Shannari had sent Dharman, her First Blood, the Red who never left her back unprotected, in order to save him. Even more shocking, the young Red had obeyed her. He'd risked her life to save the one he had every right to despise.
Awed and shaken, Mykal lay there, playing out the Keldari devalki legend in his mind. Yama the Black had plotted to have his competition killed, corrupting and bribing his own tribe to lay in wait and slaughter the Red. However, Agni had saved him in order to save their White Dragon whom they both loved. When the black Keldari tribe had loosed their arrows, they'd killed Somma, not Agni. Her beautiful shining light had gone out, leaving only one scale to hang in the night sky as a reminder of She Who Hung the Moon.
One of us always dies.
Yet here Mykal lay, still breathing. Even while they’d disliked and rightfully suspected him of foul play, her Reds had never killed him, because to harm him would be to harm her heart. Her Reds were all alive and well, and although weak, she shone with her love as brightly as ever.
A hand reached down, clamped on his, and dragged him up. Sal, the red-haired Blood, who had every right to challenge and kill him in order to protect his own place in her heart and bed. Dazed, Mykal stared at the man, trying to think of something to say. Thank you wouldn’t even come close to the overwhelming gratitude he felt. They’d risked her life to save him, even this man who arguably hated him most of all.
“I'm still Second Blood,” Sal said with a grudging smile. “If you feel the need to toss your hair on someone, do it to Dharman.”
“We'll Dance the Blades to see who gets to sleep between her thighs this time.”
Sal grinned wider and leaned close, dropping his voice even though both men knew she heard every word through their bonds. “Perhaps you can convince her to wear the crotchless drawers.”
* * *
EVEN THOUGH ALL SHANNARI WANTED to do was fall into a stupor surrounded by her Blood and her dragon, she forced herself upright instead of climbing into Dharman's arms. “I’m not finished yet. For this, I’ll need all of you again.”
Jorah dragged her into his arms, while Lew wrapped around her from the back, and she let them hold her a minute before moving on to the rest. She touched each warrior, giving them the comfort that she was alive and well.
Sal and Mykal were the last to arrive. The surviving tal had given her Keldari a cloak to wear. She kissed Sal and gave him a playful tug on his hair, and then she turned to Mykal.
Solemnly, she opened his cloak and examined his injuries. His abdomen and groin were scarred from the acid, but his transformation and her constant healing through the bond had prevented the worst. Lightly, she touched his stomach. The thicker scar tissue felt like dragon hide.
“Something by which to remember the Black.” He bowed his head and touched his forehead, heart, and mouth. “My heart beats for you, brightheart.”
Through his bond, she knew he was rocked to the core. He'd fully expected to die; in fact,he'd wanted to die, because he thought the ultimate sacrifice would be the only way to save her and redeem himself.
Father Josef laid his hand on the Keldari's bowed head. “Your love redeems you. Love conquers even the blackest shadow of night, and your son will be proof of that gift.”
Mykal’s knees trembled and he nearly fell. She grabbed his arm, and Sal took his other. “It’s true, then?” His voice was hoarse, his eyes shimmering with tears. “You carry my foul seed?”
“Not foul.” She stroked her hand over his cheek. “I know what you Dreamed, Mykal, but Our Blessed Lady has another Dream. She wishes a son to shine as brightly as her love, even though he carries a thread of Shadow.”
“Why would you risk yourself like this? I saw, brightheart. I saw what I did to you and I can’t bear—”
“Do I love you?”
“Beyond my wildest hopes.”
She smiled and pressed her lips to his in a soft, gentle kiss. “Then have faith in the strength of my heart. Trust me to love your son as well. That will be enough. Now, come closer. I need to make use of your friend and rebuild the Palace before my knees give out.”
By the confusion on his face, he didn’t understand. Even Father Josef arched his brow expectantly. She moved back to the Great Seal. “Come near, all of you, but don’t touch the Seal yet.”
She waited until they were all ringed about her, Dharman at her back, Mykal at her front, Sal and Jorah on either side, and the priest waiting. “Do you need the Rose Crown for this?”
“I don’t think so.” She pointed to the intricate design inlaid in the marble. “This is what gave me the idea to use the ring. See? The lion is wearing a band on its claw, the same as the dragon. If you look carefully, the rose vines climbing around the outer ring appear to be hiding something. At first, I thought it was a snake, but after seeing dragons in the flesh, well, I recognize them better.”
Father Josef bent down and touched the ring embedded in the marble. “Of course. It was a perfect fit. I feel the dragon hovering here, even though I can’t see him.”
“Exactly.” She took a deep breath and centered her mind and heart on the Silver Lake that welled inside her. She built the image until she could see the full moon shining low and gorgeous in the sky, so close she could touch it. In the distance, Vulkar’s Mountain cast a deep red glow against the night, and for the first time in her life, the thick cloaking shadows weren’t threatening to overwhelm everything.
In fact, there was only one Shadow left, and it coalesced into the Black Dragon. She looked down at her reflection in the water to confirm that she appeared as the White. He crouched in the water, wings and tail clamped tight, his triangular head averted. She'd betrayed him. She’d stolen him from his Keldari body and chained him to her will.
“I gave you blood,” she whispered aloud so they would all hear. “I bound you with my love.”
:You bound me with my love,: he retorted, snorting black soot at her. Ignoring his ire, she moved closer and wrapped her neck around his, rubbing scale against scale in a long, sinuous weaving that lit his eyes with fire.
“I need you.”
In her mind, she saw black and white dragons entwined, falling in a spiral toward the earth. :Evermore.:
“I will give you my blood on every full moon to keep you strong and happy. All I ask is that you protect me and anyone who carries my blood, whether my children or through my bonds.” Deliberately, she drew on the ten bonds that blazed in her mind: nine of molten red, her Blood sworn to protect her with the last breath in their bodies; and one of black, her Keldari who’d once carried this same dragon. Those bonds whirled and spun in her mind, a kaleidoscope of love and strength.
“Use your Shadow to detect assassins before they strike. You may feast on anyone who’s tainted and dares come into my Shining Walls. Feast, my Black, and keep me and my children safe from harm. Will you do this?”
:I allowed myself to be chained for you. I will do as you ask.:
Wincing, she reopened the wound on her hand. In the vision, scarlet ribbons wrapped around the White’s shimmering foreleg. She held it out to him and raised her voice. “By my blood, I bind you. By my love, I chain you. Protect anyone who carries my blood and feast on the Shadowed who plot to harm me and mine. As long as my White line offers blood every full moon, thus you are bound to protect and defend.”
Blood dripped on the Great Seal and she felt a wave of power spring up in a chilling wave. The Black Dragon hovered inside the circle and licked the blood from her hand.
:I accept your oath, Daughter of Somma.:
He shot into the night sky, spreading black wings like a protective blanket over the Palace. In her mind, she saw a fierce black dragon with wings beating the air, red eyes glaring at each person in Shanhasson. Hissing with hunger, he curled through the city streets, a nightmare of smoke and shadow, hunting for evil.
She had a feeling he would be very busy for awhile. Indeed, she felt the first attack, and a victorious roar rumbled through the bond.
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“Feast on Shadow.” She shivered, wondering how many might die by morning. Opening her eyes,she met Mykal's gaze. “I need my bonded warriors to offer blood, if you’re willing.”
Sal snickered as though she’d made a grand joke. Indeed, before she’d finished the sentence, ten warriors held bleeding hands out before them.
“Step onto the Seal.” Her Nine Blood did so without hesitation, but Mykal trembled, his eyes widening. “Even you, my black Keldari. I need you all.”
As though he expected the Black Dragon to soar back and snag him in his mighty jaws at such an obscenity, Mykal gingerly stepped onto the mosaic. The shimmering wall of power never faltered.
She smiled, letting him feel her love through the bond. “Come close, my loves, and help me rebuild the Palace.”
Dharman was the first to touch her. He wrapped both arms around her and held his wounded hand up for her to taste if she desired.
The sweet scent of honeycakes made her mouth water. His scent blended with Sal’s gingerbread, Jorah’s clean sunshine on a crisp spring morning, Lew’s well-worn leather, and Mykal’s sandalwood. Each scent, each blood, each heart, she knew them without looking. She felt them deep in her heart and soul. With their blood mingling with hers, she let her head fall back against Dharman’s chest.
Holy waters bubbled up out of her, a geyser of magic and moonlight.
She didn’t try to control it. Our Blessed Lady knew best what She wanted her High Court to resemble. Shannari simply acted as the vessel and let Her work through her body. Waters poured through her, a sea of endless love, sweeping her higher. Shanarri floated on the Silver Lake, gently rocking, back and forth, while Our Blessed Lady smiled down from the moon above.
CHAPTER
TWENTY SIX
SHANNARI STRETCHED WITHOUT OPENING HER EYES. She felt the heavy weight of Dharman at her back, alert and ever present. Silken hair tumbled heavily over her face, scented with cinnamon and spice. She didn't know how long she'd slept, but she felt well rested and fully at peace. Something she hadn't felt in a very long time.
The High Throne was secure at last. Her Council was bound to her tighter than ever. With the dragon hovering over Shanhasson and devouring any creature of Shadow which even thought to assassinate her bloodline, she could at last bring her children home.
Her heart was full. Gregar and Rhaekhar might be dead, but they were far from gone. Her heart ached, swelled with bonds belonging to warriors she loved as much as she'd ever loved her first two mates. She couldn't even think of loneliness or grief.
Nine bonds glowed like the heartfires of the earth, and Dharman spoke for each of her Blood: You shall never be alone, na'lanna. Our hearts are yours.:
One bond curled tight and small in the deepest corner of her mind. The hissing, poisonous dragon had been dragged out of Mykal to protect her city, but the desert savage remained, as Shadowed as he'd ever been.
No, that thought was his, not hers.
Sitting up, she sought him. Despite the nearness of his bond, she couldn't see him in the darkened room. One of the Blood had thrown open the shutters to the balcony, and the silvered moon rose to shine with love over Shanhasson. Mykal stood out there alone in the night, and through his bond, she knew he contemplated throwing himself off the soaring towers to dash against the cobblestones far below.
“Mykal,” she called softly, tugging on his bond. “Come hold me.”
He hesitated in the doorway, a shadow against the brightness of the moonlit night. “I have no right.”
“You have every right. Come to bed.”
He stepped into the room a few paces, but still made no move to join her. “Your Reds will surely object.”
“Not if you don't mind the middle this time,” Sal said with a wicked, husky laugh that quickened her heartbeat and sent molten heat curling through her. “I want to see if you can drink from her long enough to make her claw me to ribbons.”
Deliberately, she laid her hand on his stomach and sank her fingernails into his skin hard enough he gave an eager whimper. “Mykal, what's wrong? We won. You're alive.”
“Exactly,” he whispered in a voice harsh with broken glass and jagged rock. “One of us always dies. This time, I was determined it would be me, not you.”
“I've lost enough loves, wouldn't you agree?” Gently, she stretched out her hand, but he flinched. “Do you doubt that I love you?”
“I'm supposed to die,” he repeated, refusing her invitation. “I need you to be safe.” From me.
Tears burned her eyes, and her chest tightened, making it difficult to breathe. “Would Stephan have sacrificed his life to save me?”
He spat out a word violently that was no doubt a Keldari curse. “You know he—I—wouldn't have lifted a finger to save you.”
“And that is why I love you, Mykal tal'Mamba. Now come to bed and make love to me so hard and long that my Blood will begin to worry anew.”
Dharman snorted. “He is welcome to try, na'lanna.”
Cloth whispered to the floor and then Mykal knelt at the foot of her bed, his head bowed so his hair covered his face. “I have nothing left, brightheart. The dragon that tempted you to blood and shadows is gone. I'm just a man, a man you rightfully despised for years.”
She reached up and buried her hands in his hair. Holding him tightly, she lay back on the bed and forcibly dragged him with her so he sprawled across her lower body. “Just a man who loves me, and I promise you, my Keldari savage, I still hunger for your blood.”
“Then take every drop in my body.”
Arching her back, she shifted beneath him and wrapped her legs around him. She left a hand in his heavy oiled hair, but reached out to Sal. Her red-haired Blood moved higher in the big bed, deliberately letting her hand slip down to his buttocks. She gripped him tighter until he groaned low and deep in his throat.
She turned her head to the warrior at her back. “I want your blood first.”
The words were barely out of her mouth, and Dharman wrapped his arm around her, offering his muscled biceps. “You know what your teeth do to me,” he warned, his eyes gleaming.
“I'm counting on it.”
Sal ran his mouth down her neck as she licked and teased Dharman's arm with her teeth, and finally she felt Mykal's moist, hot breath fluttering across her stomach. Perhaps it was nearly losing him combined with the long ordeal of fighting dragons and the dread threat of Shadow, but it only took a few delicate laps of his tongue to drive her teeth deeply into Dharman's muscle. However, it was Sal's blood that she scented. The tips of her fingers burned and she feared she'd raked his flank deeply with the White Dragon's talons, but his pleasure flooded the bond, pushing her closer to release. The Silver Lake crested within her, and she poured that water into Mykal, flooding their bond with pure sweet water and the silvered light of Love.
Panting, she pulled on his hair until he rose over her and slid home into her welcoming body. Heart to heart, he stared down into her eyes. Rivulets of tears trickled down his sharp cheekbones. “I found Tellan in your arms, brightheart. I'm still falling, and all I see is you.”
She leaned up and licked his tears away. “Then I'll catch you.”
* * *
SITTING ON THE HIGH THRONE with the heavy Rose Crown on her head, Shannari gazed out at the newly rebuilt High Court with wonder. An intricate framework of shining pearl and crystal domed overhead, letting the sunshine cast rainbows across the white marbled floor. When the full moon gleamed in the sky, the whole Palace resonated with sweet music.
The two massive rearing lions on either side of the High Throne were gone. All around the dais, water flowed, bubbling up from the bone-white roots of a tree no one had ever seen in the Green Lands. Gregar had called it the kae'sangral, the most holy: white trunk of Leesha or Somma, black leaves of Lygon or Yama, and the red of Vulkar or Agni. The Trinity reflected a thousand times over, and now, it stretched its leaves high over her head.
Her own Black stood on her right, d
ressed once more in his enveloping cloak and desert garb. On her left, Dharman stood in his red memsha, his hand on her shoulder. Sal and Jorah sat on the steps and leaned back against her legs. The rest of the Blood arced about the dais, waiting for their visitors.
“I should have ridden out to meet them,” she said for at least the thousandth time.
Dharman met Mykal’s gaze with a look that spoke volumes. “Patience, na’lanna. Khul will bring his party straight to you, and we all agreed it would be safer for you here.”
What they didn’t say was her own fragile stomach had prevented her from riding. Just the thought of climbing onto a horse, even with Wind’s incredibly smooth gait, made her face feel tight and clammy. Father Josef had confirmed she was indeed pregnant, with only one baby this time, but the morning sickness was just as bad as with the twins. Hopefully the delivery would be easier.
By the queasiness she felt in Dharman’s bond, he hoped so too.
The heavy gilt door swung open and the steward made the announcement she’d been agonizing to hear.
“Drendon, Khul of the Nine Camps of the Sha’Kae al’Dan, and the Royal Highnesses Rhyra and Anya dal’Shannari dal’Dainari.”
“Mama!”
Already crying, Shannari jumped out of the throne and rushed down the aisle. Golden and black hair streaming behind them, her daughters slammed into her, giggling and babbling about all the things they’d been doing since she’d seen them last. She simply held them and smiled, nodding and listening to every precious word.
Rhaekhar gazed back at her from Rhyra’s eyes; Gregar winked and laughed in Anya’s adorably wicked expression.
Rhyra's blue eyes turned solemn. “Are the bad men gone now, Mama?”
“Absolutely,” Shannari promised, hugging each girl. “You can stay with me forever.”
Biting her lip, Anya hung her head.
Shannari gently tilted her face up to hers. “The Plains are as much your home as Shanhasson, though. I want you to stay with me as long as possible, but I won’t keep you here forever.”
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