Dragon Lover

by Karilyn Bentley

  Thank you. That feels much better.

  She dropped her hand, pulling away the warmth of her touch. “You are welcome. I’m learning to heal without draining myself. I can almost do it without thinking now. So much easier than when I used to live in River’s Run.” A small frown creased her brow, unwanted memories taking a run across the smooth skin of her face.

  I’m sorry you had to grow up there. I’m sorry you were not taken to Draconia when you were born.

  She shrugged. “It’s not your fault.” Ah, but it was. “Anyway, if I had been raised here, then I wouldn’t have known my grandmother. We had our differences, but I loved her.” Keara walked over to the table and picked up the jar of ointment. “She fostered in me a love for healing.”

  That is a family trait. You were born that way.

  “Well, there is that. So it wasn’t all bad.” Dipping her fingers in the ointment, she began spreading the cool substance across the former tear in his wing.

  Do you blame your father for leaving you there?

  “Did he leave me there? According to Alviss he disappeared. I’m assuming before I was born. So if I wasn’t born, and he didn’t know I existed, then how can I blame him?”

  It’s a male’s duty to ensure his Halfling offspring are returned to Draconia.

  “Truly? Because before he mated me, that was Thoren’s job, to find abandoned Halflings and return them to Draconia. The Council spends a lot of time on that activity. Apparently there are a lot of males who don’t realize they have children.”

  So much has changed since I’ve been gone.

  “I guess so. But at any rate, I don’t blame my father. I really wish he hadn’t died so I could know him. I never knew my mother.”

  I have many stories about your mother. The words slipped out before he could stop them and Keara’s hand stilled against his wing.

  “How did you know my mother?”

  What did he say? Keara, you are my daughter? No, too overly dramatic. Your mother was my lover? Then she would have to deduce things herself. The loss of blood is causing me to hallucinate? No, he was done with hiding and lying. Telling her while she healed his wounds was not how he imagined it happening. While in his cell, as a captive, he assumed his lover, Mabbina, had taken their child to Draconia as he instructed her to do. Then his captors told him she and the babe died in childbirth. So when he saw a drugged Keara after Thoren rescued her, looked at her features and realized she was his daughter, his joy turned to horror.

  He’d failed his child.

  And yet, he wanted her to know him, wanted to know her. Wanted a friendship with his daughter, his only offspring.

  The stillness in Keara expanded until the very room itself seemed to be waiting on his answer.

  I used to know your mother very well. I came to River’s Run often and we became friends.

  “You knew her well?”

  I did.

  “I hear you have not presented yourself to the Council for questioning.”

  What did that have to do with Mabbina? True.

  “Why?”

  I believe that gash under the scales is bleeding. On my flank.

  “Sorry.” Shaky hands probed, lifted a scale. He failed to stop the involuntary flinch and foot stomp. A faint chink indicated Keara placed the ointment jar on the stone floor. Another round of healing magic poured into his injury, and he leaned into it, allowing the energy to penetrate into the gash.

  Ah. You are very good at what you do.

  “Thank you. Why haven’t you shown up to talk to the Council? They want to know who imprisoned you so they can stop it from happening again.”

  They know who imprisoned me. Simon’s father. They know I cast a spell to render my captors insane. What more do they want? Would they go after his Watcher? Or was the male protected by the Watchers on the Council?

  “What Watcher?”

  Maybe he transmitted those last two sentences. My Watcher and I did not get along. A bit of an understatement. He was there when they captured me and told them about titanium’s effects on Draconi. I’m not sure if my spell touched him as I never saw him again.

  “That’s horrible! Thoren and Enar are best friends so I guess I thought all Draconi-Watcher relationships were the same.”

  They are unique in their friendship.

  “Well, I still think you should go to the Council. It makes you look like you are hiding something.”

  Pride laced his heart, followed by a good dose of fear-of-discovery. His intuitive daughter saw past his barriers into his soul, peeling away the layers of shame to stare at the root of the issue.

  He still needed to tell her their relationship.

  Perhaps I am.

  “Really?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Why?”

  He was a grown male, a defender of his mate, a dragon in his prime. He could tell her who he was. Really. He could.

  If I tell you, will you tell?

  “I swear on the bones of my ancestors that I will not tell anyone.”

  Well, then. You are correct. I am hiding. I do not want the Council, or others, to know who I am.

  “But why?”

  He swallowed. It’s embarrassing. At her puzzled stare, he stumbled along, gaining confidence as he spoke. I come from a powerful family, I carry great magic. And yet humans locked me away in a cell for twenty-four years, three months and two days? How can I tell my family who I am?

  “But we don’t hold that against you. Even Alviss and the High Priestess would be stopped by titanium. No one would blame you for it. You need to talk to the Council. It will be all right.” She bent to pick up the jar, coating her fingers in the chalky white substance before applying it to his wound.

  And I harmed a female.

  Her hands stopped smoothing the herbal ointment over the former gash in his flank. “What did you do?”

  My captivity meant my daughter was harmed. It was not intentional, but it was the result. They will not forgive me.

  Her hands started moving, rubbing a bit more forcefully this time. “Well, I think you’ve been moping around wherever you’ve been hiding for too long. Do you really think someone is going to blame you for whatever happened to your daughter when you were captured? Did you plan to be captured? No? Then how can you think that?”

  You have not lived in Draconia long enough if you think my indirect harm of a female will not be punished.

  “You have been away too long if you think it will.”

  Hmph. He snorted and stamped his foot.

  “Where’s your daughter now?”

  Beside me. Not the smoothest reveal, but from the quick intake of breath and loss of blood to her face, it seemed to accomplish its goal.

  Crash! The jar of ointment fell from Keara’s fingers, shattering against the stone floor. Fafnir twitched a talon at the mess, reforming the jar, never taking his gaze from Keara’s face.

  “Me?” she squeaked. “I’m your daughter?”

  Does that...offend you?

  “Offend me? Why would you think...oh. No. I’m just surprised is all. Are you sure?”

  He raised an eye-ridge. Did she think he wouldn’t recognize his own daughter?

  “Dumb question. Sorry. I’m just, well, just surprised. And happy. Oh, does this mean no one else knows?”

  Yes. And I would appreciate it if you’d keep it that way.

  “Even from Thoren?”

  He sits on the Council.

  “For how long? You can’t go around not telling people and expecting me to keep the secret forever.”

  He sighed. I know. I haven’t figured out how to tell them yet.

  “You know, I’ve been working on a spell with the High Priestess to turn you back into a human. If you’d like, I can turn you and then you can tell them. In your human form.”

  What spell? There was hope for him?

  “It’s buried in one of the old Temple scrolls. The writing is different than what we use now, but we’ve been able to decipher it. I
t seems to say that when a Draconi goes through his Change with no female and is stuck in dragon form, it’s because he has too much power, like a switch stuck in the open position. A person who absorbs energy, like me, can absorb the excess energy and cause the Draconi to resume human form.”

  What are the consequences?

  “It seems you might never be able to change back into dragon form. You’d be stuck a human. We think.”

  Not a problem. He’d had enough of being stuck as a dragon. Nothing wrong with being in human form, provided he kept his magic.

  So the Draconi’s magic is not damaged?

  “It doesn’t appear to be.”

  Pop! Aryana transported into the room, stumbling forward. Pop! Annaliese appeared behind her, grabbing Aryana’s good arm, holding her steady.

  Aryana! What are you doing here?

  “I told you to stay in bed!” Annaliese spoke simultaneously, giving Aryana’s arm a little shake.

  “I told you I had to see him.”

  The two females played a game of stare-and-glare, before Aryana shook her arm free of Annaliese’s grasp and took a step in Fafnir’s direction. Fafnir stepped away from Keara and met her halfway.

  What are you doing out of bed?

  Checking on you.

  “All right, you saw him. Now let’s put you back to bed.” Three strides later, Annaliese stood by them, hand reaching for Aryana’s arm.

  Everything in him protested at his mate being removed from his side. There is a bed in this room. She can stay here.

  “Again?”

  “Again?” Keara parroted.

  “Great idea.” Aryana took a step toward the bed. After a glare and a huff, Annaliese helped her get situated under the covers and then disappeared, a trace of steam circling where she stood.

  Where did Annaliese go?

  “To get the correct herbs. This room isn’t as well stocked.”

  Perhaps she should be in different room, but he rather liked having her here with him. Where she belonged.

  How do you feel? He took a step closer, drawing in a deep breath, trying to smell the extent of her injuries. Nothing but the pungent scent of herbs.

  “My head hurts. But my arm feels better.”

  Pop! Annaliese appeared by Aryana’s bedside, holding a basket that she set on the table by the bed. One by one, she picked bottles and jars out of the basket, setting them on the table until they filled the small space.

  “Are you comfortable?” Anger laced her words as she glared at Aryana.

  A growl crossed Fafnir’s lips before he could stop it. Annaliese whirled to face him, eyes narrowed. He tried to stop the steam building in his throat and draw in a breath. Annaliese worried about his mate, nothing more. No need to throw a growling fit. Really. No need at all. He swallowed the remaining burst of steam and attempted to turn his lips into a grin.

  Sorry.

  “I don’t want to hear from you right now. I need to complete this healing.” She turned back to Aryana, pointing a finger at his mate. “You keep interrupting me.”

  “I—”

  “Hush. Talk later.”

  Holding her hands over Aryana’s head, Annaliese began muttering words of a healing spell. Keara touched Fafnir’s flank, drawing his attention to her.

  “Step back and let her work. We don’t want to interfere with her spell.”

  While his body raged for him to get as close as possible to his mate, his mind knew Keara spoke the truth. Getting between a Healer and her patient never ended well.

  Especially for the interferer.

  As Keara smoothed more of the soothing salve over the gash in his flank, Fafnir watched as Annaliese placed Aryana into a deep sleep. The words of her spell coupled with Keara’s healing magic, wrapped him in a wave of relaxation.

  Which ended the moment Annaliese stopped casting her spell and turned to him. She pointed a finger in his direction.

  “I’m getting tired of casting that spell.”

  Do you think I have control over her?

  Never taking her narrowed gaze from him, she spoke to his daughter in what Fafnir called the big-sister voice. “Keara, thank you for your help. You may go tend to your duties now.”

  Keara ventured a glance at him before speaking. “I’m not finished.”

  “Yes. You are. I need to talk to...Fafnir. Alone.”

  “But—”

  It will be all right, Keara. Let me speak to her alone. We have things to discuss. Starting with his hiding-and-lying state and moving on to his potential banishment. No problem. Nothing to worry about.

  “I’ll return later.”

  I’d like that.

  She nodded and disappeared, leaving the jar of salve sitting on the floor next to his foot.

  Annaliese continued to glare at him, her gaze moving across his face, down his chest, over his talons, her anger encircling him like a blanket. Nothing he didn’t deserve. “You did not wait like you said.”

  Things came up.

  “Things more important than talking to your family after years of being thought dead?”

  Good thing dragon hide hid heated cheeks. Do you still claim to be my sister?

  “Ragnor! How can you think that? You are my brother! My kin. How can you think I’d no longer call myself your sister?”

  I’ve changed. If she only knew how much.

  One hand gestured at him. “Yes, of course. You’re stuck in dragon form. That doesn’t explain why you didn’t say anything to us when you returned.”

  Words boiled out, a stream of self-directed vitriol, releasing emotions trapped inside. If I said something to you, you’d banish me. I’m a failure! I failed my daughter! I caused a female to be harmed. How can you allow me to live in Draconia, knowing who I am?

  “How can I not?”

  His mouth opened, closed. Did she mean what he thought? Was it possible she accepted him, despite his failures?

  Is it no longer customary to banish a male who harms a female?

  She crossed her arms, head tilted off-center. “Did you mean to harm her? Did you physically abuse her?”

  Of course not! But I did not ensure Keara returned to Draconia. She suffered. Because of me.

  “And Keara is the reason you have not come to see me since you’ve been home?” One eyebrow rose and despite the ire in her tone, he knew her anger, born of grief and disappointment, began to subside.

  Her words resonated inside, making what he thought of as clear-minded reasoning sound...illogical. Father would not be pleased I caused her harm.

  “Father would not be pleased if you returned home with a fortune’s worth of jewels. Do not base your beliefs on him.”

  Interesting. Wonder what happened between the two? What is your issue with Father?

  “Besides the way he treats Aryana?”

  Fafnir failed to stop his growl. What do you mean?

  “He doesn’t like to share things with the priestesses. Which is why we don’t know what is going on with the village attacks. But that is another story. I can’t believe you didn’t come to see me when you returned home.”

  I didn’t think you’d accept me. I thought you’d banish me.

  “You said that. I can’t speak for Father, but I do not consider you to be at fault for anything Keara went through. Yes, she was left in Cautasia, but you did not mean for her to be, and you cannot help that you were captured and held as a prisoner. If you deserved punishment, you have already received it.”

  A small flame ignited in his chest, spread through his limbs. Hope. Truly?

  “Truly. Besides, the female has to press the charges, and Keara doesn’t believe you were responsible for her injuries.”

  Lowering his head, he tapped her shoulder with his snout. I apologize, Leesie. I should have come to see you.

  She rubbed his snout, pulling his head down to rest her forehead against his. “Ah, brother mine. You always worried overmuch. I am glad to see you again.”

  And I you.


  Bang! Bang! Bang! Both Fafnir and Annaliese jumped as knocking vibrated the door. “Annaliese!” Bang! Bang! Bang!

  “That doesn’t sound good.” Annaliese gave Fafnir a pat on the side, dashed fingers under her eyes and walked to the door.

  “Enter!” The door flew open with a wave of her hand and a young priestess stumbled through the opening.

  “My apologies, Healer, but we have a situation.”

  “What is wrong?”

  The priestess glanced at Fafnir and back to Annaliese. One black eyebrow raised.

  “It’s all right. You can speak freely in front of...” Annaliese’s voice trailed off as she looked over her shoulder at him.

  I’m Fafnir. He gave a nod to the priestess, whose eyes widened upon hearing his name.

  “Fafnir? You are the one who rescued our High Priestess and fought Fasolt?”

  That would be me.

  “Oh!” Her hands clapped together, fingers pointing to the ceiling. “It’s an honor to meet you!”

  Honor? She thought meeting him an honor?

  “He is not why you came. What—”

  “Oh, apologies, Healer. One of the refugees has gone into labor, the baby is not coming quickly, and the mate is fighting off all attempts to assist. We hoped you could calm him.”

  “Of course.” Annaliese turned to Fafnir, mouth open as if caught in the middle of a sentence, an apology written across her face.

  She had nothing to apologize for. Go. We can catch up later.

  I’m sorry. This might take awhile. Would you watch Aryana?

  Of course.

  Her arm will be healed when she wakes. I’m not sure about the head injury, so don’t let her leave until I see her.

  All right.

  The priestess darted glances between the two of them, clearly in a hurry and wishing Annaliese would join the urgency party.

  Words are not enough to tell you how good it is to see you. Even from across the room he saw the gleam of tears in her eyes. He blinked in understanding.

  Same here, Leesie.

  She looked as if she wanted to say something and regret tinged the smile shot his direction. Waving the priestess in front of her, Annaliese walked out the door, shutting it behind her.