by test
“I have a lot to mourn for—many of my friends perished in the assault today. It was grave indeed.” His voice almost broke.
Dylan could only imagine the sort of strain he was under at the moment.
Watching his world crumbling around him while he was fighting to stop it was the worst nightmare he could possibly think of.
“Perished? Grania has showed me tonight that your kind isn’t quite as
invulnerable as we witches and wizards thought—but from the tales of my childhood, your kind was always portrayed as being nigh unstoppable.”
“When we are facing you wizards and witches, we are a formidable fighting
force. You don’t know the special ways to hurt or kill us,” Blaze explained.
“Then, why do you need me? If you can be hurt and killed so badly, why can’t
you just handle this on your own?” She made a strangling noise. He walked to the other side of the bed. “You should start crying, Blaze. She’s fading away.” Reaching for her hand, he gripped it tightly. Raising it to his lips he kissed her. She shivered in reaction to his touch.
“Before I, as you say put on the waterworks, I will have you know that I am not easily brought to tears.”
“He isn’t trying to imply that you are a coward, Blaze. Don’t be a ninny. He just wants to know why we can’t put an end to this civil war.”
“Let’s equate this civil war to England’s civil war. The Royal House is falling—
by the time I get back there’s no telling what will have happened to the Palace. Even if the monarchy falls, we will rise again. The battle for Dragonia might almost be over, but the war—the war is far from over. The Royalists will never give up.”
Her face had turned ashen white. “I hadn’t realized it was going that badly.”
“There was no need for you to know the full extent of it, Grania. I know how
much this hurts you. Mother didn’t want you to know.”
“Blood against blood … it is madness. Sheer madness.” She shivered again.
“Get on and cry or I swear, I’ll give you full reason to!” Dylan shouted,
exasperated by the way Blaze was drawing out the healing process.
“The scars of war are never pretty.” Blaze brushed his hand over her wound. He watched as the skin started to heal. Before the skin healed completely, he leaned toward her. Tears glistened in his eyes.
Dylan tried craning his neck around so he could see the entire process. One
single tear slipped out of his eye. It hit the still raw looking wound. She inhaled sharply, screwing her face up in pain. “I can feel the Dragon Nightshade being pummeled. I don’t feel so sleepy anymore. Tired, but not like I’ll drift away literally if I fall asleep.”
“You’ll be fine now, Grania.” Blaze looked down lovingly at her. If he weren’t related to her by blood, Dylan would have been green with jealousy.
“Thank you for coming, Blaze. I understand how significant of a decision that was, concerning the state of affairs right now,” she murmured, her voice constricting with emotional turmoil.
“I couldn’t just let you die, Grania. You are family.”
“Have you eaten in the last twenty-four hours? Maybe you should go down to the kitchen and grab a bite to eat before you go back to Dragonia," Grania suggested.
“Non-conjured food—that sounds good to me. We dragon shifters really haven’t
DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
gotten the knack of magically conjuring tasty food—though there is this one lass that can conjure delicious food.”
Dylan snorted.
“What happened to her?” Dylan asked.
“She’s returned to the front. She says she can do more good there—but I miss her magical food.” Blaze sighed.
Grania and Dylan exchanged a look. He knew what she was thinking—and she
was right. He didn’t know who the witch was—but if she conjured tasty magical food—
there was a good chance she was a witch warrior operative, endowed with the ability to shape shift into a dragon. As long as no one captured her and did a telepathic probe or tested her DNA, she would be undetectable.
“How handy.” He started at the dry sound of Grania’s voice.
“Come again, Grania?” Blaze asked.
“Never mind. I was just thinking … it’s so telling about the straits we are in—if we’re mastering magic food conjuring, our side is in its most desperate hours.”
“It can’t be helped. Our food manufacturing facilities have fallen to the rebels, and most of our crops have been burned. We have no choice—it is magic food—or no food at all.”
“Starvation for our once noble kind. My father is insane. He has lost his way—
there is no way of stopping him—save for using Dylan’s spell.”
“An unfinished spell.” He yawned despite himself.
“A sleepy wizard doesn’t make a good spell maker—get some sleep, man.” Blaze
walked past him toward the door. “Good to see that you’ve made this doorway
invulnerable to the transportation fire.”
“The entire cottage is outfitted with such enchantments.” Grania smiled, rolled over and closed her eyes. “I’m going to sleep now.”
“And I’m going to eat.” Blaze walked out of the bedroom, heading toward the
kitchen.
“Well, since no one cares about me ....”
“I care.” Her strong voice startled him, while at the same time soothing him. He liked hearing her so full of life—he’d been so frightened for her before. “You can stay with me and keep the bed warm.”
“Why, Grania, I think you’re falling in love with me.”
“Just go to sleep, wizard.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” He grunted.
DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
Chapter Seven
She awoke the next morning with her back curled into him. His arms were wrapped around her. Blinking, she tried to adjust her eyes to the glaring sunlight. She usually didn’t rise this early, but something was telling her to wake up.
“Dylan?”
He mumbled something and tightened his hold around her. She clenched her
teeth together. Was Blaze still here? Reaching out with her mind, she felt him sleeping in an exhausted slumber. She didn’t have the heart to wake Dylan.
Slowly, she slipped out of his embrace. Standing up, she felt her hair. It had tumbled out of the towel during the night, and fortunately for her, it wasn’t tangled into a rat’s nest. Walking over to her dressing table, she reached for her brush, and started working out the minor tangles. Something was in the air—she couldn’t quite put her finger on it, but she knew bad tidings were coming their way. She shouldn’t be surprised, the brief that Blaze had given her last night had made her heart race, and yet, she’d felt it coming for the past two weeks. The last time she’d been on Dragonia she hadn’t liked what she’d seen. She’d known then, that her side was getting the shit beat out of them no matter how hard they tried to fight back.
She turned her head at the sound of footsteps. “You woke up fast, Blaze.”
“The telly turned on and woke me up. Some idiot named Nicholas wants to speak to Dylan. He says it’s a matter of grave importance.” Blaze yawned; dark half moons rimmed his bloodshot eyes.
“Oh—okay. Well, go ahead and see if you can wake him.”
Blaze looked over at her bed. “Don’t tell me the two of you were up to some
nymph business last night.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. And, besides, that isn’t any of your business—do you see me involving myself in your love life?”
“My love life happens to be non-existent. There’s nothing for you to stick your nose into.” He chuckled.
She sighed, wagging her brush at him. “Just wake him up and get him
downstairs. I don’t want Nicholas waiting for too long. Can’t say I care for him
, but he seems to know about the inner workings of Dylan’s government.”
“The witches and wizards have an organized government? I guess you learn
something every day. It astounds the mind—such a backward inferior race, has made such incredible strides in the last few days. I will notch it up to another learning experience—I’m not accustomed to learning something new every day.”
“Yes, you do … I’m sure you’re put in your place many times a day. The
problem with you, Blaze, is that you always think you’re all knowing. As of now, their government is in better shape than our ruling government.”
“Point taken.” He smiled. “Speaking of which, I should get back to Dragonia.
Mother and Father are expecting me.”
“Are you going to be okay?” She stood up, crossing the short distance to him.
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“I will be—once I do this!” He raised his hand; a spark flew out of his fingertips slamming Dylan right into the chest. Dylan was hurtled through the air. Waking up, he reacted on instinct and slowed his ascent with his magic.
“Good to know that your boyfriend thinks on his toes. At least if you’re ever ambushed he’ll be worth his weight in salt.”
“What the bloody hell was that for?” Dylan had an energy ball conjured and in his hand, before she could react. He fired it at Blaze. Blaze stepped out of the way and it went straight past him crashing into the wall in the hallway.
“Thank you, Dylan. You’ll be fixing that later on today.”
“Sorry … sure thing, Grania. You still didn’t answer me as to why His Royal
Knucklehead here slammed me with that fire spark. I was having such a good dream—
only to wake up to a dragon shifting nightmare.”
“Knock it off you two! We can’t fight with each other! Face it, Blaze. You and your parents need all of the help you can get. If Dylan’s people are offering their assistance in this phenomenal struggle that’s costing so many lives—then, you need to accept it. On behalf of the Royal House, you need to embrace the goodwill extended to you. You need to forge an alliance between our two governments.”
“My mother and father will not like this idea—they remember the last war
between the magic kind and the dragon shifter kind.”
“And, now, they want Dylan’s help! They purposefully set all of these events
into motion. It was their idea to enlist Dylan’s help in the first place—now we all need to get off our high clouds and move past the differences that divide us. We all need to swallow our pride and get on with our lives! If we don’t we won’t have any lives to get on with! Earth will be devastated if Draco manages to invade! Countless lives will be lost—we’ve already lost so much, how can we allow more innocent lives to be
forfeited?”
“You are right, Grania. I will hear what this Nicholas has to say.”
They all walked downstairs.
“Hello? I’m still here, waiting—waiting—I need to get a move on—I don’t have
all day … being put on hold stinks to high heaven .…”
“I’m here, Nicholas, and I’ve brought friends.”
“Grania?”
“And her cousin, Prince Blaze. That’s a hilarious name by the way ....” Dylan said, chuckling.
She gave him a stern look. He rolled his eyes.
Looking over at Blaze, she saw him step forward.
“Take a seat on the sofa, Blaze and ignore the little prick.”
“Little Prick? I’ll have you know, darling ....”
“Could we just stop acting like children in grammar school?” She asked.
“I agree.” Blaze looked at the television screen. “I am here to listen to what you have to say, Nicholas.”
“Okay, I wasn’t exactly given clearance to talk to you, but my government wants you to bring our negotiations to your mother and father. I guess as their son and heir you will do.”
“Thank you. I think.”
Nicholas cleared his throat. “We are convinced that Draco needs to be stopped.
DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
My government is certain that Dylan is our best hope to stop Draco, but in the meantime you will need help in damage control. Our operatives within your government have sent out pleas for help. They have seen how hard your side is trying to defeat Draco. We will do whatever we can.”
“Wait a second, your operatives? Who are they?” Blaze’s eyes narrowed
suspiciously.
“I can’t divulge that sort of information to you. Until we work officially together as allies, we still guard our interests.”
“Of course. The old cloak and dagger act. Your sort does it so well. As much as I’d love to contradict you and have a roaring row with you, I can’t do that in the best interest of my kind. Since, as you say, I’m the sole representative of the ruling class of Dragonia here on Earth—I must concede to your concerns. We will appreciate and accept any assistance your government wishes to give us.”
“Smashing. I’m glad to see that you, as the prince of your kind, know how to conduct yourself when it comes to diplomatic relations with the magic kind. We have a newfound respect for you.”
Dylan cleared his throat. She looked over sharply at him. “What, Dylan?”
“I was just wondering if we should be having a spoken agreement between our
governments or a written one. In our best interests, I think we should have an official written magically binding agreement. In my opinion, that will save a good deal of grief between the two of our peoples. There’s no telling what will happen in the future. In order for us to avoid fractions within our alliance, we should have an accord that will speak for itself no matter what the naysayers might step forward to gripe about.”
“I agree with Dylan. Something that’s written rather than just said will live in perpetuity as a testament to the goodwill between dragon shifters and Wizards and Witches," Blaze agreed.
Nicholas nodded. “I will take that to the council. They’ll no doubt enlist the help of our leading negotiator to draft up a magically binding legal document. It looks as if we’ll be shaking on this sometime in the near future.”
“I can’t stay here on Earth forever. I must away back to Dragonia before the
crisis takes on a frigid stance. If we need to start locking off the doorways to Earth, they’ll need my help.”
“I will meet you back in Dragonia, at the palace once I bring your terms to our council. I’m rather familiar with the lay of the land.” Nicolas smiled.
“I don’t think I like the sound of that.” Blaze shared a troubled look with Grania.
“Do you know what he’s referring to?”
Grania cleared her throat. “I think ... I think Nicholas is one of the operatives stationed in Dragonia.”
“Under another guise, no doubt,” Blaze stated dryly.
“Well, I was still a man, but you’re right, you might know me better if I do this.”
Nicholas snapped his fingers.
Light illuminated the television screen. When it faded away, Nicholas was a
changed man.
“Oh, boy.” Grania groaned.
“What the hell? You and your kind must be really proud of your super
intelligence!” Anger flared in Blaze’s usually tightly controlled voice.
DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
“We aren’t the ones that always brag about being so smart. You dragon shifters play that role really well,” Nicolas taunted.
“Why don’t you come out of that television screen and say that to me in person?”
Blaze challenged.
“Not going to happen. I have to return to relay your concerns to the higher ups.
We have a hierarchy, a chain of command if you will, and while I sometimes feel like skipping a few steps, for this I have to do everything by the book. You’ll just have to wait pati
ently for me to come back to you in Dragonia. Be a good chap and don’t let on who I really am. If you let the proverbial cat out of the bag it could all be downriver from there on out. For both of us.”
“I understand. Now, I’ll eye everyone that I haven’t known since childhood with an eye of suspicion.”
“Not really a good idea, Blaze.” Grania attempted to keep her voice civil. She’d just picked up on a fleeting thought emanating from Dylan. She didn’t like what she had heard but she had a duty to tell Blaze.
Dylan reached for her hand. She drew away. “Not this time, Dylan. I refuse to keep my mouth shut!”
“Well, then, you should get whatever you have on your mind off your chest.”
Blaze gave her a steady gaze.
“Some of the people you knew from childhood died or were strategically moved
so that the magic kind could move in,” Grania explained, sighing heavily.
“Died? Don’t tell me they died at the hands of a witch or wizard!” He sounded absolutely livid. She shivered against the threatening tone of his voice. If Nicholas were in the room with them, Blaze would have already let him have it in the worst way.
“Of course not.” Nicholas sounded like he was going to spit out fire at the
accusation. “We either put dragon shifters into magical protection—or we gave them a proper service when we found them dead. It looks as if Draco has had his enforcers, enforcing. Any one that he deemed a threat to his takeover of the capital, he had eliminated.”
“No … that would mean .…”
“You’ve been working with imposters for quite a long time. Now granted, there’s still a few hundred left that Draco hasn’t been able to off or intimidate with his power plays.”
“I want a list. I will not be dissuaded.” Blaze’s eyes darkened. “I want a list of the ones that fell in the line of duty—I want to tell their families.”
“Their families have been living with the imposter for quite some time. And,
they’ve been none the worse for wear. That tells me my agents are doing their jobs to a degree of excellence. I should be proud.”
“That would mean that you are impersonating Doral O’Malley. I’d like to know