“I suppose.”
Silence ruled over them for a bit and Dephithus gradually changed direction back toward the tower.
“Have you met someone?”
Dephithus knew what she meant, though he did not see how she could believe he had met someone who could take her place in so short a time. “No. I still have no prospective brides.”
She laughed a bit nervously. “It’s silly I suppose, but it seems like you’ve been avoiding me and I was sure you must have found someone special.”
Dephithus sighed. Before he really considered what he was going to say, he blurted it out. “I have found someone special, and that someone is you, Myara.”
She stepped around in front of him, forcing him to stop. Her expression was still uncertain, but there was something new in her eyes. Could it be hope that he saw there? “Do you really mean that?”
He shifted his feet and glanced at the ground. Did he? “I…yes, but…”
Myara leaned forward, her eyes closing and her lips moving toward him with obvious intent. Dephithus had a sudden powerful swell of desire and he imagined throwing her down in the grass and entering her right there. He hesitated, trying to bury the image under memories of racing through the fields and climbing the Mother Tree. Was that really him thinking those things? Stepping back, he placed a finger to her lips and shook his head when she opened her eyes suddenly.
Myara backed away, unable to meet his eyes. Even in the dark he could see the color of her cheeks darkening. “I am so sorry. I thought you meant—”
He interrupted her quickly. “You aren’t wrong. I just have a few issues to work out.”
“Issues?” Her face screwed up in a familiar puzzled expression, which he had expected, but he had not expected the way that adorable look suddenly changed, her eyes narrowing to angry slits. “I have been searching my mind for some reason why you would push me away like you have. I don’t like it. It’s not like you. Then I believed I had it all figured out.” Dephithus considered interrupting again then decided against it when her eyes narrowed a little more. “I thought perhaps you had fallen for me too and that was why you were being distant, because you didn’t know how I felt.”
Dephithus leaned forward then, slipping a hand behind her neck almost before she finished speaking. There was no protest in her eyes as he pulled her to him and kissed her. He kissed her deep, his body responding with eager arousal. Slipping his tongue between her lips made him feel like a thief stealing a temple’s treasures. He wanted desperately to press for more, but he did not trust himself not to hurt her, so he pulled away. For a moment she looked as stunned as he felt, then a slow smile curved her lips.
“Now…” he had to pause, finding himself a little short of breath. “Now will you have patience?”
“That depends,” a sly little smile turned her lips. “Are there more of those at the end of the trail?”
Dephithus grinned then, feeling more like himself than he had in days. He should have known she would have that power. “Many more.”
When he returned to the tower he felt more at balance with himself, but the sense of wellbeing was tempered by a sudden rush of nausea since parting with Myara. Perhaps it was a result of being kicked in the chest. He looked up the stairwell. Like it or not, duty called. When he stepped into the tower room, Darkin was back in the corner, sitting this time, his knees pulled to his chest. He did not look up or acknowledge Dephithus in any way. There were dark stains on the shins of both of his pant legs and Dephithus suffered a pang of guilt.
“Are you all right?”
Darkin glanced up, his dark eyes cold with hatred. “I suppose this means I don’t get a go at her.”
Dephithus scowled. His good feeling vanished, but at least the nausea went with it. Leaning against the wall he stared out at the sliver moon and said nothing.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Amahna and Rakas did not speak at all the remainder of the long ride to the Dunues Mountain cave. Back in the cave the silence subsided, but they did not speak of their journey. Most of their conversations were casual and meaningless observations of this change in the flow of daenox or that individual having gained or lost favor with Theruses. She noticed Rakas fondling the ring from the young man in Ithkan much of the time, so she did not press him with talk of Dephithus. If he insisted on bathing himself in guilt, then it only made her job easier. Rakas was quiet and calm on the outside, but she recognized the misery in the language of his expressions and his movements.
Theruses was another matter. Since their return he had become increasingly agitated. It was not obvious at first, but now anyone could see it in the way he wandered through the cave’s passages, restless and distracted, tail lashing. As Amahna and Rakas lounged in a small chamber, one of several with deep daenox illuminated pools in them, they could see him pacing through the adjoining room. They both watched him in wary silence, his tail switching viciously back and forth, until he passed from view. Amahna scowled after him, distressed that he should let his irritation show so plainly, but not certain how she might change it.
“He seems a little distracted,” Rakas commented a little too flippantly.
Amahna nodded in response, too worried to bother reprimanding him for his inappropriate tone. She could not get out of her head how Theruses had been with her the last time they had been together. When she and Rakas returned from their trip to Imperious, Theruses had taken her like he meant to tear her apart. His violent passion had filled her with fear and pain to the point that she had not gotten any pleasure from it. She was still hurting. That had never happened before.
“Perhaps it seems too easy,” she mused, more thinking aloud than seeking input from Rakas.
“Yes.” A shudder forced Rakas to silence for several seconds. When it passed, he said, “I’m sure that’s all it is.” His tone said he was appeasing her. He did not believe it any more than she did.
“Well, he knows the dragons have only a fraction of the power now that they had when they were free.” She hoped Theruses was listening so her words might reassure him. Sometimes he listened to them, sometimes he did not. There was no real way to know who held his attention at any given time.
With a thought, Amahna called Kara to her. The young woman had been moved to the cave before they returned. Theruses had known her pleasure with the young woman’s services through the daenox that spilled over into the village and had given Kara as a reward for Amahna’s fulfillment of his orders. Rakas had received no such gifts. Undoubtedly this was due to the guilt that he carried with him. Guilt that had grown significantly over the course of their journey. Theruses had no patience for such things. Amahna’s gift, the Kithin shepherd woman, was a skilled server and, to her surprise, an eager sexual partner.
Kara stepped into the room and knelt before Amahna, but not before she saw the fondness in Amahna’s gaze and a soft blush colored her cheeks. “How may I serve you, my lady?”
“Wine. For two I think,” she did not look to see if Rakas shared her interest. “I trust you can pick a good one.”
“Thank you, my lady. It is my pleasure to serve.” Kara stood, curtsying gracefully before hastening to her newest duty.
“Has Theruses tried her yet?”
Amahna ignored Rakas until the young woman turned down a passage out of view. When she faced him, he was turning the young man’s ring on his finger and gazing past it into nothingness. “No, she hasn’t met him yet. He wishes that she be mine for now.”
“I suppose that’s best. Once she meets him, you will probably lose her. Skilled as she is, you might lose him too.”
Amahna laughed as if at a joke, but a chill swept through her, bringing gooseflesh up on her arms. The suggestion that he might choose Kara over her did not concern her much. The impudence of the comment was almost enough to anger her. Kara was still much too young and inexperienced to have the drive and creativity necessary to fulfill the demands of Theruses. It was the implication that she somehow had a hold
on Theruses that upset her. It was not an idea that would appeal to their lord much. If he were listening…
She turned away from Rakas as quickly as she dared without alerting him to the panic he had caused. A touch in her mind filled her with icy fear and the blood drained from her face. She could feel Theruses throughout her body, like a thousand hands caressing her at once. His voice in her mind told her she would come to him later when he called, then he was gone.
Kara returned to the chamber then. Forcing herself to breathe normally, she took the goblet Kara now offered her. With a nod to Rakas she gave the young woman permission to serve him as well.
When Kara left the chamber again, Amahna gazed through the crystal of the goblet at the deep red wine it held. Would Theruses caress her as he had if he were angry? No. There was no need for such deceptions between them. If he wanted to punish her, he would do so openly and no one would consider trying to stop him. Theruses was their lord and he would not see them harmed by anyone. At the same time, he would not hesitate to punish anyone he believed deserved it. This was his kingdom and he ruled absolute.
So Amahna waited. For a few minutes, she considered passing the time with Kara. That might annoy Theruses though, if he wanted her to himself today. Instead she waited in the chamber with Rakas who was immersed in his own contemplative silence. Then, perhaps an hour later, that familiar need tugged at her and she rose to follow the call of her lord. The need led her to a part of the cave system she did not recognize. Despite the years she had lived here, the system was vast. There were many areas she did not know well enough to find twice and some she had never seen at all. The path stayed dimly lit just in front of her while the area outside the light remained black as pitch, creating an eerie illusion of walking through nothing.
Finally, she stepped into a chamber that was lit using daenox to create an array of pale glowing orbs around the room that flickered in a candle-like fashion. The chamber was not big, but it was decorated from top to bottom with flowstone cascading down along the walls from the high ceiling and ornate shelfstone rimmed a deep aqua pool to one side of the room. A thick layer of blankets was laid over a naturally formed bed of sorts along one wall. Above the bed a wide fall of flowstone drapery created a canopy effect, adding a touch of natural elegance to the chamber.
The chamber itself was breathtaking, but Theruses was nowhere to be seen. She walked into the center, glancing down into the impossibly deep pool at the eerily lit stalagmites rising through its waters.
“We must celebrate.”
His voice came from all around her and it took considerable will not to cry out in surprise. She bit the inside of her lip and tried to soothe her nerves, resisting the urge to turn and flee as memories of their last pairing touched off a black coil of fear in her gut. A phantom caress along her neck sent a chill down her spine.
“What are we celebrating?” She hoped her fear did not show in her voice.
“The presence of the growing seed of daemon power in the dragon-child has already created a powerful link to the outside world. The daenox can build on that link. As its power consumes and corrupts him, it will free itself a little at a time until the anchor in the outside world is strong enough that it can break out of this cave.” There was silence for a moment, then he appeared before her. “I was too rough with you last time.” He lifted her chin, regarding her through those chilling black eyes. “I will make it up to you now.”
When he kissed her it was firm, though not rough as it had been last time. He was never gentle. Rather, he was erotically forceful, something she appreciated about him. Being taken by him aroused her to the point of intoxication. Her dress moved off her shoulders and slid down her body in a snake-like manner. It was fascinating that a touch of the daenox could make a simple thing like undressing so incredibly arousing. It was plain in mere seconds that he meant what he said. Every sensation was deliberately enhanced with the daemon power that surrounded them. Caresses coming at her from all angles. Touching and teasing. As her body trembled with an overwhelming array of sensations, Amahna began to forget all her fear and pain from last time. This pleasure left room for nothing else.
*
Vanuthan still clung to the wonder and joy she had experienced upon seeing Dephithus. Human though he might be, her essence was in him and she was connected to him no less than she would be to a true son. Despite the wrong that had been visited upon him since that moment, the Mother Dragon could focus on little other than his face in her mind, as clear as if he still stood before her. Her young Dephithus was handsome and perfect, or he had been when she saw him that day.
Amahna’s very presence, saturated with daenox, had been enough to warn her that there was something unpleasant in the works. She had felt it coming long before seeing the woman. The disturbance had begun with Siniva and passed through Cylan and Tikat to her. All of their rage had passed through the web of dragons when Amahna and Rakas used it to travel to Imperious. When they had left, Vanuthan could do nothing to stop them. All she could do was wonder what evil they had worked upon her son.
Since the night of his sixteenth birthday, the echoes of some corruption came through her link to Dephithus, but there were so many limitations to the power of the dragons now. Somehow, Amahna and Rakas had poisoned him with the daenox. She knew their meddling in his conception had been a risk, as had all the dragons that had combined their limited power to make the child possible. The powers they had placed within him were almost more of a curse than a gift. Power that would make him attractive to those who were loyal to the daemon power. It had seemed a risk worth taking because the daenox was imprisoned like they were. Now they knew the daenox still had active servants, worshippers like in the days of old, and those servants had done something to him. Regardless, Dephithus was still their only hope.
It was not only the possible ruin of their plans that upset Vanuthan. Though she had assured the other dragons before they agreed to the plan that she could not love any child that was not a dragon in flesh, her distress now was almost entirely maternal.
She wanted so much to see him again. He was only a boy, a young man by human standards, but he was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. From the start, he was destined to find hardship That was something she had easily accepted, up until the moment Avaline gave birth to their child.
Then it all changed.
Vanuthan was aware of his love for Myara, and she was aware of a new emotion. Something she had never felt from him before. Dephithus hated now. It was a hate she mirrored though she could not know the true depth of it without knowing what had been done to him. It might be easier to cope if she had a choice about helping him. Yet, here she was, one of the oldest of a once powerful race, and she could not help her own son. There was little more she wanted then to pin Amahna and Rakas beneath her lethal claws and make their very soft human flesh suffer for their deeds.
Doing her best to hide her love and anguish from the other dragons, Vanuthan reached out through the web with her mind and focused in on a distant point where the level of distress almost matched her own. It was Siniva. His presence boiled over with restlessness and irritation. She could picture the great fire-bronze dragon pacing, his long tail snapping back and forth with displeasure, claws digging into earth and stone effortlessly. Untouchably beautiful. He felt her touch and she instantly knew his turmoil. At the same moment, all the other dragons received his message and a mixture of rage and fear washed over the web. The effect across the link was nauseating and it took a moment for Vanuthan to truly digest this new information. When she did, her mind went as cold as the stone she was trapped in.
The daenox was starting to break free.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Dephithus showed up at hand-to-hand combat practice early the next morning, hoping to make a better impression than he had on his first day. The floor of the combat stadium was well padded and looked comfortable enough to nap on. The idea appealed to him after the harsh schedule Commander Vi
cor had prescribed him for his first two days as a soldier of the Legion. After his duty in the guard tower he was tired, and his chest was bruised and aching from his confrontation with Darkin. He resented Vicor for the deliberate scheduling of this early practice.
Dephithus was very early, primarily because he had not seen much point in trying to get any sleep by the time he was done with tower duty, so he had come straight here. Even so, there were already several groups practicing around the floor. Vicor spotted him and approached from the far wall. By the sudden anticipation in his expression he had been waiting for Dephithus specifically. There was a small satisfaction in standing his ground and making the commander walk all the way across the stadium, though Vicor did not appear noticeably annoyed.
“Dephithus.”
“Commander Vicor,” he greeted with a slight bow of his head.
“I trust you had a pleasant shift in the guard tower. I do hope your partner was agreeable.”
The smug grin told Dephithus that his draw of partners had been just as deliberate as this miserable practice time. Instead of sneering like he wanted to, he kept his face neutral and nodded abruptly. “Uneventful watch, Commander.”
“Curious,” Vicor muttered to himself then shrugged. “I have arranged a suitable partner for you today. Kota.”
Dephithus hoped his stare was not too obvious. The man who approached them was a good head taller than Dephithus, who topped the commander by several inches himself. For all that Dephithus was solidly built and well-muscled, this giant Vicor called Kota was easily five or six inches broader across the chest and shoulders. Kota was bare-chested, perhaps for effect or perhaps they did not make shirts that big, and his skin was a dark bronze. Since neither Vicor or Kota were laughing, Dephithus figured that this was not the joke he briefly hoped it was.
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