One blast. That was all it took. He lowered the horn. Together we waited until we saw the first soldiers cresting the hill. Bloodied, battered, bruised, they raced toward camp, no doubt wondering why they were being called back. Many might die, if this didn’t go as planned. But then again, many had already died. I looked at the faces as they raced by us, trying to memorize every single man. Most of them didn’t even notice us nestled against the mountainside. They had one goal in mind: home.
“You’re sure he won’t attack you?” Bryn asked.
I nodded, even though I wasn’t. But I wouldn’t dare tell Bryn the truth. They never would have allowed this if they believed I had doubts. But the doubts weren’t about Mak, they were about my abilities. “I have to believe that Iduna knew what she was doing. She gave me these powers on purpose.”
“Binding you to him.”
Did I hear a bite to his voice? I supposed I was connected to Mak now. Instead of making me nervous, the thought actually made me feel stronger, sure of myself and of him. The soldiers were getting closer. They didn’t know why they were returning, but they knew they had to obey the call. They were exhausted. Depleted. Their eyes haunted and desperate. This had to work.
“Maybe,” I murmured.
“He’s in love with you, you know.”
I jerked my gaze toward Brynjar. “Who?”
He gave me a smirk of a smile, as if I was an idiot. “You know who I’m talking about.”
I tore my gaze from him and focused straight ahead, no longer seeing the battle or the people around me. My heart flopped wildly in my chest. Love? This was so not the time to think about my feelings for Mak. “He’s not.”
“You know he is. The question is, are you in love with him?”
The last few soldiers were getting closer. So close I could see the whites of their exhausted eyes. These were the men who had been on the fronts. Who had experienced the most battle.
“Seeing how you saved his life the other day, I have to assume you are in love with him as well.”
I slid him a glance. He stared stoically ahead. Why did I feel the need to apologize? “Bryn, I…”
“Don’t,” he said softly. “Don’t apologize.”
I gave a curt nod. He was right. I didn’t owe him an apology for not having feelings for him. There had never been anything spoken between us. Perhaps a mild attraction in the beginning, but that was a long, long time ago. Before I’d gotten to know Mak. Before I’d… hell, I’d fallen for him. But love? Did I even know what love was? I’d certainly never experienced the emotion before.
General Gunvaldsson appeared on my other side, putting an end to our conversation. “Ready?”
I looked over my shoulder. Mak was making his way toward us, his face stoic, determined. But it was the emptiness that lurked in his gaze that truly got to me. My chest felt tight, ached for him. He was going to destroy his kingdom, his people, his friends.
Although he wore only a plain beige shirt, and dark trousers, he walked like royalty. He would always be royalty. Always stand out in a crowd of common people. Seeing him both terrified and thrilled me.
“He’s in love with you, you know.”
Was he?
I faced forward, watching the remaining few soldiers race toward camp. “Yeah. I’m ready.”
General Gunvaldsson met my gaze, holding it for a long moment. There was so much he said in those blue eyes. Eyes that matched mine. I had a feeling he wanted to have some heart to heart conversation.
In the end, he merely cleared his throat and said, “Make sure you make it back alive.”
I nodded as I slid off my mount. He and Bryn turned to leave, taking my horse with them. I could have told the general I’d forgiven him. Told him that if I survived, I would like to try and mend our relationship. But my lips wouldn’t speak. My throat had gone as dry as the dirt beneath our feet.
Our men had made it back, and many had retreated to the safety of camp. The soldiers who lined the crest were not from Acadia. The setting sun bounced off their armor, momentarily blinding me. Cashel. Hundreds of men stood on that hill, watching, waiting for King Aksel to give his command. If everything worked out the way Mak and I planned, they were going to die and didn’t realize it.
My stomach roiled. I felt ill. I didn’t want to kill anyone. I didn’t have a choice.
“Are you ready?” Mak asked, stopping so close to me our hands brushed.
Merely the two of us, about to face an army. But then, since I’d arrived here, it seemed like it had been merely the two of us. I gave a quick jerk of my head. “I think.”
“You know, I always thought this was a curse,” Mak said. He was biding time. He knew I wasn’t ready. But I’d probably never be ready. “My mother told me it was a blessing given by the fey folk. But I don’t think that’s true. I think she had an affair, and I got this ability from my true father. She said I must keep it secret so others wouldn’t see me as a threat. But I grew up thinking she was ashamed of me. I couldn’t control it. I might hurt others. And I think a part of her was afraid of me.”
As he stood there so tall and strong, the wind ruffling his dark hair, I wanted to hug him. To tell him he wasn’t cursed. He was beautiful. Amazing. But his eyes were glowing already, as if the beast inside him knew it was time. Those eyes didn’t scare me. No. Those were his eyes. Mak. A very part of him.
“What if this is a curse?” he whispered. “I don’t want to hurt you. What if it all goes wrong?”
“It’s okay. At least I got to come home.”
He turned to face me fully. “No. It’s not okay. Are you utterly mad? You didn’t survive practically alone in another realm just so you could die here, when you’ve finally made it where you belong. We didn’t find each other, so it could be over so quickly.”
He took my hands, his fingers warm and strong.
“You were chosen by Queen Iduna to be blessed with the power to control wild animals. Control me. So you could save your people.”
Could I though?
We were about to find out.
He tugged me closer. Although the soldiers, Bryn, and the general were too far back to hear a word he said, I could feel their attention on us. I should have been embarrassed. I wasn’t. This could be it. Five minutes from now. Ten. I could be dead. Mak could be dead.
“Do you have any idea how amazing you are? How many people would die for you? You’ve made us all fall in love with you. Your charm, your strength, your courage.”
“Don’t be ridic—”
He pressed his lips to mine, cutting off my argument. It was a fierce kiss, a possessive kiss. One that left me stunned, reeling. His hands slid down my back and pulled me closer. For one brief moment, he held me as his lips moved carefully over mine. In that moment, it was just the two of us, breathing each other in. There was no war. There was no death. No hate or fear. All too soon, he pulled away, leaving me shaking and bemused.
“All of this did not happen just so you could die,” he whispered.
I nodded. “That would be really shitty.”
“Oh Shay, you have no idea.”
He pressed his forehead to mine. The wind whispered urgently around us, while the world waited, waited for us to finish. Waited for us to act. None of that mattered. Only this moment mattered. Only Mak.
“I missed you even before we met, before I knew of your existence.” His thumb gently brushed my right cheek. “I ached, and all that time I didn’t realize that I was aching for you. But that moment I saw you in New York, I knew, deep down, I knew. I was just too stubborn to admit it.”
My heart hammered wildly in my chest. Pretty words. Such pretty words. He was speaking poetry and true love. But did it really exist? It didn’t make sense to my broken mind, my battered heart. It went against everything vile and dark I’d learned about life.
“I would do anything for you, Shay. Do you know that?” He took my hands in his, bringing them up against his chest. “We escaped water sprites, Queen
Iduna, scavengers, we made it home. Together, we can do this. We can do anything.”
It was hard to breathe, and I knew it had nothing to do with the heavy leather vest I wore. Never before had anyone cared so much about my welfare, wanted to protect me, yet believed so much in me at the same time. “That’s a lot of pressure.”
He laughed, the corners of his green eyes crinkling. “You don’t need to feel pressured; you don’t need to do anything but live. Just by being here you have improved my life, all of our lives.”
He gave me too much credit. I could see his uncle talking to the troops on the crest. They were preparing to invade. We had to act soon. We were running out of time. “I don’t deserve that much praise. I don’t deserve—”
“Don’t you dare say that,” he whispered. “You deserve everything, Shay. Everything.”
He acted like we would win, but this talk sounded an awful lot like a goodbye speech.
“Do you still have the dagger?” he asked.
I nodded.
“Remember, the side of the neck.” He pressed his fingers to the area right under his jaw. “Right side. There’s an artery…”
“I get it.”
He gripped my upper arms. “You have to do it, Shay, if things get out of control.”
Just the thought made me ill. My determination wavered before us. I wasn’t strong. They were kidding themselves if they thought so. I ran from my problems. I avoided issues. Running was how I’d survived for seventeen years. “How can I?”
“Don’t tell me you’ve grown to care about me.” He cupped the sides of my face. “I would have thought you’d be eager to stick a knife in my neck.”
I swiped at my damp eyes. Panic tapped at the edges of my mind. “Don’t make jokes.”
“Do you remember that woman from Acadia I said I loved?”
I nodded. How could I forget the one woman he’d cared about? Bryn and General Gunvaldsson were shifting on their mounts, impatient for us to act. I didn’t blame them. While his uncle’s army was planning their next move, Mak and I were having a little chat about his love life.
“She fell,” he admitted. “While we were crossing a bridge to meet in secret. My mother and some of our soldiers had followed, suspicious. I could have turned then, and tried to save her. I could have tried. I didn’t, because I was too worried that I wouldn’t be able to control myself once I changed. That I would kill her, my mother, and the soldiers. And I was too afraid they’d know my secret. After, my mother begged me to never change.”
My heart squeezed. I hated his mother for making him feel ashamed. Hated that he’d had to keep this a secret. “You can’t blame yourself for that girl’s death, Mak.”
“I know. But that’s not why I’m telling you this story. Yes, I could have turned, and I could have tried.”
A war cry sounded from the hill crest, startling me. His uncle’s soldiers charged toward Acadia. This was it. Our time had come to an end. I wanted to throw my arms around Mak, and hold him tight. Wanted to close my eyes and pretend this wasn’t happening. But it was. We could not avoid reality. “What is the point?”
“I could have tried,” he said. “And if I’d changed, it would have put me, my family, my entire kingdom in jeopardy. But I chose them over her. And maybe it was selfish. Perhaps it was. I could have changed, but I didn’t trust myself enough.”
I watched him closely, trying to understand what he was implying.
“But here, now, I trust you, Shay.”
He brought my hands to his lips and kissed my palms. My heart slammed against my ribcage. And suddenly I understood.
Love.
This was love. It wasn’t perfect, but it was true. It was strong. We were not made to hate; we were made to love.
“Choose me, Shay. Trust me.”
There was a longing in his voice that filled me with unexpected emotion. There were so many things I wanted to say to him, and we were running out of time. “I chose you the moment you saved me from the explosion when we were marching with your army. I chose you again when you saved me in my garden in Acadia. Again, when you protected me from my own people. And I will choose you until the end, Mak. Whenever that end might be.”
He cupped the sides of my face and kissed me again. And when his lips pressed to mine, for one long moment I didn’t think about the battle, or our possible death. I was just a girl kissing a guy. A guy who had chosen her over his kingdom.
Finally, he pulled back. Those eyes were glowing. “Are you ready? I don’t know how long I’ll be able to hold my form.”
I tugged the troll dagger from my vest, the blade flashing under the setting sun. I could feel the energy pulsing from it. “I’m ready.”
He looked at me one last time. There was no goodbye in his gaze, only steely determination. His strength made me feel better. At least a little. He stepped back, giving room between us. Ignoring the clamor of the encroaching soldiers, he closed his eyes. While the world rang chaos down around us, he stood there strong and sure. So very beautiful.
I supposed I didn’t actually believe him until the transformation started to take place.
Prince Beast, Iduna had called him.
The sun dipped below the horizon. He relaxed his shoulders, his chin fell to his chest, almost like he was sleeping. A cool breeze swept from the mountains, bringing with relief from the stench of war. But with the breeze, his breath became a harsh pant that rattled his chest. His hands fisted at his sides, nails biting into his palms. He was terrifying and amazing all at once. And he was mine. No matter what form he took.
A low growl erupted from his lips. My skin prickled. I felt it…the energy sweeping from his form. So much power, it pulsed from him in waves. Unable to stop myself, I took a step back. His body was tense, his muscles flexed, steels ropes that pressed against his skin, threatening to burst like a fist through paper. The dagger grew slick in my sweaty palm.
I knew, somehow I knew, he was resisting the change. He wasn’t giving his all. I could sense him holding back. I dared to glance at Cashel. They were close. So close I could smell the cloud of dust they stirred as their mounts raced toward us. He was resisting because he didn’t want to hurt me.
“Mak, they’re almost here. You need to turn.”
Those brilliant glowing eyes met mine. His face was pale, sweaty, his eyes so bright, it was shocking to meet his gaze. So shocking, that I couldn’t look away. It was like being in space, surrounded by a million stars. Beautiful and terrifying all at once.
The clash of metal against metal as they beat their swords upon their shields startled me. So damn close, I could practically feel them breathing down my neck. But I didn’t look away from Mak. He was there…barely. I could still see him in the deep recesses of his glowing eyes. My Mak.
He arched his back, crying out. A feral cry that made the fine hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. I almost dropped my dagger. Trembling, I clutched the blade in front of me. He hadn’t told me it would be painful. But as I watched the wave of raw emotion cross his handsome features, I knew it had to be torturous. It was as if every cell that made up his body was rearranging in front of me. I bit my lip hard, my hands quivering with a surge of confusing feelings. Perhaps it was a curse after all.
Although I wanted to run, I stood my ground. I wouldn’t leave. I wouldn’t abandon him. I wouldn’t abandon those who needed me the most. Desperate, I dared to glance back. They were so close I could see the whites of their eyes.
“Shit.” I spun back around. “Mak, you need to hurry!”
Heeding the urgency in my tone, he cried out, and fell to his knees. And as he fell, his entire body burst into flames. I didn’t even have time to scream. A heated wave threw me to the ground. My dagger went flying into the shadows. I hit the dirt hard, rolling twice, before stopping, my face pressed to the earth. The entire world went still. Quiet. For a long moment, I merely lay there, breathing in the dust, too afraid to move.
“Mak?” I whimpered.
/> And then I felt it…a tingling awareness that whispered all around me, almost like static electricity. An energy that told me an animal was near. A very large, very angry animal. Slowly, I pressed my elbows into the dirt and looked up.
He was massive. A monstrous, emerald beast that shook his head, and pawed at the dirt in frustration. My heart leapt into my throat. I couldn’t move, barely breathed. He swung his head left, then right, searching for the enemy, the threat. And he could sense it, just like I could.
“Mak?” I whispered.
He lifted his head and roared so loudly, the hills around us shook, and loose pebbles rolled to the ground. I slapped my hands over my ears, but the roar still trembled, vibrating through my body. He was stunning. A beautiful beast. It wasn’t until he shuffled to the side, making the ground thunder, that I noticed the wings held close to his body.
Good god, he’d been telling the truth.
A dragon.
He was a dragon.
I could hear the cries of shock from the men around us. Men on both sides. I didn’t dare look at anyone but Mak. I didn’t want to lose my concentration. As far as I was concerned, in that moment, it was just me and the dragon.
Slowly, I stood. Each scale on his massive body was like a perfectly cut jewel that glinted under the dark sky. His long neck held a row of sharp spines, for protection, no doubt. But the spines that trailed down his long tail where there to do damage. As if sensing me, he swung his head my way. His eyes met mine. A shiver of unease raced down my spine. That gaze had the narrow pupil of a venomous snake, but there remained the intelligence of a human.
I had to remind myself that this was Mak. My Mak. And he was our only way to win this war. If I didn’t take control, we’d all most likely die, either by dragon fire, or by a soldier’s blade. I swallowed hard and took a step toward him. It was easy to find the dragon’s energy, it was so dominant, so strong. But could I tap into it? Could I control him?
“Mak,” I said softly. “Look at me.”
He lowered his head, narrowing those eyes. His eyes. Glowing eyes. I stepped closer. Slowly, ever so slowly, I stepped closer. The soldiers disappeared. The war. The pain. All I could sense was him. The dragon’s nostrils flared; a hissing sound escaped his mouth. He was going to breathe fire. Somehow, I knew. My entire body trembled with the urge to run.
Warrior Page 35