Dragon Mates: Dragon Knights (The Sea Captain's Daughter Trilogy Book 3)

by Bianca D’Arc

  The idea was mind-boggling, and strangely comforting. Perhaps he could have some purposeful existence even without his ability to see. Or perhaps he was just fooling himself. He was a dragon that couldn’t fight on land anymore, so what good was he, really?

  Into these depressing thoughts came a voice from outside his own mind. A voice quite different from those of the humans, and even the fair folk. No, the wizard had a timbre all his own, a magic that flowed in his words and his very presence.

  Hrardorr blinked his useless eyes, becoming aware of the wizard’s presence, though Gryffid was not physically in the great hall. How Hrardorr knew this, he wasn’t sure.

  “Be at ease, my friend,” Gryffid said in Hrardorr’s thoughts.

  Oddly, the wizard’s words did put Hrardorr at ease. Was this a dream?

  “It is not a dream. I merely wish to speak with you privately, without anyone else knowing we have talked. I don’t wish to add any pressure to the decision I’m going to ask you to make.”

  That sounded ominous, but Hrardorr was a guest in the wizard’s household. He would be courteous and listen to anything his host had to say. Whether or not he agreed with it, or decided to act on it, was yet to be seen.

  “What is it you wish to say, Master?” Hrardorr asked politely.

  “I have been pondering your situation since I became aware of it. I suspect you have given up on ever seeing again, and although I’m not sure what the healers have said to you, there is only a slight chance that your vision will regenerate on its own. And, if it does, it will not be any time soon. Such a condition takes time for the body to heal—if it’s even possible. However,” the wizard went on, “that doesn’t mean there may not be a magical cure…or at least, a workaround that might be accomplished through magic, as I’ve mentioned to you before.”

  Hrardorr waited for the wizard to continue, though he feared Gryffid’s proposed solution hadn’t changed since the last time he’d mentioned it.

  “It would require great sacrifice on your part, and the willing aid of another. As I told you before, if you were to bond with another human, I could set a spell that would allow you to see through his eyes.”

  Hrardorr’s hopes fell once more. His head dropped to the floor as he deflated.

  “I will not take another knight,” he reminded the wizard in a small voice.

  “Will not,” Gryffid repeated his words. “Not can not.” Gryffid let his words sink in before continuing. “I know this is not easy for you to contemplate, but without the bond, the spell cannot be powered. It must feed back upon itself through the two of you. Yourself and whoever it is you choose to be your eyes. You would see what he sees, and as such, it would require that he be near you at all times. The most sensible course is for you to choose another knight—though I know how much the thought of that pains you. For a knight is ever with his dragon partner, and such a man would be in the best position to allow you to see what you need to see.”

  “Is there no other way?”

  “No. I’m sorry. I have thought on this problem quite a lot before deciding to approach you. Since hearing the news from the mainland and surmising that your time here may be running short, I thought I should present the opportunity to you and allow you to make an informed decision. For what you have done for my people and my island, I owe you much more than this, my friend. You will always have a place here, should you wish it, and I will keep the offer open to cast this spell for as long as you live. Perhaps, one day, you’ll find a man you wish to be your knight, and if your eyesight has not returned, you may wish to go through with this plan. It is up to you, Hrardorr. You know how best to serve your land and your honor.”

  With that, the wizard’s presence left Hrardorr’s mind, leaving the dragon’s thoughts in turmoil. The thought of seeing again—albeit through someone else’s eyes—was tantalizing in the extreme. Hrardorr wanted to see again so badly, he would do just about anything…except bond with another knight.

  It was too traumatic when they died. Too gut-wrenching, heartbreaking, and pain-inducing. And how could he in good conscience subject some brave soul to becoming his personal service animal? How could he find a man willing to sacrifice, or at least to curtail, his own freedom in such a way?

  Seth came to mind. Of course he did. Seth was the most unselfish person Hrardorr knew. Seth would do it. He would sacrifice his own happiness, as he had before, to help someone else, but could Hrardorr truly ask it of him?

  It wouldn’t be fair to Seth. Not at all.

  And Hrardorr still didn’t think he could erase Theo’s memory so easily. Theo had died in the battle that had taken Hrardorr’s sight. He’d been a young man, and Hrardorr had looked forward to many years spent with his young knight. Little had they both known their time together would be cut so short. So very short.

  Hrardorr hadn’t really had time yet to grieve properly. Or heal the raw wound in his soul where Theo had been joined to him. Such things took time. Normally, they took decades of solitude and grieving on the dragon’s part. To ask Hrardorr to bond with another man so quickly… It was unheard of. It was almost barbaric.

  It dishonored Theo’s memory.

  Hrardorr sighed heavily, the weight of the decision Gryffid had asked him to make nearly crushing down over his wounded spirit. He couldn’t do it. Not now. Maybe not ever.

  And yet…

  The temptation was hard to resist.

  Hrardorr lay his head down on his forearms, curling up next to Genlitha—the dragoness he would have chosen as his mate had fate been kinder to him. Sharing her warmth as he could share nothing else with her, he fell into a troubled sleep.

  Bright and early the next morning, Seth and Livia watched Gowan and Genlitha take to the air and wing away from Gryphon Isle. Accompanying them were Seth’s parents—dragon and human alike. Seth was sad to see them go. It felt like they’d only just arrived, and now, dire necessity was calling them back to the mainland after only about a week on the island.

  He knew his time here was coming to an end, as well. His precious time with Livia would soon be over. The thought hurt more than he cared to admit, but the situation on the mainland was calling to him. People were in danger and fighting for their lives and their homes. Seth could help.

  No, Seth had to help. His sense of honor and duty forbade him to stay safely here while his countrymen were in peril. He might not be a knight, but he was a citizen of Draconia, and he’d been raised according to knights’ standards. How could he not feel the pull of duty, coming from the family he had?

  Going back was the right thing to do, but he had to finish what he’d started here first. He’d spent part of the night before redrawing his plans for what to show the island healers. If they were as quick on the uptake as he hoped, he might be able to get out of here within a day, or two at the most. Now he just had to figure out how, exactly, he was going to get back to the mainland.

  Livia sighed and turned to Seth, seeking shelter under his arm. “I suppose it’s time we started thinking about going home too.”

  Seth shouldn’t have been surprised that his thoughts and hers aligned. They were so compatible in so many ways, it only made sense that they would be thinking the same thing on this occasion.

  “I hate to leave, but I must,” Seth told her.

  “I know. Me too.” She lay her cheek on his shoulder, her soft palms on his chest.

  “I’ve got a full day scheduled with the healers,” Seth told her. “If all goes well, I might be able to leave as early as tomorrow. I’m just not sure how I’m going to get back to the mainland.”

  Livia leaned back to look up into his eyes. “I’m sure I can fill what little space remains in the hold of my boat by tomorrow. We can sail back together.”

  Seth saw the sorrow in her eyes. They both knew that, when they resumed their normal lives, they wouldn’t be so free as they had been on this island. They would have to put up the pretense of polite conversation and live separately once more.


  But they could have one last journey together. One last space of hours together alone, on the sea. It would have to be enough.

  “I’d like that,” Seth answered, saying so much more with his simple reply than he could fit into words. He thought maybe she understood.

  They each went off to perform their various tasks of the day. Seth went to the healers, spending the next hours trying to impart all the important knowledge he could about dragons and their care. He hoped it was enough.

  When he met up with Livia again at dinner that evening, she reported success in her own mission to fill the hold of her boat. They would be able to leave the next day, and the thought made him very sad, indeed.

  For one thing, Seth had no idea if Hrardorr would be returning to Draconia anytime soon. He hadn’t mentioned his plans, and Seth had been afraid to ask. Hrardorr was so happy here among the sea dragons. He’d confessed to learning a great deal from them, as well as sharing his experiences on land and in the air with them. He’d made friends.

  And these friends didn’t look down on him or pity him for his lack of vision. In the sea, they were on even footing, using other senses besides sight to see where they were going. Seth didn’t fully understand it, of course. It was some miracle of Hrardorr’s sea dragon heritage. One he shared with the other sea dragons he had encountered on Gryphon Isle. Seth wondered if Hrardorr would ever want to come home.

  Hrardorr tried his best to go to sleep in front of the fire in the great hall, as he had almost every night since coming to Gryphon Isle, but sleep eluded him. He was alone. Genlitha had flown away that morning, leaving him lonelier than he’d expected. Randor and Alirya had left with Gerard, Paton and Enid, as well. Only young Xanderanth remained of the land dragons, and he was ensconced in his new Lair down by the beach on the other side of the island.

  More than being alone, Hrardorr felt ill at ease with the idea that his fellow dragons had answered the call to help defend the Southern shores of Draconia, and yet, he was still lounging here, in front of the wizard’s fire, safe and sound. He should be in Draconia, fighting alongside his brethren. He shouldn’t be sitting this one out. Not when he could still contribute from the water.

  But the pirates knew about him now. Further victories wouldn’t be so easy to come by. Still, it pained him not to be flying back home. It hurt his honor and his pride to not be able to join the defenders of the coast, the way he longed to do.

  The last battle he had fought in along the border with Skithdron had killed more than just his knight. It had killed Hrardorr’s future and all his options. He was a cripple now. Unable to go anywhere without assistance. He couldn’t even feed himself—though he had to admit, underwater, those limitations were gone.

  Maybe he should just give up his homeland and try to make a go of it with the sea dragons. Although their simple lifestyle might be appealing for a short period, Hrardorr was used to living and working alongside humans, working together toward the common goal of protecting Draconia’s borders and people. The sea dragons had no such obligations. They simply existed from day to day, concerned only with their own pleasures and needs.

  Hrardorr wasn’t built that way. He’d had a strong sense of duty from his earliest days and had been raised by parents who had taught him the value of honor and service to the greater good. More than that, Hrardorr loved his homeland. He enjoyed the company of other land dragons who had similar outlooks to his own. He didn’t have to explain anything to his comrades who had also dedicated their lives to working with knights and protecting the kingdom.

  The sea dragons didn’t really understand him, or why the dragons of Draconia would bond themselves so tightly with humans. They couldn’t fathom why any dragon would give up a significant portion of their innate magic to lengthen the lifespan of a human.

  Perhaps that was changing now with Shara and Lizbet, but the change, if it came, would take generations. The bond between dragon and fey was slightly different from all Hrardorr had observed. The bond with a human knight went deeper and demanded more commitment from both parties.

  If the sea dragons began to bond more regularly with the fair folk, Hrardorr considered that to be a good step forward. But it wouldn’t be the same as the centuries of loyalty that bound the dragons of Draconia to their knights. Not by a long shot.

  Hrardorr wanted so badly to answer the call, but he still struggled with his handicap. He wanted so much to be as he had been before. He wanted to be whole again, no matter how impossible that might sound. And then, there was so wizard’s tantalizing offer. Hrardorr’s mind had been in chaos since Gryffid’s late-night communication the night before.

  He didn’t know what to do. And then, at dinner, Seth and Livia had announced their intention to sail away the next day. Hrardorr had come to realize that, if he were going to accept the wizard’s offer, he couldn’t see himself bonding with any other man than Seth. Seth, who should always have been a dragon knight. There was no finer man, and no finer choice, if Hrardorr was going to choose.

  Whether he would or not, Hrardorr still didn’t know. The temptation was great, but so was his desire to stay as separate as possible and not bond to anyone.

  Gryffid, as if sensing Hrardorr’s turmoil, had stopped for a few moments to speak with him quietly after dinner was over. The wizards had reiterated his offer and spent a few minutes commiserating the hard choice Hrardorr had to make. None of it had helped. Hrardorr’s mind was still in an uproar, and he didn’t know what to do.

  He wished he could just continue as he had been for the past week or two, enjoying his time among the sea dragons and the other folk of Gryphon Isle. The past days had been as close to his old life as he could come now. He’d made friends and learned from them as he had been able to share his experiences in return. Hrardorr had thought that part of his life had been over for good, but he’d been proven wrong by the sea dragons. Happily so.

  If he could just turn his back on his oath to Draconia and ignore the tugging of his conscience, he would happily stay here forever…and forget.

  But he couldn’t forget. His conscience was killing him. His honor demanded action. His oath demanded that he return to the land of his birth in its hour of need. He might be blind, but he’d proven useful in the last two battles. Perhaps he could do more to help with the challenges to come.

  He had to go back. That decision was simple, if agonizing. The bigger decision that faced him was much harder to make. If he was going to take the wizard up on his offer, Hrardorr would have to do it before they left the island. Only Gryffid could set the spell, and he would need both Hrardorr and Seth to be here in order to do it.

  The later the hour, the more upset Hrardorr became. He didn’t know which way to turn. He didn’t want to bond with Seth, but he wanted to see—even if only through another being’s eyes. If only there was some way to test it without committing them both to a lifetime bonded with no recourse.

  “That’s possible,” came the wizard’s voice, unbidden, into Hrardorr’s mind. “Not preferable, but I can see this decision is even harder on you than I thought it would be. I’m not in the habit of listening in on the private thoughts of my guests, so I hope you’ll forgive an old man for butting in.”

  Hrardorr was shocked. Gryffid was the last of the great wizards. He had created the gryphons. His brother wizard, Draneth the Wise, had joined the dragons and humans of Draconia for all time. Hrardorr felt a natural awe of him and was astounded that such a great man would speak so to a humble—blind—dragon.

  “Master, I can take no offense. I am humbled that you would care to listen to the stray thoughts and chaotic ramblings of my troubled mind. I’m sorry if I disturbed you in any way.”

  “Nonsense. I put you in a hard position, my young friend. I gave you a predicament, and I’m sorry for it. There is little I can do to ease your burden, though we may be able to do as you suggest—a trial period, of sorts. If Seth is agreeable, I can cast a weaker version of the spell I have been contemplating. You c
an both see what it would be like if you joined permanently and you could see through Seth’s eyes. I assume the young healer is the man you would choose, no?”

  “Yes, Master. Seth is the only man I would consider at this time. He is a good and noble being who should always have been a knight, though he chose a different path for entirely selfless reasons. I just would not saddle him with a crippled dragon partner if there was any other way.” Hrardorr felt his sorrow return. How could he, in good conscience, do this to Seth?

  “Noble as you are, Sir Hrardorr, you must let Seth make his own decisions,” Gryffid said gently.

  “But you know Seth well enough by now, surely,” Hrardorr argued respectfully. “He always puts his own needs behind that of others. He is as selfless as the day is long and finds it impossible to say no when anyone asks him for help. He would not say no if I asked him to do this thing.”

  “Perhaps, but I think you are wrong about why he would do it, if you asked,” Gryffid insisted, still in a gentle tone. “He would do it because it’s you that asked. Because he cares for you. He would be your knight regardless of whether or not you could see. He would be your partner in all things, not for his own glory or some vain notion of being a knight, but because you asked. You alone, Hrardorr, among all the dragons he has known in his lifetime, have earned his fellowship in a unique way. You could be brothers. Partners for his lifetime. If you allowed yourself to let him into your heart.”

  Hrardorr paused, thinking hard about the wizard’s words. Finally, he realized the fault—as usual, these days—was within him, not in Seth.

  “I’m afraid,” Hrardorr whispered in his mind.

  Gryffid sent a wave of reassuring energy through the thoughts that connected them. “I understand, perhaps better than you think. It is not easy to walk a path few others have ever, or could ever, walk. But you are a brave dragon, Hrardorr. One of the finest of your kind I have ever met, and I knew many dragons of old.”