgana’s tiny rescue dogs had served as ring bearer.
Dalisay’s parents watched their daughter and her husband, as misty-eyed as Bird. Just as Bird had expected, Bec had convinced Bartholomew to release her and Skater’s trust funds. He had done so with little grace, but he had done so. And so the bride’s parents were able to fly out from the Philippines to be with her at her wedding.
“Hurray!” A cheer went up as the cake was cut.
Skater stepped to the edge of the gazebo, hand in hand with Dalisay. He grinned at Bird across the vast array of flowers. “Now it’s time to reveal our second reason to celebrate. Mom, come on up!”
Bird shook her head, her face burning.
“Get your tuchus up there, Bird!” Godiva yelled as the guests roared and clapped.
Mikhail lay a warm hand on her back. It was his steady support and love that gave her the nerve to join her son and new daughter-in-law at the gazebo.
Skater held up a beautifully printed new book. “Three cheers for Mom’s new book! Hip-hip—”
“HURRAH!” the guests bellowed. They broke into laughing, chattering groups as the caterers began passing out cake.
Skater admired the cover Bird had painted herself. “Tala’s still a little young for it, but we’re going to read it to her anyway. She can already pick out some of the animals in your other books. She knows bunny, and kitty, and doggie, and piggy, and cow. But she’ll have to learn a new one for this book. Mom, what made you think of dragons?”
Bec stepped up on his other side. “Mom’s dragons are adorable. Especially as they aren’t those scary ones with bat wings and sharp teeth. These are quite elegant, really, even the whiskers. Just the ticket for kids with a ton of imagination.”
Bird didn’t dare look Mikhail’s way. “That’s the audience I was hoping for. Kids similar to what I was when small, who want the world to be bigger and stranger and more wonderful, not less.”
Dalisay’s dark eyes were soft with warmth and tenderness as she said, “I was one of those children, too. Thank you for dedicating the book to Tala.”
“How could I not dedicate it to my first grandchild?” Bird exclaimed, looking at Tala, who toddled after a couple of children belonging to Skater’s best buds from Camp Pendleton.
At that moment Tala tried to chase a bigger child, and fell, and began wailing. The newlywed parents hurried to pick her up and soothe her, leaving Bec alone with Bird and Mikhail in the gazebo.
“I’m going to get some more shots,” Bec said. “I knew Grandmother wouldn’t let Grandfather come. I guess she’s pretending that if she didn’t see the wedding, it didn’t happen. But I think Father would have come if she hadn’t made such a federal case about it. I’m saving these videos for him, if he asks.” She tapped her cellphone, then moved off to take another vid.
Mikhail said, “Your children have become very good people. Are you going to tell them about me?”
Bird watched Bec chatting with the guests as she moved about filming, and then turned her attention to the new little family.
“They have such busy lives of their own, right now,” she said slowly. “I’d thought of it over these past few months, but it never seemed the right time. And then it occurred to me that I kind of like having a secret life, in effect. We have our lives with them, and the writers’ group, and here at the house. And we also have this other life, with Joey, and eventually I guess I will be traveling with you on one of those missions, to meet the rest of your clan, and see your world.”
She glanced over at where Fei Zhan stood chatting with one of Skater’s Marine buddies. Bird was glad that their children appeared to get along fine. Fei Zhan was friendly and easygoing; no one would ever know he was anything but an international businessman dealing in imported teas.
She didn’t have any overwhelming desire to tell her children about shifters, or about the possibility that Cang could turn up again. Not to mention the fact that the Oracle Stone and all its secrets still lay beneath the ground. There would be repercussions. It was inevitable.
But Mikhail was vigilant. Even if Cang reappeared, he would never take Mikhail by surprise again.
Bird leaned up against him as his arm closed around her. Bec was now shooting Skater swinging Tala up into the air as the child gurgled with laughter. If either of her children had turned out to be more like her, it might have been more tempting to let them in on the secret. But they’d both inherited their father’s focus on things in this world, while being blessedly free of his driving ambitions. She was contented with that. Why burden them with a secret from which they would gain no benefit?
What she did regret was not being able to tell her friends. Her attention swung toward still-grieving Jen, sitting quietly beside Doris, but still seeming separate from the celebratory laughter and joking. Jen was very much like Bird, imaginative and in love with the possibilities of magic. Bird suspected she would adore discovering the shifter world. Would learning that magic existed give Jen a new lease on life?
Doris probably would go with the flow if she found out. She had a large, very colorful, very demanding family. Nothing would surprise her, Bird was sure.
And Godiva? Bird knew she’d absolutely love shifters, and wouldn’t blink twice about magical artifacts and all the rest of it. She’d probably demand a trip on dragon back! Bird’s regret was strongest there, especially as Godiva had been enthusiastic about Mikhail from the start.
But the shifter world had to be protected. And so did non-shifters. Bird couldn’t let her friends in on a secret that might lead to mysterious government types banging on their doors in the middle of the night.
Still. Even if Bird never said a word, she now knew that she lived in a world far bigger and more magical than she had ever known. And so did her friends.
“What are you thinking about, my love?” Mikhail murmured into her hair, and kissed the top of her head.
Bird shivered with desire. Then she smiled, knowing that desire could, and would, be explored more thoroughly later.
She turned her face into his shoulder. After all, she had come this far. “I was just thinking, who knows what the future will bring?”
A note from Zoe Chant
Thank you for reading Silver Dragon! I hope you enjoyed it. Joey’s book, Silver Fox, is coming soon.
If you’d like to be emailed when I release my next book, please click here to be added to my mailing list. You can also visit my webpage, or follow me on Facebook or Twitter. You are also invited to join my VIP Readers Group on Facebook!
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Silver Dragon, even if you only write a line or two. I appreciate all reviews.
More Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant
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Defender Dragon. (Protection, Inc. # 2). A dragon prince, a ball, a shoe… an American backpacker?
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Leader Lion. (Protection, Inc. # 5). Take a backstage tour of a whirlwind romance.
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See Zoe Chant’s complete list of books here!
Zoe Chant writing as Lia Silver
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