Lucan

by Susan Kearney

  “Daylight won’t penetrate these walls,” Lucan said. “I’m surprised Quentin hasn’t posted guards. Maybe they’re farther inside.”

  Lucan hoped she didn’t ask to return to the entrance. He didn’t like the idea of her going alone, couldn’t be certain she’d be safe. He wanted her beside him, where he could watch out for her.

  Lucan turned to Rion. “You have any psychic flashes on where we might find the Grail?”

  “Nope.”

  “Have you seen what it looks like?”

  “Nope.”

  “That power of yours—”

  “More of a frustration than a power.” Rion sighed. “Do you have any idea how disconcerting it is to see part of the future and not know how or when or where the event will take place?”

  “Look at this.” Cael shined her light on a darker area of the stone wall.

  “Is that heat discoloration?” Rion stepped back to allow Lucan a better look. Although the rest of the stone was sandy brown, this spot, about as wide as his hand, was a darker pigmentation.

  Lucan took a pick from his supply bag and scraped at the spot. The outer rock flaked, and beneath was soft, fine sand. “It could be water damage, or…”

  “What?” Rion prodded.

  “There’s something here.” Gently, Lucan swept away the sand, letting the grains fall to the floor. Cael and Rion edged closer. “Stand back.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Cael argued.

  “If I set off an explosion, I don’t want you in the line of fire.”

  Cael took a step back. “I don’t believe Avalon’s builders are trying to kill us.”

  She’d no sooner finished her comment than Lucan’s fingers grazed a metal panel embedded behind the rock. A loud report behind them sent them all diving for cover. Instinctively Lucan lunged on top of Cael, protecting her from… a blast of air?

  No debris or dust or even a grain of sand fell on them. Lifting his head, he saw that a shimmering copper shield had risen behind them. Slowly he shoved to his feet, half expecting the shield to blast down the hallway and rip them to shreds.

  He turned and offered Cael a hand to help her to her feet. Pain flickered in her eyes, and she hesitated, but then she placed her hand in his. Progress. Lucan told himself not to put much store in such a tiny gesture, but he couldn’t stop his hopes from rising.

  “The shield appears to be stable. Let’s see how it reacts to an inanimate object.” Rion hefted a pick.

  “Don’t throw—” Lucan warned. Too late.

  Rion had already tossed the tool. Lucan held his breath. Would it bounce off the shield? Would the shield retaliate in some way?

  The pick disappeared, without a sound. There was no clink of metal hitting rock on the other side.

  Rion walked toward the shield. “I’d love to know how this baby works.”

  “Later.” Lucan grabbed his tunic and yanked him back. “The Grail’s our first priority.”

  Cael turned away from the shield. “I wonder how far inside Brennon’s team got.”

  “Far enough to find a glyph they couldn’t read.” Lucan shifted the pack and took the lead. With the passage behind them blocked, they had no choice but to go onward. “At least no one’s going to sneak up on our backs.”

  “Let’s hope there’s another way out,” Cael said.

  “Of course there is.” Rion sounded almost cheerful.

  Lucan wished he could be as certain.

  CAEL TRIED TO keep her mind on the current situation. She was trying so hard to keep her thoughts on finding the Grail and returning to heal Jaylon, but she’d just allowed Lucan to hold her hand. And at his touch, memories threatened to overwhelm her. Memories that she’d been trying to repress. Lucan swimming with her in the cave. His rescuing her at the residence. Her hearts ached. Yes, he’d lied to her, but he’d also shared so much of himself.

  Ahead, Merlin flapped his wings, soaring through the stone passageway as if Avalon were fresh mountain air instead of a massive stone cage. She’d never been a fan of closed-in places, and the knowledge that her dragonshaping in a corridor this narrow would kill them all didn’t help. She supposed feeling vulnerable was normal when the option of changing shape was denied her. The men seemed to have no trouble breathing, but Cael was certain the air was thinner here.

  Stop it. She was fine. But her neck prickled, and the scales on the insides of her wrists undulated. Nerves unsettled, she focused on the glow of Lucan’s flashlight, shining ahead of them. The monotony of the stone corridor should have soothed her, but she felt as if the men who’d built Avalon were watching and expecting her to make noble and honorable choices.

  “Look.” Lucan aimed his light at a glowing copper-colored shield ahead.

  “One in front, one behind,” Rion said, his voice amazingly calm. “We’re trapped.”

  “Are those marks on the ceiling arch?” Cael asked.

  Lucan nodded. “Those must be the glyphs Quentin’s team wanted me to read.”

  Lucan sounded eager to go forward, but she hung back a step, then two. Couldn’t the men feel the stillness, as if the building was holding its breath? Couldn’t they sense the souls of those who’d walked these corridors in ancient times?

  Feeling like a trespasser, she reminded herself how badly Jaylon needed the Grail. She shoved aside her doubts and pressed forward.

  The glyphs helped distract her. Straight-lined symbols written in a row across the ceiling arch, the glyphs were similar to the ones outside Avalon, yet different from those on her necklace. “Can you read them?”

  Lucan, his forehead creased with concentration, read, “When dragon breath mingles, the Grail shall be freed.”

  “What does that mean?” Rion asked.

  Lucan frowned. “I don’t know. But the wording implies that the Grail’s here.”

  Cael stepped forward. “When dragon breath mingles. Mingles with what? The air? The shield?” She sighed. “But how can there be dragon’s breath here? There’s not enough room to shift. Do you think my human breath is considered dragon breath?”

  “Why don’t you try breathing on the shield?” Rion suggested.

  “All right.” She advanced another step, warily eyeing the shimmering shield.

  Lucan blocked her. “Let me approach first.”

  Even now he spoke with care not to give away the secret of his dragonblood. Obviously, Lucan didn’t want Rion to know—indicating he didn’t have total trust in the other man.

  Rion’s muscles bulged as he crossed his arms over his broad chest and he eyed Lucan with curiosity. “So the legend’s coming true?”

  “What legend?” Lucan focused his attention on the glyphs, but Cael’s scales tingled, and she sensed his wariness.

  Rion cocked his head, his square jaw dusted with a day-old beard. “On Honor it is written that a man who is of King Arthur’s blood shall return for the Grail. A male dragonshaper.”

  She spun and stared at Lucan. “You’re a direct descendant of King Arthur?”

  “One of many. It’s not a big deal.”

  Cael raised her eyebrows. “You two are the first male dragonshapers on Pendragon in over a thousand years.”

  Rion grinned a charming smile. “So my flash was right.”

  Lucan frowned at him. “How come you don’t have any useful flashes?”

  Rion winked at Cael with manly charm. “Then I’d be perfect.” He shrugged at Lucan. “Perfect is boring.”

  Cael smiled and wondered how many other secrets Lucan was keeping. She lost her line of thought as he stepped up to the shield and blew on it.

  “Nothing.” Lucan shook his head and removed the heavy pack.

  Rion hauled it away from the shield. “Maybe you misread the symbols?”

  Lucan stepped back and perused the runes once more, then repeated, “When dragon breath mingles, the Grail shall be freed.”

  “Maybe your breath and my breath must mingle together on the shield,” Cael suggested.

&nb
sp; Rion retreated a few steps to allow her room to approach the shield. Lucan held out his hand, and she hesitated. She knew how his touch would feel, warm, strong, and familiar. Despite his lies. Despite his traitorous plans for the Grail.

  But when he gazed into her eyes and said, “Let’s try it,” Cael couldn’t resist.

  Hand in hand, they approached the shield. Almost cheek to cheek, they breathed onto the flickering copper surface.

  “Still nothing.” Lucan’s mouth tensed into a thin line. “We’re obviously not—”

  The floor beneath their feet rumbled, reminding Cael of the ancient machinery inside her temple. She gripped Lucan’s hand tightly. “We did something.”

  “What the hell?” Rion yelled. The floor had cracked between them and Rion.

  Then a force of enormous power yanked Cael and Lucan forward. She should have been frightened, but for some reason she had no fear. One moment they were in the same corridor with Rion. The next, they were standing inside a stone fortress.

  Cael craned her neck. “What is this place?”

  Surrounded by hundred-foot-high walls of stone, a large circular platform dominated the room. Stone steps led to the platform’s plateau. The ceiling appeared to be yet another shimmering force field.

  “Wow.” Lucan’s eyes lit as he took in the structure. “I expected internal bracing, crossbeams, columns. But force fields must keep this tremendous mass in place. Otherwise it would collapse upon itself.”

  When the stones beneath their feet began to heat, Lucan tugged her toward the steps. “Come on.”

  “Something is herding us.”

  “Or directing us.” Lucan didn’t sound the least bit rattled.

  “You think intelligent beings are here?”

  “I don’t know.” Lucan reached the steps and leaned down to touch one. “The stairs are cool, but I suspect if we delay too long, they’ll begin to heat, too.”

  “Where’s the Grail?” Cael stepped onto the first step and halted. She didn’t like the idea of some unknown entity urging her forward. They could be walking straight into a trap.

  Lucan climbed the next two steps. “This place reminds me of—”

  Once again, a force like a giant, invisible hand picked them up and deposited them at the top of the stairs.

  Cael had prayed they’d find the Grail, but she’d never really expected to see it. Until now, the healing cup had seemed unattainable. A hope. A dream. An ancient legend.

  “By the Goddess.” Her jaw dropped as she advanced toward the sparkling copper object that sat on a marble pedestal. “Is that—?”

  “Stay back.”

  An urn, about the size of a human head, rested dead center in the middle of a carved marbelite pillar. The Grail glowed with an inner light.

  Cael had to remind herself to breathe. “It’s beautiful.”

  Still holding hands, they stepped toward the Grail. And the solid rock disintegrated beneath their feet. They were falling.

  Plunging into a giant bluish abyss.

  Wind rushing in her hair, Cael took one look at the giant cavern within Avalon and knew she had room to dragonshape. Within moments, her clothes shredded and she lost touch with Lucan’s hand.

  Her arms grew into wings. Her sight sharpened.

  In dragon form, her keen eyes picked out distant walls that glowed with an eerie blue light. Spreading her wings, she slowed her descent and craned her neck to look below for Lucan. But the flap of a wing beside her made her realize that he, too, was in dragon form.

  Huge, powerful, he spread his wings and slowed his descent. He smelled primal, alluring, seductive. A rough trilling in his throat made her blood thrum, and her hearts beat faster. Hormones flooded her. Here was a mate.

  Her mate.

  Her true mate.

  Her life mate.

  He flew in fast, nipped her neck. Joy flooded her, and she spiraled downward, her body trembling in anticipation. Sharp and primal, his male dragon need cascaded over her, claiming her, branding her as his own.

  Without effort, he matched her flight pattern, his enormous body hovering over her, under her, beside her. Lazily they circled the giant cavern, taking their time to explore the space and each other.

  His wing occasionally brushed her back, her tail. His teeth nibbled her neck, her spine.

  His touch caused her pulse to rush. She wanted him. She would have him. But first, he must prove he could catch her. Tipping back her head, she issued a trumpeting challenge and skyrocketed straight for the roof.

  Up for the chase, he followed with a roar that shot sparks of heat down her spine. When they both reached the zenith, his talons clasped hers and tipped her upside down. Blood rushed to her head. Her talons prickled with warmth. And her scales rioted with heat.

  Together, they spiraled downward, and during their crazy plunge, he mated with her swiftly, madly, deeply, his hardness filling her. His talons held her fast and hard as the wind rippled over her scales. Tension gathered in her core as he stroked and pumped inside her. Arching her neck back with a throaty roar, she spasmed and shot fire as she took his seed deep into her body.

  Their breath mingled. Their fire entwined. Their spirits and life forces joined.

  At the last moment, they separated. And Cael felt beautiful, whole.

  Cael landed on the bottom of the cavern next to the east wall and humanshaped. Lucan landed beside her. Naked and languid, she faced her dragon. Her lover.

  Damn, he looked ferocious. Eyes dark with dragon passion, he nuzzled her with his hot breath. Her gorgeous lover had matched her fire in every way. Her dragon didn’t care about Lucan’s deception. Her dragon side recognized what she didn’t want to acknowledge. Lucan was her perfect mate.

  Then he humanshaped.

  Lucan stood before her, his breath ragged, his chest glistening with sweat. His eyes pierced hers with a possessive fire, and she recalled the way his body had locked with hers. Heat rose up her neck. Their pairing had been primitive and animalistic. Savage. Good and right.

  She wondered if he’d ever acknowledge that although they were from different worlds, they were meant to be together. Not just this once. But for always.

  He stared at her, the pulse in his neck ticking, once again his emotional barrier solidly in place.

  Lucan drew her into his arms. “That was crazy.”

  “Insane.” She snuggled against his chest, satiated and exhausted, not from their dragon mating, but from the hours she’d spent as a human, fighting with herself. The truth was that she’d always wanted Lucan. She wanted him still.

  He tipped up her chin and peered into her eyes. “I wouldn’t have lied for anything less than the fate of my world.”

  She swallowed hard. He meant every word.

  “Lucan!” A voice echoed down.

  They both looked up. She could see someone holding a glowing object. “Is that Rion? Does he have the Grail?”

  “How did he get through the shield?”

  “Rion?” Lucan shouted. “What’s wrong?”

  Rion tucked the Grail under his arm. “We have company. And they have guns.”

  Because we are few in number, the Tribes will descend from the heavens and ravish us unless we have the blessing of the Goddess.

  —THE LADY OF THE LAKE

  21

  Blaster bursts streaked past Rion. The pops of gunfire echoed through the chamber. Had the dragons’ pairing somehow disabled the shields?

  Cael tilted her head back. “They’re shooting at Rion. He should dragonshape.”

  “He won’t. He thinks it will change history.” Lucan had dragonshaped only twice, and both times Cael’s life had been in danger. He had yet to morph at will, and now, with time so short, was not the moment to practice. He grabbed Cael by the shoulders. “We need to go back up there for Rion and the Grail.”

  “Agreed.” She dragonshaped, and their mental connection snapped into place. Climb on.

  Lucan held on to the spikes on Cael’s neck a
nd hoped there would be enough room for her to land and change shape. She hadn’t hesitated to shift and fly into danger. As they rose, the blaster fire echoing above them increased in intensity, and he lost sight of Rion.

  Drop me off on the ridge and fly to safety. Lucan prepared to leap from Cael’s back as she rose through the hole in the floor. But the moment she flew high enough for him to attempt a jump, he spied Rion.

  The other man leaped from a prone position to his feet, the Grail in hand.

  Blaster fire flared all around him. Rion paid no attention.

  Behind him, General Brennon shouted at his men. “You idiots, don’t fire at the Grail!”

  The shooting stopped. Armed men in military uniforms moved in on Rion. One man aimed his blaster, and Merlin dived down and attacked. The man let out a screech of pain, and his shot went wild.

  Rion glanced over his shoulder. Men with weapons advanced, too many men for him to fight, even with Merlin’s help. Rion spun and ran toward the rim where Cael hovered, Lucan straddling her back.

  “Jump,” Lucan shouted, holding out his hand.

  For a moment, Lucan thought Rion was going to fling himself into midair. But he slid to a halt, teetering on the edge, the Grail in hand.

  “Catch.” Rion tossed the cup into the void—just as Brennon, Quentin, and a squad of men moved in and forced Rion to the ground. Rion was down, but that didn’t stop him from yelling, “Go. Go. Go.”

  Why hadn’t he jumped? An armed man smashed the butt of a blaster into Rion’s skull, and he crumpled to the ground. The Grail fell through the air, and Lucan reached for it, leaned as far sideways as he dared. His fingers grazed the handle. He tilted a little farther, slipping sideways, wind whipping him.

  Then his fingers closed on the handle and he reeled in the surprisingly light artifact. Got it.

  Your brother? Cael asked.

  Brother? Lucan instantly knew she meant Rion. Had Rion stayed behind to split the enemy forces? To buy them time? Had Rion given his life to throw the Grail to him? He prayed not.

  Obviously Quentin had teamed up with Brennon, but was the entire military against them, or just a faction? Lucan supposed it no longer mattered. He had the Grail.