Daughter Of The Dragon Princess
Page 19
Tannith peered up, lips pursed. Was that annoyance flickering across her beautiful features? Then resignation, and finally, she smiled. Ignoring Lily, she stepped over to Mal, reached out a hand, and stroked his face.
Lily bristled. “Get your hands off him.”
Mal flashed her a look of warning, but Lily didn’t want to be warned.
Tannith laughed. “She’s fierce, your Princess, is she not, Malachite?”
Mal nodded with resignation.
“She would fight to protect you, I think.”
“Too right,” Lily said, “And I’m bigger than you.”
Mal winced but Tannith laughed again. She turned towards the bulk of the dead dragon and held out a hand. Silver flames shot forward and the body erupted into a ball of fire. Lily swallowed. “Okay, maybe I won’t win, but I’ll still fight.”
Tannith turned towards her and stretched out her hand. Mal gasped, and she knew she was going to die. Tannith muttered a few words, but no flames appeared and Lily glanced down. Her blanket was gone in its place was a golden gown. It skimmed her body and reached the ground, a slit up the right side exposing her leg to the thigh, and narrow straps revealed the mark. Lily smoothed her hands over the silk. “Wow,” she said. “Now that is magic worth doing.”
“Maybe I’ll teach you. If you don’t anger me too much. Now stand, Malachite. I don’t desire your death just yet, your Princess can relax.”
Malachite rose to his feet, then came to stand beside Lily and she slipped her hand into his.
Tannith looked uncomfortable. She strolled around for a minute then turned back to them and stiffened her shoulders.
“It is not in our nature to explain ourselves. It’s also not in our nature to admit we’re wrong. I’m going to do both. But I warn you, make the most of this as it won’t be repeated.” She sighed. “Long ago, I made the dragons in my image and they were beautiful. I wanted them to myself and I had no wish to share their devotion so they were all male. When they saw what men had, and prayed to me for mates of their own, I gave them the Dragon Princesses, daughters of my blood. Still I was jealous, and still, I didn’t want to share, so the Dragon Princesses were never true dragons and they were never worthy mates. The dragons never honored them as they should; they saw them as something less, and in the end that led to tragedy. I should have stepped in but…” She frowned and shrugged. “I should have stepped in, but I was busy at the time.” She glared at them defensively. “We do have other worlds to monitor, you know. Anyway, I didn’t realize how far things had gone until only Cara remained. Her desperate prayers brought me back. I took a good look at the dragons and saw what they had become. So, I was wrong.” She gave a huge sigh. “That was difficult,” she murmured. “I should have realized that it’s dragon nature to take advantage of anything weaker than themselves. They required a lesson, perhaps even to learn some humanity. They also needed mates worthy of them. So I went to Cara and we planned how that could come about.”
“You sent her to Draegar?” Mal asked.
“I know you think I was wrong to send her to the sorcerer, but apparently he was a darling compared to Vortigen. And she needed someone with backbone, strength and maybe a little ruthlessness.”
“There was me.”
Tannith shook her head in exasperation. “Oh, Cara wanted to come to you for help, but I forbade her. Cara’s time was over and I had other long-term plans for you.” She looked at Mal and Lily standing together. “Do you think the two of you came together by chance? In exchange for her cooperation I promised Cara that her daughter would have a better life.”
“Well, you’ve done a really good job of that so far,” Lily said.
Tannith ignored the comment. “I made sure she gave new blood to the Dragon Princesses, I transported Lily safely through time, and I ensured that many of the dragons were stuck with humanity for a few thousand years. Objectives achieved.”
A wave of hatred rose up in Lily as she stared at the Goddess. She thought about the bargain her mother had made, what Cara had done to ensure her daughter’s safety. Her mother hadn’t abandoned her after all. She had loved her enough to give up everything so that Lily might have a chance. “Did she have to die?”
“What?”
“My mother? Couldn’t you have saved her?”
Tannith frowned. “I told you her time was over. She had served her purpose. Do not presume to understand the ways of the gods.”
“Pretentious bitch,” Lily muttered. Mal squeezed her hand and she forced herself to calm down.
Tannith smiled without humor. “You know, my intention was to give you a mate worthy of you. I’m thinking that perhaps I’ve done too good a job.”
“So Lily is my mate?”
“Haven’t I just said so?”
“And I’m not to die?”
She scowled. “You broke a sacred law. Do you know how much groveling I’m going to have to do to make up for that? But no, I don’t require you to die just yet.”
“So Lily is to be my Dragon Princess and I will visit her here on earth? And the portal will remain open?”
“Yes, the portal will remain open, but I’ve obviously not been as clear as I thought. Lily is not to be your Dragon Princess; she will be your queen and live with you in Ankesh.”
“Queen?” Lily said. “As in Dragon Queen. Proper dragon?”
Tannith nodded.
Lily hadn’t taken much in after she had heard the words that Mal would live. She glanced at the archway, remembered the longing when she stood in front of the open portal and heard Ankesh call to her. A home and Mal, it seemed unbelievable.
Mal turned to her. “Lily, are you ready to go home?”
She nodded.
“Then come.”
He took her hand and led her toward the portal. As they approached, blue-black flames leapt upward, mingling with red and gold. The flames kissed her skin then licked at her hungrily. Mal squeezed her hand as they stepped through the portal. A flash of fear ran through her as the flames embraced them, but didn’t burn. For a second, they stood poised together, hand in hand, on the edge of a great precipice. The sky above them roiled with color, red and orange. In the distance rose up a huge mountain range and below was a sea of living fire. She clung to Mal’s hand.
“I’m scared,” she murmured.
He threw back his head and laughed. “So am I,” he shouted. “It’s wonderful. Now let go, Lily.”
A wave of wild exultation washed over her. She laughed with him, then he gripped her hand tight, and together they leapt from the ledge.
She plunged toward that burning sea, faster and faster and then she was flying. She lost hold of Mal but then he was beside her, a huge black dragon. He turned his head towards her and his eyes glowed gold and ruby. She turned to glance back at herself; she was all red-gold scales and huge scarlet-tipped wings. She followed Mal as he rose up and up until they hovered high above the sea of flames. For a minute, they danced on the air, their long sinuous bodies entwined, gold with black, and then together they dived towards the fire.
They were home.
Epilogue
Killian opened the door and ushered her through. “The King awaits you, your majesty.
“You really maybe want to think about saying that a little quieter,” Lily suggested.
Killian was the Queen’s Enforcer and her personal bodyguard and he took his duties seriously. But they were in a pizza place and were getting some weird-shit looks from the other customers.
She could already sense Mal’s presence and she wended her way through the tables to where he sat watching her, waiting for her. He stood as she reached the table.
“I missed you,” he said.
“Good.”
“And I already ordered. Your favorite pizza and chocolate cake.”
Mal was obviously indulging her every whim. Which was sensible.
Killian pulled out her chair. She sat but then glared up at him. “Stop hovering,” she said. “Go
have some fun or something. Mal will look after me. Won’t you?”
“Of course,” Mal said smoothly.
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you humoring me?”
“Of course.”
Her lips twitched. They’d discovered early on that pregnant dragons had shocking tempers. Of course, she was the first and there was a huge learning curve, but her hormones were all over the place and everyone was treading very carefully. She quite liked it. Some of the time. The rest of the time, it irritated the hell out of her.
Killian vanished and she released her breath.
“Did I mention I missed you?” Mal said.
“It’s only been two hours.”
“An age.”
She took his hand and heat shot through her skin. She kissed his fingers, then rested his palm on the swell of her belly beneath the table. “How did the meeting go?”
“It was a start.” Mal was reaching out to the sorcerers, seeing if there was any way to halt the long conflict and finally bring peace between them.
She pressed her palm over his. Would her baby bear the mark? It didn’t matter. He or she would be loved no matter what. But Lily had a feeling she carried a dragon and she knew their people were hoping for a girl.
It was strange, she’d always wanted to be normal. Now she was one of a kind. Hopefully the first of a new breed of Dragon Princesses, and she had the chance to define just what she wanted “normal” to be.
She hoped the dragons were ready.
The End
If you enjoyed the book, please consider leaving a review on Amazon—thank you!
And if you’d like to know more about my up and coming releases please sign up for my newsletter (and receive a free copy of Bound to Night, book 1 in my Sisters of the Moon series) Just click here.
About the Author
Nina Croft grew up in the north of England. After training as an accountant, she spent four years working as a volunteer in Zambia, which left her with a love of the sun and a dislike of 9-5 work. She then spent a number of years mixing travel (whenever possible) with work (whenever necessary) but has now settled down to a life of writing and picking almonds on a remote farm in the mountains of southern Spain. Nina’s writing mixes romance with elements of the paranormal and science fiction.
If you’d like to receive my occasional newsletter telling you about new releases then sign up here:
http://eepurl.com/rZ5rz
Visit me at:
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Goodreads
Books by Nina Croft:
Sisters of the Moon series
Bound to Night
Bound to Moonlight
Bound to Secrets
Blood Hunter series
Break Out
Deadly Pursuit
Death Defying (coming November 2013)
Laws of Segregation
Chosen
The Calling
Enchantment
Exiled
The Order
Bittersweet Blood
Bittersweet Magic (Coming October 2013)
Bittersweet Darkness (Coming December 2013)
Harlequin Nocturne Bites
The Prophecy
The Darkness
Contemporary
Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire
Losing Control
Thriller
The Descartes Legacy