Witch Darkness Follows (Maeren Series Book 3)

by Mercedes Jade

  Honestly, how could any of them be this dense?

  It was unavoidable eventually meeting up with George and Daemon.

  Why make it difficult now?

  “They promised to be on their best behaviour,” Elizabeth added.

  "Liar, liar!" Daemon teased, still connected to her mind.

  "How should we politely make dragon heads roll?" George added.

  Elizabeth ignored those two idiots. They were full of fun and games today.

  “The Dogs are also with them,” she told Pan.

  It was only fair to give her a head’s up.

  The already nervous girl took a couple of steps back, her eyes widening with the beginnings of true alarm.

  “Do you think they know that I—It wasn’t a trick, exactly. In fact, I kind of helped the Dogs find Prince George . . . uh, but don’t t-tell—”

  Pan stuttered and cut off, clearly having difficulty articulating a blameless excuse for setting the Dogs up against George, then playing them against each other to orchestrate her escape with Elizabeth.

  Raphael eyed the young dragoness with equal parts amusement and concern. He held a hand up to the dragons behind him.

  “We’re taking a break until the royal party meets up with us for the siege and invasion,” he called back to his warriors.

  “Where’s Geer?” Elizabeth asked, noting it was a dragon she didn’t know who started getting all of the soldiers to halt and relax for a break.

  “He’s at the back. Now that we’ve stopped, he’ll come here to find out the reason,” Raphael answered.

  She wanted to ask why Geer was stuck at the back of the battalion, but Raphael quickly spoke, cutting her off before she could even make the inquiry.

  He stepped closer to her and gave a harsh, whispered command.

  “No more questions about Geer!”

  That was suspicious! Pushing Rapahel wasn’t going to get her any answers, however, so she mimicked zipping her lips and followed him meekly.

  “Shall we sit?” he asked, pointing out some nearby rocks that could provide impromptu seating.

  Elizabeth sat, Pan joining them to sit nearer to her cousin.

  The girl looked rather petite next to Raphael’s big, armoured body, despite also being a dragon.

  Elizabeth took pity on her friend and reached for one of her delicate hands, giving it a warm squeeze.

  "Everything is going to be okay."

  Pan squeezed back, hearing her reassurance.

  “So, which of you is going to explain why we’re stopping—when both of you look ready to run?” Raphael asked, eyeing their joined hands.

  Silence answered him.

  “You are under my protection, Pan. I will offer the same to the light-clan dragonesses that we free today if they want to leave their current protectors or do not want to accept a claim from another dragon,” Raphael said.

  Elizabeth looked up at him in surprise.

  When she had asked for Raphael’s help to free the light clan, she hadn’t thought about everything that would entail, such as the traditional male guardianship, so necessary in Maeren.

  Without a male claim, the freed females would be at risk of any male trying to bind them.

  The dark warriors rescuing them that had been so long without females.

  Raphael wasn’t going to take advantage of the situation. He meant to give the rescued females the time they needed to adjust to their changes circumstances and decide what they wanted.

  “I don’t know if I’ll be welcome back home after today,” Pan answered Raphael, looking down at her feet.

  “You are a welcome addition to the united dragon clans. Bravery isn’t punished,” Raphael told her.

  “Thank you,” Pan said, her voice soft and polite. “I appreciate your offer, but if the freedom of the other light Dragonesses is secured, I would prefer to travel and explore. I’ve seen the inside of cave walls for too long.”

  “Is that all you’re running from?” Raphael asked.

  “I’ve had a million chances to run away. This would be different. If nobody is chaining me, it’s not really escaping. I just want to spread my wings for a little while.”

  “A dragoness your age cannot travel alone, unprotected,” Raphael said. He sounded regretful, but firm.

  Pan sucked in a breath, kicking her feet back against the rock. She had heard the ‘no’ as clearly as Elizabeth.

  “Why don’t you visit the human realm?” Elizabeth suggested. “As long as you keep to your non-familiar form, no human will suspect the truth. I could help you get enrolled in a high school, so you could experience the freedom of being a regular, everyday teenager. Unlike in Maeren, witches don’t need male protection in the human realm,” she pointed out.

  Her family was proof that it could be done.

  “Don’t humans kill dragons? Knights with enormous swords and catapults that throw boulders into the sky?” Pan asked, but there was a sliver of hope in her voice.

  “Nah, that was centuries ago. Humans don’t even believe in magic and dragons anymore. Even vampires are a joke.”

  Raphael looked much too serious.

  Pan wasn’t really his ward, but it was obvious that he thought she was his responsibility.

  Letting her travel unaccompanied anywhere seemed to be unacceptable.

  Elizabeth had to nip his overprotective instincts in the bud.

  Pan was seventeen!

  He cleared his throat and she interrupted before he could say anything more restrictive.

  Males hated to take something back once they said it, even if it was wrong.

  “Raphael came back from the human realm recently. I’m sure he didn’t notice any humans trying to shoot him from the sky. The most dangerous thing in the human realm to dragons are the metal planes that fly people around, but they light those up at night, so you can’t miss them,” Elizabeth said.

  Raphael’s warriors were all within hearing distance. If he admitted that he had been in danger, it would hurt his reputation.

  “Planes,” Pan repeated. “I would love to see them. Human technology is fascinating. I once found a crank light in the Wastes. This little plastic handle pulled out and you wound it round and round to create an energy that charged the storage device inside and was converted to power that lit the bulb.”

  “A battery and it created electrical charge for a generator to power the light,” Elizabeth explained.

  It wasn’t that Maereneians were less intelligent than humans, but the magic of Maeren greatly limited technology. Small machined parts and anything electrical were pretty much impossible to replicate.

  Magic would cause things to fizz out no matter how technically correct the device.

  She was surprised the crank light had worked at all.

  “Where exactly did you find this crank-light?” Raphael asked, suspicious.

  He was losing the argument and he knew it, the conversation carrying on to topics beyond if Pan could travel.

  “A t-traveller,” Pan lied. “I traded for it.”

  A working crank light would have been priceless.

  Raphael crossed his arms, his biceps bulging under his armour.

  He was wearing leather and metal plated mail that was fastened with leather straps.

  Pan had explained that most of the dragons seemed to prefer this type of armour. During transformation, the leather straps would snap, and the armour would fall off.

  The expensive metal plates would be left undamaged, so the armour could be repaired and reused.

  Of course, ideally, the dragon wearing the armour wouldn’t transform into his familiar form at all.

  Raphael looked one good muscled flex from popping a few plates off in anger.

  “You must have gotten swindled good,” Elizabeth said, deflecting Raphael’s temper. “Something with electricity wouldn’t have lasted long in Maeren. The only reason it probably was able to be transported here at all, was because the battery was drained first. The magic wo
uldn’t have had enough time to dampen the electricity before you charged the battery with the crank the first time. Afterwards, it would have been a useless hunk of plastic. Next time, don’t buy any lamps expecting genies.”

  “What’s a genie?” Pan asked.

  “Wish granting, god-like, magical creature that is completely made-up by humans.”

  Raphael forced his way back into the middle of their conversation before Elizabeth could take it completely off the rails and launch into tales about Aladdin, both the Disney and the non-animated versions.

  “We can discuss your future plans later,” he told Pan, narrowing eyes at Elizabeth that dared her to say another word.

  “Of course,” Pan deferred to his order.

  She squeezed Elizabeth’s hand and let her slip into her thoughts.

  Elizabeth held her tongue and peeked.

  Pan was a practiced escape artist. She didn’t need Raphael’s permission to leave Dragos once they freed her friends.

  He would be busy trying to take order of two clans and bring them together, as well as to reunite with his gaisa.

  Pan could slip out during all the initial confusion.

  The excitement Pan felt about seeing the human realm made her seem more her age.

  She was like a teenager planning for prom, excited about what to wear and who would ask her to dance first.

  An ordinary human life—for a year or two—was exactly what Pan needed.

  Military Dogs

  Her mates had been close.

  They weren’t the first to arrive, surprisingly.

  Three unfamiliar minds pinged against Elizabeth’s mental barrier, spreading out around the edges of their waiting spot.

  None of the sentries sounded the alarm.

  She immediately thought of the light sentries, but as she dipped into each mind shallowly, it instead confirmed that these were the three Dogs who had been sent after George.

  Each of them had earth-magic that she knew, but their secondary powers—if they had them—were a mystery.

  The strength of that magic was undeniable.

  George’s Dogs may be young, but they had the potential to be incredibly powerful.

  It scared her a little when she caught their thoughts of playing a childish game, sneaking up on the dragon battalion.

  Foolish teenaged boys!

  George should have taught them better.

  Elizabeth caught Raphael’s eyes with a worried look.

  “They’re close,” she warned Raphael at the same time that Geer approached and signalled something to his king.

  Geer held three fingers up.

  “Go, welcome our company,” Raphael suggested, keeping his voice low.

  Pan started to fidget again, kicking her rock seat.

  “I can go,” Elizabeth offered, standing up.

  If she was quick enough, she could stop the Dogs before they snuck up on the wrong dragon.

  "Why did you send the Dogs here first?" she asked George.

  "They’re still in training. The opportunity to sneak up on dragons without much risk is unlikely to happen again,” George explained.

  Daemon rolled his eyes and let her feel it through their connection.

  "Those overgrown pups needed a good run. We told them to check the perimeter and wait for our arrival,” Daemon said.

  "Well, they’re not sneaky enough. The dragons know they’re here. Think they’ll come to heel for me?" Elizabeth asked.

  Geer was waiting for Raphael to give her permission to join him.

  Raphael was at least thinking about her offer, taking his time to respond to her request.

  It was better than a reflexive denial of anything that would put her breakable, female self at the slightest risk.

  Dragons seemed even more smothering in their protective instincts than other vampires.

  It must kill Geer to not stay by her side in order to trick the rest of his clan into thinking she meant nothing to him.

  She was playing her usual role as a weak air witch. Her only importance was as a royal messenger for Daemon. She was quite used to hiding her strength.

  Thinking of Geer, she decided she’d better warn her other mates—on their way here—of his presence.

  Both of them had heard Geer, telepathically, through the mate-bond. It was unlikely they’d fail to recognize him, especially with his unusual name and distinctive voice.

  "Geer is here. You do remember who he is, right? He’s keeping our bond secret from his clan—for my protection, he says—so, please don’t say anything to him to give away that he’s my mate, too."

  She had included Geer on her telepathic connection this time—purely lightning.

  He gave her an arched brow, but he didn’t acknowledge it in any other way.

  "Alright, sweetheart. But if Geer doesn’t claim you as a mate, then he forfeits the right to act bonded around you,” Daemon said, setting some ground rules.

  "No touching her,” George said, completely inflexible.

  “Elizabeth may go. Geer, follow her,” Raphael instructed, having finally made up his mind.

  He pointed them in the direction of the nearest Dog’s mind—according to Elizabeth’s ping.

  Raphael didn’t have lightning to cheat and locate their minds.

  Elizabeth was impressed.

  Had Raphael been on alert the whole time they had been sitting down and chatting?

  “After you, milady,” Geer said, polite as any courtier, although he didn’t bow.

  "Shield yourself!" Daemon ordered.

  George echoed the command when she protested.

  "We’re not there to ensure the perimeter is safe,” George said.

  Elizabeth sighed and dropped both of their overprotective minds from her own, shielding lightning.

  The surrounding warriors suddenly got so quiet that the sound of a bird calling overhead was startlingly loud.

  “The princes insisted I shield for my safety until they can check our perimeter,” Elizabeth explained, embarrassed.

  “She’s really a lightning witch. It wasn’t just in my head,” Raphael said, reaching out to touch her shield.

  It shocked him, a little buzz-like static electricity escaping before she could pull the magic back at his unexpected touch.

  “Sorry!” she blurted, dropping her shield.

  “Do not drop your protection!”

  The thunderous order was so like the bossy males in her head, it took Elizabeth a moment to realize that Geer had been the one to issue it.

  She didn’t waste another second, shielding again.

  Sicking her tongue out at Geer, she headed towards the hiding spot of the nearest Dog that Raphael had pointed out.

  “Are we running away or chasing the intruders?” Geer asked.

  They entered the cool, thickly treed forest surrounding the clearing where the battalion had halted.

  “I believe Raphael called them guests. Does he do that with all intruders?” Elizabeth asked.

  She changed directions, headed them towards the mind that had been circling around the battalion when they had been discussing who would greet the Dogs.

  This one had gotten close. George would likely be proud.

  “Guests are intruders who we’re not allowed to kill—yet,” Geer replied.

  “That is a very messed up definition of hospitality,” she commented.

  Geer was in a mood because he had to keep his distance from her in front of the other dragons.

  She knew mate instincts had to be driving him hard to stay closer to her.

  Elizabeth slowed down for a moment and confirmed the mental ping. The first Dog was only a few more feet away.

  She jerked her head in the direction that she wanted Geer to follow her.

  It would be nice to use telepathy to communicate, but she couldn’t do that when fully shielded. Sensing other minds was about as good as it was going to get until she unshielded.

  “Come out, come out, wherever you are,�
�� Elizabeth coaxed.

  The mind wasn’t moving, refusing to give up his hiding spot.

  She would rather he came out on his own, instead of her having to drag him out.

  No need to incite her already on edge dragon mate to violence in order to protect her if the Dog came out swinging.

  She dropped her shield and dipped into the Dog’s thoughts.

  "George told me to find all of you before you make the dragons more nervous. They know you’re out there and you are on their territory,” Elizabeth said.

  "Where’s the female dragon?"

  "Her name is Pan and her whereabouts is none of your business,” Elizabeth said.

  "I see George was right about you."

  In what way? Likely, something insulting.

  She didn’t have the time or patient to indulge this Dog. He was likely pouting because she’d found him so easily with his magic.

  "George doesn’t know the half of it, puppy,” Elizabeth muttered into his head.

  Talking about George just made him join their telepathic discussion.

  Was nothing going to be private in her head anymore?

  “Kerashemeria, they aren’t going to hurt Pan. They just want to assure themselves that she is safe. Daemon and I had a talk with them about the punitive conditions the light clan dragonesses are living under. Cason there, has a little sister at home, and a big brother protective streak a mile wide,” George explained.

  She’d always wanted a big brother.

  Elizabeth whistled louder and strolled towards where Cason was hiding.

  “You’re not really going to leave me out here alone with this big, boorish dragon . . . are you?” she asked out loud.

  “Hey, I’m a refined dragon,” Geer protested, leaning against a tree.

  Geer appeared casual in his stance, but the sharp look he shot her and their surroundings belied that careless attitude.

  At least, he hadn’t complained again when she dropped her shield.

  It possibly spoke more of his confidence to quickly defend her against any attacks than his belief that she could kick ass.

  “I’ve seen the inside of your caves, lizard. Somebody burned a chicken leg in the hallway with a blast of fire that left soot all over the walls, and then tossed the bone on the floor when he was finished eating it in one big bite.”