Open Flame (Dragon's Fate)

by Lacy Danes

  She wet her lips with her tongue. The mar on her nose from when she had tripped, stumbled, hit her nose on the hitching post, now had a line of three red scales that created a stripe down the bridge. Beautiful and humiliating. She trailed her fingertip down her nose. Her throat tightened; she could not hide that line of scales. A mask maybe? No, she would not hide her newfound strength. Madoc never made excuses for the crescent on his cheek. She would learn to wear them proudly.

  So much of what she thought true about her life were lies. Jonathan, Catherine, her pa.

  No, not her pa.

  What did her father know of this world?

  He had to know something. Even with his crippled hands, he was no fool. He needed to know about Catherine and Jonathan. He might feel he had no other choice but to let them do as necessary for their survival. Her throat tightened, and she sucked in a painful breath. A horrible choice to make. She needed to go to him. To tell him of Jonathan and Catherine. To tell him what she knew of this other kind of time and see what he knew. She bit her lip and glanced around the expensive room.

  They now had a choice. She could help him. Madoc was powerful, wealthy; he could help her father.

  Madoc cleared his throat from the doorway.

  She whirled, pulled her curly hair to cover her breasts, and stood tall.

  He took three strides to her side. “You are stunning. Are you hungry?”

  She stared up at him. The red crescent on his cheek glimmered brightly against his warm skin. “Starving.” She held up her hands. “Look.”

  He stared at her wrists. “You are Zir.”

  “There are more on my back.” She rotated and showed him the circle. “In the exact spot where you touched me first after…” Heat washed her face.

  “Is it?” Pride tinged his voice.

  Her attention snapped to his face, and their eyes fixed on each other’s. A huge smile curved his lips, and a bright happiness flickered in his amber eyes. “I suppose everyone will now know you are mine.” He traced the line of scales on her nose. His words, expression and heat wove a tangible blanket about her that she wanted to snuggle into and never leave.

  “I am no one’s.” But deep in her soul, her heart dripped joyous tears. Happiness. How was that possible? Only yesterday she’d been filled with hatred for this man.

  “Ah. We shall see on that point. Maybe we are each other’s?” He trailed a finger along her cheek and gathered a tear she had not realized still lingered. He held the finger before her, the tear shimmering on the rough skin. He raised his eyebrows with a questioning expression and blew the moisture and all the tension between them into the wind.

  He turned and walked to the dressing screen. His sleek long hair, pulled back into a queue, hung down his brown leather vest to his bottom. “The second of the dresses arrived this morning. A simple day dress.” She could stare at him until all time ceased to exist. He took a pale yellow dress from the top of the partition and circled back. “Do you need help dressing?” He winked at her.

  “No.” She snatched the garment from him. “Now leave so I can dress without you watching my every move.” She adored the way he looked at her, and knowing he did so often made contented warmth settle deep in her gut. Goose pins washed her arms. She wanted him to watch her.

  He laughed out loud. “All right. I do enjoy watching you. Do you prefer coffee or tea?”

  “Tea, please.” She had never had coffee before, and even breathing felt so new now. “Wait. I will try coffee. I have never.”

  “Very well. Another first for you. Should we keep the new experiences to one a day?” Humor danced on each word.

  “No. Let’s do everything that is new and different.”

  Madoc poured two cups of coffee and sat down at the table. A knock came at the door between his and Hudson’s rooms.

  “Come.”

  The door opened, and Hudson walked in. “Do you have the drawing? Franco is coming in about an hour.” He walked to the side table and poured a cup of coffee for himself.

  Madoc grimaced. “No. I had a busy night.” A delightful night filled with enough passion to burn the hotel down.

  “Had you?” He pulled out the chair across from Madoc and sat.

  “Indeed. She transitioned. Scales and all.” That had surprised him the most. The scales on her back…breathtaking. The ones down her nose… Everyone would see. He loved that.

  Hudson’s eyes widened. “All over?”

  “No. Where she burnt herself and where I first touched her after…” Madoc grinned at him. His heart was light and playful, something he had never known.

  “Intriguing.” Hudson’s face softened. “Are you in love?”

  “It is all I can think of. Her. Us. Family. It is insane, I know.”

  “A madness of sorts.” He scowled, then forced a smile. “I am delighted for you, friend. You have always been here for me. Through all this mess. You deserve what I once had.”

  The smell of vanilla and nutmeg filled his senses. She stood close. He pushed to his feet and wheeled toward the bedchamber.

  Fina stood, a vision in crisp pale yellow silk. Her red scales peeked out about the cuffs of her dress sleeve. He adored that. She probably did not. Gloves would be necessary. Though, with the line of scales down her nose…

  Hudson had also stood and waited for her to enter the room. “So good to see you are feeling better this day, Fina.”

  She strode forward to the seat between them. “I am well. Where is Jonathan? I need to ask him more about his and Catherine’s deception.” She stared at Hudson and then glanced at Madoc. She picked up her cup and sipped, making a sour face.

  “You can add sugar or milk. I add a bit of both.” Madoc slid a small silver tray that held milk and sugar toward her.

  She set the cup back down and returned her gaze to Hudson. “Well?”

  “I let Jonathan leave. He is of no harm to anyone. No matter what his deceptions are.” Hudson raised his cup to his lips and took a long swallow.

  “How could you?” Fina pushed back her chair, her hands on the edge of the table shaking. “He will run back to England and Catherine.”

  “Nothing bad will happen if he does.”

  “What if Catherine and he run off together and leave my pa to fend for himself? He can’t!”

  Madoc wrapped his fingers around hers, clenched to the table ledge. “You, my dear, can be back in London in a tick of the clock. You simply have to wish it. If you must go, please have repast first.”

  Her eyes met his, and smoke curled from her nostrils. “I can be there in an instant simply by wishing it.” She said it out loud as if she still tried to convince herself.

  “That is what everyone keeps telling me.” Madoc continued to stare at her. Her face relaxed, and she softened her grip on the table. “Jonathan would have to take the ship.”

  “Indeed he would,” Hudson said as he set his cup back on the tray.

  She nodded. “I am not familiar with this yet. Besides, when I was sick with fever, I wished to be home, and no light appeared.” She shook her head. “What is for repast? I am starving.”

  “There is a cured pork. Sweet rolls. Fruit. Oats.”

  She looked at the side table.

  Madoc lightly squeezed her hand. “Fina, if you travel that way, only you can go. I have never known a distance jumper to be able to take someone with them.”

  “How do you know? You said none of this was familiar.”

  “So I did.”

  “Well, then, let’s all have a hearty repast so we can do something new and travel distance together. I want to try.”

  Hudson’s face paled. “No, I cannot go with you. Franco will be here today, and I have enough trouble with the ship and my stomach. Distance jumping would truly make me green.”

  “What use is Franco without the drawing I have yet to create?” Madoc took another sip of his coffee.

  “Correct. You better start drawing the watch working now.”

  Fi
na looked back and forth between them. “I love to draw. Let me help.”

  Chapter Eight

  Hudson grasped the drawing that Madoc slid across the parlor table. The workings were complete. On the center of the wheel, an intricate ribbon-and-flower drawing resided.

  He glanced at Fina. The drawing on the paper floated up and rotated before him, ribbon drawing and all. He rolled the paper up and slipped the parchment into his leather folio. “It is a perfect drawing. I am certain it will work.”

  “We have said that before.” Madoc stared at him across the table. Hudson’s eagerness showed in every move he made. Even after all these years, he longed to bring his life back to what it used to be. To love and be loved. Madoc could tell by his friend’s expression this morning that talking about Fina in front of him upset him.

  Hudson nodded. “I will bring the working back to the Isle when it is complete. We can fit it into the watch there.” He pushed from the table. “If you do succeed in traveling with her, I will have everything packed to travel with me.” He inclined his head. “Madoc. Fina.” He left the room.

  “Why will this working make the difference?” Fina tilted her head, and a tendril of her soft curls flipped down into her face. “My pa says that each piece has a purpose that will only work in the clock it is designed for.”

  “That is true. Though some can be fit to other workings. I have been tinkering with the size verses the pin length, space and wind. We have been close to achieving our goal, but going back in time has been just out of reach. This drawing is for the jeweler. We think making the part from sapphire will give us the result we are looking for.”

  “Sapphire?” Fina’s eyes widened. “That is expensive. Do you have sapphire?”

  “Indeed, as well as other stones, but sapphire has the mystic qualities required for both the mind and time. It is also the stone of protection and loyalty. These are all elements that are essential to bending time. This working will prevent anyone from traveling back in time to do evil. Sapphire should make sure whoever uses the watch be true and faithful to the timelines.”

  “You are trying to make this in a watch? Not a clock?”

  “Indeed, it needs to be carried in a pocket, not sitting on a shelf for anyone to stumble upon.”

  “So not what you were creating when you came to my pa’s shop?”

  “Back then, I was trying to make a clock. Not a watch.”

  “I have wanted to ask you, what actually happens when you do that? Pardon.” She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. What happens to those you stop time for? My pa, he suffered his stroke directly after you stopped time for us. Do you know what happens to those you alter time for?”

  Madoc regarded Fina. An intelligent question. “I have considered this question. Though I have not researched the effects on those on whom I have used my abilities, I have stopped time for many. No one has suffered for it.”

  Her fire-blue eyes narrowed, and she frowned. “How do you know my pa did not suffer because of your time shift?”

  “You did not, did you?” He reached out and grasped her hand. He could not have this conversation without touching her, reassuring her that he cared.

  “Not physically. But I have been affected. My family is not the same as it could have been.”

  “I don’t worry about my ability. I do worry about this new watch. It is made, and isn’t a natural elemental occurrence. The research is important, for many bad decisions can be changed. But how far back can one make that change and not have it affect many?” This was the part of his inventions that he contemplated for hours and hours. “If I killed a man today, and a few ticks of the clock later I went back to that time and did not kill him, what would that affect? If I waited two days, a year, then went back and did not kill him? Would his wife have remarried? Would a child have been born, that by going back and deciding not to kill him, would never be?” Before he found her, the watch had seemed far more important to him. The workings, though still important for his brothers and Hudson, didn’t hold as acute an importance. Still, he would do all he could for them.

  “I understand what you’re saying. I can also understand the desire to rewind time. If my pa had not had a stroke that day…” Tears shimmered in her eyes.

  “He would have another day. I cannot control physiology or health.” He rubbed his thumb over her knuckles.

  “True.”

  “What do you wish to take with you on this journey to your father?”

  “I wish to see if you can come with me.” A rosy blush touched her cheeks. “To try something different.”

  “Well then.” Madoc pushed to his feet. “Shall we?” He held out his hand.

  Fina’s fingers trembled as she placed her hand into his palm. “If this does not work?”

  “You can come back here anytime. I will wait for you. Always.”

  “So I should stay with my pa, then?”

  “That is up to you. I will have to take a ship back to England.” He reached up and touched her face. “You will be fine.”

  She nodded and entwined her fingers with his. “Maybe we should both say I wish together?”

  “If it will help. I see no harm in that.”

  She stared into his eyes, and they both said, “I wish to go home.”

  The tick tick tick tick tick of time slowed down, and a flash of light shimmered in the room. When she had done this before in his hotel room, time had not slowed.

  Something was different.

  They stepped into the light together. The light faded, and Madoc glanced around. Fire burned in three large sandstone hearths along one wall. A trough of fire burned in the floor along the outer walls in the room. Wide, warm stone arches reached up to the ceiling like lungs to breathe with. His room. Home.

  The large bed made of black lava with nothing but silk sheets covering the mattress sat off to the corner. His elemental room on the Isle.

  They were home.

  “Where are we?” Fina spun about. “This is not my home.”

  “It is ours. This is my room on the Isle. It’s not where you wanted to go, but it is our home. Let’s try again, shall we?”

  “I-I want to look around, but I need to get to Pa first.”

  “Quite so. We need to ensure all is well before we indulge in what our life will be.”

  He grasped her other hand and pulled her to him. “I look forward to showing you the Isle and introducing you to my brothers. All that can wait.”

  She nodded again. “This is all so overwhelming.”

  Their gazes caught, and he knew everything was as it should be. They belonged together.

  “I wish to go to my room in my father’s home.”

  Time slowed down again, and a flash of light illuminated the room. The light faded, and they stood in a small room that had a simple bed made up with a yellow-and-blue quilt. He raised his eyebrows. The same colors as the hotel.

  “My room.” She pulled from him and headed for the door.

  “Fina.”

  She turned back toward him.

  “Remember to concentrate on your feelings as you are speaking to Catherine. You are in control of your elements and strength. No one else.”

  She nodded. “Are you coming with me?”

  “Quite so.” He walked up behind her. “We are much more together. Though if your father remembers me, my presence may make things more difficult.”

  Fina slowly opened the door to the hall. Her heart hammered in her breast. She grasped the iron door handle, pulled the door wide, then shut it. “I’m home,” she yelled into the hallway. Calm, stay calm.

  “Fina?” Catherine called from the kitchen.

  “Indeed, and I have a friend with me.” She nervously glanced at Madoc. The top of his head almost touched the ceiling. His shoulders filled the width of the hallway, yet his relaxed smile indicated an ease in the small space. His presence here would keep her mind and emotions level. The last thing she wanted was to lose control and burn the sho
p to the ground.

  Catherine walked out into the hall. “Welcome home. Your father is in the kitchen at the table.” Catherine stopped and stared at Madoc. Her gaze traveled his length, and then she did the same to Fina.

  “Catherine, this is Madoc. I met him in Paris, and after some trouble there, he accompanied me home.” Catherine didn’t need to know the rest. “We need to talk with Pa.”

  “A pleasure to meet you, sir. Are you well, Fina? Where is Jonathan? Where did you get that dress?”

  Her stomach tightened. Catherine had no right to question her. “I am quite well.” Keep the fire at bay. “Jonathan stayed in Paris for the rest of the Spectacle.” Fina walked down the hall to the kitchen. The pouches in her cheeks grew with pressure. Concentrate on Madoc’s presence.

  Madoc’s heat stayed with her the entire length of the hall. Without even looking at him, he was there. He would always be there. The knowledge sat in her gut and anchored her. She would do no harm here today. He was all she needed.

  Catherine scurried into the kitchen before them. “I don’t understand. You could not have even made it to France if you are home now. What is on your nose?”

  She reached up and ran her finger down the ruby scales and glanced at Madoc. He winked at her, and his lips curled up. “I tripped again. Madoc took me to the doctor, and the cut is healing.”

  They entered the kitchen. Pa sat at the kitchen table as he always had. Her chest tightened, and tears of happiness moistened her eyes. Fina ran to her pa’s side and knelt down next to him. She picked his hand up and placed his curved, wrinkled fingers in hers. “Pa.” She stared at his face. “How are you doing today?” Green eyes stared back at her, and he smiled.

  “You are home. Daughter.” He tipped his head and looked back toward the door from the hall. “Who do you have with you?”

  Fina looked at Madoc. “This is Madoc.” She bit her lip. Did he have a last name? Or did they call themselves Zir? Fina stared at her father’s weathered face. No recognition of Madoc shone in his emerald-green eyes.