Ladon grinned again. “You have bestie duties, do you not?”
Bestie duties? Not once before had Gavin heard Ladon use that word without some level of irony or at least irritation. But this time, he sounded serious.
Maybe the ghost was still here. Maybe he was a ghost Gavin couldn’t see. “Well, yes. You have groom duties. We can’t be running off and—”
“I do not run off.” Ladon walked away, toward a large arch Gavin assumed must be the entrance to the apartment he shared with Rysa.
“No,” Gavin said. “No, you do not.”
Ladon did not abandon. Ladon saved everyone and anyone who needed saving. It’s what he and his beast did, and Gavin suspected it’s what they’d been doing for twenty-three centuries.
Gavin nodded toward the arch. “Go cuddle with your fiancé.”
Ladon grinned again, and again his expression did not look quite right. “Check the coop on your way to the kitchen.” He tossed the towel in a bin next to the wall as he walked toward the arch. “Daisy might appreciate an omelet made with fresh eggs.”
Dragon walked by. We are fine, he signed.
His hide said it, too. I am fine. We are fine. This is normal. This is our lives.
And that, Gavin thought, might just be the problem.
Chapter Thirty-Five
A fire-like, phantom glow danced along the edge of the Dragon’s Rock and mimicked the sun as it set behind the western mountains. Anna drew her hood tighter. It wouldn’t be long before Dmitri’s helicopter landed.
The fabric illuminates, Dragon pushed into Anna’s head. Her beast fiddled, sweeping prints from the snow along the path to the cave’s entrance. She maintained her own half-hearted mimic of the snow and sunset—enough patterns and colors moved along her hide that anyone within one hundred feet would see her—but from a distance, she would look like another wind-swept pile of boulders.
Derek rubbed his hands together. He’d traded his Stetson for his coat’s hood, but he still hopped from one foot to the other to keep warm. “Damned copters are loud enough to scare away every buck and doe on this side of the mountain.” He frowned and stomped again.
The copters were loud, and their choppy sounds echoed in the valleys.
Her beast was correct; helicopters were not a pleasant ride. Anna, too, preferred the comfort of the vans.
I miss the RV, Dragon pushed.
Derek rubbed the beast’s snout. “A couple more weeks and we will pick up the new one.”
Good. Dragon rocked and dropped her head low.
The sun glinted off the twin rotors of the big copter—the pilot of the one they rode home in liked his toy and had explained in full detail the specifics of his prototype Praesagio Industries Research and Defense-built warbird.
Anna hadn’t admitted it at the time, but she was impressed. The pilot and his brother had flown the copters through the Rockies during a blizzard and landed them on Cheyenne city streets—all on Dmitri’s orders.
“My cousin is a good man.” Derek pointed at the approaching copter. “But I will make him roll up that damned glowing tape and take it home with him if it is the last thing I do.”
Anna squeezed his fingers. It was nice to be surrounded by so many competent Seconds, even if Andreas’s death did open a hole no one could fill. Yet both her husband and his cousin seemed determined to try.
Derek was one of the strongest men she had ever met; he had been when she first saw him decades ago and he continued to be to this moment. A weak man would not have survived Vivicus’s attacks. A weak man would not have held Brother-Dragon.
But his eyes had not returned to their true Romanov color. They continued to carry streaks of the same metallic tones as her irises, and as Brother’s as well. So she worried.
“I am fine.” Derek nodded toward the approaching copter. “Rysa healed my wound.” He held up his arm.
“Not completely.” He was very difficult to heal, now.
“It is stitched. I no longer bleed.” He shrugged. “I feel good.” He smiled and bounced on the balls of his feet in much the same way as Rysa. “Not having my head full of dragon chatter has left me with a strong sense of relief.”
Is he lying? she pushed to Dragon.
Her beast made a point of sniffing Derek’s face. Do you lie, Human’s Mate?
Derek laughed. “Why would I lie? There is no point. You sniff and dragon-look and reveal all.”
She nudged his shoulder. Daisy sniffs. I perceive. She snorted.
“Yes, yes.” He rubbed his gloved hand over her snout again. “Which is one of the many reasons I love you, dearest heart.”
Anna could not help her grin. What would she and her beast do without him? Life would be barren and boring. He did have a knack for adding the correct perspective to a moment.
They all ducked as the copter lowered toward the surface of the Dragon’s Rock. She was about to once again allow Mira Torres into her home, but this time, the Fate came with one of the world’s best and most talented healers, and under Dmitri’s watchful eye.
Derek leaned close. “Be happy they did not bring the other one.”
She’d made a point of asking Dmitri about Ismene, Mira’s Burnerized sister. He’d assured her that the past- and future-seer of the Jani Prime was “well cared for” in a “special location” near Portland. Anna had taken that to mean Praesagio’s security and medical personnel never let the only Burnerized Fate on Earth out of their collective sights, which was just fine with her. Having Mira here was bad enough; Ismene would be too much, especially considering the physical horrors they’d all just gone through.
And the emotional. She had not yet fully digested Adrestia’s words other than to conclude that the Fate had not been herself. And now Anna wondered about other ghosts.
Derek kissed her temple. “You do worry too much,” he whispered.
She shot him a surprised look. Are you hearing me as well, husband? she pushed.
He made no indication that he’d heard her. He only grinned his handsome grin and winked. “Your expressions are easy to read, love.”
Only for you, Human’s Mate. Dragon stiffened and placed her body between them and the now-landed copter. Which is why you must never leave.
Dragon! Anna pushed. Ever since Vivicus kidnapped Derek from the hospital in Rock Springs, her beast had been acting possessive. Derek had dealt with it well, saying it was all part of Dragon processing her embarrassment about how she’d acted after Rysa activated, but comments such as her “never leave” surprised even Anna.
Derek opened and closed his mouth.
The beast’s hide reflected her version of a frown. I do not want you to leave, she pushed. You will be safe.
“I am not leaving,” he said. “Why would you think such a thing? We must talk of this, yes? So that you feel better?”
She nuzzled his side. Yes. A pang of regret washed through the energy the beast shared with Anna.
“Perhaps we should ask Daisy to help?” Derek rubbed her crest. “She is able to heal your brother. She might be able to help you.”
Yes, the beast pushed. I am sorry.
He glanced at Anna. His face continued to register his surprise, but like any good father, he looked at Dragon’s outburst as a moment to help and teach, not as a moment to fear.
“We will talk later.” He hugged Dragon’s neck. “Have you felt this way before? With other men?”
Just the good ones, Anna thought.
He turned toward Anna, so his back was to the copter. Is this about me connecting to her brother? he signed.
She would have responded, but Dmitri unfolded his tall and lean frame from the copter’s interior.
“Cousin!” he shouted, but he frowned when he threw open his arms. “Let us forget the trespasses of psychopaths and celebrate in true dragon form.”
Derek shook his head. They all knew Dmitri would be spending more of his time in the tunnel where he could get a cell signal than in the cave proper, even though
this was his first time inside. He had an empire to run, and a rogue to put down.
Dr. Torres also unfolded from the interior, then held out his hand to his wife. Mira Torres’s beautiful face and lovely body appeared next, all wrapped in a Praesagio coat and with a big, furry hat on her head.
Dragon extended herself upward and offered each visitor a lift down.
Dmitri smoothed his coat. “I left specific orders for a ladder.” He did not look pleased.
Derek shrugged. “Ladon judged such extras as not wise.”
Dmitri clasped his cousin’s shoulder, but shook his head. “We are not to argue with the groom, I assume?”
“Please do not antagonize.”
Dmitri chuckled. “These days, I find antagonizing Trajan to be entertainment enough.”
“AnnaBelinda!” Mira Torres felt she needed to address Anna, and the Fate quickly moved closer once Dragon set her on the path. “How are you?”
They’d had their talks during the weeks Anna and Derek had spent in Portland. “As well as expected,” Anna said.
Mira nodded once. “Sandro brings equipment. You’ll remember most of it from the labs.” She leaned close. “He is ecstatic that the dragons wish to learn medicine. He says he’s going to develop specific coursework for them, hence the equipment.”
Dragon bounded over. He is? she signed. Brother will be happy. She hopped from one foot to the other. I am also happy.
“I didn’t quite catch that,” Mira said.
“Merry Christmas, Great Lady!” Sandro said as he backslapped Derek. “I will look at your wounds as soon as we are inside, Tsar.”
“She says thank you.” Anna pointed their guests toward the cave. “Come. The young people sleep.”
Dragon helped the men unload, so that the pilot could return to the relative warmth of the Rock Springs airport. Anna, carrying a case full of the promised equipment, followed her beast toward their home’s entrance.
“Anna.” Mira motioned toward the cave entrance with her duffle. “I did not know Adrestia would leave. Neither did Ismene. Of this I swear.”
“Adrestia is the least of our problems right now, Mira.” The pull of her beast made her start walking again.
“True.” The brilliant, clear music of Mira’s present-seer rang through the entrance chamber. Her eyes unfocused.
Mira of the Jani Prime set her bag by her feet. “My seer tells me to say three words to you, Dracas-Human. I am not a past-seer. I do not know why. But I do know when to trust my abilities.”
Anna waited. What other option did she have? Her husband would facilitate the healing of her dragon. Mira’s husband would take care of all physical wounds, and many of the mental. Dmitri’s people would figure out how to make sure Aiden Blake never returned. Their lives would continue as they always had, moving from one battle to the next. It was the dance she lived.
If the child in her belly did not quicken, she would move beyond that battle as well. If Derek left, she might lose a war, but she would get out of bed the next day, because that’s what she did.
Mira reached out her hand. “Addy was right.”
Anna shuddered, but she shut it off right there, right then. Now was not about her and her issues. Now was about healing the village.
She turned her back to the Fate and walked through the vault door, into the one place on Earth she found peace.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Rysa dreamed of the Dragon’s Rock, and the too red, too old sun, and the wiggling, ankle-biting shades. A misty fairy light drifted upward through the shades along the edges of the plateau. It dissipated the higher it rose, and vanished into the burning sun above.
Vanished like Dragon, her past-seer whispered.
“Because you will all go invisible when the world burns.” He was there, right there, inches from her nose, Aiden Blake, the psycho, the murderer. The rapist. Right next to her, so close his heat and his breath touched her dream skin. “All I did was to lead the way. I marked the path.”
He pointed at the fairy light delineating the edge of the Dragon’s Rock. “It’s up to you to follow.”
“When?” she asked. The least the dream could do was tell her when the world would burn. No one seemed to know in the waking world, so why not ask the psycho killer haunting her dream? Seemed reasonable.
“Right now.” One side of his nose pulled upward and his eyebrows pulled together. “Can’t you see my brilliance? I’m the best Fate. The best.”
She should probably be terrified of him, but she was on the Dragon’s Rock, which meant there were dragons nearby. And she had her dark Fate’s blade. He might be evil, but she had cookies.
“Why do you look like Marcus?” He was Timothy’s son, not Marcus’s, or Daniel’s. Ladon told her the story while they snuggled together in their bed, their dragon with them, her man calm and at least a little happy. He’d stroked her back with his generous fingers and she’d been calm and at least a little happy, too.
The story wasn’t calm. Or happy. The Children of the Burning World had been conceived during a festival of fire and glory, a revel of the old gods in the Irish highlands, during a time and an excuse to be someone other than who you were. The point was to awaken renewed.
Timothy admitted to his transgressions. Their mother had been a Fate also, a woman of modest power. She’d been burned as a witch.
The children’s future had always been murky; Daniel suspected interference by Fates of great power. Perhaps the Ulpi. Perhaps Janus himself—the children did feel themselves chosen.
The Aiden Blake inches from Rysa’s dream nose stood perfectly still. He breathed, but he did not blink. He spoke, but his lips did not move. “I look like Daniel,” he said, “because past, present, and future participated in the festival of my conception.”
Well, she thought, that is certainly unexpected. And sort of explained the three brothers’ reluctance to deal with Aiden and his sisters. One did not celebrate the idea of killing one’s own children.
The dream Aiden stood so close he could kiss her. He yawned the way a kid trying to get an adult’s attention yawned. “I am the last of my triad.” He pouted and moved to stretch his neck and to rub his sore, Parcae-sickness-infested muscles. “I am new now. The new don’t get the sickness.” So there, his expression said.
“What are you? Twelve?” she asked. Little boy, her dark Fate thought. No wonder he tried to mindfuck us. She pulled out her dark Fate’s blade and picked at her fingernails with its tip.
Dream Aiden pointed at her hand. “Where’d you get that?” I want it, his face said.
“I’m glad you decided you like men,” her dark Fate said. “Boys are so very annoying.”
“You little bitch,” Aiden snarled. “You’re all little bitches.”
“Well, well, aren’t we a textbook case.” Her dark Fate did seem to enjoy egging on the dream psycho killer.
The shades nipping at their ankles rose up. Tentacles curled around Aiden Blake’s torso, his arms, his neck. He stiffened, his eyes wide, and he pointed at Rysa. “Are you doing this?”
“Doing what?” If he was as new as he claimed, then he should have already spent time here, on the Rock, under a dying star. If any of her dreams showed the truth, it was this one, in this place. He should understand what the shades are, and what they meant.
Because it was obvious.
“That’s the fog infesting the what-was-is-will-be.” The wiggly, blood-leeching, ankle-nipping nastiness that had been dogging Rysa her entire life. The doubts. The pain. The past, present, and future. The shades harassed everyone who found themselves here. Daniel, when he came to Rysa after Aiden shot Andreas. Ladon every single time he closed his eyes. Anna, too, Rysa suspected, because Anna had swirling shades of her own infecting her mind.
Rysa knew it. Derek knew it. Ladon had gotten so used to his sister’s problems he couldn’t see them anymore. Sister-Dragon acted them out with every huff and pout.
Maybe the shades would do something p
roductive for once. Maybe they’d swallow Aiden Blake whole and that would be the end of him and he’d go away forever. Maybe this once, they’d catch a break.
“Where’s the Legion?” she asked. The fairy light around the edge of the Rock shimmered. The Legion put it there, so they’d know where to land their ships. So why weren’t they here?
She wasn’t the only surviving member of the Dragons’ Legion. Not by a long shot.
Aiden Blake coughed. His eyes glazed over.
He sunk below the tide of the what-was-is-will-be.
Rysa’s dark Fate slipped her blade away. Behind her—behind Rysa—the too big, too cold sun shifted in the sky. Velocity took over and Rysa felt the same change of cardinal direction, of orientation in space and time, that Gavin described with his new hearing aids. That Derek had also described when Fina Blake stabbed him with the shard of glass.
The red sun no longer roared. It looked smaller. Farther away, as if the Dragon’s Rock had broken orbit.
… test one in six… five… four… thrrrrreeeeee…
Her dark Fate looked up at the vanishing red sun. “Won’t be long now,” she said.
Rysa watched the vanishing Aiden Blake. “What?” Why was her personified rampage watching a disappearing star and not the disappearance of a villain? What if this meant something? What if Aiden escaped in real life because she didn’t pay attention to the correct part of the dream?
Her dark Fate stretched her back, but unlike Aiden, this part of Rysa did not move to intimidate. This part moved to ready herself for a fight.
Her dark Fate wrapped up every ribbon of rage about her ADHD, every vibrating thread of social anxiety, every single shining self-doubt, and twisted them into a blade. She took the energy of Rysa’s hyperactivity and manifested it as something physical.
Because she was new.
Rysa’s talking rampage continued to watch the receding cold, old sun. “The Legion is coming,” she said. “Be ready.”
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