Where Sleeping Dragons Lie (Skeleton Key)

by Cristina Rayne

  It was both a relief and a cause for anxiety when Taron cupped his other hand over their heads for protection, plunging her into darkness. The next thirty or so minutes were a terror-fueled nightmare of roars, Taron spitting fire at enemies that made Briana feel as though she was being roasted, and a chaotic pattern of stomach-wrenching drops, rolls, and rapid rises until her head was a pounding, dizzy mess.

  Through it all, Briana kept expecting one of the stone dragons to break through the dragons protecting Taron and ram into them hard, worried that her fragile human body couldn’t survive that kind of blunt force impact even if it wasn’t a direct hit, but that brutal hit never came. It made her paranoid. She couldn’t believe that they were actually going to escape this madness relatively unscathed.

  In a way, what helped keep her calm was Dagon’s steady breaths that rippled across her hair on the top of her head where his chin rested while he slept. She found if she focused on those soft breaths and not on the cacophony of madness around them, it helped keep her thoughts from spiraling into a panic.

  A few minutes later, Taron’s flight pattern became more stable, and the sounds of the dragon battle began to sound more distant. She hadn’t dared tried to speak to Taron earlier for fear of distracting him at a crucial moment and wasn’t sure if she should try to now even though she was dying to know what was going on.

  Luckily, Taron took the decision from her by suddenly announcing, “We’re finally clear.”

  Briana closed her eyes and heaved a huge sigh of relief. “Where are we now?”

  “Taking the long way around again, unfortunately,” he replied gruffly. “I had hoped at least one of the royal guardsmen would have been able to break away along with us. However, with the unexpected addition of the Ansi into the fray, it was all that our forces could do to create a hole within the stone dragon’s attack formation and keep all of them from giving chase for the few minutes I needed to disappear from their line-of-sight. At least the Ansi cannot give us any trouble while we’re in flight and hidden behind the clouds, but no doubt they will be ready for us at any number of places on the ground.”

  “Does that mean our original destination is a no-go?”

  “Yes, but the secondary site will work just as well for our plans.”

  “So why do you sound so hesitant?” she demanded, hoping he wouldn’t try to weasel his way out of telling her if it was something bad.

  “It’s for no reason as dire as I’m sure you’re imaging.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “We cannot fly directly to the secondary site. As it’s a covert camp where a small battalion has been silently spying on the movements of the stone dragon’s blockade of the royal palace, it’s too near the enemy to fly in safely. It will require a considerable hike through a forest to reach it—at least the rest of the day. Naturally, I can’t be in my dragon form.”

  “I can make it if that’s what you’re worried about,” she said firmly. “I’ve run a couple of marathons within the last year, so as long as there aren’t any mountains to scale and you don’t plan to sprint the whole way, my stamina shouldn’t be a problem at all.”

  “I was more concerned about the time being on foot will unavoidably waste, never mind any discrepancies in our stamina. I can easily carry both Dagon and you if I must. No, the problem lies with the fact that both the Ansi and the stone dragons will have the time to scour the globe for us via both flight and portal. We could very likely run into a dozen of either group within the forest, or if they are feeling desperate enough, they could choose to unleash their end game. If the royal palace falls, then the only way to reclaim it is through my brother fighting the usurper-king in a fight to the death. It’s a position I never wish my brother to find himself in, no matter his strength.”

  “I just wish there was more I could do to help,” Briana lamented in frustration.

  “You have helped me more than you realize, I think,” he chided. “Isn’t it enough that you stopped that Ansi’s magical attack not once, but twice?”

  “Those were just warning shots, weren’t they?” Briana asked in confusion. “I didn’t do anything at all.”

  “That first attack had enough power to easily knock me unconscious,” Taron said. “The fact that your body absorbed the magic on impact just proves the truth of your heritage even if my nose didn’t.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Ansi magic is useless when used against another of the blood. Their bodies naturally absorb it, and it seems even someone whose Ansi blood has been thinned considerably over several generations retains that one ability, even if you can’t cast any spells.”

  “Great. My super power is ‘super absorption,’” Briana said dryly. “It figures I would end up with one of the lame ones.”

  Taron’s laugh reverberated pleasantly over her skin. “I think ‘Absorption Girl’ sounds kind of endearing.”

  Briana snorted. “Yeah, as endearing as a tampon.”

  She swore he laughed for a good ten minutes.

  It was a happy memory she held in her mind like an anchor after they had been hiking through what Briana was beginning to believe was an endless forest for a little over six hours. It was sweltering and humid, and it hadn’t been long before she was sweating so badly that the streams of sweat running down her face had long ago washed off most of the remaining dust from various building collapses and explosions from her face. She had even removed her sweater and had tied it around her waist, thankful for the thin tee she had worn underneath, but at this point, walking around in just her underwear was beginning to look more and more attractive.

  Taron, that bastard, was dry as a bone, of course. Briana suspected he even felt invigorated from the heat, but she kept her snark to herself, determined not to complain once. She was, after all, from Texas and had endured much worse heat and humidity.

  At least her misery kept her mind away from obsessing about the possibility of ambush, though with Taron’s keen hearing, at least no one could sneak up on him from behind. Still, she found herself peering up at the sky worriedly more times than was really necessary, half-expecting something to spring down on them from the treetops or to dive-bomb them from the sky. They also talked very little, wanting to remain as quiet as possible.

  When she wasn’t watching for hidden enemies or a stream to quench their thirst, Briana passed the long hours as she quietly followed after the two dragon-shifters by studying all the flora and fauna. Taron’s world had way too many humongous flying bugs larger than her hand for her peace of mind, but their “birds” were absolutely beautiful. Many bore feathers in dozens of shades of green, purple, and brown along with elaborate, leaf-like patterns that made them practically invisible once they had landed on a tree branch.

  The trees, themselves, were more familiar, similar to her world’s oak trees in both color and form, if not the height. The trees in this forest would have given Redwoods a run for their money in the height department.

  As she was squinting at a patch of white flowers growing at the base of a tree they were passing on the right, Briana nearly jumped clear out of her skin when her left hand was suddenly grabbed.

  “Stay close to me,” Taron murmured, his eyes narrowed and staring ahead into the distance. I can’t smell him, but I saw someone wearing a uniform of our army. “I don’t want them to mistake you for the enemy.”

  Briana gripped his hand more tightly and nodded.

  Taron slowed their pace to a more casual stroll, walking straight ahead as the path around the trees allowed. Her shoulders tensed as she started to see shadows emerge from within the trees ahead, ten in total. They stood silently and merely watched them as their strange trio approached. It was only when they were about a hundred yards away that they finally realized who it was that was approaching so boldly because the firedrakes, to a man, sudden rushed them like a determined line of linebackers and tackles.

  Before Briana could take a step back in alarm, every soldier dropped to their knees and bowed t
heir heads in prostration.

  The centermost soldier, a woman with shortly cropped hair that curled up around her ears, was the first to raise her head, a grin threatening to split her face in half. She then began talking very animatedly in Taron’s language while every eye in the vicinity tried to stare a hole into the center of her forehead. Their expressions weren’t exactly hostile, but nor were they anything that could be called friendly. Briana tried to ignore her growing discomfort by focusing on the conversation going on no matter that she had no hope of understanding any of it.

  Two men approached Taron, but he shook his head. He said a few words, and the soldiers bowed before backing off. She guessed that they probably tried to take Dagon from Taron’s hands. She could understand why he wouldn’t want his brother to leave his sight just yet.

  Then Taron abruptly squeezed her hand, and she looked at him questionably.

  “Their camp is only about a mile up ahead,” he said. “Dagon will likely not awaken until morning, at the very least, so it will give me a chance to learn what I can to better advise him, as well as us to eat and rest.

  Briana sighed internally. Another mile…

  “Come to think of it, I haven’t eaten since breakfast,” she replied. She saw some of the soldiers still staring at her from the corner of her eye. Even though she knew they couldn’t understand English, Briana still lowered her voice as she asked, “Are they worried about you bringing someone who smells like an Ansi into their super-secret camp?”

  Taron looked at her sideways. “I explained about the nature of our relationship. They won’t give you any trouble.”

  Whatever he told them, she hoped he hadn’t mentioned the skeleton key. The last thing she needed was curious or bored soldiers wanting to test it out.

  Not that there are any doors out here, she thought wryly as she allowed Taron to tug her by the hand after three of the soldiers while the others moved to resume their posts.

  She had a feeling that she wouldn’t be seeing any doors for a long time. She was surprised to find that she really wasn’t all that upset about the fact.

  At least spending time with Taron was guaranteed to never be dull. The memory of the feeling of his lips pressing firmly against her own rose, unbidden, in her mind, and she felt her cheeks flush with something other than embarrassment.

  No, not dull at all.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  When Briana returned from the stream the spy camp used for bathing, she was surprised to find Taron sitting alone next to the cot where his brother lay still fast asleep. When she had left with a female soldier named Ylda whom Taron said had volunteered to show her the stream, the dragon prince had been surrounded by soldiers. She had assumed that they would be bringing Taron up to speed and planning for Dagon’s eventual awakening all night, so she had been planning to slip into the tent as quietly and unobtrusively as possible and head towards the separated partition in the very back that was meant for her.

  She was currently wearing the dark brown shirt and an extra pair of breeches that her Ylda had given her. As the dragon-woman had been much taller, Briana was practically swimming in them, but they were dry, clean, and comfortable, and that’s all she cared about.

  In her right hand, she tightly clutched the skeleton key. Although it still gave her the heebies to touch it, she hadn’t wanted to leave it in the pocket of her jeans while she had bathed, and she knew that Taron didn’t think it was a good idea to let it out of her sight. That’s why, against her better judgment, after Ylda had left her alone, she had taken it into the stream with her while she had bathed. A good thing, too, as she had found her dirty clothes replaced with the ones she was currently wearing when she had emerged from the water.

  Taron appeared to have bathed as well, his black hair shiny and slightly damp. He was wearing a uniform identical to the soldiers’. She wondered if someone had filled a tub with water for him while she was gone. You can’t expect a prince to bath in a stream like a common soldier, after all. The thought of him bathing alongside her in the stream made her suddenly tingle in places best forgotten if she wanted to have a conversation with him without blushing.

  “I thought you would still be talking with everyone,” Briana said as she moved to stand beside the stool Taron was sitting on.

  “It seems things have been at a stalemate longer than I had supposed,” Taron replied with a sigh. “There wasn’t much more they could tell me that Captain Rizall hadn’t already relayed. The blockade is ten thousand stone dragons strong, and we have about the same amount on the other side defending the palace. It will not be easy to smuggle Dagon into the palace past that living stone wall.”

  His eyes then focused on her, roving up and down her form with keen interest before the ends of his lips quirked up. “You look like a little girl playing dress-up in your mother’s pajamas.”

  Briana crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged. “Better than the grimy clothes I was wearing. Someone’s probably burning them now as we speak.”

  He laughed. “Or studying them. It’s not every day that someone from a different realm steps into this world. I daresay I shall never see my own sweater again.”

  She looked down at Dagon’s face. “Has he stirred at all while I was off taking a bath?”

  “His eyelids fluttered once, but you shouldn’t be too concerned. It will likely be hours, yet.”

  Taron’s eyes abruptly sharpened as he noticed the skeleton key in her hand. “There is nothing in this camp that even resembles a door, much less a lock.”

  Briana blinked at him in surprise. “Oh, I know. I only have it out because these clothes don’t have any pockets. I suppose if I can find a small chain or at least a piece of twine, then I could loop it around my neck—”

  She gasped as Taron suddenly pulled her down by the waist until she was sitting a bit awkwardly on his lap. His sunset eyes brighter than usual, he raised a hand to her cheek and lightly ghosted his fingertips down her sensitive skin, making her shiver.

  “It may be months, even years, before we make it back to the palace,” he murmured, his eyes fixed on the movement of his fingers while she sat frozen, hardly daring to breathe, “before we find a way to end this civil war, but at the same time, this war may end tomorrow or the next day. While a life on the run full of war and fear is not the type of life I would wish for you, if all of that were to end soon, what would you say if I asked you not to use the key, to lock it away deep within the palace vaults and never think about it again?”

  Taron leaned forward and brushed a soft kiss onto her slightly-parted lips. “To stay here, with me?”

  Stay…

  Completely blindsided, Briana could only stare back mutely with wide eyes, her mind stuck somewhere between the thought of staying in another world for the rest of her life and the rush of arousal that his kiss had awakened within her.

  After a long moment of stunned silence on her part, Taron suddenly shook his head and pressed his forehead against hers. “You don’t have to answer me right now. Or even tomorrow or the next day.”

  Then before she could blink, Taron’s lips crashed down onto hers, swallowing her gasp. She felt his fingers thread through her hair as he gripped both sides of her head and pulled her more firmly against him. That hot tongue that had delighted her earlier slipped within, and she shuddered as it aggressively slid against her own, coaxing her to respond with a tentative, wet caress.

  Briana melted against him as she closed her eyes and utterly surrendered herself to his aggressive kiss, her fingers gripping his shoulders so tightly that they were starting to ache. She decided to accept this moment for what it was and not worry about what it could be.

  She felt him smile briefly against her mouth before he released her head and slowly ran his hands down her back and over her ass. He gave both firm globes a playful squeeze before his hands gripped them tightly and he proceeded to stand up. Briana hastily wrapped her legs around his waist as she sensed him walk towards the back of th
e tent where her bedroll lay, all while continuing to devour her lips.

  Her entire body felt hot, as though it had been ignited with his dragon flames by his lips and touch alone. She broke their kiss with a half-gasp, half-laugh when he tumbled them onto the thin roll, his hips easily parting and sliding between her legs with a single, aggressive thrust against her pelvis that had the moist center of her throbbing, aching for more of that delicious stimulation.

  Between one blink and the next, Briana’s top was sliding over her head, her arms automatically lifting as Taron removed it. After tossing it to the side, he then bent down and licked once across both lips with a gentle, teasingly flick before moving to lick slowly and more insistently along her chin and down across the center of her neck, his hair tickling her over-sensitized skin as his tongue continued its wet, sensual exploration southward.

  Taron slowed his caresses as he licked closer to the top of her right breast. Briana squirmed in anticipation, already feeling her nipples begin to peak and throb even before she felt that first teasing swipe of the tip of Taron’s tongue across her nipple.

  Briana sucked in a sharp breath when she felt his mouth suddenly latch onto that same nipple, and she threw her head back and arched up into the sensation, her fingers sliding into his hair and tugging him closer in encouragement. Her thighs squeezed against the sides of his chest, and she bucked her hips in reaction as Taron continued to lathe attention on that sensitive little pebble, causing her clit to rub briefly against the rough material of her breeches. She bucked again with a sigh, chasing after more of that sensation.

  Her dragon prince chuckled before giving her nipple one final nip and lifting himself off her body with the strength of his arms until he was no longer touching her.

  “Taron!” Briana moaned, arching her back up and reaching her hands up to him, suddenly desperate to feel his warmth across the length of her, to experience that teasing friction again.