DragonsHeart.wps

by test

  “He’s pulled a real fast one this time.”

  “A fast one that might have just killed the man I love.”

  She reached out searching for Dylan. She could feel him ... faintly.

  Relief surged through her. She started breathing again. A glimmer of recognition took hold in her mind. She started to look past the veil of sorcery and into her own heart.

  “This is an illusion.” Her voice sounded hollow to her ears. “An illusion is only a trick. Dark Dragon Shifter Sorcery at its worst. You’ll have to work harder than that you old bastard. Bugger you!” She lifted her hand. A trail of fire works emitted from her palm … the scene of destruction in front of them faded.

  Aurora gave her a satisfied smile. “You are beginning to master your own power.

  It’s not all about brawn and muscle when it comes to a dragon shifter warrior.

  Sometimes, they also need to get in touch with their mystical side. It is your time to claim your mystical side. Embrace it, Grania.”

  “I’m not strong enough. I can’t hope to face off with him and win.”

  “You will win. You must. There is no one else. I must keep the rest of the battle from falling in favor of Draco’s forces. Merdwyn must have been injured along with Dylan and his parents, for I haven’t seen him coming to our aid.”

  “I’m going into the Manor House. Watch my rear. When I come out, I intend to come out bearing news of Draco’s demise.”

  Her heart dove in her chest. Could she do this? She swallowed thickly, smiling when Aurora pressed her hand gently.

  “I realize the immense turmoil you are going through right now. If you can

  restore your father to a just and sane man, do so—if he doesn’t have to be vanquished

  ....” Aurora’s eyes darkened.

  “I suspect there is nothing that can save Draco from his darkness. He has allowed it to consume his soul. No. Even though he is my blood father, he isn’t my father in heart. If he were, he would have never gone so far with his campaign. Nothing has smartened him up. I doubt at the eleventh hour that he will come to his senses. If I don’t see you again, thank you for all of the hope and help you’ve given me.” Her voice wavered with emotion.

  Aurora frowned. “I do not think you are at the end of your destiny yet, my dear.

  The hour might seem dark, but in due course you are going to bring back the light.”

  DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

  “Farewell,” she said, smiling at Aurora. Mustering her inner strength, she walked into her family home to face the demon within.

  * * * *

  Pain pressed behind Dylan’s eyes. He opened his eyes and glanced around the darkened room. Part of it was crumbling from the mini major explosion that had almost had the walls crumbling down around them.

  Merdwyn had saved them just in time.

  Merdwyn.

  He searched the debris for Merdwyn. His robes peeked out from beneath some rubble. He clenched his jaw. Pushing himself to his feet, he combed the area for his parents.

  They were nowhere to be found. Draco must have taken them as his prisoners

  and moved them to another area of the large mansion.

  “Merdwyn!” He teetered toward him. Blood dribbled out of his ears. He had

  probably sustained a concussion and perhaps even ruptured an eardrum.

  “Dylan?” Merdwyn’s voice weakened by the moment. “Dylan, I am weakening

  to a dangerous degree. I must magically transport back to the realm I came from in order to recover from my extensive injuries. I’m afraid you will have to go it alone in rescuing your parents. I will send my brother if he is in residence when I return.”

  “Go … heal yourself. We can’t lose someone of your incredible talents.”

  “Farewell for now, nephew.” In a bright flash of light that made the pain behind his eyes intensify, he was gone.

  His heart shook. Now, he was truly alone.

  He braced himself, and headed off to hunt the man that had taken almost

  everything from him. So many of his friends had already died. The casualty list was mounting ... he had to stop Draco here and now before he could do anymore damage.

  Stooping low, he picked up his wand. Tucking it into his robes, he started off to search the manor house. He stopped dead in his tracks.

  A dragon shifter approached but it wasn’t the one he wanted to engage in mortal combat—it was Grania.

  His wife.

  * * * *

  She felt a tingly sensation at the back of her mind. Dylan was trying to open a telepathic link with her. She couldn’t risk having him telling her to turn back. She was his protector. Her oath to her King and Queen still stood even if her King was dead. The war wasn’t over. She was going to end it.

  His telepathic words intoned in her head over and over again. He wanted her to stop and turn back but she couldn’t acquiesce. She couldn’t allow him to affect her.

  ‘ I might be your wifeÑbut I was your protector first. Allow me to finish the job I started. ’

  ‘ You started the job of protecting me so I could destroy your father with my spell.

  It worksÑit will take out Draco. ’

  ‘ Aurora awaits you on the grounds. Go and remain with her until I can defeat my father and free your parents. Please, Dylan. Do this one last thing for me. ’

  ‘ Last thing? ’

  Rage reverberated through their telepathic link making her clench her teeth.

  DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

  Lifting her hand, she drew on her telepathic power and broke the link. It snapped like a rope pulled too taut. She could feel him reeling from her assertion of power. He would have to get used to it. If she were going to survive the night, she’d have to use all of the steely blood running through her veins. That meant she was overruling her husband—

  besides, he was getting a bit too controlling for her taste.

  She drew in a deep lungful of air, and opened herself to the vibrations of the house. It didn’t take her long to focus in on the location of her father. She could smell his dark sorcery.

  She walked into the picture gallery. Most of the portraits had been ripped off the wall and torn to shreds. Dragon claw marks were the culprit.

  “Lord Draco.” Her voice remained even. He was at the far end of the picture

  gallery, a good distance away from her. Her aunt was in chains on his right, and her in-laws were on the left—chained.

  She had to use her magic to free them. Sweat slathered across her palms. She could do this.

  Reaching for her bow and arrows, she was about to fire off one at her father when a blow hit her from behind.

  “You should play nice, dearie.”

  She turned at the sound of the twisted voice. It was imbued with a hardness that made her nerves rattle. Her bow went flying from her hand, and the arrow was blown up by a burst of fire. She fell to her knees. Blood rushed in her ears.

  “Aunt.” Looking up, the illusion of her aunt in chains standing by her in-laws side faded into the air like blowing smoke.

  “Indeed," her aunt agreed. She now stood beside Draco, she looked like his consort.

  She could feel the blood lust emanating off her in waves that nearly drowned her.

  “You are drowning in the mind spells my father has put on you. You can’t allow him to continue his hold on you. You must break it—break it for the sake of your children!”

  “Oh, pitiful but sweet little Grania. I’m not under the thrall of your father ...”

  “Yes … you are. Why would you kill your mate ....”

  “My mate is not dead. That was an illusion of Draco’s.” A halting catch entered her voice, then it wavered. That was enough to tell her that she truly was bewitched.

  “You are mistaken, he tricked you. My uncle is dead. Blaze saw it with his own eyes.”

  “Blaze?” Andromeda’s voice faltered. The concrete expression on her face

 
wavered … nearly breaking.

  “He saw his father perish. He would not lie, and Blaze was never susceptible to Draco’s mind illusions. That was his one strength when it came to my father’s foolery.

  That was one reason why my father despised him so much.”

  “Fool am I, daughter? I will show you once Andromeda takes a chunk out of

  you.”

  “He’s taken your husband, your twin sister and your eldest daughter from you.

  How much more will you allow him to take? Bronwyn and Brianna will be left to his mercy if we do not emerge as the victors in this hellish war.”

  “My twin daughters.” Her voice broke. “He took Britannia from me. He will not DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

  take my youngest girls.” Shadows flitted in her eyes ... pain enveloped her features.

  Andromeda fell to the ground. She crawled to her side. Gripping her hand, she transmitted her magic into her aunt, using their blood bond to break the hold her father had on her.

  Gasps turned to agonized cries.

  Andromeda was finally free, and now she had to live with the present—and the

  past. Her love for her children had been her saving grace, but it would not be the same for her father—nothing could redeem him. He was evil right down to the core.

  She heard her husband enter the room. Her aunt’s hand squeezed hers. “Get up, Grania. I am too weak, but you are strong. You are your mother’s daughter. Stand up against him as your mother would, and break him the way he has broken so many other good souls. Bless you, niece.”

  She could feel Dylan’s piercing gaze rest on her. She stood up, wavering slightly with the rubbery feeling in her knees. The jelly sensation firmed. Extending her hand, she called for the bow. It sang and flew toward her. The quiver rustled against her back.

  She reached for an arrow, and then froze. Her father had invaded her mind. His black sorcery tore through her.

  She moaned.

  Dylan immediately rushed into action. He couldn’t get in the middle of this ...

  she couldn’t see him die. She couldn’t witness it again. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

  She would break his hold. She had to make it snap like a twig.

  He sensed what she was hiding before she could force him from her mind.

  “Impossible.”

  She gritted her teeth, and drew on all of the power lying inside of her. Aurora was right—dragon shifter magic merged with magic kind magic. A bright burst of energy swirled around him. She used her magic to transport Dylan’s parents and her aunt out of the manor house. Then, she turned to Dylan. He was blocking her somehow.

  Screaming, she forced her father’s mental probes out of her head. Stunned disbelief dawned across his face.

  “You surprise me with your strength, daughter.”

  Dylan still hadn’t made it to their side. She still had a chance to defeat Draco.

  “No. I can’t allow you to besmirch my bloodline with that half-breed.” His voice turned coldly dangerous.

  “You just feel threatened, father. You are afraid that this child will be even more powerful than you, and you know he or she will.”

  His eyes turned to pure fury. Flames burned within them. She could feel the

  room getting hot. Before she could shoot an arrow at him, he had shape shifted into his dragon self.

  Horror ran through her at the awe-inspiring sight. Nonplussed, she shot an arrow off at him but before it could reach him, it caught on fire and blew up.

  His roar made the walls shake. The quake caused her to lose her balance. She had to stop him. It could not end the way she had seen.

  Dylan shouted something and magic swirled around the room.

  Dylan’s, magic. It ripped into Draco, causing him to cry out in pain. She reached for another arrow, only to find that her quiver had disappeared.

  “No!” She searched the area for it. Her father had to have transported it out of the DRAGON’S HEART Marly Mathews 170

  manor house with his sorcery. “Damn you to the pits of hell, Draco.”

  He let out another roar. She could see he was battling between deciding upon

  whom he should attack first.

  “Come for me, you dirty bastard. Don’t you want to kill me? Kill me and your line will not be smeared by a half breed grandchild.” She was hoping he would go for the bait.

  ‘ Dylan, you must use the spell. ’

  ‘ No. I wonÕtÑit will kill you. ’

  She thought of the child she carried. Aurora had assured her that her magic and her child’s magic would merge while she was pregnant. And, if Aurora was telling the truth ....

  ‘ Do it, Dylan. Now! ’

  She used what little strength she had to move her aunt to a safe distance.

  Dylan used his magic to fly toward Draco at top speed. She started to meditate.

  If this were going to work, she’d have to be in tune with not only herself but also her child. So much had happened to them in the last few days. Her life was changed forever, and she knew that it was destiny. Nothing had been accidental. Everything had led to this moment. The only thing that had saved both Dylan and she had been the true evidence of their love.

  A light started to glow around her. It was her dragon shifter magic and her

  child’s magic kind magic working to save them both.

  Dylan was reciting the spell. She could hear the words faintly in her mind.

  Draco was attacking Dylan, but Dylan was standing up to him. He was her hero

  … and she was his.

  Closing her eyes, she entered into a deep dragon shifter trance.

  * * * *

  Dylan had Draco right where he wanted him. His spell was working it’s compelling magic. Screams of dragon shifters in the house and nearby on the grounds outside reached his ears. They were screams of the dying. His stomach nearly heaved.

  He was never destined to be a warrior wizard, and yet, here he was fighting for the very freedom of his magic kind, dragon shifter kind and human kind.

  “So long, Draco. Don’t come back.”

  Draco’s face contorted. He was trying to fight the spell, but whatever Grania had done to him had weakened his resolve. Fire lit his eyes just before it faded forever. In the next instant, a circle of flame started to wrap around Draco.

  He turned as Draco was torn apart. It was over.

  Grania.

  She had ordered him to use the spell. He had once he’d read her mental message to him.

  She had to be alive. He prayed and hoped more in those few seconds than he had ever done in all of his life.

  Crossing the distance to her, he fell to his knees beside her. He could feel people entering the picture gallery. Witches and wizards clustered around them, their murmurs of concern made him even more unsettled.

  He pressed his hand that was marked with the dragon mark to her heart. He

  couldn’t feel a heartbeat.

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  “Use that dragon’s heart of yours and come back to me.”

  Aurora stepped forward. “I could help. I do have a good deal of healing

  knowledge.”

  “I sense a heartbeat.” He looked at her tranquil face. The heart in her chest wasn’t beating, and yet, he could sense a heartbeat.

  His child.

  A force shuddered through her body. She almost rose off the ground. Light

  flared around her, and then her chest heaved as her first breath rushed through her.

  “Dylan … you’re alive! Thank the Fates!” Grania breathed.

  “I can thankfully say the same thing about you.” He held her and cradled her so her head lay in his lap.

  “My Aunt. Aurora, you must attend to Andromeda.”

  “I already am.” Aurora’s voice was cheerful despite the somber mood. He knew

  that everyone was wary of celebrating until victory was actually a done deal.

  Aine stepped forwar
d. “The war is not over yet, you might have cut the heart out of the war, but we haven’t stopped the hundreds of dragon shifters that are still loyal to Draco.”

  He could see the light dim in Grania’s eyes. She heaved a huge breath. “I think I’m going to be able to get up soon.” Some of her color slowly returned. “Your mother is right. They will still be fighting.”

  “Then, we’ll tell them to surrender ... or I continue to use my spell against them.

  They won’t like that ultimatum.”

  “Then, we should order all of the dragon shifters away from the various

  battlegrounds. We can’t take the risk of you killing more innocents, just in case they don’t decide to put up the white flag.”

  “Agreed.” He looked down at her. Love swelled his heart.

  “Help me up.” She gave him a determined look. He assisted her to her feet, and then held her against his chest.

  “I have to say I almost didn’t use the spell.” His voice dropped to a soft whisper.

  “You had no choice. Draco had to be stopped. He was destroying our world, and if we’d let him live for a few more days, who knows what would have been left of England and the rest of the world.”

  His mother turned to consult with a few of the wizards and witches that had just magically popped into the hall.

  She nodded, and whirled back to report the news. “We have gained ground

  against the enemy forces. Our allies have tipped the balance of power in our favor.

  Sometimes the elves and the faeries truly do come through for us.

  Draco’s death is spreading through the various ranks. The enemy seems at a loss as to how to proceed. Everything has simply stopped.”

  “Then, we take advantage of that.” Grania nodded. “We’ve taken out their leader.

  I don’t think there will be any more fight, so they won’t know what to do next. Without Draco, it will seem pointless to proceed.”

  “We can only hope,” Aine said.

  Brianna and Nicholas entered the gallery. “Is it really over?” Brianna looked stunned beyond belief.

  Hope spread across Brianna’s face.

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  “Mother? ”