by Tara West
“Serah! Teju!” Draque cried then turned to Tormung with a snarl. “What did you do to them?”
“Fear not, half-dragon.” The dragon king chuckled. “They are sleeping. They’ll soon wake to splitting headaches.”
Ladon jumped in front of their fallen family, puffing out his chest. “You’ve gone too far!”
The king let out an ominous growl. “Oh, I haven’t gone far enough.”
The dragons behind him kicked up clouds like angry bulls preparing to charge.
Draque panicked. Ladon, he projected to his brother. We’re outnumbered. We’ll never defeat them.
I don’t care, Ladon whimpered, the spikes along his back standing on end. I only want to defeat one dragon.
Back down, brother, Draque pleaded, hating himself for his cowardice but knowing he had no choice. Serah and Teju were still knocked out cold, resting beside the sling of eggs. We put them at risk.
“What is this?” Tormung crept forward like a cat ready to pounce, his tone changing from anger to pity. “You back down so easily. I knew you were cowards.”
Draque gritted his teeth, forcing himself to take deep breaths. “We would gladly fight you, Tormung, after our mate and eggs are secured. Name the place and time.”
Tormung gazed at him harshly. “Here. Now.”
Ladon roared a challenge, and fire raced through Draque’s chest as he braced himself for battle. How would he keep his family from being crushed while he fought two dozen dragons?
“Tormung Thunderpaw! Back away from our grandsons.”
Draque froze with shock when a witch who looked exactly like his dead Grandmother Adora, dressed in a long cloak that concealed most of her gray hair, strode purposefully toward them, three golden dragons with long white whiskers trailing her. How could this be? His grandparents were dead.
Pinning his wings behind him, Tormung arched back and snarled. “Who are you to tell me what to do, witch?”
She wagged a finger at him like a mother scolding her toddler. “I am the witch who is also your healer. Unless you prefer nightmares to sleeping in peace, I suggest you back down.”
Sparks flew from his mouth as he bellowed his anger. “You dare attempt to blackmail me after I’ve given you and your mates sanctuary for the past ten years?”
Acheron, the biggest of his grandfathers, folded a wing over Grandmother, shielding her from Tormung’s sparks. “Yes, she dares,” he said. “We’ll do anything for our grandchildren.” He winked at Draque. “Even fake our deaths to keep them safe.”
His grandmother pulled out a wand and aimed it at Tormung. “This is not worth fighting over.”
Tormung shrank back, a whimper escaping him. “They have brought a siren into our realm.”
“We understand she is half fae, the daughter of a lord,” Acheron said, “which entitles her admittance into this realm.”
Jagua, the wisest of his grandfathers, stepped forward. He had a pointy white beard and eyes that crinkled, as if he was in constant contemplation. “If you take this too far, Tormung, you will also have to answer to the fae queen.”
Tormung snorted steam. “Very well, but she is not welcome in Valhol.”
Grandmother flashed a triumphant smile. “As the daughter of a peer, she is welcome anywhere in the fourth realm. So are her mates.”
“You would dare bring them back to my kingdom!” Tormung protested.
Domov, the smallest of his grandfathers, ruffled his wings like a bird shaking off water. “We haven’t seen our grandsons in a decade.”
“You are seeing them now.” Tormung’s bluster faded. The dragon king knew he was losing.
“King Tormung.” Grandmother clucked her tongue. “You have knocked out their mate and brother. How do you expect them to travel?”
His chest deflated. “They will abide by our rules.”
“Of course,” Grandmother said, her large blue eyes dancing with mirth.
Tormung puffed up his chest, his scales rising in a final attempt at dominance. “She will not use her voice on us again.”
“She won’t need to, as long as you don’t attack her mates again.” Acheron chuckled.
Tormung stomped off, then jumped into the air, his powerful wings creating currents that buffeted everyone. “You will not cause trouble in my domain,” he warned, “or you will answer to me.” He flew off, his cronies chasing after him, leaving Draque and Ladon alone with their grandparents.
Ladon looked at Draque like a gnome caught in a witch’s high beams. They’re alive?
I guess so, Draque answered, the sting of their betrayal twisting in his heart like a blade.
“Look at our handsome grandsons.” Their grandmother glided toward them like she was being carried by clouds, her hands clasped to her heart. “They are no longer hatchlings.”
Acheron stomped after her, his heavy footsteps shaking the ground. “Indeed, they have grown into strong young men.”
Draque straightened. “We thought you were dead.”
Acheron looked guilty. “I know.”
“Why?” Ladon asked.
Draque was surprised to see Ladon’s eyes glossy with unshed tears.
“We thought if we faked our death,” Jagua answered. “Nathaniel Goldenwand would drop his grudge against the shifter race.”
Draque laughed bitterly. “You thought wrong.”
Grandmother’s pale cheeks colored. “We know that now.”
“Grandsons.” Acheron cleared his throat. “Forgive us for deceiving you. Believe us, leaving you was the hardest thing we’ve ever done. We only wanted to keep you safe.”
“So you never tried to take Tormung’s throne?” Draque asked.
“No.” Domov chuckled, his voice shaking like a leaf in a windstorm. “Even we’re not that foolish.”
Why couldn’t they have confided in their grandsons instead of leading them to believe they’d been brutally killed? To say Draque was crushed by their deception was an understatement.
“Your mate and brother are out cold,” Grandmother said.
Draque sniffed each of them, gently nuzzling them with his snout. Neither responded except for the gentle rise and fall of their chests. “How long do you think they’ll sleep?”
As if on cue, Teju let out a blubbery snore and rolled over, draping a leg across Serah, their eggs resting precariously between them. Draque hurriedly nudged Teju away from the eggs. He rolled back over with more snores.
“I’m not sure how much sleeping draught he used.” She looked at the sticky yellow stuff coating their hair. “A few hours to a few days.”
“A few days!” Draque and Ladon simultaneously yelled.
“Bring them to our lair,” she said. “I will look after them.”
Draque and Ladon shared disapproving looks. They didn’t want to stay in the fourth realm any longer than they had to.
“But Tormung,” Draque said. The dragon king would cause problems if they stayed. He was sure of it.
“He will not hurt you.” Acheron gave his mate a loving look, a gleam of pride in his aged, foggy eyes. “He depends on your grandmother too much to anger us.”
Domov puffed up his chest, the saggy folds on his neck jiggling. “Your grandmother is the most talented healer in the fourth realm. The best place for your mate and brother is with her.”
She patted his paw. “You must be famished after your journey. We will make a soft nest for your eggs, then feed you.”
Draque looked at Ladon. What do you say, brother?
Ladon shrugged. It’s not like we have a choice. We can’t travel with them like this.
Draque gave his grandparents a pointed look. “Very well, but this doesn’t mean we’ve forgiven you for deceiving us.”
“We understand,” Acheron answered. “We hope in time you’ll understand that we had no choice.”
“We always have choices, Grandfather,” Draque said haughtily. “But some choices are more foolish than others.”
Acheron bowed his he
ad. “Wise words.”
“Thanks,” Draque answered dryly. “I learned them from you.”
Chapter Five
“THADDEUS, YOU NEED to think this through.” Violet clutched his hand, fear in her eyes. “Destroying the eggs is a bad idea.”
The moisture in Thaddeus’s mouth evaporated as he looked at their joined hands. Again he felt that strange yet familiar spark. Why did his heart beat faster every time she touched him? Had she bewitched him, or could she be his fated mate? He hoped not. He had no time for romance. He wasn’t even sure he’d live long enough to escape. “I have to stop him. I believe he plans to take over the world.”
“He does, but you are too weak to take them on.”
He pulled away, instantly regretting the loss of her touch. “I feel stronger already since you ripped off that contraption,” he lied. His knees wobbled like jelly, and his chest felt like it was being crushed by a boulder, but he refused to give in to his fragile mortal body.
“The poison you’ve been drinking has weakened you.” She reached for him again, and fool that he was, he didn’t stop her.
“Did it do permanent damage?” he asked, bracing for the answer.
“No, but you need time to recover.”
Thaddeus released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. “I don’t have time.”
“I can mark the escape route,” she pleaded, “so we can find our way back despite Eagleheart’s concealment spell. And we can bring back reinforcements.”
“There’s no time for that either.” His heart skipped a beat then tightened, making it hard for him to draw breath. He did his best to hide his concern. He couldn’t let Violet know he was in pain. Their mission was far too important. “Katherine told me her father’s eggs were ready to hatch.”
“The eggs are growing in a cavern far below us,” she said. “It will take a full day to get there, perhaps longer in your weakened state.”
“I need to go now.” He stood, and the room spun. Groaning, he steadied himself against a wall, waiting for the dizziness to subside.
The little witch glared at him from the bed. “You’re not planning on going without me?”
“I am.” The dizziness slowly passed, and he opened his eyes. Curse Katherine and her father for reducing him to an invalid. “I’ll escort you to the exit. You have to warn my family.”
“You’re not strong enough to destroy them by yourself.”
He hated the pity in her eyes. She viewed him as half a man and hardly a dragon. “I don’t have to be strong. I need to learn how to summon my fire.”
She gasped. “You can’t summon fire anymore?”
He swore under his breath. He was a dragon prince, a future dragon king. He needed assistance, not pity. “I get winded easily, but this is temporary.” He tried to ignore the erratic, dull pounding in his chest. “I’m sure I’ll be strong enough by the time we reach the eggs.”
She arched a brow. “And if you’re not?”
Great. Her pity had become condescension. He needed to get away from her, no matter how much he craved her touch. “I’m not taking you with me. You’ve suffered enough these past months.”
She shot him an accusatory glare. “And you haven’t?”
He jerked at the sound of footsteps in the hall and regretted the quick movement when the dizziness returned. Latching onto her wrist, he held up a silencing hand. “Someone’s coming!” he hissed, suddenly remembering his former lover was still bleeding on the floor. “We need to hide Katherine’s body.”
She raced to Katherine’s side, dug through her pockets, and pulled out a stubby wand. “Throw a blanket over her, and I’ll summon a concealment spell.”
He yanked a sheet off the bed and threw it over Katherine. Waving her wand, Violet whispered fast and low, and the lumpy blanket disappeared. She quickly returned to the dresser, her back to him.
The creature called Rem hobbled into the room, dragging a broken leg bent at an awkward angle.
“What do you want?” he asked with a snarl.
He’d never liked the deformed griffin, whose asymmetrical face drooped on one side as if made from melted wax. Covered in burn marks, his raw, red skin was perpetually peeling. Thaddeus had asked Rem about the burns, but he had refused to talk about them. Now Thaddeus wondered if they’d been made by a dragon. It made sense, since dragon burns took longer to heal. Eagleheart could have prepared a salve for the creature, but he was too busy giving him orders. Thaddeus would’ve felt sorry for Rem if not for the numerous times the creature had spied on him, especially when he and Katherine were fucking.
“Master summon you and Kat’rin,” the griffin said in his familiar child-like whine.
Thaddeus wondered if his heart had truly withered, since he felt no remorse for his dead lover. “She has stepped out, but I’ll tell her when she returns.”
The creature tilted his head, glaring at Thaddeus with his one good eye. “Me wait for Kat’rin.”
A mixture of anger and annoyance boiled Thaddeus’s blood. “I already told you, I’ll tell her.”
The creature crossed his one good arm over his chest. “Me wait.”
“Rem!”
Violet was suddenly standing beside him. He hadn’t even heard her approach.
Rem backed up, his mouth agape as he pointed a shaking finger at her. “Witch talk!”
Hands balled into fists, he prepared to knock out the griffin before he alerted the guards.
“I do talk,” she said with a wink and blew a yellowish powder in the griffin’s face.
Rem froze, then fell over backward, crashing to the floor with a sickening thud.
He gawped at Violet. “Did you kill him?”
“Nah.” She flashed a sideways smile. “I put him to sleep.”
“How long will he be out?” He’d wanted the griffin to die, and that surprised him. He’d felt nothing for accidentally killing the woman who’d been his lover the past year. Now he wanted to spill more blood. He wasn’t entirely sure his dragon heart was intact.
“Doesn’t matter,” she said. “We’ll tie him up and conceal him, too.”
Putting aside dark thoughts about his lack of empathy, he tied up and gagged the griffin, then draped a blanket over him. Violet hovered over Katherine, brows pinched together.
“Is Master Eagleheart still with the eggs?” he asked.
“Yes.” She thoughtfully rubbed her chin. “There must be a new development if he’s summoned his daughter.”
“Uh-huh,” he answered absently as he stared at her perfect kissable lips, especially the plump bottom one. Though she was covered in grime, he could easily see her beauty. He chastised himself for pining over the little witch at such a time.
“Don’t judge me for what I’m about to do,” she said and removed a vial from her pocket. She used a wooden spoon to scoop some of Katherine’s blood into it. Then she returned to the dresser and mixed bottles of liquids and herbs before pouring the concoction into the vial of blood. A puff of black smoke rose from the mixture. Grimacing, she pinched the bridge of her nose and took a gulp before capping the vial.
Thaddeus could hardly believe his eyes when the little witch sprouted until she was almost his height and her features morphed until she looked identical to his dead lover. Her raggedy clothes stayed the same, stretching taut across her large breasts until they tore.
He’d never heard of a potion that could transform one person into another. “How did you do that?”
“I used a rare herb found in the darkest recesses of the Werewood Forest.” She stripped out of her clothes and changed into something from Katherine’s wardrobe. “I was collecting that herb when I was abducted.”
“How long will the effect last?” he asked, turning around to give her privacy, though every inch of Katherine’s tempting curves had already been ingrained in his memory.
“About a day, but there’s enough to last a few days.”
He hadn’t wanted to bring Violet with him,
but now that she was disguised as Katherine, he couldn’t deny she’d be useful. “Good. We’ll go see what Master Eagleheart wants, and then we burn the place down.”
LADON FLEW AFTER HIS grandparents and brother while carrying his mate and their eggs in his mouth. He could hardly believe his grandparents were alive. Finding them safe and whole filled him with mixed emotions. He was grateful they hadn’t been killed, but he couldn’t deny he was also hurt that they had led he and his brothers to believe they’d perished.
He was so consumed in his brooding thoughts that he barely registered the scenery before him until they’d flown between several mountains that jutted up from the clouds like magnificent towers, massive and flat on one side. They reminded him of the tall apartment buildings in Sawran, with ledges instead of balconies and caves instead of glass doors.
It took him a moment to realize the mountains were apartments; several dragons poked their heads out of cave entrances and watched Ladon and his family fly by. Most had crimson scales, like Tormung, and not one of them offered a greeting.
After soaring through a maze of passageways, they flew toward one of the larger caves. His grandfathers landed on a wide ledge and stomped inside, their tails scraping the floor as they pinned back their wings.
Draque and Ladon followed, and gently dropped Teju, Serah, and the eggs on a soft bed of furs. Grandfather Domov closed a drape across the opening with his teeth, concealing the cave entrance, and Acheron and Jagua lit wall sconces with their fiery breath, bathing the cave in a soft orange glow.
Only then did they shift into their mortal forms, looking hearty and healthy for old men, despite their thinning white hair. They had not aged much these past ten years. Grandmother Adora looked well, too. When she lowered the hood of her cloak, Ladon was shocked to see her once lustrous, thick black hair was mostly silver, but her eyes were more vibrant than he remembered, and it looked like she had fewer wrinkles. Maybe Elysan offered a Fountain of Youth? Their grandfathers took turns kissing their grandmother before addressing them.