by Kym Dillon
“Did you mention Vyda?” Arken asked.
“Well, I might have said something about a dragon that was mortally wounded and likely to die.”
“Great. She’s worried about her insurance plan,” he sighed. “Come on. We have to talk strategy. I want you included.”
“What about the traitor?” Daya reluctantly climbed out of bed. She had spent the day in the forest with Ainley, and it had been tranquil, but she missed her creature comforts.
“She’s innocent. Foolish, but innocent.” Arken threw open the doors to the chamber and gestured for ladies first. Daya cut a sideways glance at him as she exited. The female dragon stood with her arms crossed and a less than pleased expression.
“I bet you made that up,” Daya muttered.
Vyda smirked and held up a mirror like hers. Arken ignored the tit-for-tat and led the way to the library. He talked as they walked. “War is unavoidable. Fortunately, my warriors have been training for it for centuries. I just have to get to them.”
“There’s unrest on the Isle. The younger warriors might be trouble,” said Vyda.
“I’ve been their age before. I know what it’s like, but a firm touch and a strong leader can do wonders with even the unruliest.”
“I don’t know.”
He paused. “Is there something I should know?”
Vyda shrugged and looked away. “I’m sure your sister has everything under control. How do you propose we journey several hundred miles? I hope you don’t say by foot because, I can tell you, the mortals can sniff us out faster than a hound on the hunt.”
“No, it’s easier for them to harm us when we’re in man-shape, and shifting right in front of them would be even deadlier. We have to fly.”
Daya murmured, “Are dragons immortal?”
“We live…a very long time. It just feels like an eternity.” He smiled sadly.
When they reached the room, Daya inhaled the familiar scent of books and breathed out a sigh. She threw her tired body onto the sofa and curled her feet beneath her while Vyda paced. Arken rifled through an attractive hand-carved desk, coming out with a large map.
“Here’s our dilemma,” he said. The map crackled and snapped as he spread it on the desktop and beckoned for them. He pointed at a location. “We’re here. And, we have to get to the Isle of Warriors, here, without alerting Feis or her huntsmen. The element of surprise would be to our advantage.”
“There’s no way,” Vyda murmured, turning away.
“Wait, but the Heart of the Dragon will protect us, right?” Daya piped up. “I mean, as long as you have it, it doesn’t matter if Feis sees us.”
“What do you mean ‘us’?” Arken frowned.
Daya’s jaw dropped. “You can’t expect me to stay here. No way! I want to fight with you. Dude, you can’t leave me behind after the massive mind-fuck it took for me to accept I’m in a different realm, cavorting with dragons. Come on!”
Vyda clicked her tongue and shook her head with a smug laugh. “You’re out of your element, mortal. You’re small; you’re weak; and, you’d just slow us down. One of us would have to carry you.”
“Which wouldn’t be a problem,” Arken said smoothly. “However, I’d prefer to know you’re somewhere safe.”
“Which I’m not, if you take the stone with you!” Daya railed.
He looked down. “That’s the other problem. Taking the stone away from here wouldn’t change centuries of mortals believing this place is cursed. They’ll stay away. I could leave you here with absolute certainty you’d never see another soul. The thing is…technically I can’t leave.”
Daya fell back against the cushioned sofa. “Then, all this is moot. You’re saying we can’t get to the Isle? We can’t warn the warriors? Feis is on her way there, and we’re all doomed?”
“Maybe not. Every time I’ve tried to venture away before, I was on my own. Within minutes, I would be turned around and wind up right where I started. I don’t think that’ll be the case if someone else is with me. The spell only works directly on me. It may be that another person can guide me.”
“As someone who has routinely worked with lawyers—in a criminal capacity—I think there’s an even better way out. Once one party breaks the treaty, it becomes null. Feis has already satisfied that requirement by sending the two of us in here after the stone.”
“About that…” Vyda sidled closer to Arken, and Daya prickled with annoyance. “I hope you understand I never wanted to hurt you, Your Majesty. I would’ve sooner sacrificed myself than give Feis what she wanted.”
Daya rolled her eyes. Arken eased to the other side of the desk and brought out the contract. “Let’s see what the treaty says about Feis sending a surrogate. Ainley created this for me, and she left a lot of loopholes. Wouldn’t it be great if one works in my favor?” he grunted ruefully.
Daya wriggled her fingers for it, and he handed it to her. “None but dragons from the Realm of Fire…Uh huh…Hidden Isle of Warriors…It’s standard stuff, I guess, for your world.” She squinted at the fine print and hooted. “We have a winner. It says here she can’t even try to breach the keep. I’d say sending someone else in is trying to breach the keep.”
He wrinkled his nose at the fallible logic. “If all else fails, I stay, and the two of you go.”
“What?!” Vyda recoiled.
“Yeah, you can’t send me with her. She works for the Dark Lord, remember?”
He squared his jaw and locked eyes with Daya. “I’d give you the stone,” he said quietly. Her mouth dropped open. “It’ll keep you safe. It wouldn’t be in Vyda’s interest to turn on you, since she’d be working in an official capacity as my courier, and you’d deliver the Heart of the Dragon to my sister when you reached the Isle.”
Daya gnawed on her bottom lip. “This is serious, isn’t it?”
“It’s life or death. For your realm and mine.”
Daya tore at a sweet yeast roll and littered her plate with bread crumbs. Succulent baked chicken seasoned to perfection lay on a bed of fragrant jasmine rice. Chocolate mousse filled a dessert bowl. She was too ramped up to eat. The more she thought about Arken’s plan, the less she liked it. Especially the part about leaving her behind.
She shoved her dining chair from the table and moved to the banquet to refill her wineglass. She was in the room alone while her lover packed for the journey. No telling what Vyda was doing—plotting a revolt or practicing her innocence routine. Daya wasn’t buying it.
She took the red wine over by the fireplace and stared into the dancing flames. Neigen’s words stirred from memory, this world will change you. She certainly wasn’t the woman she had been when she arrived in the Fire Realm. The old Daya would’ve looked out for herself and cared nothing about how her actions would affect others. She would’ve been scared, but shrewd.
This new version of herself probably wasn’t terrified enough. It was amazing how the human mind adapted to any situation. She had skipped realms and met a sorceress. She was sleeping with a dragon, for goodness sake! She should’ve been more alarmed. Instead of, maybe, falling for him just a teensy bit.
“Crazy,” she grunted into the wineglass, throwing back its contents.
She felt him before she saw him. The temperature in the room rose a few degrees. “It is,” Arken replied. Smiling, she extended her wineglass for a refill, and he obliged. “You should get some rest. You know, soak in a nice, relaxing bath and curl up in bed with a good book. Of course, the wine helps.”
“You’re trying to lull me into being okay with you leaving me.”
He handed her the drink. “Or, you leaving me.”
“Both scenarios presuppose we care about each other.”
He laughed and eyed his feet. “Rather sudden, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry. You didn’t get the same treatment I got last night,” she teased. “You may not be under the spell yet, but it’ll happen for you. Here I am, giving up infinite wealth to be your ride or die chick.”
“Ah! Well, since we’re being candid with each other…” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “You’re nice. Not only in bed. In general. You’re nurturing and thoughtful. You’re…powerful.” She shivered. “I’ve never met anyone like you before, and I don’t think I ever will. You seem to be cut from something different.”
“It’s called dragon,” he quipped.
Daya pushed her hair out of her face and studied him. “Arken, what’s going to happen to us after this?”
The fire shot sparks as wood settled in the hearth. They stood shoulder to shoulder watching the blaze, and it washed their faces in golden light. His hand snaked out to join hers. She realized being with him was the first time she had felt safe in all her adult life. She felt less alone.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen after this,” he whispered introspectively. “It seems no matter what path we choose, the journey takes us away from each other. I think to change that, we’d have to sacrifice more than either of us is willing to give. My kingdom. Your home.”
She tucked her lips and swallowed the lump in her throat, ignoring the sting of tears. “I guess it’s to be expected. It’s the story of my life, actually.” She shrugged and laughed, but emotions she had held in check for years resurfaced. “When my parents died, I kind of figured I was in this thing by myself. I don’t why I…” She shook her head and shrugged again. “I was just asking hypothetically, anyway.”
He squeezed her fingers. “Wherever you go, I’ll be here for you; and, wherever I am, you’ll be there for me. Do you know that’s better than I’ve had in nearly four hundred years?”
“Argh! How old are you?” she giggled.
“Ancestral, truly.” He threw an arm around her and tugged her to his chest. “Come. Let’s get you ready for bed. Tomorrow will be busy, and I value your input. You have a unique way of looking at things, like the treaty. I think you might be onto something.”
She followed him from the dining hall. “What, you don’t think I’m a useless sack of mortal waste, like our friend Vyda does?” she joked.
“Her ego is bruised. Give her some time and she’ll come around.” Arken laughed softly.
“She’s wrong, you know,” Daya stated as she crossed the threshold to her bedchamber.
“She’s wrong about a lot of things, but she’s young and inexperienced. Imagine how much you’d get wrong if you’d lived your entire life on a tiny island.” Arken whispered a power word, and her candles flared to life. She narrowed her eyes at him. If he had shown her that trick sooner, she could’ve saved plenty of minutes darting from candle to candle with a lit stick.
Daya opened the bathing room door and pointed at the tub. “I mean about me not being useful. I told you Ainley revealed some things to me out in the woods today. There’s a saying, ‘This world will change you.’ It has. See.” She beckoned with her fingers, and water trickled from the faucet. Frowning slightly, Daya concentrated and turned the trickle into a powerful flow.
She bit her lip and grinned, looking at Arken triumphantly. He stood frozen to the spot. “Are you doing that?” he whispered in awe. She nodded. “The trick with the book. It wasn’t a trick.”
She shrugged. “Turns out, I’ve developed a knack for controlling water.”
“It’s called Making. You’re a—You’re a Maker. There used to be thousands of them. Now, they’re as endangered as we are. How did you—How did this?”
“I don’t know, but I’d say it elevates me from sack of mortal waste to useful asset in this battle plan of yours. Don’t you think?”
“I’ll think about it,” he said dismissively. “What else can you do?”
Vyda upended the table, and the basin of water went flying. It was morning, and Daya wasn’t in the mood for her theatrics. She had spent the night in her bed alone since Arken had to prepare for battle. Damn Feis and her meddling.
“It’s a cheap parlor trick,” Vyda fumed.
Arken squeezed the bridge of his nose and exhaled harshly. “You’re going to have to control yourself. I swear to the gods, I did not sign up to be a babysitter,” he growled.
“I’m not a child! I have a right to be angry, Your Majesty. What you’re suggesting goes against everything I’ve been trained to do. You want to put an untried girl in charge of the diamond and send her off with me all the way to the Isle of Warriors. Why not just let me deliver it?”
“We both know the answer to that. And, it’s not a cheap trick. It’s a Fire Realm gift that Daya has mastered in an incredibly short amount of time for someone not from this realm. Consider the advantage.”
Daya rested her weight against the library desk, idling away the time while the two dragons argued about what role she would play in staving off Feis’ attack. She experimented with the magic tingling in her fingertips. She was oddly aware of it, and now that she knew what it was, she realized she had been feeling it for quite some time.
Vyda countered, “You’re doing this because you’re enamored with her. Wasn’t it you who suggested the idea of life-mates is immature? Yet, here you are, risking your kingdom for a Static.”
“That’s derogatory,” he warned.
Curling a finger forward (and ignoring the slur, whatever it meant), Daya watched the puddle on the floor reshape itself from a splatter to a perfect circle. She giggled softly to herself. She poked her finger forward twice, and two eyeholes of dryness appeared. Another swipe of the finger, and she drew a smile. She was about to move on to something more complex when Vyda threw something else and broke her concentration.
Daya clicked her tongue. “Really. This is turning into a reality TV show.”
“A what?” Arken tilted his head.
“Never mind. Look, Vyda, I get where you’re coming from, and I don’t take it personally. If I had a dollar for every squad who underestimated me, I wouldn’t be a jewel thief. I may seem untried, but I didn’t attract Feis’ attention for nothing. You want me as an ally, and we need you.”
The young dragon begrudgingly gave her the floor.
Daya pushed away from the desk and continued, “Whether the two of us go or the two of you go, we have to go in teams. Arken needs you to guide him out of this enchanted heap of stone, and you need me to carry the diamond since no one would trust you within a thousand feet of it.”
“Need I point out,” Vyda interjected, “you were sent to steal the stone, too, which bolsters my point that this is less about your skills with water and more about your…” Her eyes flicked up and down Daya’s body, and she spat out, “Feminine wiles!”
Daya preened. “Well, no one’s ever acknowledged out loud that I have those. Thank you for noticing.” She smiled sweetly. Vyda gave a muted scream and stormed from the library. Arken half-heartedly called after her. He smirked at Daya for making a bad situation worse, and she shrugged. “Oh, go after her,” she suggested.
“I’m not sure I want to,” he groaned.
“You know she’s the better mate for you, anyway. When this is all said and done, I’ll be looking for real estate on a deserted island where the mafia can’t find me, while you’ll be getting hot, sweaty dragon love from the resident drama queen.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, and it doesn’t work like that,” he sighed. He looked drained, and she felt sheepish for needling him. He studied the water on the floor like he wanted to drown in it. She moved over to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind, resting her face on his shirt. His smoke and sandalwood smell stirred pleasant memories.
“It doesn’t work like what?” she asked softly.
“There are rules to who I can mate with. Typically, only the strongest, healthiest females are gifted to the king to continue the lineage. I thought I would be exempt. I had three brothers in the running. All dead. The stillborn dragon was my sister’s. Now, it’
s up to me to continue the line, and I have to think about things like suitable mates.”
“Look at the bright side. At least you get the pick of the litter. Where I come from, I have to swipe left or right through millions before I can even find a one-night stand.”
He clasped her wrists and brought her around to face him. “I have no idea what that means, but I don’t want to talk about it. I want…a day of not having to think about any of these complicated war plans.”
“Use your words,” Daya coaxed mischievously.
He chuckled and shook his head. “How did you phrase it the other night?” he asked. “I want you to fuck me.”
8
Arken’s bedchamber was his oasis. The expansive bed that took up the middle of the room was carved of stone and covered in the finest mattresses. A cashmere throw pooled at the foot of his bed, and a mountain of plush pillows crowned the head. While Dayas’s room overlooked the ocean, his put the entire island within view.
She gasped when he threw open the balcony doors, and she saw elegant white cranes winging through the azure sky above rolling green hills. She moved to the parapet to stare at acres and acres of plowed field beyond the forest. Closer to the center of the island, the city was laid out in miniature with sandstone buildings glistening like gold in the sun.
Arken pointed to red silk swaths of fabric suspended from the ceiling. “I use this when I want the sensation of flying,” he explained. Daya licked her lips speculatively. She clearly understood what he had in mind.
He simmered with anticipation as she dropped the loose shirt and pants and stepped out of her boots. He thought if he didn’t undress soon, his clothes would go up in flames. Within seconds, the balmy breeze caressed his feverish skin, and he came to her.
“How do you want me?” she asked.
He shook his head in wonder. “You really are like no woman I’ve ever met before.” He easily lifted her into the silk swing, and the three loops cradled her back and legs. “Relax,” he suggested, watching her body become like liquid. She let the fabric suspend her. They both stared at his proud erection spearing the air between them. He cupped himself.