She blinked. “You big, dumb lizard, did you just call me stupid?”
He snorted. Turning his head to the side, he twisted his long neck until he was eye-to-eye with her. “I didn’t call you stupid, just blind.” He glared at her, lips curling up above nasty, sharp teeth.
Her lips twitched. “Why are we arguing?”
“Because you’re beautiful and can’t see it!” he all but bellowed at her.
She leaned forward, tipping precariously over his neck, and rubbed his snout. “I’m glad we can still argue.”
“Of course, we’ll still argue. Mates don’t always agree, especially when one of them is wrong like you are,” he said emphatically, refusing to switch topics.
“Shouldn’t you watch where you’re going?”
“Why? There’s nothing up here, not for a league or more.” He gently pushed his muzzle against her palm, seeking another caress.
“Planes? Wires? Hot air balloons?” she asked smartly, raising a questioning eyebrow.
“Your world is messed up.”
“You mean our world is messed up?”
He chuckled. Gently bumping her hand a second time to say thanks, he turned his head back to watching where they were going. “Look out Earth, there be dragons in the air!”
She laughed and got the feeling he was supremely pleased he gave her a bit of pleasure.
“How long are you going to let me fly you around?” Turning to the south, he surged higher, taking an alternate route toward Capital City.
“Forever,” she said with feeling. “I love it up here.”
“Careful, you might regret that kind of answer.”
“Doubtful.” She paused, as they flew over the eastern edge of town. “Wow, I thought Fortress was big, but that place is monstrous.”
The place in question sprawled outward like a slumbering giant. Just like Fortress, long bridges soared over an arm of the lake.
“It’s called Citadel. It’s the wér-wolf’s version of Fortress.”
Flying ever southward, they left the rambling castle behind.
“Yesterday you said the two-way was made using dorcha energy. What is dorcha energy?” she asked, wanting to understand more of his world.
“Dorcha energy, also called dark energy, is the building block of all life on Tuatha.”
“Dark Energy? You mean dark as in black magic?” Emma asked with a shudder of revulsion. He’d mentioned faerie dust and energy, but hadn’t said anything about it being evil. What had she gotten herself into?
“No, I think you don’t understand. Dark energy is just a name. We call it dark or dorcha energy because you can only see energy flames at nighttime. From what I’ve seen, Earth doesn’t have any form of natural usable energy. Lack of dark energy on Earth is why the gateways between Earth and Tuatha originally shut down. On Tuatha, dark energy was everywhere, in everything. It literally flowed from the ground in fountains.” He paused and shook his head. “I think the energy must have moved with us since all the fountains are still flowing. You used the word magic, but it doesn’t translate to what dark energy is.”
He flew in silence for a while. Covering ground at a slow pace, letting her enjoy the view. “The priests say dorcha energy was the major element left over after God created the universe. Dark energy isn’t evil or good, it just is. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, I think so. It’s like a knife, not good or bad, but a person can use it either way.”
He nodded his diamond-shaped head in agreement, horns glinting in the sun.
“Hopefully, people from earth can’t use it. Honestly, it’s a wonder we haven’t already blown ourselves up. We don’t need some kind of all-powerful form of energy that any Tom, Dick, or Harry can use,” she said, imagining the mess people would make.
He chuckled. “I doubt if anyone on this world can use dark energy. Most high council races can’t use it. Unless, of course, it’s used in a pre-made object like the two-way I gave you.”
“Only a few of the lower council races can use the pure form of dark energy, and then only in small ways, such as changing the color of a plant or making rocks glow. Now, faerie dust is a bit different.” He explained to her how hundreds of vortex, made from pure dorcha energy, erupted from large bodies of water looking like massive waterspouts only to explode into faerie dust once the funnel hit dry land.
Hours flew by as Tyler soared around the lake and surrounding forest. It was almost dark when they passed over a village. Nearly hidden by the face of a cliff, the settlement was small, little more than a handful of cottages and several bigger buildings. It looked deserted, like a ghost town. Curious, she asked, “Do you know what race lived there?”
“It’s probably several races. Most villages are a mixture of farmer, artist, merchant, and warrior. Everyone has a place within the Alliance.”
“Does that mean there are a lot of hybrids?”
“Hybrids?” he asked, turning west into the sunset.
“You know, like the chimera, half vampire, half fury. Are they called halflings or hybrids or something else?” she asked.
The evening breeze grew cooler. She shivered. If she’d known they’d be flying after dark, she would’ve worn layers.
His chuckle made her raise her head in question. “The chimera are a very unique race. There are no other races that produce a hybrid child, not like you think.” He paused, as if gathering his thoughts. “When two different races mate, the offspring will of course have a mixture of both parents when it comes to coloring or build, but they take their race after a single parent. A mated pair of dragon and chimera might have all dragon children or one dragon child and one chimera.”
“What about your parents? Are both of them dragon?” she asked, rubbing her chilled hands against Tyler’s warm neck.
The sun disappeared beyond the horizon, turning the wind downright chilly.
“Yeah, they are, but Gran is a banshee, and one of my younger sisters, Destiny, takes after Gran. She puts an entire new meaning on screaming hissy fit.” He chuckled.
“Smart aleck dragon,” she giggled and shivered at the same time, nearly losing her seat in the process. “Brr, I hate cutting our day short, but we need to go back. I’m freezing.”
Tyler stopped his forward momentum. With slow sweeps of his wings, he hovered in the air. Tilting his head back, he looked at her.
Not expecting such a maneuver, she gaped at him. “How can you hover like that?”
“Like what?” He chuckled as the tip of his tail gently touched her shoulder.
At the unexpected touch, she jumped right on cue. “All right Mr. Show Off,” she shivered, “can you magically transport us to the Cantina? A cup of hot chocolate would be awesome.”
“Nope, sorry, there aren’t any portals nearby. But I can carry you in my arms,” he offered. Seeing her hesitation, he added, “You’d be a lot warmer.”
“Why didn’t you say so?” she asked teasingly, and wondered how she could climb around his neck and into his arms without falling.
“Hang on and I’ll shift you from my back.”
She was still trying to figure out what in the world he meant when his sinuous tail slipped around her waist. Had she known what was coming up next, she would’ve refused his offer.
In a single move, his flexible tail yanked her from his back.
She shrieked. No doubt, the people on the ground - several hundred miles away - heard her loud and clear.
He didn’t leave her dangling in mid-air, no longer than a split instant. Swiftly, he swung her through the night sky, while his wings kept his body upright. His tail carried her past his thickly clawed hind feet and up to his forearms. His forearms gently wrapped around her, as he slowly released his tail from around her waist.
In a death hold, she wrapped her arms around one of his scaled forearms, and glared up at his chin.
“Next time, warn me,” she snapped, trying to slow her pounding heart.
“I did.” He sounded puzz
led. His confusion filled her. The worry-filled emotion was enough to stop her blooming anger in an instant.
“Yes, you did, but this dumb earthling didn’t quite grasp what you intended to do. So, you scared the crap out of me.”
“Emma,” he groaned.
Even if she couldn’t feel his frustration and guilt whip around her, she would never have missed how he felt at that moment. The single word rumbled through her head, echoing with regret.
“Ugh! No, stop that. No guilt allowed,” she said emphatically.
“Hard to do when I know I frightened you.”
“No biggie, I’m already over it.” Rubbing her cheek against the scales of his arm, she watched lights flash by on the dark landscape far below them. “Wow, I didn’t realize you could fly so fast.”
“Your skin feels way too cold. I want to get you warmed up as fast as possible,” he said.
I am so thankful she doesn’t hold a grudge. The girls from school, especially the court debutantes, tend to be so snarky.
“What’s snarky mean?” she asked curiously, wondering if the pixie bite had messed-up the definitions because the Tuathan version didn’t sound right.
“Huh?”
She giggled at his confused hesitation. “Sorry, I take it I wasn’t supposed to hear that last bit. I don’t often hear your voice in my head, but that just popped into it. I was just curious.”
He sighed. “No, you weren’t supposed to hear that last bit. Sharing thoughts with you is going to take some serious time getting used to. At the rate you’re going, you’ll feel my every emotion and hear my every thought, long before I can say the same about you.”
“I didn’t mean to intrude. It just happens,” she said, a frown creasing her forehead. They were getting along so well, sometimes she forgot they’d only known each other a few days.
He chuckled. “Em, I love the fact we’re getting closer, but I hate being left behind. I want to hear your thoughts and feel every emotion you have. It’s driving me nuts not being able to hear or feel you.”
She gulped at the intensity of his words. She’d really blown that one.
“I was just thinking that a lot of the debutants at school are snarky. It means hatefully malicious and mocking. I was thanking my lucky stars you aren’t like that.”
“Oh,” she chuckled. “On earth, snarky means a really sarcastic remark and I can be really sarcastic at times.”
Below them, the scenery changed from the dark forest sprinkled with an occasional night light to a field of fire. The field was actually the lake, but it was like no other lake she had ever seen before. It certainly didn’t look like Beaver Lake, not when there was blue fire dancing on the surface.
Near the shoreline, she could see the pebbled bottom. Farther out, giant boulders appeared beneath the surface. Seeing the murky water of Beaver Lake clear as a swimming pool should’ve sprouted hundreds of questions, but the colorful blue flames dancing on the surface of the water overwhelmed every other thought.
“The lake is on fire,” she whispered, caught off guard. Of all the things she had seen, flames on water had to be the most unusual. “Since you don’t seem surprised, I take it this is normal?”
“Yeah, that’s why I kept you out so late. I wanted your first time seeing the dorcha flames on Fire Lake to be from the sky.”
He swung lower, skimming a few feet above the surface. The entire lake seemed to glow from deep below. Fish darted through the darkened water, but not so dark that she couldn’t see through vividly clear water. Colorful flowers and vegetation moved with the current.
“Several thousand years ago the council decided the area needed a recreation plan for the growing population. The valleys they picked were deep, but not big enough to suit their grand idea. Mountains were excavated, creating the deeper and wider parts of Fire Lake.”
“Mountains?” she squeaked in surprise. “How do you remove a mountain?”
“Emma, we’re talking about the high council. They brought in giants from Truncatis for the bulk of the move, tearing down mountains, deepening and widening the valleys. It took nearly a hundred years, but they created a base for the lake. Once they finished with the excavation, they covered the bottom with faerie rocks and boulders. The bulk of the mountains they removed were transported to the valleys in and around Capital City, creating a better environment for expanding the town.”
“Oh,” she said, feeling all too human, too mortal. “Where’s Truncatis?”
“Truncatis is the large continent south of the Celtic Nations.”
Okay, like that really helped, though, Celtic probably meant Europe. Hopefully, Truncatis was the Tuathan version of Africa. She had more than enough to wrap her mind around without adding giants to the ever growing list.
“Anyway, when they were finished excavating the land they built Fire Dam. It’s on the northeastern edge of the lake. Next time we go exploring, I’ll show it to you.”
“Okay,” she said, “but that doesn’t explain why the water is on fire. Not only that, but we had a lake in this same location. Beaver Lake was a lot smaller. What happened to all the cabins and people?” She swallowed, wondering if entire communities got crushed or flooded when Tuatha appeared on Earth.
“I don’t know about everyone, but we’ve found hundreds of people in and around Capital City. As far as the fire is concerned, there are a couple of large dorcha energy springs under the lake. When liquid energy and water mix, flames appear. The flames are nearly impossible to see during the day, but are vivid at night.”
“So that’s why the water is glowing? Is it safe to drink?”
“It’s safe, but the water isn’t glowing. The rocks are glowing.” He nodded his serpentine head toward a large blue bolder submerged dozens of feet below the surface. “The faerie rocks make the entire lake glow.”
She chuckled, aware other earthborn might not agree with her. “Blue flames and glowing rocks are way too cool for words.”
He flew lower, aiming toward a large group of lights that appeared on the approaching northern shoreline.
She figured they were nearly to Scrimp Shaw. She struggled with her decision to question him about Lily, but the problem with his sister wasn’t going to go away and she didn’t want to question him in front of his friends. “I was curious about something. Earlier, Jenna said Lily started acting odd while you all were on a camping trip. That’s when she started being rude to Jenna. Did she ever go hiking by herself or disappear for hours at a time?”
“Not really, if she wasn’t with one of us, she was with Andrew. She always had a soft spot for him.”
“They hiked by themselves?”
“Yeah, before she turned into a viper, she was always taking people under her wing. She felt Andrew was misunderstood. Why?”
“I’m not sure. It just seems important. Kind of like a pivotal point from good to bad,” she said, frustrated she couldn’t explain any better.
“Good to bad” he grumbled. “I hadn’t thought of her mood swing that way, but that’s exactly the way she’s acting. It’s like she’s two different people.”
“Ty, if something happened to you. Who would become your father’s heir?” she asked quietly, twisting her face in a grimace as her chest constricted. She knew her question had to hurt him.
“I see where you’re going, because I’d already thought about it after Lily told Andrew to kill you. Lily is a sky blue dragon, same as mom. She’s not a wér-dragon. Only a solid black wér-dragon, within the royal line, can lead the dragons.”
“But Andrew is your cousin and he’s a wér-dragon,” she said firmly. “Lydia said a dragon will do anything to please their mate. What if Andrew became Lily’s mate? Would she do whatever he told her to do?” she asked.
Tyler growled, low and deep. The furious rumble raised the hair on her arms.
Chapter - A Healer’s Touch
Keeping his arms curled protectively around Emma, Tyler landed, coming to a gentle stop on the wide cobbl
estone street.
It had been a perfect afternoon. He’d never felt so in tune with anyone in his entire life. What never ceased to amaze him was how calm his dragon felt when he had her in his arms.
He glanced around the deserted area, pleased as more faerie lights flickered on. He could see just fine in the dark, but he knew Emma couldn’t.
He hadn’t picked the Cantina just because they had incredible food. He picked the tavern because it was in Scrimp Shaw, a large town, north of Capital City.
He believed Emma would enjoy the unique resort town that was named after the lake’s freshwater shellfish. Excellent wines and exotic foods imported from both the West Coast chimera and the Celtic Nation druids made the town a popular destination year round.
The town square was quiet, not surprising since it was late evening. Most people were either home or visiting the numerous taverns situated along the docks.
Twisting his long neck around, he watched as she stretched her legs. Yearning hummed through his body. He wanted to curl around her, and never let her go.
“Mine,” his contented dragon murmured in agreement.
“Thanks for the ride. It was awesome,” she gushed. Hugging his forearm, she dropped to the ground.
He changed into his human form.
“You’re more than welcome. I loved it,” he said warmly, meaning every word. Not wanting to be parted from her, he lightly touched her bare arm, hoping she’d see how much he cared for her.
He stifled a snort. Care was such a blah word. The generic emotion certainly didn’t reflect his true feelings. He loved her so much his soul ached when he wasn’t with her. He had loved her from the very first moment he saw her huddled in that tree. Mate or not, he had wanted to claim her as his. Being with her all day and getting to know her simply enforced that possessive thought.
At his touch, her face lit up with a beautiful smile.
She curled her hand firmly around his, entwining their fingers.
Unable to help himself, he grinned. No doubt, he looked like a five-year-old with a basket full of chocolates. He gently squeezed her fingers, tugging her toward the central fountain. “Let me show you more of my world.”
Emma (Dark Fire) Page 16