Dragon's Heart

by Marly Mathews

  “I should be.”

  Brianna and Bronwyn moved forward. “We are coming with you, this time.”

  “We would like to come as well. We are ready to fight.” The spokesperson for the prisoners seemed familiar to her. She had once been one of her father’s most loyal soldiers. When he had revolted, she had turned her allegiance to the Royal Family.

  “In that case, allow me to lead you to my weapons room. Everyone can get themselves properly armed and then they we can go into battle fully prepared.”

  “Sounds like a definite plan.” Bronwyn smiled, still holding onto Brianna as if her life depended on it.

  Grania walked through her cottage to a room located off her kitchen. She pressed her hand to the wall, watching with pride as the room was revealed.

  Weapons of all sorts lined the walls. She had a few dozen swords, some daggers, flying stars, pistols, among other kickass weapons. Her followers moved forward, taking what they could use.

  Bronwyn and Brianna still stood with their arms wrapped around each other. “You two need to stay here and keep this cottage safe. If we were to leave it uninhabited the magic protecting it could waver and then my father would have another victory on his hands.”

  “I don’t want to leave Nicholas, I can’t bear the thought of him going into battle without me. I could go and Bronwyn could stay. She is weakened by her ordeal at the hands of Draco. I think it would be wise if she remained behind.”

  “I’m not letting you go and get yourself killed,” Nicholas said. Brianna locked eyes with Nicholas. Passion sparked between them.

  “I’m trained for this, Brianna. You won’t know what to do out there and your attention will be divided. Admit it, you’d be thinking about your twin the entire time.”

  “I’m not going to allow you to order me around, Nicholas. You aren’t my mate yet.”

  “I’m your intended mate, and the mating fire has started between us, don’t deny the fact that you can feel the burn,” Nicholas countered.

  “Brianna, Bronwyn, I hate to say this, but I think Nicholas is thinking sensibly. He’s healed enough, and he’s ready for action. The two of you haven’t seen actual action, and therefore, you could be a liability out there, so you need to stay where it’s safe.”

  “Yes, we have. I have, the two of you don’t know everything,” Bronwyn sighed. “How do you think I ended up in the prison? I had slipped out to fight with Blaze’s forces, except I was caught during the battle.”

  “And, I’ve seen my fair share of action, Nicholas can attest to that.” Brianna looked at Nicholas searching for his support. “Please don’t make me stay behind if something happens to you while I am here it will drive me out of my mind!”

  “We can’t continue quibbling like this, Brianna. You stay here with Bronwyn, until you are needed. Grania and I are going to go and assess the damage in London. I just hope it’s still there and not burning to the ground.” A muscle throbbed in his cheek.

  Grania swallowed. “I can second that. I hope we haven’t lost too many of our friends.”

  “Come, Grania, ladies first.” Nicholas raised his hand as a glowing vortex appeared before them.

  She drew in a deep breath, and walked through the gateway feeling the other dragon shifters follow her.

  The air felt hot.

  The sun was high in the sky, and there wasn’t a cloud in sight. Buildings around her burned. She searched the skies for Blaze. Dragon shifters and the magic kind were locked in combat. She saw the bodies of Menopian Trolls and a few Scottish Trolls that had fallen in battle. The battle didn’t seem as if it was going to die down anytime soon.

  “I’m going to look for William.” She was about to transform halfway into a dragon shifter when Nicholas reached for her hand.

  “I’m not about to let you out of my sight. William won’t forgive me if something dire befalls you.”

  “I’m not about to be protected by you. I was given the honour of being William’s protector, and now that I’m his wife, I’m not about to let anything happen to him. These are the final hours, Nicholas. Can’t you feel it? I want to die or live by William’s side. No matter how this battle ends…”

  “You mean no matter how the war ends.” The former prisoners that had traveled through the portal with them had now joined the fight, which seemed to be turning the tide back in their favour.

  Lifting her palm to her gaze, she marveled at the way it glowed. The light gradually dimmed.

  “William!” she gasped anxiously.

  Nicholas looked down at her palm at the exact same moment. “That’s not normal, is it?”

  “No. We must go to him.”

  “Take me to William.” Just as the mating magic worked, Nicholas grabbed her by the arm, riding the same wave of magic.

  They stood inside of a building she knew too well. “William’s mother will probably be in the Prime Minister’s office.”

  “I should think so.”

  Nicholas gestured to the standard of Draco’s that was on the far wall. “I don’t like the looks of that. What’s going on?”

  “Why not find out? Where is Merdwyn? I thought with his might on our side that we had victory in the palm of our hands,” Grania sighed.

  The sound of several dragon shifters roaring made her head ache. They both froze in their tracks.

  “What was that?” Nicholas asked, his eyes widening.

  Nicholas looked at her in expectation. “I thought you knew what the sound of a dragon shifter roaring was like,” Grania muttered, “But in case you don’t, that’s a dragon shifter roar.

  “I knew what it was I didn’t know who did it. Are we expecting to be met by friend or foe?”

  “If my father’s standard is any indication it looks as if this building has already fallen to the enemy, so sufficed it to say it’s probably someone looking to put you on the grill.”

  “Then, we have no choice. We’ll simply have to drive them back.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?” She hated her self-doubt, but she hadn’t been expecting this when she’d asked to be taken to William. Where was he? And how near death would he be?

  If he had the spell, he had to use it and quickly. He couldn’t think about harming one of her kind, not when Draco was this close to winning such a decisive victory.

  “Come with me.” She didn’t know what was possessing Nicholas, but he’d taken her hand, and she didn’t feel like drawing away from him. Hand in hand, they walked toward the door that they’d find William and his mother behind. Reaching out with her senses, she wasn’t surprised to be met with several dragon shifter psyches.

  “Get your wand out, and be ready, it looks like we’re going to have a hell of a welcoming committee.” She released his hand, and reached for her bow and an arrow. Priming it for action, she nodded at him to open the door. The sight that awaited them made them both gasp in shock.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Get away from him!” Grania screamed. Nicholas moved into action in a bid to dispatch the dragon shifters that were coming to help Denys.

  Denys stood over a bloody William. “Ah, Grania, you do have impeccable timing. I was just about to finish off a job I started about a week ago. Thanks to you it’s only dragged out. The last few days have been quite vexing for me. You know how frustrated I get when I can’t finish something I started.”

  “Bully for you. Step away from William, and I’ll reconsider killing you.”

  Denys’s laugh was short and harsh. “Kill me with that measly mortal weapon? You have become frightfully addled in your pitifully short time as this wizard’s wife. My heart bleeds for the way you have turned from the path of righteousness. Your blight upon your father’s line will never be erased.”

  “I don’t have time to quibble with you over your stupid ideology. Where is Aine?”

  “She has been taken to your father. I think he’s in the mood for witch for dinner, extra crispy and with ketchup or possibly tartar sauce.”
/>   William let out a roar of rage. ‘Use the spell.’

  Her telepathic plea made William shift on the floor. ‘Never.’

  His telepathic voice was weak.

  She didn’t like the way he sounded, not at all. The situation was grave, and this serious of a situation called for drastic measures.

  ‘Just do it.’

  She hesitated, using the weapon she held against Denys. She would far rather leave it to William to finish him off. William needed this, he’d already gotten after her once for fighting his battles for him, she’d be damned if she’d make the same mistake again.

  ‘Use the damn curse! NOW! Do it!’

  ‘Not when you’re in the area. I will not risk accidentally taking you out as well!’

  Her heart froze.

  Denys sniffed at the air, and turned to her. Cocking his head, he smiled.

  “I smell telepathy at work, here. You shouldn’t be cheating, boy and girl.” He conjured a fireball. “I think I’m ready to see you burn now, Wizard.”

  “No!” Without thinking, she fired the arrow off at him. It struck him in the leg. He laughed maniacally.

  “Do you honestly think that will do the trick of killing a dragon shifter as powerful as me? You truly are pathetic, Grania.”

  “And you are as good as dead. Farewell, Denys.”

  Dawning horror glistened across his face, as the arrow started to wreak its killing magic. The curse ran through his bloodstream like wildfire.

  “Damn you, Grania!” His eyes bulged out of his head. She drew in her breath sharply and held it, waiting for what was to come. Just before he exploded, she turned her gaze away.

  Nicholas whistled, as he returned from taking out the dragon shifters that were coming to Denys’s aid. “Now that did a body good. Thank you, Grania.”

  William was still on the ground.

  “William! How badly are you hurt?”

  She rushed to his side. “I’m fine as long as you’re okay. Why the hell did you put me through that? You nearly gave me a fit when you sent me back through the portal alone. Don’t you ever do that again, do you hear me?”

  “Is that an order?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, for once I’ll listen to it. But remember, this is an equal marriage we have going on here.”

  “I remember. As long as you’ll stop molly coddling me, I’ll stop ordering you around. Now give a chap a hand.”

  She helped him to his feet. “I thought you’d be able to take Denys.”

  “So did I. Then they pulled a dirty trick on me. They used my mother as a bartering tool. I still don’t know how they managed to get past our lines of defense. That black magic your father is using, is more than we initially bargained for—he took my mother and then opened another damn portal back to Dragonia. Our side is having a time of it, I can tell you.”

  “That’s because Draco has no scruples. Moral high ground for him is no man’s land.” Nicholas grunted. “What happened to Merdwyn?”

  “He’s still out there, doing his best to even the playing ground. I told him I had to find my mother and father. Father has returned to our hidden headquarters to rally more troops. Mother would not leave her post, unless of course, she was taken kicking and screaming. Which, she was, we have to get to her as soon as possible.” Pain flashed in his bright blue eyes.

  “We will reach her in time, William, don’t fret.”

  “The first step of me getting my hope back was seeing you.”

  “Thank you. I rescued Bronwyn along with the rest of the imprisoned royalists and that has boosted our ranks considerably. Victory is still in our sight.”

  “I hope you are right. I never thought I’d see us brought to our knees this way. Even during the last war between dragon shifters and wizards, the damage never reached this colossal height. Your father has no boundaries. His crusade has too high of a cost.”

  “We shall rebuild,” Grania murmured.

  “The humans have been irrevocably scarred. I don’t think my mother and her agents will be able to do damage control, the Genie has been let out of the bottle so to speak. The veil of innocence has been lifted. Mortal life as they know it will never be the same. They’ve seen what we are, and they’ve seen the sort of destruction we can cause when we are fighting a war they didn’t ask for. They could end up reviling us, and calling us abominations—the next thing we know they’ll be organizing witch hunts.”

  “Do you honestly think they aren’t rooting for our side? They have no other hope. They can either accept us for what we are, a blessing, or they can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned. We are the only things standing between them and utter chaos. You have to use that spell! William, please," she implored.

  “I can’t. It’s too risky.” His face paled.

  “You’ve already used it, haven’t you?” She crinkled her eyebrow, watching a multitude of emotions cross his face. He raked his hand nervously through his hair.

  “I did,” he sighed heavily.

  “And what happened?” A dreadful knot lodged in her throat, emotions rushed through her, making water pool in her eyes.

  “I killed about ten dragon shifters. Three of them were on our side. The killing enchantment is a disaster. It sees no difference between good and evil.” He swallowed hard. She could see the hellish emotions warring within him. He had done the unthinkable, and he was having a hard time coming to terms with it. “The spell seems to have a radius of damage. Anyone within about fifty feet of me when I use the incantation is affected. Fortunately, I didn’t take out more of your kind since they were far enough away. That’s why I couldn’t cast it when you were around. You would have been killed as well, and I can’t bear that.”

  “A risk I would welcome when it comes to your life. I won’t have you die because of me. My father has to be stopped. I’m completely willing to die for our cause, William.”

  “I’m not completely willing to let you die, my love. No matter what you say to the contrary.”

  “I know how he feels, Grania. I know too well, since I’ve met Brianna. The dragon shifters William accidentally killed probably had the same mindset you did. You took out some evildoers, my friend and it’s tragic that you killed some of the ones working on our side, but this is war and you have to buck up until we’ve grasped victory. We can’t let anything blindside us, not even your guilt. And on that note, we should get moving. We have to get out there and try to help out.” Nicholas walked toward the door.

  “No, I’m going to Draco’s. I have to save my mother. I know he’s out for her blood. I’m not going to let him spill it.”

  “I’m with William. You can go out and join Merdwyn in the battle, but our place is with Aine.”

  “Good luck you two. Keep your asses out of the fire, got it?” With that, Nicholas took his leave.

  William’s hand clasped hers tightly, and the tingling sensation rushing through got her endorphins up.

  “You want to tell me anything else about your little trip to your father’s inner sanctum?” His question was whispered, but with the edge in his voice, he could have shouted it and wouldn’t have been any more startling.

  She didn’t know how he’d known she’d been at Wyvern Castle. It didn’t surprise her, since their bond was growing stronger by the hour.

  “I found out just how he feels about me. We’re on the same wavelength. He was going to give me back to Denys. Now that definitely can’t happen. I’m going to kill my father.”

  “No. You said you’d released all of his prisoners. You get my mother out when we get there. I’m going to stay behind and duel with your father until he ends up blown from here to kingdom come. It ends, now. I’ve farted around long enough watching while your father wreaks his destruction against me and mine. The spell works, you get out with my mother and I’ll be able to take care of the rest.”

  “No, William that’s absolutely out of the question.”

  “Damnation, you will listen to me, Grania! In th
is, I will not be dissuaded.”

  “I told you already that I won’t listen to your orders. You don’t rule over me with an iron magical fist, William.”

  “I know that. But my plan is better. I stay behind. I take out your father and as many of his followers as I can. Presto Gizmo and everything is honky dory.”

  She stopped, yanking him back with her. “Is that really what you want to do?”

  He nodded his head. “In that case, you will be known as the scourge that saved my people, your people and humanity. I think I like it—there is only one problem, my father is back on Dragonia and most of his troops are here.”

  She was careful not to give him her pledge to leave with his mother. She was going to stay with him until the bitter end. She knew that he faced great odds in getting out of the battle with her father alive. He was probably thinking he’d cast the spell if it was the last thing he did, and if he was going to do his last thing, so would she.

  “Well, you’d better do your stuff so Merdwyn will open the portal for us back to Dragonia. We don’t have any time to lose, besides, I can’t use the spell in London because if I do, I’ll kill a bunch of the royalists, don’t worry we’ll figure something out.”

  “Good idea. As always you’re full of golden ones.”

  Touching the bow, she felt a cool wind whip through the room they stood in. Merdwyn appeared, looking battle worn and a little weary. “I see you want to return to Dragonia. There is only one problem with your plan. Your father is no longer in Dragonia. He has taken up residence in Rowan Castle.”

  “That bastard! He knew that going there would hurt me the most.”

  “You two go to Rowan Castle and I will return to London, William I trust you can get the two of you there on your own magical might?” William nodded his head, a grim look on his face. Snapping his fingers, he opened a portal, and with her hand clasped firmly within his, they walked into it together. When they emerged outside of Rowan Castle, the sight of the lands made her blood curdle.

  “And darkness will reign,” her whispered words, made William squeeze her hand.