Dragon's Oath: A Paranormal & Urban Fantasy Romance (House of Quercus Book 1)

by Eve Laird

  “Hmm, don't think too much about that,” he laughed, mostly to himself. A private joke.

  He looked directly at me.

  “Just be assured that I am trustworthy and you should really believe that I am a friend,” he said.

  “A friend?” I said in disbelief.

  “You are an evil sorcerer of the highest order.” I yelled.

  He looked crestfallen.

  “Even with all that I've said, you don't trust I am honorable?” he said, the disappointment thick in his voice.

  He'd expected me to trust him instantly, which did nothing but make me wonder if he really knew me at all.

  “I don't even know your name,” I shouted, confused and suddenly fearful.

  “Drake. I am known to you as Drake,” he said, warmly.

  He extended his arm to greet me, and in spite of my uneasiness, I felt compelled to go to him.

  To touch him.

  I walked over to his side, reaching over the huge, bandaged wing.

  His hand grasped my forearm, as I did his.

  “Pleased to make your acquaintance again, Vita,” he said with a laugh.

  “Pleased to meet you, Drake,” I said, before feeling woozy.

  Stars appeared around the corners of my eyes, and before I had the chance to say anything darkness overcame me.

  “It's alright, Vita. You are safe from harm.”

  His voice was soothing to me, close by, and felt like home.

  That delicious scent surrounded me again.

  Suddenly, I was in a large building, with hundreds of humans around me.

  It smelled funny -well, it didn't smell at all - that was what was so strange.

  And the light was too bright!

  I closed my eyes, and it seemed better when I reopened them.

  I could see that it was actually the lanterns within the place.

  Somehow, they'd been enchanted to shine brighter than the sun, even without flames.

  I could see darkness outside a window, so I gathered that it must be nighttime.

  But, how did these humans not fear the magick lighting the room?

  I concentrated.

  I could feel Other-Natured, walking among the humans, and a familiar scent grew even stronger.

  I was suddenly aware that Drake was beside me, his shoulder touching mine.

  He spoke quietly so that the humans would not hear.

  “It's alright Vita. You are safe from harm,” he whispered.

  Something about that whisper went straight to my core.

  I shuddered in pleasure.

  I glanced at him; he was in his human form.

  His hair was cut short.

  He was freshly-shaven, and dressed impeccably well, wearing strange blue breeches and a shirt of the finest cloth.

  I looked at my own clothes and tried not to burst out laughing.

  This truly had to be a delirious dream.

  “Do not be alarmed. We will take our leave now, and I will explain everything,” he said, quietly.

  The words echoed in my mind.

  He'd spoken them to me, only moments before, from his sickbed.

  What was going on?

  Chapter 10

  The Human Realm, 1714

  “Are you fully healed?” I blurted.

  “Shh!” he scolded.

  “Outside. Quickly,” he whispered, and we started to leave.

  I went to move and felt my ankle wobbling, and the heel of my shoe slipped.

  Drake rolled his eyes.

  “C'mon Vita. They're just high-heel stilettos. Any self-respecting Professor can walk in them. At least, all the female Professors. Well, in public, anyway,” he said, looking introspective.

  I took another step, and almost landed flat on my face.

  His strong arm went around my waist instantly and carried/walked me out of the room and out to the grounds in front of the building.

  “I'm sorry I had to do it this way, but I needed you to see something. Thank Danu for letting me do it.” he breathed.

  A young woman scurried quickly towards the entrance.

  My eyes widened as my senses told me what she was.

  Of what she would be capable of doing…

  “That,” he said, watching me closely.

  “That skill, Vita. That is a talent!” he said.

  I watched the young woman.

  “She's...” I started to say.

  But Drake grabbed me hard, pulling me close to him.

  I could smell him.

  He smelled delicious.

  “Shh!” he gripped me harder.

  “Too many ears surround us. Hers included.” he hissed.

  “Do they know that she's…one of those?” I whispered.

  My face turned towards his.

  He frowned.

  “What? You mean even she doesn’t know? How can that be, Drake?” I said.

  His named rolled across my tongue, and I got flashes of his tongue, suddenly.

  Things that made me go out of my mind with pleasure.

  I gasped, and took a deep breath, trying to focus.

  “She doesn't,” he admitted.

  “As for the others? I don't know for sure, Vita,” he said, and regret filled his face.

  “I can't see everything. No matter how often I’ve traveled to certain places, certain times. I can't just get to every pertinent event. After all, it’s vital that I am not recognized, and I certainly can't be seen in two places at the same time. Plus, other complications make things even more difficult. We don't have time for me to explain, just now, okay?” he said.

  I could tell from his voice how frustrated he was, but also how urgent.

  “Why are you showing her to me?” I asked.

  “Two reasons. She will be of great help to our cause. The House of Quercus needs her,” he whispered.

  “And secondly?” I prompted.

  I was impatient.

  I'd already gathered the impression that Drake liked it when he had information that I needed, and it enjoyed making me wait for it.

  I didn’t exactly enjoy the disparity.

  He squeezed my waist.

  I noticed that he still had his arm around me.

  I decided to allow it.

  For now…

  “Secondly,” he cooed, “is to remind you, yet, again, of your talent for recognizing the abilities of others.”

  I stared at him.

  “You can identify them well before they may even realize it themselves. It is to be nurtured. It will prove your greatest asset in helping our cause and against the Incorrupti Knights.” he said.

  The young woman rushed past us, her shoes making a squeaking noise against the hard floor.

  It was a strange sound, one that I could not immediately place.

  Drake pulled me further away from the building, into a dark shadow.

  “We don't have much time, Vita,” he said.

  I looked around, at the people walking on their errands, ignoring us.

  “I'm so sorry I can't stay longer to explain. But, we must return to your time again. You'll remember all of this, but it is my deepest wish that you keep this a secret between us. Promise me!” he begged.

  His eyes glowed in the darkness, two spheres of fire in the night.

  “You need to remain with the House of Quercus. They need you; your fighting skills. Train as many as you can, for they are coming for you all.” he warned.

  None of this made any sense at all, in my confused state.

  In the distance, a bell dinged, and my attention went to a group of humans who were walking away from the building, and into the distance.

  One of the group held a contraption in her hand, a light glowed in it, and she showed it to the others who all burst into laughter.

  What was this place?

  These humans used magick, yet it didn't feel like magick, nor at least any magick I’d sensed before.

  Where was the Sorcerer or Sorceress that was controll
ing all this?

  “Vita! Listen.” Drake shook me back to attention.

  “None of that matters right now. Promise me, on your honor as an Angelic Guard, that you will keep this meeting between us. You have to remain at the House of Quercus until we can speak of this again. Promise!” he urged, frantically.

  Had his eyes become brighter?

  “Yes, I shall,” I spoke, solemnly.

  My word was true, and I would not share these events with another.

  “But I will require many answers from you, Drake,” I said, relishing the feel of his name in my mouth.

  “And you shall have them, in time, I promise you, Vita.” he swore.

  His hand stroked my cheek in a way that shook me to my core.

  It was as familiar a movement to him as breathing, as it somehow was to me.

  I leaned into his touch.

  I never moved into a caress - from anyone.

  Ever.

  Yet, involuntarily, my body responded.

  I awoke to find myself back in the healer's room, Drake looking much paler and thinner than he had just now at that strange building.

  His heavy eyes watched me.

  “Do you believe me now?” he said, weakly.

  “Yes,” I replied, instantly.

  I had no idea the magnitude of what I'd just been shown.

  He could have told me anything at that point, and I wouldn't have questioned it.

  “I am weakened. I need more rest,” he said, weary from exertion.

  His head drooped even as he spoke.

  “Wait! There is one last thing I must do,” he said, his hand reaching again for mine, as he lay in the bed.

  But, he hadn’t the strength, and his hand dropped, as he fell into a deep slumber.

  He'd expended so much energy by doing whatever we had been engaged in doing that he was utterly exhausted.

  I smelled the blood before I heard it dripping, drop by drop, onto the floor.

  I looked to his injured wing.

  The faint pink scars I'd seen only a few minutes ago were now running thick with fresh blood.

  The healing was undone.

  “Spring!” I shouted, knowing that he needed help, immediately.

  She burst through the door, eyes wide and wild with concern.

  She took hold of his wing, moving it to the ground, where the blood was puddling even more.

  She turned to me, worried, with daggers shooting from her eyes.

  “What have you done to him?” she yelled.

  I rushed to the furthest wall, and opened the cupboards, pulling armfuls of bandages as she stood by his side.

  “I didn't,” I said, handing her the packs.

  “She didn't do anything,” Drake said drowsily.

  “I've never felt like this. Feel - drugged,” he said, lethargic and slow.

  We both looked at him.

  Drake’s eyes barely opened, even as he struggled to stay awake.

  “Heard…once…about a poison…for…Dragons…” he whispered, and then faded back into unconsciousness.

  “Did you poison him?” Spring's voice was full of fury.

  “Leave us now so I can tend his wounds.” she ordered me.

  “But...” I stood there, holding the packs, trying to make sense of everything I had seen.

  “Leave us!” she yelled at me.

  I tensed, my body automatically going into a combat stance.

  Spring looked determined and faced off against me.

  As little as she was, Spring’s aggression was real.

  In fighting her, I would be delaying any treatment she could give to Drake.

  I turned and walked out the door.

  The second Fae pushed past me as I left.

  “Tell no one of his condition. It would reduce morale.” she said.

  “I'll come back later, to see how he is,” I replied, but neither of them acknowledged my words.

  Chapter 11

  The Human Realm, 1714

  I worked as hard as I could for the remainder of the day, greeting the distraction of physical labor, and allowing it to empty my mind of troubling thoughts.

  I had to unwind what the hell had happened with Drake.

  I was rattled.

  So much had happened in such a short period of time, but the thing that had disturbed me the most?

  It was the familiar scent of Drake and how I instinctively leaned into him as he touched me.

  It had felt familiar – safe.

  Natural.

  The implications were too much for me to process.

  I guessed that Drake had taken me to a time in the future, and shown me new things.

  We inhabited a strange place, where magick was not feared by humans.

  I had seen a human woman, who had the most exceptional natural fire magick ability I'd ever met, and she didn’t even know it.

  With one stroke of my cheek, I gained the knowledge that Drake and I - past, present, or future - were fated to each other.

  Was that why his scent felt so special to me?

  “Hey, Vita,” Oliver said, shaking my elbow.

  “Are you going to help lift this beam or not?” he asked, as he examined my face suspiciously.

  I stared at him.

  “Tell me, what exactly happened with the Dragon?” he urged.

  I shook my head.

  “I can't,” I admitted.

  Even if I wanted to, I wouldn't know how to explain it.

  Plus, Drake had made me promise to keep our conversation a secret between us.

  “Let's get these beams onto the roof, then?” Oliver shrugged.

  I rubbed my hands together as I approached my side of the massive piece of oak.

  The building was going to be at least five stories high.

  Too ostentatious, and even excessive, in my opinion.

  How many buildings and rooms did they really need here?

  We labored and managed to position enough of the beams to slake my need for carrying my load.

  If anything, I gave more than I got.

  It’s my way…

  That evening, after washing and eating, I went back to the infirmary to see Drake.

  A tired-looking Spring met me.

  “I must speak with you,” she said, as she ushered me into a different room, closing the door behind us.

  “Look, I really didn't do anything,” I began.

  I went to start my defense, but she cut me off with a gesture.

  “I know,” she said, holding her hand up to stop me from speaking further.

  She leaned close to me.

  “I spoke with Constance, as soon as we had him settled enough that I could leave. She said that there was no way you could have done anything to him,” she told me.

  Then, she nodded, as if answering some internal question within herself.

  “I … if she believes that then I do, Vita,” she admitted.

  She smiled uneasily.

  “Constance vouched for me?” I asked.

  I was surprised that she would.

  It also surprised me that a Fae would take a Vampire's word on anything.

  Especially something that she had doubted herself.

  And, of course, Constance had not been present, but Spring had.

  “She did,” she said, nodding again.

  “And, if she didn't, you would have been summoned hours ago,” she said, sternly.

  I could sense her feelings for wanting to heal Drake.

  Was she in love with him?

  The thought suddenly occurred to me.

  It seemed unlikely and sudden.

  Yet, Spring was fiercely protective of her patient.

  “Although I will admit, she was as confused as me to how he knew of your presence here in the first place,” she finished.

  Spring was not all as she'd first appeared in the canteen; she had a fierce strength within her.

  She knew that I could easily best her, physically; yet she didn't
hesitate about being direct.

  “People take me for a fool. A sweet fairy, rather than a Fae,” she told me, proudly.

  “I am from a strong lineage of Healers. I'm not a fighter,” she looked at me, “Like you.”

  Her eyes looked along my body, from my head to my toes.

  I suddenly felt embarrassed.

  “I don't know all the ways to end another's life. But I know as many ways to heal them as you do to kill,” she told me.

  “I understand,” I replied.

  I'd met the healers in the Angelic Guard, who were as opposed to my role as this Fae.

  They were of the opinion that hurting others, regardless of their nature or actions, was not the true path to victory.

  So, they had chosen a more diplomatic approach to defeat our enemies, with prisons and such.

  They saw my work as creating more destruction and hurt - the exact opposite of what they stood for - do no harm.

  On the other hand, many of them had never even seen a single Vampire, never mind been attacked by an entire clan.

  “I will never agree that violence is ever an answer, so we are at odds in that regard,” Spring continued.

  I looked at her.

  She knew something and was having a hard time communicating it to me.

  Why?

  “However, he has been talking, murmuring really, in his sleep,” she said, and then blushed.

  She looked awkwardly at me, reminding me of what I'd first thought she was: an innocent, well-meaning imp.

  “If you are half as fond of him as he is of you – at least as I can gather from his sleep-talk - then you would not harm him. The fact you are here, despite my accusations, proves that there is good within you,” she said.

  I chose to ignore her implications.

  “How is he?” I asked.

  “He's been unconscious since you left. As I said, he roused himself enough a few times to speak about you and he …” she trailed off.

  Her cheeks reddened a little more, as she looked away.

  “What did he say?” I prodded.

  The red deepened to a full-blown blush.

  “Nothing of note, and very little that made any sense,” she said.

  I could tell she was still hiding something.

  “Mainly grunts, and groans, with the odd word thrown in, here and there. But, he would say…your name…in between…words…and, well, he also was calling on Danu. I heard it clearly, a few times,” she stammered, blushing to her clavicle.