At Fianna’s raised eyebrows, Abbie said hurriedly, “She got the rope off me with an ax, for one thing.”
Fianna bent to press kisses along her neck. “Uh-huh. Didn’t she agree to caging you in the first place?”
Abbie sighed and arched her neck for more kisses. “Well, yeah, but then I kinda made a deal with her.”
“What?” Fianna sat up.
“Look, you started this conversation.”
What kind of deal could Abbie possibly have made with a human? Fianna’s eyes narrowed. “Abbie, deals made with dragons can be complicated. What did you bargain?”
“Is talk really necessary right now?” Abbie tugged at Fianna. “I can feel your brain spinning, Fianna. Can you stop thinking for once, and just…kiss me?”
“Okay,” Fianna murmured, and brought her lips down for a slow kiss. She’d worry about everything tomorrow. She tried to let go of her tension and quiet her mind, but after a fruitless few minutes, she groaned and slid off of Abbie. “Come here,” she said, and tugged her close.
“What’s going on, Fianna? Why are you stopping?”
“I’m sorry, we have to talk about your deal with Miriam. You and I need to get our story straight before telling the Queen.”
“Our story?” Abbie sat up with a thump against the headboard, her face worried. Fianna joined her and twined their hands together. She sighed and leaned over for a kiss before she said anything.
“You couldn’t possibly have known there’s an energetic binding that happens in bargains with dragons, so I need to understand what happened. What did you bargain?” Fianna asked again.
“My scales. She had some powder from one she’d taken in the park that day. The powder seemed to make her skin younger. She said for real, like, it would be worth millions. That’s what Marcus was going to let her have, in exchange for the cage.”
Fianna closed her eyes. “Abbie, let’s take a moment right now to be thankful Miriam was as hateful as she was, because otherwise you would be in terrible trouble.” She squeezed Abbie’s hand, while the new information tumbled around in her head. Abbie looked ready to cry. “There is so much that could be influenced or changed by what you just said, I can barely comprehend.”
Fianna stopped, struck by Abbie’s distress. “I’m so sorry, sweetling…” She wrapped her arms around Abbie, trying hard to think her way through. “I’m sure the Queen will agree that we, of course, are under no obligation to honor our side of the bargain, due to the abuse you suffered at Miriam’s hands. Such treatment voids that side of the contract. We are, however, indelibly attached to a deal with Miriam, despite everything. We can’t kill her or erase her memory…”
Fianna winced at Abbie’s shock. “We are honor bound, by the dictates of Draca contracts, to allow Miriam to repay her now substantial debt to the Draca. Instead of eliminating the problem, we have to work with it. She does, as well. Even for a human, she’ll be bound by the magic in the contract, whether she likes it or not. Until the debt is satisfied, of course.”
“Of course,” Abbie murmured in a dry tone. Her face twisted in a grimace. “You know, you guys are probably all wondering just what hit you since I joined the scene, aren’t you?”
Fianna’s mouth dropped open. Mirth filled her eyes, then at once, they both broke into laughter. They rocked in each other’s arms, laughing and letting go of days of tension and worry and madness, until the giggles subsided into something else.
Talk was over. Fianna lowered her body on top of Abbie’s, making them both groan with the exquisite sensation of bare skin pressed to skin. Heat spiraled in between them, thrumming with need.
Abbie fit against Fianna’s body as if they were made for each other. Her pelvis pressed to Fianna’s at the perfect place, their hips and thighs settling together just right, their legs intertwined. Fianna rocked them slowly, then faster in an instinctive rhythm, while she suckled Abbie’s delicious nipples. Abbie’s warm hands swept over Fianna’s back, caressed around her rear, dipped between her wet thighs with exploring fingers. Hunger and need drove them in a fierce, insistent cadence. Slow would come later.
“Oh, God, Fianna.” Abbie shuddered, issuing little gasps as she came, her arms tightening convulsively around Fianna’s back. Then she rolled Fianna over to the side. “Your turn,” she said in a heated whisper, her hand between Fianna’s legs. “You feel so good. You have no idea. Feel this…” Abbie slid a finger inside Fianna’s soaking wet center, and thrust in and out. Electric charges went off everywhere she pressed, her clever finger finding the hot spot and staying…Fianna’s climax rolled through her core hard, a rocketing, joyful release.
Her mate. Her arms tightened. “Mine.” She was awash in bonding chemistry, which forged the bridge of Dracan emotional connection, a true shape-shifter union, completely new to Fianna. And it was coming on like a freight train, no time to pause or explain.
“I love you,” Fianna said, without words. Then again, “Mine.” She hoped Abbie understood, because she could barely speak coherently past the dizzying revelations of her heart. Abbie belonged to her. Did Abbie mind?
Abbie’s eyes were shining and full, and a tear leaked down her cheek. Fianna wiped it with a soft finger. “Why tears?”
“Because…because I love you, too…and I’ve never…not like this, ever. And…and check out our dragons.”
The sisters-Draca projected a brand-new image of the dragons entwined together fast asleep, emitting an air of utter contentment. Fianna and Abbie let out simultaneous sighs and proceeded to wrap themselves together in similar fashion.
“I think they’ve got the right idea,” Fianna murmured.
“Let’s always sleep like this,” said Abbie.
“Deal.”
Abbie giggled. “Did we just make a binding contract?”
Fianna nuzzled Abbie’s neck. “If we did, I have no objections.”
“Me either. As long as there’s a lot of kissing involved.”
Chapter Sixteen
Dragon Media
A knock on the bedroom door startled Fianna and Abbie awake.
“Get up,” Orla called. “Show time.”
Fianna gave Abbie a sleepy kiss. “That’s our cue, baby dragon. Are you ready?”
Abbie snuggled closer. “When am I going to stop being called a dracling?”
“Oh, in about thirty years or so.”
“Seriously?”
Fianna nodded. “Your life span is no longer that of a human. Although, come to think of it…since you’re nearly thirty in the human world, you being you, have skipped ahead. Like skipping high school and going right to college.” Fianna beamed at her. “You are kind of amazing. You just need some guidance.”
“That’s good, because, seriously? Adolescence that lasts, like…decades?” Abbie shuddered and rolled reluctantly out of the warm bed. “You’re going to have to tell me more about that. And so many other things, besides.”
“I know,” Fianna said. She pulled on clothes. “We haven’t had time.”
That was an understatement. Abbie snorted, admiring the tousled, morning-time Fianna, with her auburn hair in a mass around her shoulders and her green eyes blurry with lack of sleep. God, the woman could kiss, and so much more. “I really want to go back to bed with you,” she said.
“I know. Me, too. And not to sleep.”
They stumbled into the living room, yawning. It was only 8 a.m. Marcus wasn’t visible. “He’s gone back to Dracan,” Nareen said in answer to the unasked questions. She was dressed in another long, silk gown and red high heels. “The Council has taken him in hand. We have other matters to attend to today.”
That’s when they noticed the person sitting in the wingback chair and Guin hovering nearby on continued guard duty. Guin looked revived, not exhausted, even though she hadn’t slept more than a few hours like everyone else. Her cheeks were flushed, and satisfaction oozed from her otherwise inscrutable face. Miriam jumped when Guin’s hand landed on the back of the chair,
and Guin regarded her with hooded, cold eyes.
Abbie sensed the questions coming through telepathically among the sisters-Draca. What was going to happen to Miriam? Her sister-self was staying quiet, semi-hidden like she did sometimes, especially when things grew emotional. She had not forgiven Miriam. Abbie dreaded what would happen when Nareen found out about her deal. She watched Fianna for a sign, wondering when the other shoe was going to drop, and hoped that Fianna was right about her side of things.
“She usually is,” reassured her other self.
Abbie greeted her prior kidnapper with a mix of emotions. “Hello, Miriam,” she said. “Fancy meeting you here.” She kinda hated her, yet there was a reluctant acknowledgment of Miriam’s canniness and moxie. What was going to happen to the little she-devil?
Miriam’s blue eyes were huge and nervous. She nodded at Abbie with a flash of guilt, then looked to Guin, as if asking permission to speak. She was dressed in a gray cashmere sweater and skinny black jeans, her blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, her face made up, complete with pink lipstick.
Her obvious subservience surprised Abbie. This was another side to Evil Miriam. Perhaps being in the clutches of five dragons was enough to shrivel anyone’s arrogance. Her sister-self snorted.
“Don’t be fooled.” Abbie’s other half was still pissed, even though, in the end, Miriam had helped out.
“May we speak with you, My Queen? Privately?” Fianna asked.
Nareen nodded, understanding through their telepathy what was being asked without Fianna having to say anything further out loud. The Queen aimed a sharp look at Miriam. “Miriam, you will go upstairs now. Make yourself comfortable in the first room on the left.”
Miriam rose without a word and headed up the stairs. Abbie couldn’t get a good look at her face. The click of the bedroom door sounded in the silence. As further insurance of privacy, Nareen laid a short-acting quiet spell.
“So, out with it,” said Nareen.
Fianna told her. Everything. It had to be done, the sooner the better.
Abbie heard the words in a dull roar, her face hot. She couldn’t look at anyone, afraid of the judgment she might see.
“Abbie?” Nareen’s eyes glittered with avid interest as she directed her queenly attention to Abbie.
Forced to meet her gaze, a shock went up Abbie’s spine. The Queen’s power really packed a wallop. Words were still coming through as if in a fog. From somewhere, Nareen was speaking.
“Quite the…bargain, or contract, should I say, you have forged, for such a young dragon.” Nareen’s words floated in. “Tell me more, clever dracling, about the blue powder.”
Fianna squeezed her hand. “Nothing to be afraid of here. Family, remember?”
“The Queen just called you clever,” said numerous voices.
Abbie relaxed the smallest bit. “There’s not a lot more to say. I made the deal because it was the only way I could get Miriam to help me. As everyone knows, Marcus tied me up with the awful green rope, which kept me from shifting.” Even though Fianna had briefly explained what had happened, Abbie felt she needed to explain herself, anyway. “I thought…if I could just get the rope off, maybe my dragon could bust me out of the cage. Then Miriam started going on about this blue powder stuff she’d made from my…my, uh scale, that she found that time in the park, and anyway…” She was babbling. Had she really made such a bizarre deal? “Did…did Miriam say anything?”
“No, which is curious,” Nareen said. She turned to Guin. “How about while she was with you, Guin? Did she mention a bargain with Abbie, or anything about the powder?”
Guin shook her head. “We didn’t talk much. Maybe I should have asked more questions.” She looked disturbed at the thought, like a crucial item on her to-do list had been missed.
“It was part of her deal with Marcus,” Abbie continued in a faint voice. “House and cage in return for access to magic scales.”
Accounting for her actions to anyone had never been Abbie’s strong suit. Hearing Fianna spell it out and her own lame excuses, made her inwardly curse her misbegotten, stress-induced, crazy deal. “Like Fianna mentioned, in exchange for hacking the rope off me and letting me go if I got out of the cage, I kinda told her I’d sign a contract giving her…um…exclusive rights to my…my scales.” This was the critical point, right? The damned deal.
The Draca were giving her sly looks. Was that approval she was sensing?
“You did what you had to,” Orla muttered. “This isn’t on you.”
“Quite clever, I have to say,” Guin added. Were they suppressing grins? Abbie perked up a little.
“Ah. Now I understand,” Nareen said. “Marcus accused me of keeping secrets, as if I had been aware of new properties in Abbie’s dragon and was keeping it hidden. Of course, that is completely false. Where is the blue powder now, Abbie?”
“Uh, I don’t know. I think Marcus took the jar from Miriam. That’s why she wanted to make a side deal with me, she didn’t trust him to honor his end.”
“Do you know if there’s more powder, or loose scales anywhere?”
“I don’t know. Miriam only mentioned one scale. And I’m sure no one came too close when I was shifting in the cage.” She gave a huff, remembering. She kind of got now how Draca might have really eaten humans, back in the olden days.
Fianna squeezed her hand, and Abbie knew she’d picked up her thought.
“Does any other human, that you know of, have knowledge of this magic and the existence of the Draca?”
Abbie grimaced and said, “The two bad guys, the ones who harassed me when I was camping. They work for Miriam. They know about the dragon stuff. Except Miriam didn’t exactly tell them about that part at first and, well, the rest is history, I guess.”
Her guileless delivery invoked titters. Even Nareen’s lips twitched.
“I see,” Nareen said. “We will be dealing with those men, and everyone else who may have played a part in Marcus’s or Miriam’s scheme. Do you think Miriam told anyone about the powder?”
“She was keeping it super-secret, I think. Sheer greed, really. She’s a piece of work. My dragon is still pissed. Guin better keep a close eye on her,” Abbie said.
Guin straightened at the words, scowled, and said, “Miriam will not be a problem.”
It was a lot to take in. The group grew silent, waiting for Nareen’s direction.
Nareen eyed Abbie, contemplating her with narrowed, curious, dragony eyes. She shook her head, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she saw.
Fianna knew how she felt. “I thought the stories about dragon scale powers were old fables. Nursery tales.”
“Myths can be just stories, or they can be truth, passed through generations as a way to keep history alive,” said Nareen. “I’ve been contemplating that everything changes, even magic. Perhaps even Draca shape-shifter magic alters over time, and shifter powers begin to manifest in different ways. I’ve wondered if it’s possible, and I do believe Miriam’s claims bear investigating. Marcus may be struck with dracfire, but his desire to explore the magic in Abbie’s dragon form was not off the mark. I understand his desperation to find a cure or way to slow his dracfire. Maybe that’s what he thought…” She stopped with a pained look, then said to Abbie, “And you, dracling, have a penchant for skirting the edge of disaster. Did you know that if a dragon makes a good-faith bargain, the dragon becomes magically bound to abide by it?”
Abbie gulped and nodded. Here it comes, she thought. “However, the magic is reversed or voided when the bargain is made under threat of harm, such as, for instance, caging and abuse.”
Abbie sagged in relief. Exactly as Fianna had said. “So, Miriam’s in even more trouble?” Abbie asked with a twinge of guilty hope.
“She’s been bound, something she’ll never be able to break on her own. Which effectively means she’s so deep in our debt, we will most likely own her services the rest of her life. Or, until the contract binding is satisfied. In Dracan contra
cts, the end is not always clear.”
“What about after? When the contract is finished?” Abbie had to ask.
Nareen shook her head again. “You can discuss the details with Fianna. Besides, getting through our current set of problems is enough for now.” A brief smile crossed her face. “You did well, tricky dracling,” she added with a nod to Abbie. “You were trying to rescue yourself, and indeed, it appears you did just that. Without hurting anyone in the process, or blowing up any more houses. There is no need to worry about your side of the deal, since it is void. I’ll take care of explaining things in full to Miriam. However, I expect your cooperation in the tests we may run concerning your rather astonishing blue dragon. Is that understood and agreed?”
“Yes—yes, of course,” Abbie stammered. “Tests?”
Nareen’s voice softened. “We would never hurt you,” she said, hearing what Abbie didn’t say. “By tests, I mean we’d inquire, quite politely, if you’d be willing to give us some of your scales for our own testing.”
The roaring returned to Abbie’s head. So, she really was something weird.
“No, special!” Fianna jumped in privately. “You are special, not weird. Besides, I’ve got some great testing ideas we can try out.” She squeezed Abbie’s hand, her saucy manner relaxing her. Fianna had her back. And she always would, from now on.
Abbie leaned into her lover, and smiled up at the Queen. “Yes, Your Majesty. I would be happy to help.”
That must have been the right thing to say, because she was once again caught in the dizzying, high-voltage, approving smiles of the Draca. Abbie remembered the first time she’d met them. Thunderstruck then, and even more so now.
It sank in that the Queen was speaking.
Nareen was saying, “I have a plan for dealing with the fallout from the big adventure last night. I’ll tell you, after we assess the damage in the human community.” She asked Guin to bring Miriam back downstairs.
Once Miriam was seated, Nareen slapped The Oregonian, the state newspaper, on the coffee table. Emblazoned in huge block letters across the front page were the words, “DRAGONS IN THE SKIES OVER PORTLAND?” The subheading read, “Or Elaborate Artistic Hoax?”
Fianna the Gold Page 19