by test
He walked to the stairwell, and stopped. A loud crash met their ears then, a short scream.
“Brianna!” Nicolas plunged down the stops at a breakneck pace. Nicholas was
bouncing back pretty quickly from his injuries ... worrying about Brianna was doing the trick better than any medicine. Dylan followed him.
“The cottage is protected, you can’t ....”
Merdwyn stood over Bronwyn, Brianna stood to the side shaking. “Let her go,
you foul man. You have bewitched her.”
“She isn’t the one you seek.” Merdwyn’s voice remained calm, his composure
seemed undisturbed.
“What’s going on?” Nicholas had his arm raised in the sign of a coming attack.
“I wouldn’t do that, lad,” Merdwyn advised calmly.
Dylan stepped in front of Nicholas to block anything that he might try to do.
“You can’t attack Lord Merdwyn. I won’t allow you to.”
“You won’t allow me to? I want to know why he has immobilized Bronwyn.”
“Not Bronwyn. A chameleon demon ... a trickster of the foulest sort. As soon as she entered this cottage the white magic protecting it sensed her deceit. Where is the real Bronwyn?” Merdwyn had the creature by the throat, Dylan’s eyes widened as the
chameleon demon shape shifted back into her native form. He felt sick from the ugliness of the creature.
Brianna sunk to the ground. “I feel so weak. My head hurts!”
“That would be her spell over you loosening. Hence, the reason why you were
having such a difficult time healing Nicholas.” Merdwyn nodded knowingly. “She can’t keep hexing you when her own power is being sapped away by the white magic that inhabits this cottage.”
“My sister. What did you do with her?” Brianna regained some of her
composure. Heat reverberated off her. She was getting vexed.
“Lord Draco has her. She is his trump card against your family. They would not dare to attack him as long as he has her.”
“I have to save Grania … she’s walking into a trap!” Rage, coupled with fear for Grania, coursed through Dylan.
“What if she was the one always setting the trap? She’d snare you, pretend to be your protector and then, lead you to your doom.” Nicholas’s voice was thoughtful.
He wanted to smack Nicholas for that, and as it happened, Nicholas had it coming to him.
“No more fighting!” Brianna trembled with outrage. “We have a duty to Grania
and my sister! Right now, she could be so scared. I can’t figure out why I’m not able to sense her. Get rid of the imposter, please! If you do, it might reestablish the link between me and my twin.”
“It is done.” Merdwyn waved his hand. The demon blew up.
“Impressive. Can you do that, Dylan?” Nicholas asked.
DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
“Let’s not go into that territory, Nicholas. Dylan is correct. Action is the key right now. Your mother needs us far more than your wife does at the moment. The second wave has entered London, and it does not bode well for our side.” Merdwyn’s eyes took on a glassy hue ... he was seeing the scenes in his mind’s eye.
“We need to get there right away. Nicholas, you stay here and heal. Keep
Brianna safe.”
“I want to go with you, I want to be there when you go after Bronwyn.”
“You will be safer here, Nicholas will make sure of that,” Dylan said.
“Dylan is right. You and I need to stay put, besides, I have to rest a little longer before I’ll be able to keep up with you. You’re way too spry for me.” He winked at her.
She huffed.
“You can huff and puff, Brianna, but I assure you nothing will blow this house down,” Dylan warned
Transfixed, she walked over to the living room window. Her eyes widened. She stared back at Dylan and Nicholas. “They are there, right under our noses! It would be so easy to just stand up and leave this cottage.”
“No.” Nicholas crossed the distance and grabbed for her hand. “Don’t even think about it. You can’t leave me!”
“I must go to help my sister.”
“Grania is going to her. She must have suspected that you and Nicholas had been fooled by the trickster demon. That’s why she left, knowing that when we all returned to the cottage her true nature would be revealed for all to see and destroy.”
“I will stay, for the moment. If Blaze calls me, or if I hear my sister calling to me, no one can stand in my way. I’m not powerless.”
“You aren’t, not at all. You hold just as much power as Grania holds or more.
How you use that power is your choice. Unless you have to fight though, I don’t think your brother or your cousin would have you put yourself in harms way and I know that your mother would not want anything to happen to you. I’ve seen firsthand how closely knit a dragon shifter family is. Hold fast to that and realize that no matter what I will stand by you.” He’d never heard Nicholas like this ... the man was actually moved by his feelings for Brianna.
“Some of our kind wanders aimlessly never to know the touch of their mate. I’ve found you almost too early and yet I am not afraid. I know that our world must enter the darkness in order to see the light again. I just don’t want the darkness to last forever. I want the light back.”
Dylan’s heart clenched. He had to turn away from listening to Brianna, she
sounded too much like Grania.
“Dylan, we mustn’t tarry. Your mother and her forces are falling. We must go now. I suggest you get to work on that spell. If you don’t use it in the dark hours ahead, the light will never shine again for many years on Earth.”
“I don’t understand. My mother’s forces are so mighty ....”
“No one is all powerful. There are always kinks in the armor, magical or
otherwise.”
“We must get a move on, then.” His stomach sunk. His eyes swept over the lands surrounding the idyllic cottage. Merdwyn was right. The landscape had turned a gloomy grey … neither dark nor sunny. Just grey. “The world is morphing into something I DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
don’t want to see for our future generations.”
“Dark magic is flowing through everything, either twisting it to its will or killing it. England’s land oozes with good magic, but it is being smothered right now. We must release it from Draco’s hold.”
“I can do this.”
“You will be doing the right thing by finally using the spell, tweak it if you think you are able ... perhaps you will be able to narrow its catastrophic effect.”
“If I unleash the spell there’s no telling if I will unintentionally kill innocent dragon shifters.”
“We will cross that bridge when we come to it, my son.”
Dylan nodded. “Would you like to do the honors of opening up a transportation portal, or shall I?”
Merdwyn flexed his fingers. “I think I should like to do the honors, I’ve been idle for so long that it feels good to be back in the thick of action.”
“You couldn’t possibly ask for more action than what we will be getting in a few seconds.”
Merdwyn raised his arms, light cascaded through the room, enveloping them and
transporting them to London.
Fire lit up the sky. The heat was almost unbearable. Big Ben was on fire, and witches were desperately trying to put the flames out. He licked his lips, scanning the sky for the rest of the damage.
“I haven’t seen anything quite like this in my lifetime,” Dylan whispered, fear lacing his voice.
“Not in your lifetime, but I have in mine.” Grimness stole into Merdwyn’s voice, he sounded ready to exact his revenge against Draco’s minions.
“We need to get to the Parliament Buildings, they look like they are suffering the brunt of the attack. My mother is in that building masquerading as the Prime Minister.”
“I’m su
re that won’t go over too well with Draco’s forces, he no doubt knows the true identity of the mortal Prime Minister.”
“I can only imagine how the chaos is spreading through the world. It’s like
something out of a computer game that the mortals play.”
Merdwyn shook his head. “I don’t follow that train of thought, but it looks as if I need to go and save the bridge from falling, you get to your mother.”
Dylan stared up at the sky once again. Wizards and dragon shifters were locked in mortal combat, while Harpies swarmed around them causing as much grief as they possibly could. Manopian Trolls thundered across the ground, making the Earth shake.
He fired a bolt of energy at one harpy that was trying to take a chunk out of a witch. The witch smiled down at him. It was Kayla. She looked like she was fading away. The toll of the battle was wearing hard on her.
“Grania, be safe my love,” Dylan prayed.
* * * *
Grania stood in her manor house. The atmosphere had been transformed. It now seemed forbidding and ugly.
“Your father will reward me greatly for taking you prisoner.”
“I already told you, you haven’t taken me prisoner, I willingly went along with you, Widow Mooney ... perhaps, in lieu of the Widow Mooney name I should call you DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
the Black Widow. You killed your husband. That was an unspeakable sin. You will burn for that crime.”
“Not in the way you think. Lord Draco has promised to allow me to bathe in his fire. I will be so glad to bask under his power. Your father is the greatest dragon shifter to ever have lived. He has such vision—he will take our race into a time of greatness.”
“We are not a separate race. We are still human.”
“I am a dragon shifter, there is nothing human about that.”
“Keep shape shifting like I suspect you are and you will no longer be able to think straight. Your animalistic desires will control you and eventually it will consume you.
You are on a path of ruin.”
“I am not on a path of ruin ... that will be you, my dear. You have deeply
disturbed your father with your constant betrayal.”
“My daughter.” His powerful voice made her a shiver run up and down her spine.
She swallowed, hard.
She looked to where her great hall had been transformed into a throne-like room for him. Shivers ran up and down her spine once more, as she met his gaze.
“Lord Draco.”
He chuckled. The chilling sound seeped through her clothing making her
shudder.
“You can’t even acknowledge me as your sire. How unusual for you, Grania.
You have turned away from the true path. I am deeply disappointed that you gave yourself to that filthy wizard.”
“He actually has better body hygiene than you do.”
He raised his eyebrow. “Your quips are unusually weak, the mortals and the
wizards are making you feeble.”
“They are making me strong. I will continue to fight you.” She shrugged off the Widow. “Or, I could rejoin you.”
He inclined his head to the side. “Have you gone daft, Grania?”
She sighed. “I’ve only been biding my time. I have Dylan’s full trust. It would be so easy for me to lure him into your clutches.”
* * * *
“Ah, now that would be fortuitous.” He studied her intently. “Many years I have hoped that you would finally see the error of your ways. I wish I could believe you.”
“You’ve never believed in me, so I wouldn’t expect you to start now, Father.” She spat the last word out. His eyebrows rose, while he leaned forward in his chair.
“I respect your fiery nature, daughter. When you were small, I could already see the powerful fire building inside of you. I so wanted to spare you from the awful future the seers had predicted for you.”
“You killed my mother. How could I not hate you?”
He leaned back casually in his chair. “Your mother did not share the same vision as me. She still loved her wizard. I could never totally erase him from her heart. I knew that. I knew that with every year we were together she mourned him. I was her mate and yet, she could not love me the way you no doubt love your wizard. Do not deny it, I can see the burning in your eyes. It literally snaps off you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, please, Grania. Do not take me for an idiot. I am much more broad-minded DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
than you think. I know what you’ve done with your wizard, and I know that you fully enjoyed every single second of it.”
“You are vulgar.”
“I am a great many things, my dear. I will win this war … you can’t stop me and neither can your wizard. Even now, London is falling.”
“You are here. I don’t think your forces can rally enough strength to win without you being there.”
“You would be mistaken. You see, you’ve bitten off more than you can chew this time around, Grania. You might be my daughter, but you are also your mother’s child. I was reminded of that fact whenever you ran to your mother instead of me. Every time you needed someone you turned to her. Do you know how much that hurt me?” His eyes hardened.
“I shouldn’t think so, you are a soulless creature.”
He stood up at her insult. “I should kill you now!”
“Kill me!” She threw her chest out at him. The widow held fast to her. “Kill me and you will forever damn yourself! You will bring an unspeakable curse upon your life.
You know it is the highest sin to kill your own blood child. You know it will damn you!”
She screamed the last words, making the chandelier above her, shake.
He had pointed his finger at her. Red globes of light extended from his fingertip.
“Kill me and Dylan will not rest until he sees you die a most horribly painful death.”
“You do admire him, don’t you? It makes me green with envy you know. I wish
I could have been your hero. Instead, you had to turn to a bloody puny wizard.”
His killing fire still danced around the end of his finger. She braced herself when he pointed it again at her, he was going to fire soon, and if it didn’t kill her she’d be scarred for life.
At the last possible moment, he turned his aim and fired.
DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
Chapter Nineteen
She was blasted to the side as his powerful fire bolt hit the Widow. Her screams nearly deafened her. She slammed into the wall and then, crumbled to the floor. Her father still hadn’t noticed that she wore her mother’s bow.
Her limbs ached. Her head exploded with pain. She tried to get up, but she was stunned so badly, she couldn’t move.
“I’ve taken care of that bitch. She was too power-hungry for her own good, and mine.”
She could hear him walking toward her. Why hadn’t he seen her weapon of
choice yet? Unless, unless Merdwyn had enchanted it to turn invisible when an evil was around. She wouldn’t put it past the crafty wizard. Now, she knew where Dylan got all of his cunning.
Dylan.
Her heart ached for him and her hand burned with her need for him. Could he
feel it as well?
“Get up.” His order caught her off guard.
“I can’t.” She was telling the truth.
“You are not hurt. Get up, now!”
“The backlash from that fire bolt has rendered me immobilized.” She could feel him reaching for her.
He yanked her to her feet. They were so close, she could spit in his face if she wanted to. Instead, she studied every contour of his face. He hadn’t changed physically, but his eyes had changed. They had lost every sense of emotion.
“You should have just killed me. Because now, I’m going to kill you.”
He shook her. Her head rolled back. Her neck hurt. She regaine
d her composure and tried to shrink out of his ironclad grip.
“Release me, now!”
“If I do, you’ll no doubt fall down to the floor again. Why do you hate me so much? I was a good father to you. I taught you everything I know. I fostered your seed of greatness inside of you .…”
“You lied to me. You kept me from finding my mate whenever you could, you
encouraged me to love Denys.”
“Ah, yes, Denys. He will be here soon. I told him he could have you now. I
think he should wipe out the stain that the wizard put on you. I would do it myself, but that would be disgusting.”
She stiffened at his intimation. She wanted to throw up. “Get your hands off me.”
He smiled. “You look so much like your mother right now. Even though she is
Andromeda’s twin, they still never looked identical to me. But right now, with that particular glint in your eye and the way you said, get your hands off me, you look just like her.”
DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170
She felt her strength coming back to her. She tried to wrestle away from him.
“I’m stronger than you. You are a female—my strength will always be superior
to yours. I don’t know what to do with you until Denys can return from the battle ...
perhaps, I should put you in the dungeons with Bronwyn.”
“You have her in the dungeons?”
“Well, where else would I put her? She keeps trying to escape me.” He sighed.
“Once I am able to kill her mother, she will be mine.”
Her stomach churned. “Where is Andromeda?”
“She is somewhere safe, that’s all you need to know.”
“Your mind has twisted into something unrecognizable, Draco.”
“Call me, Father!” He slapped her. She felt her lip start to bleed.
“You shouldn’t have done that.” The mark on her hand glowed.
He looked down to her hand. “You should know that I will be killing your mate soon. He has a high price on his head. If he’s anywhere near my forces, they will center their attack on him, and bring him to me, so I can torture, and then kill him. It will be a slow, grueling death. Perhaps, I will allow you to hear his screams.”