Dragonbane

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Shrieking in anger, he lunged at her, but Max caught him and forced him back. "Stop it. We have dire business to attend to here."

  Linus's jaw went slack. "So, it's true. You do speak. You could have convinced Dagon to give me the form I wanted, but instead you chose to remain silent? Did you kill your own to keep me from being like you, too? You did, didn't you?"

  "What?"

  Linus shoved Max away. "You all disgust me. You never let me have what I want."

  He's mad, brother. We should leave.

  Max couldn't agree more. Protect the princess.

  As Illarion moved in to comply, Linus pulled out a knife and attacked. "Don't you turn your back on me, Eumon! I will not be disregarded!"

  Eumon shoved him aside as he lunged for Illarion. "Are you stupid? He's the animal, you moron! I'm the prince. How can you not tell us apart?"

  Those words had slapped Max hard. Especially since the only way to tell them apart was by the finery one wore and the filth on his brother. In his opinion, it said more for Linus that he hadn't noticed their difference in dress.

  Linus wrested his hand and weapon free from his brother. "I should have been heir! I'm far more worthy!"

  Eumon had laughed in his face. "You were never worthy." With that, he disarmed him and kicked him back.

  Horrified, Max had helped Illarion to his feet. Then placed his body between Illarion and the princes to protect him.

  Rolling his eyes, Eumon threw the knife down. "Ignore him." He chucked Max on the arm and then Illarion. "Follow me and we'll settle this."

  As they started away, Max caught the movement from the corner of his eye. He turned to disarm Linus, but he still hadn't mastered his human body. Before he could do anything to stop it, Linus stabbed him, then turned on the others.

  Furious, Illarion attacked.

  "Stop!" Eumon growled, trying to get between them.

  Max knew the prince would be hurt if he didn't remove him from the conflict. "Highness?" He pulled him back at the same time Illarion and Linus staggered together, fighting for control of the knife.

  They slammed hard into Max and Eumon, knocking them off balance and sending them reeling.

  In a huge clump, the four of them fell to the ground.

  As Max went to stand, he realized they were covered in a lot more blood than they should have been. Stunned, it took him several seconds to realize it was Eumon whose artery had been sliced open in their fall.

  Panting for air, he met Max's gaze. "Protect my wife."

  His eyes haunted, Linus pushed himself to his feet and staggered back. Dropping the knife, he pressed his blood-soaked hand to his lips.

  "Highness?"

  Screaming in agony, Helena had rushed forward to weep by her husband's side. "Don't leave me, Eumon! Stay with me!" She applied pressure to his wound, but it was too late.

  As his last act, Eumon reached up and removed Max's collar so that he could shapeshift freely. "Protect them all." And with that he expelled his final breath.

  Helena had thrown her head back and shrieked like a harpy. "You beast! You killed my husband!"

  "No..." Linus backed up in terror. "You saw for yourself. It was an accident."

  Shaking her head, she sobbed and sobbed.

  Max glanced to Illarion, who watched them with an equally horrified gaze. What do we do?

  He had no idea. Linus was insane and he'd never tell the truth and implicate himself in this. His fear of being blamed for his brother's death wouldn't allow that. The gods had decreed them all to die....

  But one look at Illarion's face and he knew he'd never stand back and let that happen.

  I have to get them to safety.

  There was only one place he could think that would be safe from the reach of the gods. One place where the king couldn't demand Illarion's head. Gathering his brother and the weeping princess, he shifted to his dragon form and took flight with them.

  Her terrified shrieks filled his ears as she insulted him and tried to break free. Illarion fought against his grip. Remove my collar so that I can fly, too!

  Not yet. He wasn't sure what reception they'd have when they reached his destination. It could be welcoming.

  Experience said it wouldn't.

  Even so, Max closed his eyes and prayed for this to work. When he finally reached the southern beach, he laid his brother and the princess down on the white sands, then landed. His stomach knotted, he gazed out over the perfect waves and did something he hadn't done in centuries.

  He summoned the demon Chthonian. The one being who was given protection and charge over their kind.

  Granted, no one had seen the bastard in centuries and all kinds of speculations abounded. Some said he'd finally died of the wounds he'd sustained during the great Chthonian war. Others that the Greek god Mache had cursed him in retaliation for being bound and imprisoned.

  Another said that the goddess Apollymi had drowned him when she sank Atlantis. There was even a rumor that Artemis had captured him and was keeping him as her pet on Olympus.

  Max didn't know if any of that was true.

  All he knew was that he needed a miracle and that the only creature who might help them was the Chthonian who'd once led Max's mother's people to freedom.

  Throwing his head back, he let out a summoning cry for the beast.

  The princess shrank away from him as the waves rolled in and out on the beach.

  "What is he doing?" she asked, throwing her hands over her ears to mute the sounds of his call.

  Max ignored her as he continued to summon Savitar.

  And as time moved slowly and no one responded to his summons, he realized that the Chthonian must be dead.

  Or that he didn't care.

  Heartsick, he turned away from the beach, toward his brother. His jaw went slack as he saw the tall, muscular man approaching them.

  Savitar.

  His lavender eyes glowed as he paused by Illarion's side and swept his gaze over the blood-soaked gown on the cringing princess. "Seems I missed an impressive party. Care to enlighten me, dragon?"

  Max quickly told him what had been done to them, and what had happened to Eumon and Illarion. "I need your help, Chthonian."

  Savitar had scoffed. "I'm done helping others. Last time I did that ... it turned out badly for everyone. Especially me, and I rather like me, most days."

  "They'll kill us."

  "Everyone dies sometime."

  "That's it, then? You're literally washing your hands of us?"

  Savitar shrugged. "You have a new life. You should enjoy it."

  "Until the Fates have us killed, you mean."

  Savitar had gone stock-still. "Come again?"

  "The Greek Fates? Because of Apollo and Zeus, they've ordered all of us to be put down."

  "You should have led with that, little brother."

  "Meaning?"

  Savitar smiled. "Meaning there isn't much I wouldn't do to make those three bitches scream in agony. Take me to your camp."

  By the time they returned, most of the Apollite-animal hybrids were dead. While Max had been gone, the guards had found their camp and slaughtered them down to a meager handful before they'd driven them off.

  Disgusted by the cruel horror, Max had walked around the other newly made shapeshifters, assuring them as best he could.

  "What are we to do?"

  He met Savitar's gaze.

  Finally he saw the spark there that lived in his heart.

  Savitar stepped forward. "As a new species, I offer you my protection. I will make it known that the Chthonians are aware of you and that no one, especially the gods, are to prey on you without repercussions."

  While Savitar dealt with the new species, Max had finally removed Illarion's collar.

  About time.

  "I know. I'm sorry."

  Why did you wait?

  "In case we were taken, you could have passed as the prince and escaped. So long as you remained in a human body."

  Il

larion shook his head as he scanned the others. We are an abomination. Are you sure we should have survived? Perhaps it would have been kinder to consign us to death.

  "Perhaps. But then life isn't kind. All we have to get through it is each other. I couldn't stand by and watch them die."

  Illarion let out a tired sigh. Your Arel blood seriously screws you at times. What is this innate need you have to protect?

  "I don't know, but you should be glad I have it. A sane dragon would have left you behind."

  As they rounded them up, Lycaon and his army rode in to finish their slaughter.

  Until the king saw Savitar. "What is the meaning of this?"

  Savitar faced the king without fear. "I'm here to take them to their own lands to live."

  "You can't do that."

  Savitar arched a brow. "You want to cross me?"

  "The gods have decreed--"

  "And I, as a Chthonian sworn to protect mortal life from the gods, overturn that decree."

  Lycaon shook his head. "You can't do that! They'll kill my children in retaliation."

  "It's done."

  While they argued, Helena grabbed Max's arm. "You can't let me return to the palace. Not after what's happened."

  Confused, he scowled at her. "You want to travel with us, the animals?"

  "Please. I'm afraid of what Linus will do to me and my children. While he might keep me alive and claim me as his, he will never suffer my children to live. Not so long as they are heirs to their father's throne. You saw him. His ambitions are ruthless and he will stop at nothing. Worse, we know he killed Eumon. So long as any of us are alive, he'll view us as a threat and want us removed. Understood?"

  Illarion had shaken his head. Max ... I know that look on your face. You're the one who's always telling me to stay out of things.

  Max had nudged the princess closer to Illarion. "Keep an eye on her, for a minute."

  Not quite sure what he was doing, he closed the distance between Savitar and the king. The moment Linus saw him, he did just as his sister-in-law predicted.

  He ordered Max arrested for the murder of his brother, and demanded the return of Helena.

  She was right. Linus would never suffer her to live and birth those children. He would kill them and remove them from the line of succession.

  "He and his brother slaughtered mine, and I demand their heads for it!"

  "Illarion is innocent. I, alone, am responsible."

  Savitar faced him with a stern glower. "Do you understand what you're doing?"

  Hell, no. But it seemed to be the only option.

  He met Savitar's furious stare. "I only understand what will happen if I don't."

  Sighing in disgust, Savitar pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose as if he had a brain tumor forming. As the guards came to retake Max, Savitar stopped them.

  "No! The Arcadians you've created are a separate race and shouldn't be subjected to the laws of man." Savitar glared at Linus and his father. "They are a sentient group and should make their own laws to govern them. If Maxis is to face judgment, it will be by a jury of his own hybrid peers and not handed down from a scheming brother and grieving father. If travesty is to be done, it should be impartial."

  "'Cause that makes it all so much better," Max muttered.

  Savitar narrowed a threatening glower at him. "Don't lip me, dragon, or I'll turn you over to them."

  "And what of this jury?" Lycaon demanded. "Who's to oversee it?"

  "I will personally guarantee it. You have my word."

  Fury, and the promise that this wasn't over, glared out from the king's eyes. "Fine. I'll hold you to it. But I want that dragon's head mounted to my wall for what he's done! I will be expecting you to bring it to me when this is over. Otherwise, I'll be declaring war on this new breed." And with that, the king led his army away.

  Illarion finally approached them. I'm glad that's settled. Not even a little.

  Savitar laughed bitterly. "You're right. Nothing's over. This is just the beginning. Wait until Zeus and Apollo hear of it." He glanced around at the faces and animals....

  Apollites, lions, eagles, falcons, hawks, tigers, wolves, bears, panthers, jackals, leopards, snow leopards, jaguars, cheetahs, and dragons.

  "What the hell was Dagon thinking?"

  Max let out his own exhausted breath. "That his wife was grieving for her brother and that he had the magick to make it better."

  "You consider this better?"

  Max shrugged at Savitar's question. "Better than death? Aye. Barely."

  "And you, dragon, are an idiot."

  "I've been called worse." He glanced to Illarion. "And that was just a few hours ago."

  Savitar shook his head as he met the gaze of the princess. "Those are the first of their kind you're carrying, you know that, right?"

  Her face had gone pale. "What?"

  "You conceived them after your husband had been transformed. The good news is, they won't die of the Apollite curse that comes with Eumon's bloodline. The bad news is, the gods won't be happy that your prince thwarted said curse." Savitar growled in aggravation. "There's only so much mitigating I can do. Knowing the gods and those bitches in particular, I can tell you this isn't over. They will have something new in store for us all. And it won't be merciful."

  And he'd been right. In spite of the evidence, and Helena's testimony over what had happened, Max had been found guilty during that first Omegrion meeting. When Illarion went to testify, Max had kept him out of it, lest he implicate himself and come under fire.

  Better one should be marked than both. He'd pressed upon Illarion the necessity of keeping Helena safe and fulfilling their promise to Eumon. Something they couldn't do if they were both being hunted.

  So he'd been marked while Illarion had been left as a Katagari guard for the first Arcadian princes born to a human mother.

  But for Max and Illarion, there would have been no Were-Hunters spared the sword.

  Only Linus and Eumon.

  Lycaon would have gladly slaughtered the rest to spare his two sons from the wrath of the Olympian gods.

  One wolf and one dragon.

  Seraphina stared in awe of her mate. She'd had no idea of the sacrifices he'd made for their people.

  No one had. True to his Arel birth and blood, Max had borne his duties in silence. The only time he'd struck out against them was when his brothers were threatened.

  When she and their children were under fire.

  The worst irony was that neither he nor his brother even held a seat at the very council that had been started because of them. Rather Helena and another Drakos born from an earlier experiment between an Apollite slave and dragon had taken the first Regis positions. Helena as the Arcadian Regis, until her eldest son, Pharell, had been old enough to inherit it, and Cromus, who ceded his place to Helena's Katagari son, Portheus, when he'd come of age.

  Linus had been left to found the same wolf bloodline that had led to Vane, Fang, and Fury. Ever bitter over being forced into his wolf status, he had gladly waged blood feuds against the Katagaria and other species. And it had been his powerful testimony and leadership that had condemned Max.

  His ruthless need to put down all the others and rule them that had forced Savitar to create the limanis so that the Were-Hunters would have some refuge from the gods and others out to slaughter them needlessly.

  Now, Savitar pulled back and lightened the room. One by one, he met the gaze of those seated at the council table. "There you have it. Yes, Max technically drew first Were-Hunter blood, but he did so in protection of you all. Are you really going to be as the first council and condemn him again, knowing that?"

  Damos Kattalakis, the descendent of Eumon and Helena who currently held the Arcadian Drakos seat, rose. His looks reminded Sera a great deal of Vane's and he closely resembled his brother Sebastian, whom she'd met earlier.

  Slowly, cautiously, he approached Max and Illarion.

  His face unreadable, he removed the feathered mask that covered his Sentinel marks. Running his hand over the scales and delicate workmanship, he studied the mask before he spoke. "It is the custom of my patria to make these out of the remains of the Katagaria we've slain. It's done to remind us that while they are animals, we are not. That we are civilized and descended from the blood of princes. In particular, Eumon Kattalakis."

  He dropped the mask to the floor and met Max's gaze, then Illarion's. "I don't know why my great-grandmother failed to tell us of you, but I promise that if I should be fortunate enough to have dragonets one day, they will know the truth and what we owe our Katagaria cousins." Striking his shoulder with his fist, he saluted Max. "Thank you for saving my family. As the head of the Kattalakis Drakos, I swear that should we ever hear the Bane-Cry of you, or your mates or children, every member of our patria will answer. On our honor."

  Max inclined his head and saluted him back. "Thank you."

  Smiling, Damos drew him in for a hug, then Illarion. "My father rolls in his grave." He turned back at Savitar and scowled. "Is this why you've always hated me?"

  Savitar nodded. "Sins of the father, brother. Sins of the father. But today, you took the right step. And I saw it."

  Snorting, Damos appeared less than amused as he turned toward Dare Kattalakis. "What of you, cousin?"

  "They can kiss my furry ass. We're still at war."

  19

  "You should have eaten the wolves, little brother."

  Everyone in the room turned to look at Falcyn for his dry, emotionless, and very callous words.

  He stared back, completely unrepentant. "Just saying. They're crispy when fried. Lean meat. Low gristle. It would have saved everyone the migraine of dealing with them now."

  Fury choked. "Speaking as one of the wolves, I'm extremely offended by that."

  "Good," Falcyn said without a hint of remorse or apology in his tone. "I've offended wolves and Were-Hunters alike. All I need to do now is feed on a cute, cuddly baby and my work for the day is done."

  Blaise smacked Falcyn on the chest. "Don't worry, he's part Charonte. Hand him some barbecue sauce and he's happy."

  Falcyn passed such an irritable scowl at Blaise that even though he was blind, Blaise felt it and shrank back--not in fear, but from common sense.

  "He's not Charonte," Max said drily. "That would be too easy an excuse for him, and there really isn't one. He's just an irritable bastard.... Much like Savitar."

  Savitar arched his brow. "I save your ass and you take a swipe at me? Really?"

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