by Lauren Smith
“You plan to give them up without a fight?” Conrad sounded surprised.
“She’s my mate. I don’t care about the jewels,” Mikhail snapped. His hand tightened on the phone so much that the plastic creaked. He forced himself to relax.
“Very good. We won’t have any trouble getting things sorted out, then, will we?” Conrad’s voice was so damned businesslike that Mikhail wanted to roar.
“No. We won’t have any trouble. As long as you leave her unharmed.”
“She’s quite safe, I assure you,” Conrad said. “Now, I’m going to give you an address. Come here one hour before the sun sets. You will give me the jewels, and I shall return your mate to you.”
“Fine.” Mikhail listened as Conrad gave him an address in Boscastle, and then he went upstairs to pack a set of clothes, just in case. Piper must have taken one of his cars. His dragon paced restlessly, wanting to fly. Belishaw’s words came back to haunt him. Had his dragon tried to kill him? Would it try again, or would it fight for Piper?
She isn’t Elizabeth. He sent thoughts of Piper to his dragon, reminding the creature that not all mortals had betrayed him. Piper had been trying to free him from his past. She thought she’d betrayed him, but she hadn’t. She had left him to protect him; it’s what a true mate would do.
The dragon stilled inside him. He could feel the beast’s heart matching his own as it communicated with him through a wild array of images. Protect Piper. Save Piper.
He returned to the house and began to carry the boxes of jewels out to his car and load them in the trunk, wondering how a member of Parliament knew about him. He knew of dragons, so could he be a dragon himself? Or perhaps a different creature of the ancient lines? But he’d desired the gems for the trade, and that said dragon to Mikhail more than anything else.
After the last one he paused as he recognized a red bag that contained one piece that hadn’t been featured in the museum. He slipped the Dragon Heart Stone out of its velvet bag. A fist-size ruby. He remembered all those centuries ago when Belishaw had placed it into his hand, warning him to be careful. Even then he’d sensed it was not just a normal gem, but filled with a kind of magic.
Keep me… The ruby seemed to whisper to him. He slipped it into his coat pocket. Then he got into the driver’s seat and began the drive to Boscastle.
The small fishing village was on the edge of the coast, not as far away as he’d thought. He drove down the winding, narrow road into town. The sun was setting on the edge of the water along the horizon.
Mikhail found the little museum of witchcraft. A Closed sign hung in the window, but there was a light in the back of the store. He thought he saw someone move across the source of light. He parked out front and tested the door handle. Finding it unlocked, he eased the door open.
The museum was quiet, and the air was thick with the scents of old magic. He inhaled deeply and caught the light, natural aroma of Piper and the heavy, dark, cloying smell of another male dragon. Conrad. Mikhail curled his lip in a silent snarl as he prowled toward the back room.
He passed a glass display containing old bowls carved with ancient runes. A faint whisper seemed to echo from the bowls, and a shudder rippled through his body. These bowls had once been for human sacrifice. The runes trapped souls within the bowls, imbuing them with power. He’d seen it done once, long ago when he’d been a drakeling. There was so much magic in this room, it seemed to hum with life. As he got closer, he swore he could hear his mother’s voice.
“Magic calls to magic.”
His dragon froze within him, as though the beast was holding its breath. Mikhail reached the back door, which was slightly ajar. He leaned in and tried to peer inside, but he couldn’t see anything. There was a soft shuffling sound within. A sound he recognized as Piper’s. He kicked the door open.
Piper was tied to a chair, a cloth wrapped around her mouth. Conrad stood behind her, a silver blade pressed against her throat. Piper’s eyes were bright with fear. He stared at her, willing her to calm, hoping she would trust him.
“Remember, Barinov, you play by my rules, and she is unharmed.” Conrad pressed the knife a little deeper into Piper’s neck. She flinched, shoving her head back, but she was unable to escape the blade.
“I’m here. The jewels are in my car.” He held out the keys, not missing how Conrad’s gaze fixed on them.
“Toss me the keys,” Conrad demanded.
“Step away from my mate first,” Mikhail countered.
Piper’s eyes softened when he said mate. He wanted to smile at her, to reassure her that everything would be okay, but he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted when facing another dragon. It could get them both killed.
Conrad slowly stepped away from Piper, but there was a dangerous glint in his eyes that Mikhail didn’t trust.
“There’s just one more thing.” Conrad removed a slender black case from his coat pocket. He opened it up while still holding the knife. Mikhail saw a syringe inside the case, filled with green liquid.
“What is that?” he asked.
Conrad set the case down and kicked it over to Mikhail. The case bumped the toe of his boot. “My insurance policy.”
“You want me to inject whatever this is into me? Do you think I’m a fool?”
Conrad sighed and lowered the long knife back to Piper’s neck. She winced as a tiny bit of blood dewed on the blade’s edge. Mikhail and his dragon both tensed. He curled his fingers into fists.
“This isn’t negotiable, and its effects are temporary. It subdues your dragon for a day or so. You won’t be able to transform. I need that time to secure the jewels. You might come after them once your mate is safe.”
“I wouldn’t,” Mikhail vowed.
The other dragon gave a hollow laugh. “Forgive me if I don’t blindly trust you. We are dragons, after all. So use it, and then we make the trade.”
Mikhail looked at the vial, then to Piper. She tried to say something, but he couldn’t understand the words. Conrad pushed the blade deeper, and she whimpered as another drop of blood trickled down the silver face of the blade.
“Time is running out, Barinov,” Conrad said.
Mikhail retrieved the case and then took off his jacket. He rolled up the sleeve of his sweater and pulled the syringe out of its straps. The case dropped to the ground.
He pressed the tip of the needle into his flesh and depressed the plunger. A burning began to flow through his limbs. He moaned, helpless as he fell to his knees. The dragon inside him seemed to flicker, and then suddenly it vanished. The gaping hole it left inside him was almost too much to bear. It was a familiar feeling, one that he’d felt once five hundred years before, only more intense.
“What…” he groaned. “This can’t be…” He struggled for words as he collapsed against the wooden beam closest to him, digging his fingers into the wood to stay on his feet.
“Feel familiar? You and I have both tasted its effects before.”
Mikhail looked to the man, remembering the day he’d been transferred to better quarters and the ragged person who had taken his place in his old cell. “You…”
That recognition made the man smile. He let the knife drop to his side and started walking around the room while his rival was immobilized. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited for a moment like this. Do you realize what a thorn in my side you’ve been? The very moment you landed on our shores to make your alliance with the Belishaws, you’ve been interfering with my plans. And now, five hundred years later, you’re doing it again, and just as oblivious to how you keep getting in my way.”
Mikhail remembered what Elizabeth had told him about this man and his schemes. “You wanted to destroy the Belishaws.”
“Destroy, exile, whatever. Only their removal was important. But I knew that Elizabeth would never listen to my words against them if she were mated to you. I had to remove you instead.”
“She didn’t listen to your words even after you removed me.”
The
man nodded. “A failure on my part. I should have waited another decade before moving against them. I underestimated your Elizabeth, and for that I paid the price. More than forty years bound in a dark cell barred with iron.”
Mikhail noted the length of time. “You were released the same time as I was?”
“A fortunate clerical error. I should have rotted in there for the next century, being fed the very potion I’d helped her magician John Dee create.” Conrad left Piper now and walked toward Mikhail. “Never thought I’d get a chance to use it on you again.”
He stopped in front of Mikhail, taking the keys to the car and dangling them in front of his face in victory. Then, with a slow grin, he swung a fist at Mikhail’s face and struck him to the ground.
17
It simply isn’t an adventure worth telling if there aren’t any dragons.
—J. R. R. Tolkien
PIPER SCREAMED as Mikhail grunted and fell back, but Conrad was not through with him, not by a long shot. Mikhail tried to fight back, but it was clear he had been weakened from whatever Conrad had put in the syringe. Blow after blow struck Mikhail, in the ribs, in the head, in the back, until he finally had no energy left to defend himself. Only then did Conrad finally stop. Piper was hoarse from screaming. Conrad pocketed the car keys and stared at Mikhail’s body, his face filled with loathing.
“It’s nothing personal, Barinov. Oh, who am I kidding? It’s become very personal. But it’s more than that. You became too human. Mating for love? Mating with a human? Didn’t you learn anything from Elizabeth? She played us both for fools, but unlike you, I learned my lesson. Humans are not meant to survive, not like us. And dragons who weaken our lines and destroy our race by settling for humans, don’t deserve to survive.”
Piper thrashed in her chair, finally getting the gag around her mouth loosened until it fell around her neck.
“You said you wouldn’t kill him!”
Conrad turned to her, and the chilling stillness in his eyes seemed almost dead. “I’m a politician—what did you expect?”
“Please, untie me,” she begged. “You have what you want—just let me go. Let me see if he’s okay.”
“I suppose it would be amusing to kill him while you watched.” Conrad ran a finger along the edge of his blade and then walked back to her, slicing the ropes on her wrist.
Piper rushed from the chair and fell to her knees by Mikhail, cradling his face and wiping blood from his mouth.
“I’m here,” she whispered, choking back a sob. “I’m here.”
She helped him get to his feet. He was unsteady and weak, leaning on her and a nearby wooden support beam that stretched from floor to ceiling.
She realized Conrad was watching them. There was a hatred building in his eyes as he stared at them. A hatred born of jealousy, perhaps? It replaced the deadness that had been there moments before.
“You truly love him,” Conrad said. His black eyes seemed to flash with fire.
Mikhail’s breathing was labored, and the sound sent violent shivers of fear through her. What if the drug didn’t wear off? What if he never got his dragon back? Would he die?
“I do,” she replied. “Not that you even know what that is, you monster. You got what you came for. Just leave us alone!”
“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. There can be no loose ends.” Conrad lunged and thrust his blade toward Mikhail’s chest. Only it never hit its mark.
Piper almost didn’t feel the blade sink into her stomach. She had hoped to wrestle the blade away, but he had been so fast…so fast. It had cut so smoothly that it left only a deep ache behind as Conrad pulled the blade out.
“No!” The roar she heard was human, but it carried all the force of the dragon Mikhail had once been. Clutching her stomach as she dropped to her knees, Piper watched in horror as Conrad rammed the blade into Mikhail’s side twice, then twisted the blade. Conrad stood, wiping the blade and putting it away as he dusted himself off.
“Now I’ve got what I came for.” Conrad’s words barely registered with Piper. Already the world was beginning to feel distant to her.
“You…bastard!” Mikhail snarled, clutching his side as blood oozed between his fingers.
We’re both…lost…
Piper fell to her side. Sounds started to become slightly muted, as though she had covered her ears. Mikhail dragged himself over, turning her head toward him. She glimpsed Conrad slipping out of the room, a cold smile on his lips and eyes black with evil.
“Mikhail, I can’t…can’t catch my breath,” she whispered. She felt weak, too weak. Her hands, still covering her abdomen, were warm and sticky.
“No, no…” Mikhail whispered as he cradled her in his arms. His face was etched with pain, but he didn’t let her go.
The world began to get hazy around the edges of her vision, but she could see his beautiful face soaked with tears. She used what strength she had left to lift a hand to cup his cheek.
“Don’t cry…please…” she begged. “I just wanted to…save you.”
“You did. More than you know. I was lost before you found me,” he rasped. “We were supposed to be together. You can’t leave me now. I love you.”
She brushed her fingertips over his lips, trying to imprint them upon her memory, how soft they felt. “We are together.” His dark lashes glinted with tears like diamonds. So beautiful, and for a short time he had been hers.
A chill crept along her limbs and a heaviness filled her chest, one that was slowly suffocating her. She wanted to remember him and take that memory with her into the next world.
She tried to catch pieces of memories, shattered shards of a life she could have had with him, but they were moving like leaves in a fall wind. She knew that wind, recognized it deep inside as the thing that would soon carry her away.
“Piper…” He pressed his forehead to hers, and a tear fell from his cheek onto her skin. “I never deserved you. You are a treasure beyond my reach.”
“Keep me warm,” she whispered, her hand dropping from his face. Her strength was fading now, and it took everything she had left just to breathe.
“I will.” His words broke as more tears fell.
“You belong…to me,” she said, mouthing the words.
He nodded. “My heart is yours. Will always be yours,” he promised. He kissed her. It was the last thing she would feel. The gentle burning kiss and the beat of her dragon’s heart. And then she felt herself slip away on the cold wind.
MIKHAIL FELT the moment her life slipped away. The last bit of breath in her body vanished, and the silence where her heartbeat should have been was deafening.
There was nothing there now. Nothing. Nothing at all.
He threw back his head and roared. The rafters of the small museum quaked around them as his dragon surged to the surface. It forced itself through the thick, deadening weight of whatever Conrad’s drug had done to it, but not even that could stop the dragon now. Mate-grief was too strong—love was too strong. Already his wounds were mending. Flames filled his vision as he vowed to destroy the man who had taken his love from him. It would be the last thing he would do before his broken heart killed him.
His mother’s voice seemed to whisper from all around him. Magic calls to magic.
Magic. He was in a museum full of magical artifacts. But he knew of no spells that could bring back the dead. You can’t be gone. You belong to me.
The memory of Piper’s voice teased his ears. Yes, I gave you my heart.
He stared down at Piper’s still form. A faint hue of red lingered in her cheeks, a hint of the life that had deserted her.
His mother’s voice seemed to fill his head, almost as though she were shouting. The heart of a dragon, which beats ruby red…
An image of the Dragon Heart Stone flashed across his eyes. He reached for his coat and pulled out the fist-size ruby and held it out. The light cast flickering shadows over the stone’s depths. There, in the shadows of the ruby, he saw what he must do
.
He laid the stone upon her breast, then lifted Piper’s blood-covered hands and pressed them to the surface of the gemstone. He closed his eyes and spoke words that did not come from his own mind, but somewhere beyond.
“I bind this soul to yours, this dragon to yours. By the gods which gave me breath, I return yours to you.” Then he leaned down and kissed his love’s lifeless lips.
Come back to me, little dove. Let me show you how to fly.
A spark leaped between their lips, and he pulled back in shock. Piper’s body was glowing. The Dragon Heart Stone gleamed, a bright light shining like a flame in the depths of the heart of the gem. Then the stone shattered into a thousand glittering red shards before those shards turned to dust. The stone was gone.
Heat rolled off Piper’s body. Her temperature rose higher than that of a human’s. He reacted instinctively because he knew what that heat meant. He scooped his mate up and ran from the museum out into the deserted streets. Conrad was in the car with the jewels and was already driving away. Mikhail placed Piper on the ground in the small square, and then he stumbled back. Her clothes tore at the seams as her body transformed.
A white dragon, pale as the first snow of winter, now lay hunched on the ground, its tail curled protectively around its body. It was new to this world, new to existing as a dragon within a human body. Its soul had slept for untold millennia inside the stone, waiting for a home.
Mikhail held up a hand and brushed his palm down her nose, smiling as the female dragon huffed softly. Her eyes were like quicksilver as she gazed at him. The wild beast gentled at his touch because she recognized her mate. She nudged his chest with her snout. Fine-boned, yet strong. She was exquisite. His dragon rumbled in pleasure.
“My beauty,” he said, and meant it. She was glorious, and she was his. His heart swelled with an intensity he’d never thought possible. There was no desperation, no fear that this would end because she was human. Piper was one of his kind now.