Where Sleeping Dragons Lie (Skeleton Key)

by Cristina Rayne

  She was more relieved than she cared to admit to herself that Taron showed no desire to abandon her at all now that she had fulfilled her role. She wondered what the other dragon-shifters thought of her, especially when they could probably smell her Ansi heritage. Would that make them suspicious of her intentions? Her loyalties?

  Her eyes slanted briefly over to the door that was now closed. She wondered if Cabak realized that Taron had made it back home. What was the huge bastard doing now? More importantly, who was the witch that had sent the stone dragon to her world, and was that witch also hiding within Briana’s world, waiting for Cabak to succeed in capturing Taron or building a portal back to this world even as she sat watching the dragon king?

  Briana felt an invisible hand squeeze her heart painfully when she thought about Carol. Her friend must be frantic with worry. She had likely called the police. If only she would’ve had the chance to let the older woman know that she was okay, that Taron had saved her life by stealing her away from the shop.

  Just what kind of hornet’s nest would an investigation into a wealthy foreigner like Taron Hildebrand knock over, especially when they find that the man, himself, had also seemingly vanished off the face of the earth? What if she never managed to find her way home, skeleton key or no skeleton key? Carol would likely go to her grave thinking Briana had been murdered by Taron. And Mr. Brown? What had become of him?

  By the time Taron returned to her side, Briana had worked her emotions up into an anxious knot.

  “It’s just as you said,” Taron said as he sat down on the bed next to her. “About two years ago, the Ansi abandoned the stone dragons and barricaded themselves behind a magical shield cast around a single town near the royal palace. The stone dragons were just beginning to gain ground against the firedrakes protecting this tower when they were abandoned without warning or explanation both here and at the siege of the royal palace. The fact that neither this tower nor the royal palace has fallen under the control of the stone dragons is great news. I have always feared that I would return to a world that I no longer recognized.”

  “Two years ago—that’s when you said Cabak first appeared in my world,” Briana said.

  Taron grimaced. “Yes, a coincidence that can’t be ignored, and a cause for great concern. The flare of magic that brought us here wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by the Ansi. A hole was opened in the fabric of this world by the power of the skeleton key. They would recognize the magic’s—flavor, for lack of a better word, and very likely guess that the true king will soon awaken from his Soul Sleep.”

  “Then, the Ansi really are after the Dragon Throne, too,” Briana cut in, feeling her mouth go dry at the thought of the type of offensive power a group of people who had the unfathomable knowledge to open portals between worlds might wield, “after your brother’s body.”

  “Yes. The same laws dealing with a succession of the throne the stone dragons have been trying to exploit apply to the Ansi, as well. The ancient protection spells the Ansi of old placed on this tower have so far managed to keep the current Ansi from breaching them even with a portal, but according to Captain Rizall, ever since the Ansi defected from the stone dragon’s side, they’ve redoubled their efforts in breaching the barrier. Several weaknesses have already been detected and no way to patch them. We can’t risk waiting for Dagon to awaken here. We’ll have to smuggle him out right under everyone’s noses, somehow.”

  He lowered his gaze down to her pocket. His expression was suddenly unreadable.

  “We also absolutely cannot allow the Ansi to learn of the existence of the skeleton key. It’s a magical item from another world that has no business wreaking havoc in this world. Thus, we must remove it from the equation, entirely.”

  Briana sucked in a sharp breath. “You mean, try to use it on this room’s door to open the way back to my world. What if Cabak destroyed the door on the other end or transformed back into his human form and is picking through the rubble as we speak? Plus, I might only have one shot at this to go back home. It might be safer for me to try it on a different door.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a few of the royal guardsmen stiffen when she mentioned Cabak and realized that even though they likely couldn’t understand English, they were still listening very carefully to her conversation with their prince and would recognize the stone dragon’s name.

  Taron frowned. “You’re right, and consulting Beatrice’s book is out of the question as it’s currently either under a pile of rocks and debris or in Cabak’s hands.”

  The last was said with a scowl of disgust, and Briana seconded the feeling. Whether she made it back home or not, it seemed most of Beatrice Hildebrand’s story would forever remain a mystery. The thought made her want to punch something.

  Still frowning, Taron turned and asked Captain Rizall a question. Nodding at the other’s short answer, he said, “Only my brother currently sleeps within the tower. We can go to the chamber one floor down and try that door.”

  Briana’s heart sped up. Would that work? If she used a different door, would she end up somewhere familiar, or like Taron, in a stranger’s house in some remote corner of the globe like Iceland or Tasmania? She swallowed nervously. If she wanted to go home, then she had to try the key at some point. Waiting was just stupid.

  She stared into Taron’s sunset-colored eyes. Had it really only been a few hours ago that she had found them unnerving? Now she just thought them beautiful. She felt her chest tighten at the thought of never seeing this incredible man, this dragon-shifter, ever again.

  Smiling to keep her sudden turmoil from showing, Briana nodded. “Okay. Let’s try it.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The fact that Taron chose to guide her by hand down the spiral staircase to the room below made Briana feel their impending separation more keenly. She was beginning to wish that she had never gotten to know the man within the scary dragon, though she couldn’t really regret the hour they spent just chatting like friends while he flew her to England gripped within a dragon’s hand.

  The flickering shadows cast by the flames from the wall sconces made the whole scene surreal and dreamlike. Once back home, how long would it be before she started to believe that the entire day’s adventure never happened at all? At the very least, she could never tell anyone that Taron was really a dragon-shifter prince from another world, not if she didn’t want everyone to wonder about her mental health for the rest of her life. Not even Carol.

  Briana would’ve liked to have a more private goodbye with Taron, but once Taron had spoken with the guard captain about their intentions, Rizall had immediately barked a few commands to the nearest guardsmen, four of which proceeded to follow them out of the room.

  She really couldn’t blame them. The prince they had thought captured and lost forever had suddenly, miraculously, appeared safe and sound right before their eyes at a time when they needed him the most. Like hell they were going to let anything else happen to them while under their watch.

  “What if I unlock the door and some weird alien landscape is on the other side?” Briana fretted as they stopped in front of the targeted door. A couple of the guards moved silently past them to take up positions a few steps down while the other two remained on the steps above them. “If the key disappears once I open the door? Do you think there’s a single Ansi left on this world that would be willing to help me get back home?”

  Taron released her hand and then reached up to gently cup her face with both. His hands always felt warmer than a human’s, and they felt very soothing despite the “sunburn.” His eyes were so beautiful, bright even in the gloom and seemingly swirling with real flames as he stared down at her so intently.

  That his hair and parts of his face were still dusted with pulverized debris from his crumbling castle only made that moment seem more real. She wanted to seal it forever in her memory.

  “Whatever happens, I’ll do right by you. I promise.”

  As she offered him a tremulous
smile, Taron’s head suddenly swooped down, and Briana gasped when she felt the press of a pair of firm lips against her own that were searing in more ways than temperature. An equally scorching tongue lapped at her bottom lip teasingly before plunging aggressively into her mouth. A moan of surprise burst from her throat as she felt his slick tongue slide sensually against her own once, twice, and again. However, before she could get over her shock enough to really reciprocate, he pulled away.

  Taron licked his lips, which then stretched into a grin of pure satisfaction. “I have wanted to taste those plump lips from the moment I first saw them lift up into a smile, and I was right. Your smile does taste incredibly sweet.”

  “You had to do that,” Briana scolded, her voice sounding embarrassingly breathless. “You’ve just made it harder for me to leave.”

  Although the grin never left his lips, his tone was utterly serious as Taron replied, “I know, and I’m sorry. But I would have deeply regretted it if I hadn’t kissed you at least one.”

  Briana couldn’t help it. Even though they had an audience, she surged up onto her tiptoes and planted a brief, but hard kiss onto that grin. Then she lowered her heels to the ground and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist in a tight hug.

  “I’m really going to miss you, you big lizard,” she mumbled against his sweater.

  He chuckled as he hugged her just as tightly. “And I’m going to miss hearing you call me that almost as much as I’m going to miss you. Thank you for bringing me home. Now, let’s get you back to yours.”

  Reluctantly, Briana pulled away from his warmth. She forced herself to smile up at him, wanting to leave him with at least that much even though she knew that the rest of her likely looked a mess.

  “Thanks for the adventure.”

  Afraid that she would break down in tears if she said anything else, she turned towards the door and reached into her pocket for the skeleton key. Although not as cold as it had been right after she had pulled it from the last keyhole, it was still chilly enough to make her fingers ache. Appearing as brittle as thin glass, she was surprised that the two teeth hadn’t broken off after being shoved into her pocket a few times. Maybe it really was indestructible.

  Before she could change her mind, Briana started to thrust the key into the lock when a blast from below knocked her onto her knees, the key slipping from her fingers and bouncing precariously down a few of the steps. A split-second later, a flash of cobalt blue light rose up the stairwell from below, and one of the royal guardsmen flew past them at a neck-breaking speed and crashed into the wall at the curve up ahead.

  Briana didn’t need to be told to know that what she had just witnessed was a magical offensive spell in action. The whole air seemed charged with energy as she instantly scrambled after the fallen key on her hands and knees down the stairs past Taron’s legs, her hand barely having enough time to close around it before she was yanked up by the back of her sweater.

  For the second time that day, Briana found herself hanging over Taron’s shoulder as he raced up the stairs and around the fallen guardsman that was surprisingly struggling back onto his feet while the two guards above stayed behind to likely stand their ground against the threat coming from below.

  More guards were coming out of Dagon’s room by the time Taron reached the landing. It was almost comical the way they shoved him into the room with Briana, herself, swinging precariously on his shoulder as he was jostled around like a pinball. Then Briana heard Captain Rizall shouting a bunch of incomprehensible words followed by Taron’s slightly deeper voice. The only word she understood was Ansi, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that at least one of those weak spots in the magical barrier around the tower Taron had told her about had finally been breached by the witches.

  Then Briana suddenly found herself on her feet again.

  “Looks as though you won’t be rid of me just yet,” Taron said apologetically. “The tower has fallen. It’s only a matter of time before the Ansi breach the barrier around this room. While the rest of the royal army runs interference and provides cover, I’m going to attempt to fly Dagon and you out of here. With any luck, we’ll make it to one of the towns near the palace still under firedrake control. It’s going to take a bit more cunning and effort to get Dagon back into the palace past the stone dragon’s blockade currently barring the way.”

  “What can I do to help?” Briana asked as she followed him to the bed while stuffing the skeleton key back into the front pocket of her jeans for the umpteenth time.

  “After we break through that boarded up window, I need you to sit on that window sill and hold Dagon’s body against you while I jump through and shift into my dragon form outside. The Fates willing, I’ll then grab both of you in one fell swoop.”

  She nodded calmly even though her heart was beginning to race with rising fear and made her way over to the window to stand beside several of the guards. To find herself held within the talons of a dragon in the middle of what would probably be a dragon aerial battle full of fire, boulders, claw-to-claw combat, and God-only-knew what else would be beyond terrifying. Never mind falling to her death, she could end her life gruesomely in the jaws of an enemy dragon.

  Taron picked up his sleeping brother as easily as though he were no heavier than a feather and carried him over to her. He nodded to the guardsmen and the two closest to the window instantly kicked at the boards covering it until they splintered. Then one by one, the guards stepped onto the wide sill and jumped out until only Taron and Briana remained in the room amidst a soundtrack of shouts, crashes, and growls down below and the roars of both dragons and shooting streams of fire outside the tower.

  “Climb onto the sill and sit with your legs dangling over the edge,” Taron instructed. “Once I arrange Dagon beside you, I need you to wrap your arms around his chest tightly and wait for m—”

  The door behind them abruptly exploded, cutting him off mid-word as they were bombarded by the flying remains of the door. Briana instinctually raised her arms to protect her face.

  What the hell, again?

  Through the cloud of dust in front of the gaping hole where the door used to be, she saw three figures standing, their hands glowing with blue fire. Briana was suddenly standing in front of the two brothers before she realized that she was going to move. She had only a split-second to wonder what the hell she was doing before the blast of blue power hit her squarely in the chest.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  For the space of a heartbeat, the entire world turned blue as the force of the Ansi’s attack shoved Briana back a couple of steps, effectively knocking the breath from her, but through sheer force of will, she remained standing as the blue power dissipated around her.

  I’m alive…

  “Briana!” Taron shouted anxiously behind her.

  She could only shake her head as she gasped for the breath she had lost, confused about what had just happened. She had expected to see a huge, gaping hole similar to what used to be this room’s doorway in her chest, but not even her sweater was damaged. Had that witch only fired the magical equivalent to a warning shot?

  Her question was immediately answered by the second ball of blue power that struck her almost in the same area as the first. However, just like the first hit, the power appeared to dissipate on contact as she toppled backward against both Taron and Dagon.

  A flurry of words were shouted at them from the Ansi in what sounded like a surprised tone, and this time, Briana saw the blue ball of power form in the hands of the man to the right of the woman who had cast the other two attacks at her. However, as she stiffened in preparation of the blast, Briana suddenly found her arms full of an unconscious, super-heavy dragon-shifter that caused them both to crumble to the ground. The Ansi then found themselves at the mercy of a snarling, slightly transformed Taron in full rage mode as the firedrake charged them, a stream of fire shooting from his mouth.

  Unprepared for the sudden onslaught, only one of the Ansi managed to cast
a protective shield around themselves as the fire roared over them. The other two screamed when their bodies lit up like a torch with orange-red flames. Taron slammed into the magical shield of the unscathed woman and bounced off hard, landing in an awkward crouch only a foot in front of Dagon and her.

  Briana could see the nearly invisible ripples in the air like a heat wave shimmering over the asphalt of a street in the distance as the magical barrier extended to cover the witch’s comrades while the witch frantically began blasting them with power in an effort to put out the flames. The smell of burning flesh reached Briana’s nostril, making her gag.

  “Now! While they’re distracted!” Taron hissed urgently, pushing Briana towards the window with a clawed hand as he started to drag his brother to the window, as well.

  Briana managed to get on her feet in record time and stumbled towards the window. She climbed onto the sill and sat along the edge. Taron set Dagon down next to her and allowed his brother to sag into her waiting arms before diving out of the window.

  Knowing he would be all right, Briana turned her head to keep an eye on the Ansi. The uninjured one had managed to put out the fire on the other two and was currently on her knees frantically casting a spell over the still-writhing and smoking bodies, the witch’s hands glowing a blinding white.

  Two more probable Ansi appeared through the ruined door just as the scene was cut off by a large, red-scaled hand that closed around both her and Dagon. Briana found herself once again uncomfortably squeezed within the fist of a dragon as well as pressed closely against the body of a virtual stranger.

  Then the sight of two monstrously huge dragons filled her vision, one red and the other blue and as different as night and day in body types and the structures of their wings, and the discomfort of being pressed up so intimately against Dagon suddenly didn’t matter at all. The dragons were in a death-hold, jaws clamped onto each other’s neck and feet with curved, wicked-looking talons clawing at the scales of exposed bellies.