They followed a worn path next to the stream until it emptied into a sunlit pool surrounded by trees. A sandy bank invited one to stretch out and relax by the waters.
Far from the menace she envisioned in her thoughts.
“It’s so beautiful.” Crouching down, she touched the water, watching it ripple. “It doesn’t look deadly.”
“It isn’t.” Drust sat on the ground, hands braced on his knees. “This is the amethyst pool, where I swim at times. Refreshing, cool when I am too overheated, warm when I need warmth.”
“Then where is the entrance to the Shadow Lands?”
He gestured to the distance. “Do you really wish me to take you there, Lacey? Of your own, free will?”
She sucked in a breath. “Yes. With the book.”
He nodded. “Then let us celebrate our lives tonight, and when dawn breaks, I will take you to the entrance.”
Chapter 22
Instead of dining in the cavernous dining hall, he arranged an intimate dinner in the less formal smaller dining area off the kitchen. A chef cooked them a prime rib, rare, with fire roasted vegetables, as a butler and maid waited on them.
“Did you roast the veggies yourself? Dragon fire makes everything taste better?”
Drust laughed at her joke. “No, my chef did. He was trained in France. He much rather would work for me than his last employer, a mean-spirited ogre who liked to dine on recalcitrant dragons.”
At her stare, he laughed. “I’m teasing. Olaf worked for a dragon lord in England and he works for me at times when I’m on earth.”
“I may be recalcitrant, but I don’t taste very good, wizard. In case you get any ideas about feeding me to the lions or the ogres.”
“I think you taste exquisite.” His voice was deep and his gaze heated. “I have no intentions of letting any other male sample you, my love.”
The endearment, and the sexual chemistry crackling between them, warmed her from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She knew how this night would end, and eagerly anticipated being in his bed, in his arms, feeling that passion and fire and the thrill of being alive. Morning, that wasn’t going to be so great.
It was going to be a right bitch, but at least she had tonight.
Drust swirled the wine in his glass. “Is everything to your taste, Lacey?”
She sipped the red liquid. “Excellent. I can’t believe your wine cellar. Seems like you have a collection dating back to medieval times.”
“Not quite. The wine back then was swill compared to the past century.” He winked and she laughed.
They talked through dinner of food they both enjoyed, wine and being a dragon and flying.
“I love flying at night.” Lacey threw out her hands, reaching upward. “It feels like I can touch the stars. I don’t know what I’d do without my wings. Wings give you freedom to go wherever you wish, whenever you wish.”
“A dragon’s wings are a gift from the goddess herself. Only the goddess can grant them and only the goddess can restore them if they are removed.” Drust leaned back in his chair. “They are precious to us.”
“More than the ability to breathe fire. I always thought fire breathing was overreacted. Just makes other shifters think you have bad breath.”
Drust chuckled. “Ah, Lacey, Lacey. You make me feel young again.”
When dinner was over, they strolled through the moonlit gardens. Sprites flitted in and out of the roses, their red, pink, blue and green glow sparkling like fireflies.
Suddenly he stopped and looked at her, his expression somber in the silvery moonlight. “Lacey, I fulfilled one wish of yours. “Will you fulfill one wish of mine?
No way would she deny him, not this, their last night together. “Yes.”
He held out a hand. “Dance with me.”
She studied her jeans and Western shirt. “I’m not dressed for a ball.”
“No matter.”
Suddenly they were in the ballroom, the crystal chandelier twinkling like fairy lights. Lacey looked down. A cobalt blue gown with a low cut necklace decorated with diamonds covered her body. The skirt swept out as she twirled. Fabric so light and soft it felt woven from air.
“It’s lovely.” She thrust out a foot and saw it clad in silver slippers, soft and comfortable.
But it was Drust who truly took her breath away. In a black and white tuxedo, he was urbane and elegant, his black hair combed back, his smile wide.
“I have a gift for you.”
He squeezed his palm and upon opening it, showed her diamond earrings made of blue stone.
“Oh Drust, they’re lovely! You can make diamonds by magick?”
“Not diamonds, my love. Frozen coldfire.”
When she clipped them one Lacey tilted her head. “How do I look?”
He lifted her hand to his lips. Warmth flowed through her at the gentle brush of his mouth against her knuckles. “Breathtaking, anam cara.”
Anam cara. Dimly she remembered it meant “soul mate.”
“Astor,” she said suddenly, another memory surfacing. “I called you Astor. My treasure.”
A shadow flickered across his face. “Yes. The names we gave each other, far from others, when we met in our secret place in the woods.”
Music played from a dais in the shadows. The strains of violin, cello and other instruments indicated a waltz. Lacey blushed.
“I’m afraid… I can’t dance. Or if I did in another life, I can’t remember how.”
“Trust me.”
She went into his arms. Drust lead her in a waltz, twirling her around so all she had to do was follow. Funny how she loathed following men around and letting them take the lead, but with him, this felt natural.
Because he treated her like an equal, she realized. He never degraded her or mocked her or made her feel inferior. With Drust, she could be her snarky, spirited self. He gave her freedom to be whoever she wished, as much as her dragon wings gave her freedom to fly.
“Have I told you lately that you’re pretty damn amazing?” she asked him.
He smiled down at her. “Because I’m a wizard? Or because I’m devastatingly handsome?”
“Because you’re you.” Lacey sighed with contentment and rested her head against his shoulder. “You’re good at everything you do. Even dancing. I feel like I’m dancing on air.”
“Look down,” his deep voice whispered into her ear.
She did. They still danced. But they had levitated upward about ten feet, waltzing above the ballroom floor.
Lacey laughed. “You scoundrel. Good thing I’m not scared of heights.”
He swept her around in an expert turn. “Of course you are not. You are dragon.”
When the dance ended and they floated downward, she felt giddy as he kissed her hand. “Thank you, cara mine.”
“Can we go flying tonight? The air is so crisp and the stars are clear in the sky.”
Drust nodded. Then he waved a hand and they were outside in the garden. She shifted into her dragon form, swishing her tail around the grass. Drust shifted as well and grinned at her, showing a mouth of sharp, white teeth.
He went to give her a boost, but she had a surprise for him. Lacey beat her wings and did a vertical takeoff, her powerful muscles aching but working. She rose into the air, caught a current of air and winged northward.
Soon he joined her, flying to her right.
You’re much stronger now.
Thanks to all that good food you’ve been feeding me, wizard. I could always do a takeoff, just not lately.
Where to?
Let’s just let the wind take us.
They flew with the wind, drifting north. Fistfuls of stars glittered like diamonds on the dark velvet sky. The moon was a half nickel, hanging low in the sky.
I’m going to really miss this. I wonder if dragons can fly in the Shadow Lands?
She did not voice that thought to Drust, but kept it secret and guarded.
Then they went upstairs and made
love until they lay spent with passion in each other’s arms.
For dawn would come soon enough, and Lacey knew what she must do…
Chapter 23
In the few years since he became a wizard of the Brehon, Drust had seldom seen the goddess. Never had he requested a formal audience.
Until now.
When he was certain Lacey slept, Drust headed for Tir Na-nog.
Waiting patiently in a green field where Danu liked to stroll, he laced his hands behind his back. Fairies heralded her arrival, floating on the air, with sprites darting playfully around them. Drust dropped to one knee and bent his head.
“Rise, my wizard,” her musical voice instructed.
A shining light wreathed her as he stood. Her expression was solemn.
“Your heart is troubled.”
No one, not even an immortal wizard of the Brehon, could hide the truth from Danu.
“Yes. I have questions about the Book of Shadows. Must it be destroyed? Can it remain on earth, locked securely away?”
“Not without severe consequences. The evil within will soon spread.”
Danu waved a hand and a vision appeared in the air. Drust’s immortal heart nearly stopped.
Blackened, scorched lands, grass, shrubs, trees ravaged by fire. A barren world, charred and ruined. Dragons gasping as they cascaded to earth, screaming as they died…
“Enough,” he muttered. “I understand.”
The goddess regarded him not unkindly. “I know what you are considering. You must know the risks, Drust. The book’s evil influence will transfer to you if you touch it without protection and to destroy it, you cannot wear gloves. It will try to overcome you, turning your thoughts dark, your joy into despair. You cannot shift into your dragon form either to leave or enter, for you are now immortal. The longer you remain, the longer your spirit will grow despondent.”
His chest felt hollow. “Sounds like, as Xavier says, a real bitch of a time.”
Danu’s mouth quirked a little. “Have faith that you will escape, Drust.”
She came closer and put a hand on his shoulder and he felt a soothing warmth invade his body, easing his trepidation. “Tell me what troubles you. You are a courageous and loyal dragon, and you have nothing to lose sharing with me what shadows your soul.”
Her kindhearted gaze flickered, and he suddenly knew that he didn’t even have to tell her, for she already knew. Danu knew his heart.
Giving voice to the fear would make it real, but suddenly he needed to talk. “I fear if I go into the Shadow Lands, I will never leave. I will be lost, wandering, the memories will overwhelm me. Part of me… in a way… remains there. If I go into the Shadow Lands, I will lose my sense of being dragon again and be forever grounded.”
“Yes,” she murmured.
“I lost my sense of being dragon when I was there last. The loneliness… overwhelmed me. If you get too much inside yourself there, you start to believe no one will ever care what happens to you. That everyone has forgotten you ever existed.”
“And yet you were never forgotten. You have family, those who love you, and you have your friend, Tristan.”
Enough of this vulnerability. Drust smiled to hide his tension. “If I became lost, Tristan and the others would send out a search party as they would have to take on my wizard responsibilities. It would be especially difficult for Tristan, dealing with all those dragons when he’s not terribly fond of barbecues.”
Danu laughed. The sound gladdened his heart. For a moment.
“I wish Caderyn had never created the book.” Finally, he voiced his real regret.
The goddess nodded. “He knows he was wrong, and he already received his punishment for it. I tell you this, so you may know the depths of the heart of our wise and esteemed Shadow Wizard. His punishment was to rule over witches, the species he detests and loathes. It was a witch who broke him, and he has learned to judge and guide them with both temperance and discernment over the years. You are the ruler over dragons, Drust. But you do it out of deep love for your people. They set your immortal soul on fire and you would, and will in the future, make tremendous sacrifices for them.”
Absorbing this information, he felt an even greater respect for Caderyn. “It takes a great deal of inner strength to rule over those you cannot tolerate.”
“True. Though I will share with you that he has learned to tolerate them, and I foresee him doing more than tolerating one particular witch.” Danu’s brilliant green gaze twinkled with mischief.
Drust bowed low. “Thank you, my lady.”
“You realize by now why you could not easily track Lacey before, Drust?” Danu smiled.
Giving a deep sigh, he nodded. “We wizards can see the future and track Others, except when it comes to our own destiny… and our true mates.”
“Lacey is your true soulmate,” the goddess said gently. “The other wizards knew this as much as I did. They could see the dragon birthmarks you and Lacey share, a symbol of your love in the past, a symbol uniting you once more.”
“Yes,” he whispered, thinking of all the times he’d felt blinded by his pure love for Lacey, all the times he had tried to deny it and could not.
“I must take my leave, but before I do, remember this Drust. Love can find a way. Trust in that.”
He nodded, watching her vanish, wondering if her words were really truth.
Or just a platitude to aid him in making decision. Either way, it did not matter, for he’d already made up his mind.
He would do anything to keep Lacey safe.
This was not going to be an easy visit. In fact, Drust downright dreaded it.
Always before, he’d enjoyed seeing his family. Skylar and Sebastian’s son was about the same age as Tristan’s twins now, and Crown Prince Alex of Clan Drakon and his beautiful mate Princess Emma had a sweet little girl who was only four months old. Seeing his descendants, and their children, gave Drust a sense of contentment in knowing his linage continued. Usually when he visited, he brought a toy for the children, or a pretty piece of jewelry from his extensive collection for Sebastian and Alex’s mates.
Today was different, for he needed to request a favor from them.
Drust texted Alex his instructions and gave them all an hour to gather at Sebastian’s castle. It wasn’t far from Alex’s home in Clan Drakon’s castle, and it was much quieter. This conversation must be kept private.
He materialized in the extensive gardens outside the castle, where the four milled about, waiting. Their concerned expressions replaced the usual pleasure expressed upon seeing him.
“Where are the children? Who is watching them?” he asked, dispensing with a formal greeting.
“The babies are with my nanny, Pops. They’re asleep. Perfectly safe. I trust her,” Alex told him.
Pops again. Normally he’d chide Alex for using that nickname. Tonight he felt too agitated.
“Good. Let’s fly.” Drust shifted into his dragon form and stretched out his wings.
The four did the same and rose into the sky, following him as he led the way over forest and river, winging on the breeze. He gave no explanation for the flight. They trusted him and expected him to reveal the real reason for his visit when he wished.
Such obedience. Far different from Lacey, who argued and fought and questioned everything. As much as he both enjoyed and expected Alex, Sebastian and their mates to follow his every order, it could be boring.
Lacey was never boring.
He flew until moonlight revealed a clearing in the forest without access roads or hiking trails. Wide enough for dragons, too. Perfect.
Angling downward, he chose a spot toward the trees to give the others plenty of room. Emma, who had only half dragon blood like Lacey, sometimes had difficulty executing a landing.
He shifted into human form, clothed himself in his typical uniform of cobalt blue trousers, tunic and doeskin boots and waited for the others.
Turning his back to give Emma privacy while she s
hifted into her human form and clothing, he studied the trees. Drust waited a few minutes and then turned slowly, regarding them. To see them better, he waved a hand and several torches ringed the clearing.
Alex, tall and handsome, with a proud, regal bearing, his blue-green eyes filled with worry as he slid a protective arm around pretty blonde Emma. Sebastian, who’d sacrifice his life for his beloved Skylar and his son, trying to keep his expression neutral.
Failing miserably.
Drust laced his hands behind his back. “I need your help.”
Four collective sighs of relief, followed by eager looks. “Of course Pops. Whatever you need,” Alex told him.
“Do not call me Pops,” he said dryly. “I told all of you to call me Uncle Drust. Much simpler.”
Briefly he explained about Lacey. Skylar gave him a soft smile, as Sebastian, Alex and Emma practically beamed.
“Sounds like true love,” Alex put a hand over his heart, sighing dramatically.
“Falling for a younger woman. How young? Oh, only a few hundred years or so,” Sebastian chimed in.
“Will you two stop it?” Skylar told them. She approached Drust, took his hands. “Uncle Drust, what is truly troubling you?”
Ah Skylar, so intuitive. So much love in her heart. He looked her straight in the eye. “I have to descend into the Shadow Lands once more. There is a slight chance, a very slight one, I may not return. In any case, while I am gone, I need you to look after Lacey for me.”
And then Alex, who had visited him in his cursed loneliness in the Shadow Lands, paled. Alex, the Shadow Jumper, with the unique ability to move between the mortal plain and the afterword, until Drust had removed it from him.
“Damnit Uncle Drust, why? That place… it’s hell for you,” Alex sputtered.
Now he knew how upset Alex was, for no more “Pops.”
“A necessary hell. I am a powerful immortal now, Alex.” He went to his great-grandson and put his hands on Alex’s broad shoulders. “I will find a way out, do not worry about that. There is something I must do. Lacey is quite important to me, and because of that, she is vulnerable to other dragons who might try to use her to gain influence… or hold her as a hostage. The less other dragons know about her importance to me, the better.”
THE MATING CLAIM: Werewolves of Montana Book 14 Page 26