"And I killed her for her actions against you," Xyn said. "Everything you were told, Blaise, was a lie concocted by Morgen to hurt you. You were still wet from cracking open your egg when I took you to Emrys to raise. The only truth you knew was that your father was the leader of the mandrakes."
He'd just assumed it was the mandrake before Maddor, because only a tiny handful of fey knew Maddor was the first of their breed.
Another lie Morgen had kept so that no one would know she was related to their race.
Maddor growled at Xyn. "You should have told me about him!"
"I was planning to once I knew he was safe, but Morgen caught wind of my intentions and trapped me here before I had the chance."
With a fierce roar, Maddor started for Xyn, only to be stopped by some unseen force.
"You can't harm her," Brogan reminded him. "I haven't given you her name."
"I hate all of you!" he roared.
Falcyn flinched as Medea moved to stand next to him so that she could offer him comfort. But the guilt he felt over his son didn't last long. It gave way to a profound fury while he raked his gaze over Maddor's former dragon body and then his new one as the Black Crom. "How dare you! Feel free to hate me all you want. I deserve it. Blaise, however, has never done anything to deserve your animosity for him. He's your son. One you've treated like hell and mocked over the centuries for no reason whatsoever. You owe him an apology."
Maddor scoffed at Falcyn. "You're daring to lecture me on parenthood? Seriously?"
"Yeah, and I'll bust your ass, boy! Don't ever think I can't take you in a fight. I promise you, I've eaten much tougher hides than yours and used their scales for shoes. If you want to act like a child, then I'll treat you like one."
The real Crom made a noise deep inside the dragon's body.
Falcyn turned toward him at the sound, curious as to what was causing it. "What's going on, Brogan? He about to spew?"
She shook her head. "It's the strife between the two of you. It feeds him. Makes him--"
The Crom broke free and stood up.
"Stronger," she finished with a squeak.
Blaise took her hand and pulled her behind him. "What's he doing now?"
"Not sure." Falcyn put his hand out to stop Medea from engaging the beast as she moved in for an attack.
Because the Crom wasn't the only dragon rising.
All of them were, and he wasn't sure what that signified. But with their luck, it wasn't a good thing.
"Maddor?" Falcyn glanced to his son. "You want to return to your real body?"
His whip sizzled as he turned a slow circle to survey the number of original dragons who were now a little more than just plain pissed off. And since they had no other target, they were circling the only enemy they found in the room.
Them.
The whole group. And that included their mandrake leader that they couldn't identify as a dragon since he was in the Crom's body and had no head.
"Yeah, I think I do."
Falcyn couldn't blame him there. Judging by the mood of the newly animated dragons, anything not one of their scaly clan was about to get eaten.
Summoning his powers, Falcyn felt his hands heating up as he began the process of reversing what he'd done to change out Maddor's soul.
Lombrey rose up in an effort to block the dragons, but they passed right through his noncorporeal form.
Urian rolled his eyes. "Good to be a shadow, huh? Makes me wish I was one." He drew a sword and prepared to attack.
And just as Falcyn began the incantation, a bright light flashed near them. It was intense and searing. So much so that it temporarily blinded him.
Until his sight cleared enough to see the last creature he'd have ever expected to appear in their midst.
Simi Parthenopaeus.
Dressed in a short purple skirt, black-and-red-striped leggings, and a matching corset, she was the Dark-Hunter Acheron's ... something. No one was quite sure what, and Acheron was never big on giving details, on Simi or anything else.
She drew up short as she surveyed everyone around her. Her red horns sprouted on top of her head as a tail came out from underneath her short skirt. A set of leathery bat wings sprang out, letting him know the Charonte Goth demon was ready to battle. Otherwise, her wings would have been of soft black and red feathers.
Urian's eyes widened. "Simi? What are you doing here?"
"Akri done told the Simi that you'd be acting all weird and funky lately, and that the Simi should be keeping her eyeball on you, Akri-Uri. So ... your heart rate picked up during my commercial break. Since I knew you wouldn't be with no heifer cow-like redheaded goddess creature doing things that make the Simi go blind, I thought you be troubled. So then I thought, Simi, you best be checking on that old ex-Daimon to make sure he okay and not about to get et by something not friendly."
She scowled as she put her finger to her cheek to consider her words. "No, that be wrong. Be in trouble." She grinned widely, flashing her fangs. "You in trouble, Akri-Uri? Can the Simi eat your troubles? 'Cause I don't think these dragonlies be on the Simi no-eat list. Pretty sure Akri won't mind if the Simi eats them up." She bit her lip with a childish enthusiasm that almost made Falcyn smile. Especially as she reached into her coffin backpack and pulled out a bib and a bottle of barbecue sauce to prepare for her meal.
The moment she did, the dragons actually stood down. Some even gulped audibly.
And that made Maddor nervous as hell. "What's going on?"
Xyn laughed. "No one is dumb enough to tangle with a hungry Charonte. Don't you know?"
Simi gasped. "Say it no so! The Simi so-o-o-o-o hungry! It been a whole twenty minutes since the Simi ets her last diamond...." She pouted as she turned around, looking for a meal.
As she stepped forward, the dragons stepped back.
"Yeah!" Urian blustered at them. "That's right! I've got a Charonte here and I'm not afraid to unleash her. Hah!"
A dragon sneezed beside him, blowing out fire that came a little too close to Urian.
Urian dashed to Simi's side, putting her between them. "Are you fireproof, Sim?"
"Bomb proof, too." She belched and shot out a stream of fire that caused several dragons to scramble for cover. "See!"
"Ah, you bunch of hatchlings." With his hands on his hips, Falcyn finished putting Maddor back into his body.
The moment the Crom was himself again, he picked up his whip and went straight to Brogan.
They all tensed in expectation of what he intended to do with her, especially Blaise.
Brogan held her hand up to let them know that it was all right. After a few seconds, she nodded. "Peace to you, Crom."
With a curt jerk of his coat, he flashed himself onto the back of his horse and vanished.
"What did he say?" Blaise asked.
She smiled warmly. "That he never wants to be a dragon again. You can keep your smelly old body."
Blaise snorted. "Can't blame him there."
Her eyes twinkling, she took his hand. "And he said he'd see about my list that I gave him. I'd hate to be Morgen right now."
"Not too sure I want to be us." Medea glanced around at the restless dragons, who were still eyeballing them a little too closely for her happiness.
Xyn held her hands out in an arc. "How long have we slept?"
"Centuries," Blaise and Falcyn said simultaneously.
An unhappy murmur ran through them.
"Simi eat them now since they all grumbly?" Her wings twitched with expectation.
The dragons quieted immediately.
Medea laughed. "Nice to know you don't just scare Daimons, Simi."
Simi pressed her finger to her lips and cocked her head to an adorable expression. Yeah, that made no sense to Falcyn. How could such a lethal creature be so uncommonly charming? The dichotomy of the Goth demon had never failed to amaze or surprise him.
She scowled, then smiled at Medea. "The Simi knows you! I's seens you lots and lots. You're the evil pri
"She's also my sister."
Simi gasped at Urian's words. Then caught herself. "Oh yeah. I should have ... but wait. Your daddy is fake-akri." She pressed her hands to her eyebrows. "The Simi is so confuseled!"
Urian laughed. "So am I most days."
Sobering, he gently pulled one of her hands down until she opened her eyes to look at him. "It's just like your daddy, Simi. I was taken out of my mother's womb before I was born and put into the belly of another. So the Apollite who birthed me wasn't really my mother. And Stryker wasn't really my father. Styxx is my father and Bethany is my real mom."
"Ah! Like Simi you're adaptable!"
Urian's grin widened. "Yeah."
"Wait..." Brandor scowled. "Does she mean adopted?"
"No, silly!" Arms akimbo, Simi rolled her eyes. "Even though we both were adopted, the Simi meant adaptable, 'cause Akri-Uri had to libs with people not his people. He not really a Daimon, he a demigod. Which is better. Sometimes, anyway." She tsked as she looked back at Urian. "I'm sorry, Akri-Uri. That why you have sadness besides Phoebe-sadness?"
His eyes darkened. "No, Sim. Mostly I just have Phoebe sadness."
She held her barbecue sauce out toward him. "Wanna eat a dragon? Make you feel all better. Give you warm and fuzzies in the belly."
And that succeeded in driving the dragons toward the shadows and Lombrey into a fit.
"No! No! No! You're not to hide in my domain! Get out, mangy beasts!"
Brandor cleared his throat to disguise his laughter. "You know, with all this noise, Morgen is bound to realize what's happened. We might want to think about getting out of here before she sends something or someone to investigate."
Falcyn nodded to his sister. "Granted, she should be a little preoccupied with the Crom after her, you still should take them to my island. Just to be safe."
She arched a brow at his order. "All of them? You really plan to tolerate us in your personal space?"
He tried not to be agitated at the thought of that many encroaching on his territory, but ... "It'll be the safest place for them."
Xyn kissed his cheek. "Love you."
Falcyn tried not to let those words weaken him. But they always did. Only his sister had ever said that to him, and meant it. "You, too."
She scoffed at his response. "I live for the day, Veles, when you can say that word without choking on it." And with that, she gathered the dragons and left.
All except Maddor.
"Aren't you joining them?"
"How can I?" His tone was as bitter as the light in his eyes. "I'm bound to Morgen. As are all mandrakes. Thanks to you. Bastard."
Falcyn cursed himself for not remembering that. "I should have left you in the Crom's body."
"I didn't want to be there." There was no missing the fury in his voice.
"Maddor--"
He brushed past Falcyn. "Don't say anything. There's nothing left between us." His eyes betrayed his torment as he neared Blaise. "I should never have tried to kill you. That was wrong of me. Had I known you were mine then, I would have protected you." With those whispered words, he vanished.
"What kind of apology was that?" Falcyn wanted to beat his son. Yet he couldn't blame him. Not really. It was his own ass, and Max's, he wanted to thrash most.
Blaise sighed. "For Maddor, it was major. Believe me. That's as close to an apology as I've ever heard him come." He swallowed hard. "I can't believe you've kept this secret for so long. Damn."
"It was never easy." Falcyn braced himself as he asked the question he couldn't avoid. "On a scale of one to ten, how mad are you?"
"I don't know.... Eighty."
Falcyn winced.
"But strangely, not at you."
That shocked him. "How can you not be mad at me?"
"Don't know. I want to be. I feel that I should be, but then I remember all the times you've been there, and ... I still want to kick your ass."
Falcyn snorted. "I am sorry."
Simi pursed her lips. "Don't be so sad, dragon people." Her wings rippled, then feathered as she walked over to Blaise to hug him.
Needing comfort, Falcyn slid his hand into his pocket where he kept his dragonstone.
His heart stopped as he realized that Maddor hadn't left empty-handed.
"What is it?" Medea asked.
"That bastard.... Maddor stole my dragonstone!"
17
Alone in his room, Maddor opened his hand to study his father's dragonstone.
His father.
That knowledge pierced him like a lightning bolt. He still wasn't sure how to handle it. All this time, he'd thought himself abandoned. Unloved. Had imagined a total bastard who'd screwed his mother and then left him to die.
Then Morgen had concocted a much more sinister tale of a bastard who'd rejected him, then killed his mother. In his mind, his unknown father had taken on an even more horrific persona.
Now he knew the face of the dragon who'd created him.
And a whole different story. One he'd never dared dream existed.
Not a bastard after all, if Falcyn's lies were to be believed.
Part of him didn't care. None of it mattered, and most likely every word out of his mouth had been a lie.
Either way, it damn sure didn't change his past.
Yet ...
I have a father who's alive.
And a son.
He tried to get a handle on the moment, but none would come. Worse was the knowledge that he held a vital part of his father in his hand. A vital part of the world itself.
With this, he could destroy him.
Much like Excalibur, the dragonstone was able to take life and to give it. The power of it emanated and vibrated through his hand. Through his whole body.
This was rare, primal power. The kind that could take out Morgen and the whole of her Circle.
Forever.
With this, he could rule not only Camelot and Avalon, but the entire world.
All worlds.
And it was now under his control alone. I could rule everything and everyone.
"What you doing, dragon-man?"
He jumped at the singsongy accent of the Charonte demon he thought he'd left behind with his father. How the hell had she gotten into his room?
"Who let you in here?"
Shrugging, she approached him as if he were nothing to be concerned about. A foolish thing, since ...
Well, he couldn't really kill her. He wasn't sure what, if anything, could kill her species. Those damned things were terribly hearty.
"Don't nobody be telling the Simi no excepting for her akri, and you not Akri. You cute like Akri, but only Akri is Akri. No other exceptions are accepted by the Simi. Excepting for Akri-Styxx and then only sometimes ... and maybe Akri-Bas. And sometimes Akra-Kat and Akri-Lexie."
"You shouldn't be here."
"Then gimme what you took and the Simi will leave." She held her arm out with her palm open and tilted toward him in a very childlike gesture.
She was so honest and trusting. He couldn't imagine ever being like that. His life had never leant itself to such.
Part of him was angered by it. Another, curious.
But he wasn't dumb enough to act out against her. His survival instincts kept his temper in check and he decided the best course of action was to feign ignorance with her. "Don't know what you're talking about."
She wagged her finger. "Yes, you do. 'Course you do. Now be a good boy dragon." She pointed at the stone. "Akri-Falcyn is all upset 'cause you tookted his toy. He say he needs it and so I'm here to get it. 'Cause the Simi don't want him sad. Didn't anyone ever tell you not to steal? You don't take what don't belong to you! Now gibs it over."
"What about my childhood he stole?"
Simi tsked. "Don't be blaming others for you bad acts. Or trying to justify thievingness when it wrong, no matter how you slice and dice it. No need to even try for julienne fries. Or waffle cones neither. You know you didn't make the stone 'cause you not a woman demon and you know you tooked it from your daddy's pocket. Now gives it!"
"Or what?"
Pursing her lips, she cocked her hip and rested her hands on her narrow waist. "You really want to go there? 'Cause the Simi could use some barbecue. And dragon meat is most yummy. Just saying."
Maddor started to tell her where to shove the stone and to continue denying that he had it. But the moment he opened his mouth to speak, the full pain of it all hit him like a physical blow.
All the years of his brutal childhood and his humiliating subservience to Morgen. All the times he'd wanted a kind hand to touch him. Someone to tell him he wasn't what they said.
Now ...
Overwhelmed, he choked on a sob.
Simi let out an anguished noise. "Oh no, Mr. Dragon Human. Did the Simi break you?"
Yes, but it was only his heart that was shattered as memory after memory tore through him. Even though he lived the majority of his life as a man, he'd never been treated as a human. Only an animal Morgen was afraid would piss her rug and chew on her favorite shoes.
Even now, he could see himself in the cage where they kept him. Hear the mocking laughter that was never far from the surface of his pain.
King of the mandrakes you might be, but never forget who holds your leash, boy! The hand that feeds you can quickly become the hand that ends you.
Maddor winced at the images that took turns assaulting him without mercy. He hated life. He always had. Every fucking heartbeat was nothing more than another chance for someone else to tell him how worthless he was. How much they hated him.
And his father thought a simple apology could rectify that. Yeah, right ...
With a stricken expression, Simi sidled up to him. "Don't be so sad, dragon-man. It okay. You see! Just 'cause you're mad at your daddy don't make him a mean, nasty dragon. Even the Simi can tell that he lubs you. You should talk to him."
"You don't understand."
"No, I don't. I get the mad. I get the sad. But when you have a choice of someone willing to love you and being all by your lonesome, seems to the Simi that being loved is always better than being alone. My akri even forgibbed Akri-Styxx and Akri-Styxx forgibbed my akri. Akri-Styxx forgibbed me for killing him. If they could learn to be friends and to forgive, I know you can, too. After all, your daddy didn't kill you."
That was true, he supposed. "You make it sound easy."
"It is." She reached up to cup his chin and squeeze his cheeks. "I'm sorry. It okay. Didn't mean to be a douchy. See? Easy, peasy with extra cheesy."
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