She had finally got what she had wished for most, she had come home, but she felt even more alone than before. Having Lance so close to her, and how their time apart had affected him…she was torn between the agony of her own loss, and her knowledge of what she had done to him.
I had an urge to claw at my insides to purge the desperate darkness, and if it hadn’t been a mirror to my own emotions over the last month, the despair would have brought me to my knees.
Isla reached out and took my hand and I realised that tears tracked down my face. I sniffed and wiped my free arm across my cheeks. Then I glared up at Turos, daring him to say something. But the expression on his face was thoughtful, not vindictive. Which was a real shame, because I was looking for an excuse to break his nose again.
‘Well,’ Bladimir waved a hand at me, ‘I think this is proof enough that these two are fully bonded. Guards, take her away and ready her for execution.’
Isla let out a hiss and Emerald’s head came up as her tail lashed from side-to-side. She let out a roar as steam oozed out of her nose.
I jumped up, backing away with Scruffy clutched to my chest. Just let them try it. I’d show them what I was capable of.
‘Wait,’ Turos yelled over the shrieks of the audience. ‘There is another way we can be sure.’ He turned to his father. ‘If Lance were to read Silvanta’s mind he could bear witness to the events of that day. He could verify if this is the person who stole her away.’
I looked over at Lance. He didn’t appear very happy about the suggestion but he wasn’t breathing out fire, so I guessed that was a yes.
‘That’s if you’re okay with it?’ I didn’t realise Turos was speaking to me until Isla nudged me.
‘Okay with the one idea which may save my life?’ I shrugged my shoulders. ‘Oh, why not?’
A small smile touched the corners of his mouth and for the first time I noticed how attractive he was. White-blond hair spiked over a face that held the most extraordinary iceberg-blue eyes. His bronzed skin only added to the effect of the colour combination. He moved with the ease and grace of a fighter, and I was betting that all seven foot of him was corded with muscle.
I didn’t have to be told to know he was dangerous, and I suspected I had only landed that blow on him because he had let me.
He let his gaze wander down and then up my body, lingering on my chest before returning to my face, and then he winked. Annoyingly, I found myself blushing. It seemed Lance wasn’t the only bad boy in the room.
‘How do we do it?’ I forced my shoulders back and looked him in the face.
He shrugged. ‘Lance and Silvanta need to link.’
Emerald and Lance looked at each other, staring into each other’s eyes, and then all of a sudden it wasn’t just Emerald in my head. I could feel a large male presence that I assumed was Lance. Turos’s touch was much lighter.
Careful Lance, Turos said, the faery isn’t used to this.
The heavy presence withdrew slightly and suddenly I had thoughts of my own again.
I, ahhhh, it was funny hearing my voice echoing in three other heads, I didn’t realise we would all be able to hear each other.
Handy during battle. Turos directed his next thought at Emerald. What happened that day?
There was a pause while Emerald composed herself. Her emotions concerning her mental link with Lance were convoluted. Finally, she began.
You were away, Lance. I could feel the egg building inside of me, so when the other females came for me, I went to the mountains. She was in a cavern inside the mountain. Steam swirled and rose from patches of larva. Dragons lay in groups around stones…no…eggs. I was looking at the dragon hatching ground.
I wasn’t ready. She directed the next thought more fully at Lance. To never fly with you as we used to. To never skim over the tops of the clouds, or plunge into the ocean.
Suddenly I was with her as she and Lance played in the sky. They chased each other, snapping at each other’s tails and they raced each other, skimming across the surface of the water as salt spray coated their scales. Then, as the sun set, they walked along a deserted beach, their tails wrapped as one. I wasn’t ready to give that up.
Lance was silent in my mind, but I felt his anger ebb.
So I told them I would come back, and I left to wait for you, to say goodbye. Her pain was palpable. On my way back down the mountain a man appeared before me.
My teeth gritted together as Santanas, my grandfather, became visible.
He said he had a mission for me. That it was vitally important. My chance to make a difference. I told him I was waiting for you to come back but he promised me I would be back before you did. She was silent for a moment. So I let him hop on my back, and when he opened the gate to the other world I took him through. But it was all a lie, and he never did bring me home.
My throat was thick with unshed tears. If I had thought her present pain was bad, it was nothing compared with what she had experienced when she had realised that Santanas had tricked her. She had fought him but he had won, and once he had broken her spirit and her mind he had forced the bond. She had touched the mind of a mad man, thirsty for revenge and blood. I was surprised she was still sane.
How did you end up bonded with Isadora? Turos asked.
After Santanas was trapped, I wandered lost for many years. Then one night she found me in her dreams. She reached out a hand and she touched me, and I could feel she was good and kind. I didn’t want to be alone anymore, so when she opened her mind to me I bonded. She was only ten at the time.
I smiled at the memory.
I’ve never heard of such a thing. A dragon binding twice in a lifetime.
Perhaps, it was the first thing that Lance had said, it is because the first bond was forced on her.
I’m so sorry Lance.
You didn’t mean to leave me?
I love you. She did a dragon version of an embarrassed cough. I mean I loved you.
I felt them drawing off into a far corner of my mind and turned my attention to Turos to give them some privacy.
Why did you do it? I asked.
Do what?
Help me?
He let out a chuckle. It’s quite simple really. If I don’t save your life, I’ll never get to do this to you.
I was overwhelmed with pictures of him kissing me, his hands roaming over me as he shed my clothes from my body. It was frightening in the clarity of the detail, but the look on his face as he stared into my eyes made it even more terrifying.
I felt my breath catch in my throat as he ravaged me with his thoughts. I snatched my mind away, staring at him with a look that I was sure was laden with shock. I was stunned by the suddenness of the mental assault, but more stunned by the fact that I hadn’t been totally opposed to it.
A tiny part of me had enjoyed watching it. Had loved the feeling of power that came with the knowledge he desired me. That part would have gone with him right then and there and let him play out that wild fantasy.
‘So now you know the truth,’ I said, amazed at how steady my voice was.
‘More importantly,’ Turos said, ‘now you know the truth.’
‘She is innocent?’ Bladimir asked.
Turos broke his gaze with me and turned towards his father. ‘Innocent for now.’ His grin spoke of other things.
After this trial I was going to get Emerald, and she, Isla, Scruffy and I were heading straight back through that hole in the sky.
‘So,’ I said, ‘can we all go home now?’
‘We will need to find a dragon willing to carry you home.’ Bladimir shifted uncomfortably.
‘If Silvanta is not welcome here she will be coming home with us.’
‘You forget one thing.’ Turos was wearing that insufferable little smile again. ‘First she must lay and hatch Lance’s egg.’
Damn it. I had forgotten about that. ‘How long will that take?’
‘Oh, a week or two. Maybe three.’ His little smile stretched into a broad
smug one. ‘Just long enough for us to get to know each other better.’
3
Birthing Pains
‘I told you it would all work out.’ Isla peered out of one of the windows of the gigantic suite we had been taken to after the trial.
I crossed to stand next to her.
Brilliant, green mountains towered on either side of us. They curved slowly, creating a crown with us, the jewel in the centre. I could see the sun setting over the ocean between two of the peaks opposite us.
Beneath us, the side of the mountain sheered away in a steep cliff, disappearing down to a shadow-filled valley which stretched across the distance to the mountains on the other side. It was breathtaking, and if I hadn’t been so annoyed, I would have been enjoying it.
‘So,’ Isla said, ‘that Turos certainly has it going on.’
‘What do you mean?’ My voice was far too defensive. Damn the man. I hadn’t done anything wrong and he had me jumping around like a guilty rabbit.
‘Oh puulllease.’ She rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t tell me you didn’t notice what a hunk he was.’ She crossed over to one of the large, comfortable lounge chairs and sank into it. ‘I didn’t notice while you were assaulting him. I mean he seemed like a bit of a wuss then.’ She examined her nails for a second and then stretched her arms above her head. ‘What time do you think dinner is?’
‘How can you think about food at a time like this?’ I plonked myself onto the chair opposite her, sitting on the edge and tapping one foot on the ground.
‘Well, it is dinner time.’
I shook my head. ‘We’re trapped here for at least another two weeks, while at home anything could be happening. And Mum will be going out of her mind, and Grams and Sabby will be….’ I stopped talking and shifted back onto the couch so I could lay my head back. I could still see the look on Sabby’s face when we’d left without her.
‘Ahhhh. At home. Let’s see. Well, no doubt both the witch and human Prime Ministers still have their heads stuck in the sand as they continue to ignore our warning about Santanas.’ She shook her head at their idiocy. ‘And if they do come to their senses, Grams and Lionel will be extremely capable of filling in for us. Lionel has far more credibility with them than I do anyway. Sabby is sitting her exams, secretly pleased that she did not miss them. Your Mum will have had her temper soothed by Radismus’s hands and mouth.’
‘Urghhhh. Can we please not talk about them like that.’ I put my hands over my eyes hoping it would block the mental image of Mum and Radismus doing the horizontal tango.
‘Why not?’
I dropped my hands and looked over at Isla with what I hoped was an incredulous look on my face.
Isla raised one delicate shoulder. ‘I think it’s beautiful.’
‘Oh, and you’re totally comfortable thinking about your Mum and Dad doing the wild….’ My voice trailed off at the look on Isla’s face. ‘Sorry.’ We still hadn’t spoken about her Mother.
Before she could respond there was a knock at the door. Isla leapt lightly to her feet and floated across the room. She opened it to reveal a small woman holding a large, lit candle in one hand.
‘I am Deidre. I’ve come to light your candles and see what you require for your comfort.’ She looked down at Scruffy, who was taking an avid interest in her ankles. He finished sniffing, ruffed once, and then trotted back to the mat on the floor he had claimed as his own.
‘You’re not a faery?’ I stood and crossed the room to peer at her. The gathering shadows made it hard to see her features.
She move over to a low table and used her already lit candle to light the ones sitting there.
‘A have some small amount of faery blood in me,’ she said as she moved to the next table.
I watched her as she went, trying to scratch my mental itch. Finally it came to me. ‘You’re Ubanty.’
Deidre paused in the process of lighting a candle. ‘Now that’s a name I haven’t heard for a while.’ She straightened and turned to me. I could see her smile in the soft glow of the candles. ‘Once we were Ubanty. Once we were slaves. Now we are all Milleniums.’
‘They set you free?’
‘The night faeries who came here were the dragon keepers. When the magic makers began taking the baby dragons to force their souls into other beings they rebelled.’
‘Hagons?’ Isla said.
Deidre nodded. ‘They found one among the magic makers who sympathised and they planned their escape. All the dragons, and as many of the Ubanty that could escape without notice, came with them. Here they set us free to find our place among them. Now we are all one people.’ She turned and continued lighting the candles around the room. ‘Shall I have your supper sent up?’
‘Please,’ Isla said. ‘We seemed to have missed a meal today. We also need clothes.’
‘Of course.’ Deidre nodded. ‘You will find toiletries already in your bathroom.’ She crossed back to the still-open door, smiled at us again and then pulled the door shut behind her.
‘So that’s what happened to the dragons.’ Isla had a gigantic smile on her face. ‘According to folk-lore, one day they were there, the next gone. No wonder the night faeries failed to inform the world of what really happened. They must have been livid.’
I wasn’t sure now if her smile was for the mystery solved, or for the fact that someone had gazumped the night faeries. I was going to go with both.
‘And then Emerald showed up during the Great Faery War and turned the tide of battle. We all just assumed some disease had wiped the rest of them out.’ She sat back down on the couch and stared off into space.
She didn’t seem to notice the knock at the door as she worked her way through the historic sequence of events. I opened it to find Turos standing there.
‘You look disappointed to see me.’ He moved to lean against the door frame before I could slam the door on him.
‘I thought you were dinner.’
‘I can be your dinner if you want.’ He leaned in closer to me and I took an involuntary step back. ‘And you can be my dessert.’
‘Never going to happen.’ I grabbed the edge of the door. If I slammed it hard enough, I might just be able to close it.
‘What’s never going to happen?’ Isla asked.
Turos pushed past me till he could see Isla. ‘Fair lady, I was just explaining to Isadora that dinner was on its way.’
‘Coward,’ I muttered under my breath.
‘Oh fantastic.’ She clapped her hands together. ‘I’m famished. Will you be joining us?’
‘Alas, no. My father requests the pleasure of my company tonight, but perhaps tomorrow night.’ He gave me a look that spoke of other sorts of pleasure to be had.
Two other Milleniums, both holding a tray with food piled onto it, appeared in the doorway. I moved to the side so they could enter the room.
I had been too angry to be hungry, but now my stomach rumbled in response to the aroma that washed over me. Some sort of roasted meat – chicken? – a pile of vegetables, and a pudding of some kind. I was suddenly as aware as Isla that we had missed a meal that day.
‘One day you will look at me like that,’ Turos murmured.
I hadn’t realised how close to me he was. ‘Like what?’
I moved to step backwards, but he seized my arm and pulled me towards him instead. The musky smell of him replaced that of the food, and I could feel the heat radiating from his skin. ‘Like you want to devour me and come back for seconds.’ He rubbed a finger up and down the inside of my wrist. ‘I’m going to enjoy letting you do it, too.’
Isla had her back to us as she moved candles on the low table to make room for the trays of food. Scruffy sat at her feet looking up expectantly, so neither of them noticed as Turos backed me through the doorway and up against the wall of the hall.
‘You want it, I can tell,’ he whispered, leaning down to smell my hair. ‘I’m going to enjoy driving you wild.’
The tiny part of me that had enjoyed his me
ntal assault, seized control of my body. My traitorous eyes closed at the feel of his lips on my neck. My back arched and I moved towards him, wishing and wanting for his lips to find mine.
A small gasp escaped me as his hips pressed into me. Then his fingers twined themselves into my hair as his lips bit down onto mine with a savagery and sensuality that promised hours of sexual delight.
And then, before I could react the way I wanted to, before I could ram my knee into his groin and tell him where he could put those hotly, persuasive lips, he was gone.
***
How dare he. I mean, how dare he.
The feeling of violation hadn’t faded one little bit and now my anger was further fuelled by the small amount of sleep I had managed to get.
Isla bounded into my bedroom. ‘Good morning,’ she sing-sung as she threw open the heavy fabric of my curtains.
‘What’s good about it?’ I rolled away from the light and punched my pillow a few times, forcing the feather into a lump large enough to support my head.
‘That’s what that noise was.’ She stood with her hands on her hips, her head tilted to the side. ‘You certainly taught that pillow a thing or two last night.’ She smiled and walked over to where Scruffy lay on the end of the bed. ‘You going to tell me what the pillow did to deserve it?’ she asked as she rubbed Scruffy’s belly. ‘And when I say pillow, I mean Turos.’
‘He didn’t do anything.’ Well, technically he hadn’t. Could you scream rape if it was all in your head? And, well, the kiss in the hallway – I was going to pretend that had never even happened, and totally deny the fact that my sleepless night had been caused by that very kiss. ‘And I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Well,’ she twirled on the spot, ‘what do you want to do today?’
Get about another twenty hours of sleep.
‘And don’t say sleep. We’ve got a whole city to explore.’ For a second she looked so excited I thought she might explode. ‘I mean Izzy, we’re in another world. Another solar system, another…what’s bigger than a solar system?’
Faery Revenge Page 4