by Paula Quinn
And here he was, not running.
“I wasn’t there for her,” she quieted her voice to a whisper, trying to swallow the terrible sounds that ached to come out of her mouth.
“Neither was I.”
Here he was, hurting with her.
She tried to stop the floodgates from opening but he was knocking them down, kicking them aside, ready to catch her in his arms when she fell. She loved him madly, fangs, scales, wings, and all.
*
Jacob closed his arms around her and buried his face in her hair. He didn’t think his heart could break any more than it already had, but he was wrong. River’s sobs broke through every barrier he’d ever built. He didn’t know what to do to help her, so he held her tight and cried with her. After a few minutes, he lifted her and carried her to a rock wall along the bank. He sat down against it and pulled her close.
She tried to speak a few times but her body seemed to exist solely to house her cries.
How had this happened? How had he allowed such harm to come to her? Maybe she was right. Maybe he should leave. She’d be safer without him in her life.
But the scent of her, the sound of her, the feel of her would haunt him. She was everything to him. She was home. She was satisfaction, contentment, the fulfillment of his every desire. He’d never be able to stay away from her.
He’d help her do whatever she needed to do to smile again. But he couldn’t let her tell Red anything about their blood.
She was mumbling unintelligible things into his soaking wet neck when he thought he heard something else.
A small, weak voice.
He sat up almost pushing River off him. “A cramp,” he explained when she blinked her tear-filled eyes at him.
Hello?
Jacob, it was Red, bringing Jacob to his feet. After you mentioned my eating a girl—when I hadn’t, I went back and had a look around, I found this little morsel with blue hair washed up on the rocks, half-drowned and banged up pretty bad. She probably slipped and—
Red, is she alive?
Bring me Garion’s blood and you can have her. That’s all I want, Jacob. You can save her. I don’t think it’s too late. I could be wrong though.
“Jacob?” River asked cautiously as she rose to go to him. “Is it your leg?”
His eyes poured over her. He could make it all right again. He could get Ivy back without involving her.
“Yes,” he groaned.
Red, I have something more valuable than Garion’s blood. Tell me where she is and I’ll bring it to you. Alone.
“Can you like…open a line so I can speak to Red and make my deal?” River wiped her nose and asked.
Jacob nodded, then pretended to connect them. He listened in while she called to him and felt like hell for what he was doing.
“River,” he began. He had to tell her. “I think I—”
What do you want me to think you found, White?
“Why isn’t it answering?” River demanded.
Her hair blew across her face like red war paint. A different kind of storm than the one that had just passed brewed in her eyes. Looking at her was like looking at some ancient Pictish warrior queen. She was strong. Stronger than Jacob had given her credit for. She’d let herself grieve and find some comfort in his arms, but now she was back to wanting to fight. He had to keep her away from Red.
“What kind of coward is this son of a—”
“River,” he stopped her. He needed to tell her what was going on or risk losing her for good. She would be able to handle it. “It’s Red. He’s talking to me now. He won’t open a connection to you.”
Red, he quickly switched his thoughts back to the Drakkon, like you, I found something. It has tremendous power. I don’t want it. I simply want the girl. She has become part of my treasure. We make the trade and Garion doesn’t have to know anything.
“What do you mean he won’t talk to me? Why not?”
Jacob looked at her. He’d do anything for her, but he wouldn’t let her go.
A part of your treasure, you say? Red asked, his interest piqued. What can this thing do?
Everything. It makes the Gold’s blood obsolete.
Is it an egg? Red asked with excitement in his tone. Has a White found an egg yet again?
We’ll talk again soon, Jacob replied and cut the connection, leaving Red wanting more.
“Jacob,” she tugged on the sleeve of his robe, “tell him my deal. Tell him to meet me—”
“River,” Jacob put his finger over her lips to quiet her. “I think I heard Ivy.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Red says he found her.” Jacob smiled looking into River’s wide, stunned eyes. “I think she’s alive.”
“What?” The question came like a high-pitched squeak. “Alive? She’s alive?” She swayed on her feet but Jacob held her steady. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know yet, but—”
She freed herself from his grip and looked up at the sky. “Where is she!” she roared, her voice echoing off the crags. No reply came, though Jacob didn’t expect one.
River turned to him in the stillness, her gaze as hard as granite. “You told him about the deal.”
“Yes,” he told her the truth.
“Will he meet me?”
“No, River. But he might meet me.” He told her what he’d told Red. “He thinks I’ve found an egg, a magic one, like Garion. He’s very interested. Let’s give him a little while to let it simmer. But not too long.”
“Why?” She pulled back on his hand when he moved to go. “What aren’t you telling me?”
Damn it, he didn’t want to give her hope and then snatch it away again. He raked his fingers through his hair and set his eyes on hers. “He says she isn’t well. She may have fallen from the cliffs.”
“What? No!” She yanked her hand away and grasped his wrists. “Jacob, we have to get her back! What do we do? We have to hurry!”
“We have to do this right or we’ll lose her,” he told her in a calm, steady voice. “He believes I have something priceless that I would give up for Ivy.”
“Why would he believe that?” She looked angry enough to punch him. He didn’t back away. “It makes no sense. Helena said he heard the life mate music last night. He spoke to me. He knows Ivy isn’t the one.”
“I told him she was part of my treasure,” Jacob explained. “He knows what that means. A Drakkon would give anything to get its treasure back.”
Her eyes filled with tears yet again. She bit her lip, drawing his gaze there. “Ivy is part of your treasure?”
“Yes,” he told her softly, his eyes going warm and golden. “Your father, too. I’ll do whatever I have to do not to lose any one of you.”
Her soft smile made his heart accelerate. “I’m sorry for being hard on you before.”
He moved in closer, cupping her cheek in his hand. “When were you hard on me?”
Her smile deepened and she turned her face to kiss his fingers. “What do we do? If he can heal her—”
“As far as we know, neither of you are descendants. In that case, even Garion can’t help. I’m not giving this information to Red. I’ll find her and if she can be healed, I’ll do it myself.”
“Well, how do we find out if she’s a descendant for sure?”
The phones were at the house, along with Garion’s mobile hotspot. “I know a way. Come on.”
They reached the house a little while later. Jacob was already in contact with his sister.
Where’s your phone? I need to see the Elder Scrolls right now.
Why?
I’ll explain later, Helena. Please, just tell me what I need to get to the scrolls.
She told him what he wanted to know and remained quiet while he went with River to her room and rummaged through Helena’s bag for her phone.
Jacob. It was Garion. What’s going on? Did you find Red?
No. Where’s your hotspot thing?
Jacob. The Gold Drakkon had
only spoken his name but the deep rumble was infused with impatience. We’re on the way back and if you don’t tell me what’s going on, I’m going to kick your ass when I get there.
One corner of Jacob’s mouth hooked into a smile. Garion wouldn’t touch him. He was part of his sister’s treasure. Never mind. I found it.
You don’t know the password, his brother-in-law pointed out with a satisfied growl.
Of course, Jacob knew the password. That was the easy part. Hell, it’s your treasures. Listen, he continued at the change in Garion’s breath. I don’t have time for this now. I’ll tell you everything when you get here.
He cut the connection with the couple and sat beside River on her bed. “I don’t know when or why the Elders created this scroll, or how the hell my sister found it, but it’s a list of every descendant, living or dead.”
“But Helena already checked,” River reminded him. “She said Wray wasn’t on it.”
“I know but I want to check your mother’s name. It’s a longshot.” Jacob turned on the device. It asked for a password. He didn’t think about it long and began typing.
HELENA/CARINA.
It didn’t unlock. He tried again. HELENAANDCARINA
It started searching. He looked up and shared a victorious smile with River.
“So everyone on this list can be altered into Drakkon?” River asked.
“Yes,” he answered while he opened Helena’s phone and clicked on the app with a skull and crossbones icon.
“Fitting,” she murmured.
“Okay, I got it. Hell,” he said scrolling down. “There are thousands of names.” He typed in the name Rodin. His heart pounded while it searched. The hotspot wasn’t strong. Finally…the name Roðinn came up with a link. Jacob swallowed and then remembered to breathe. Was it a variant spelling? What if River’s name was on it? It could change his future, his life. She could live with him forever. Garion wouldn’t do it. Could Jacob?
“There’s something,” he managed and glanced up at River. He clicked the name.
Searching…what if Ivy’s name was on it? What if they could save her?
“Roðinn – Red,” he read out loud when the link finally opened. His mouth went dry. His fingers shook as he scrolled down. “River,” he breathed. “I think I found your mother, but—”
“What?” she leaped from the bed and stood to her feet. “But what?”
“Lena Roðinn,” he read. “Mated to,” he paused and looked up at her. “Stephan Aquatero–Aqua.”
“What?” River insisted, drawing her hands to her mouth. “That’s not her!”
He read further and closed his eyes. Hagan Wray wasn’t the twin’s father. He handed the phone to River.
“Offspring,” she read on a quivering voice. “River and Ivy Aquatero.”
It was cause to celebrate. River wasn’t just a descendant. Both her parents were descendants. A Red and an Aqua! But neither he nor River smiled.
“My mother—” She choked out and then dropped the phone and ran out of the room.
Jacob followed her. He stopped when her father stepped out of the kitchen and almost walked into her.
“Ah, River. Is there anything to eat?” Hagan Wray asked, completely oblivious to everything going on.
“Da…” She sounded as if she were about to falter, but she straightened her shoulders and pressed onward. “What do you know about Stephan Aquatero?”
His color drained and his eyes widened and then filled with regret. “What…how?” He slid his stricken gaze to Jacob, and then to Garion and Helena when they pushed open the front door and stepped inside. “Aquatero. Was he one of you?”
Jacob shook his head. “Not Drakkon, but a descendant of one.”
“Did you know?” River asked him.
“That he’s yours and Ivy’s biological father? Yes. That his ancestors were dragons? No.”
“Wait,” Garion stepped forward cloaked in the crimson robe he’d left in the grass. Carina appeared from somewhere and leaped into his arms. “River and Ivy are descendants?”
“From an Aqua and a Red,” Jacob told him.
“I knew it!” Helena said and then veiled her eyes from her husband’s curious gaze and flaring nostrils.
“I never told you,” River’s father said, pulling her attention back to him, “because…because Stephan Aquatero was never a father to you. I was. He left before you and your sister were born. Lena came to me and I took her in. I loved you and Ivy as my own. She left because she knew I would keep you both.”
River lifted her finger to his weathered face. “I’m sorry you’ve had such a difficult life Father, filled with so many secrets.”
“It wasn’t so difficult with you and Ivy in it.”
She glanced at Jacob with tear-filled eyes. What should I tell him?
They had to do something, Jacob thought to himself. And they had to decide fast. He didn’t know how bad Ivy was.
“That’s why you wanted the scrolls,” Garion accused softly, moving closer to Jacob. “Now you want me to change her.”
“Not me,” River corrected, hearing him. “My sister.”
Garion looked at his wife, who then sent her voice to River. River, your sister is—
Alive, Jacob interrupted, hearing their conversation. I heard her. He looked at Garion. Ivy is alive. Red found her smashed up against the rocks. I think she’s been unconscious. That’s why she wasn’t answering me. He says she’s hurt pretty bad.
“Mr. Wray,” Garion said politely to River’s father, pulling Jacob by the sleeve. “Would you excuse us for a moment?”
They stepped out of the house with River and Helena hot on their heels.
“Even if she is alive,” Garion said, turning on Jacob with his cat cradled in the crook of his arm, “and even if somehow we get her back from Red without having to give him my blood, then what, Jacob? I turn her or it’s my fault she dies?”
River stepped forward. “You would do the same for your sister, Garion.”
Jacob should have known she was descended from the Reds. She was always fearless, always ready to stand and face any obstacle, even if the obstacle was Drakkon.
“I’m sorry, River,” Garion said softly and lowered his eyes. “She’ll either end up hunting people or they’ll end up hunting her.”
Jacob scowled at him and then at his sister. Garion wasn’t budging. Jacob had expected this reaction. He knew what Garion had given up to keep Drakkon out of the sky. He wouldn’t turn Ivy…and he wouldn’t turn River.
“So it’s better if she’s dead?” River demanded, her blue eyes blazing.
“No, of course not—”
“It’s you he wants,” she cut him off, “but my sister is the one who dies here.” She shook her head at him and backed away. “Who are you to make that…” She didn’t finish but gasped instead and stared into Garion’s eyes. Her own gaze took on a distant, terrified look.
Jacob moved in front of her, pulling Garion’s attention to him. His eyes burned like consuming flames behind strands of white gold. “Stop,” he warned his brother-in-law.
“I’m showing her a world of Drakkon. She needs to understand what could happen to the world, Jake.”
“And you need to understand,” Jacob warned on a tight growl, “that this is about her sister, not the world.”
He turned his body around and stared into River’s eyes, blocking Garion’s thoughts from hers. He knew love would be difficult. That’s why he’d avoided it his whole life. But it had found him and knocked him dead on his ass. He loved River more than anything else in the world. She was his friend, his lover, his life mate. He wouldn’t lose her or her sister to death.
He tugged on the belt of his robe. His hair tumbled back over his bare shoulders as he pulled the robe away. “Hold on to this for me,” he said, softly so that only she could hear. He handed her the cloth as his hair and his skin and size shimmered into muscle, and scales, and long sharp claws. He lowered his palm and held it open bef
ore River. It hooked him in the heart when she hesitated. He closed his eyes and his hand around her when she finally stepped into it.
He wouldn’t lose her to this. To anything. He held her close to his enormous heart and flapped his mighty wings.
Where are you going? his sister asked in his head as he took off.
I don’t know. She needs to get away from this and think of a way to tell her father.
Jake.
What.
She was quiet for a moment and then, Don’t do anything that will get you into trouble.
She’d said it almost every day when he was a teenager, and he’d always given her the same reply. I won’t. Talk to you later.
He turned his attention to the warm flame pressed gently to his chest. River?
Yes, Jacob?
Keep absolutely quiet.
Why? What are we doing?
We’re getting Ivy back.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Red, Jacob reached out, how’s the girl?
The same, Red drawled. I’m growing bored of all this…and hungry.
I have the stone.
Stone? Red asked, sounding a little disappointed. Not an egg?
What would you do with an egg but be stuck raising whatever hatched from it? No, what I found is jasper. Do you want to know what it can do?
I want to know how you know what it can do, Red replied.
My sister found a way to hack the Elder’s files—
The Elders have files?
Yeah, Jacob told him. Their lore and laws have to be preserved. I asked her to search for jasper in their ancient scripts. She learned that there was this legend of a stone called the Griffin Jasper, like the Phoenix Amber, that could turn any one, not just descendants.
Interesting, Red took the bait.
There’s more, Jacob told him. According to the legend, the Griffin Jasper gives power over all to the owner. Every Drakkon you alter will do your bidding, and yours alone.