“I’d lose the link to you if I blood melded anyone else. It is an honor, trust me. My brothers all wanted the job as much as I did, but we knew only one of us could have it. It is a small price to pay to give you more freedom.”
More freedom. The thing she ached for more than anything, that she was also certain would help her push her limits and strengthen her power. Her initial disappointment at the formal nature of his role disappeared and she grabbed his hands. “With you I’ll be allowed to go into the human world finally?”
“We’ll need to be cautious at first, but yes. Your parents didn’t already tell you?” His face darkened and he grimaced. “Fuck. Tomorrow’s your birthday. I probably just spoiled the surprise, but I couldn’t wait to talk to you.”
She let out a soft snort. “I’m always the last to know anything that has to do with me, birthday present or not. I get the sense they’re still trying to figure out how to help me, but all I want is to have the freedom to figure things out on my own. For all I know, they’re in that room right now talking about me instead of whatever Haven business is on the table right now. I almost can’t believe they’d do this.”
Llyr gave her an odd look, and her stomach flip-flopped when he grabbed her hand. “We need to go in. You’re absolutely right. I can’t believe they’d do this either.”
“What? What did they do?” She let him lead her back the way they had come.
He shot a glance over his shoulder and she gasped at the swirling maelstrom of power in his eyes. “You might not be powerful enough yet to safely leave the higher realms alone, but you are damn sure mature enough to be involved in the decisions they make for you. You should be in that council chamber now, Deva. You’re every bit the immortal they are.”
“Party planning isn’t really my thing,” she said when they reached the grand hall again and he stopped in front of the enormous translucent glass doors that led to the council chamber. “Really, it’s all right.”
“You think they’re just talking about how many orgies to have tomorrow? How many babies need to be conceived during the fertility rites? It isn’t about that, and I’ve heard your name tossed around enough between them to know you’re a frequent topic. I thought you knew already, but if you don’t, you need to.”
He pushed the doors open and stepped aside to give her access. Several voices clashed in an argument and Deva recognized Nikhil’s angry baritone along with Neph’s and Aodh’s as they faced off around the table near the front of the room. The three fathers she was closest to stood their ground against Dionysus, who loomed at the head of the long council table.
“It is absolutely out of the question!” Nikhil yelled. “Deva is too young and inexperienced to be arbitrarily volunteered for some sex ritual. Someone else must do it. Hell, I’ll do it!”
She was stunned by the instant validation of Llyr’s warning. How long had they been talking about her?
Beside Dion, Nyx raised her head and met Deva’s gaze. She lifted a hand and the buzz of voices ceased. “Perhaps Deva would like to weigh in herself,” Nyx said, and all eyes turned toward her.
Llyr rested a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I’ve got your back, Deva,” he said.
Steeling herself for the confrontation, she continued forward to the foot of the table where Lukas and Iszak stepped aside to give her room. They both wore frowns that suggested whatever was being discussed was just as distasteful to them as it was to her other fathers.
Pressing her palms to the cool tabletop, she took a deep breath and glanced around at all the expectant faces. Her family, her friends, all looked back—some worried, some sympathetic. None of their expressions made sense.
Finally her gaze rested on Nyx. Her aunt was the only one here who seemed willing to give her room to speak. “Do you mind explaining what all this is about?” Deva asked.
All at once a dozen voices rose, clashing and echoing through the room. Irritated, Deva took a deep breath. “Quiet!” The exclamation left her lungs with an odd warmth, as though it weren’t a mere word, but crafted from dragon fire, even though no flames passed her lips. But it worked. The room fell dead silent and she tried again.
“I would like Nyx to tell me what’s going on. If the rest of you will kindly let her, I would appreciate it.”
Her aunt nodded. “We have a bit of a dilemma which we believe you are the solution to, but it seems you have a very passionate collection of overprotective parents who are objecting to the idea of you being involved at all.” Nyx speared Neph—one of the so-called passionate, overprotective parents—with a stern look. “To the degree that they refused to even invite you in, as though the argument were entirely moot and we could solve the problem without you. I’m glad you’re here so we can get this out of the way.”
With that, Nyx tilted her head to Dionysus. “My father will explain the core issue.”
Dion’s deep voice filled the room, part thunder, part silk, and Deva was comforted by the return of Llyr’s hand on her shoulder keeping her grounded in the face of the god’s renewed power.
“You are only one of millions who share my bloodline, Deva. With the return of my power, the humans linked to me will soon possess the ability to recognize members of the higher races without effort. We must keep our secret. To do that, we need to reach those humans, which is no simple task.”
“And you think I can help?” Deva asked. Her body tingled with the fresh possibilities that might be on offer with this discussion.
Dion nodded his big horned head. “We believe you are the only one who can help.”
Nikhil lurched out of his seat. “Bullshit! She is innocent, inexperienced. She’s existed in our world for only a year. I will not allow her to be part of this!”
“Stop!” Deva yelled, again surprised by the power that seemed to infuse her lungs and her voice, and how it led to Nikhil’s instant subdual. “Please let me hear everything. Let me decide for myself. Dionysus, why do you think I’m the only one who can do this?”
“Because of your nature. The humans attached to my bloodline possess a varied set of mutations due to Meri’s ancient experiments with the blood of the higher races. There are some with dragon blood, some with ursa blood, quite a few with satyr blood, and others with turul blood—or any mix of the four. You are the only one here with a perfect balance of all five races running through your veins.”
Nikhil scowled and sat back, muttering to himself and crossing his arms. Dion shot a look at him and held up his hand. “What’s more important is that you were born this way. There are few moments more powerful than the crossing of a threshold. In a female’s life, there are three incredibly powerful thresholds that get crossed—leaving her mother’s womb, the moment when she loses her virginity, and the moment she first gives birth. All parties involved in those crossings are affected. When you were born with this mix of blood in your veins, it rendered you uniquely suited for this purpose, among others. No other creature in this room can claim that.”
Deva took a deep breath, slowly starting to grasp the implications of the problem. “But I barely have any power. I can conjure you a hat, but I can’t even breathe fire yet.”
“You won’t need to use magic to help us,” Nyx said. “And contrary to Nikhil’s objections, you won’t be required to participate in any of the individual fertility rites.”
“What do I need to do?”
“As the apex of the ritual to reach the bloodline, you will act as a conduit to allow a message to reach them. Nothing more,” Dion said. “The rest of us will provide the magic to power the message and the charm that goes with it. The waters of the Haven will carry the magic to you at the Source. From the Source’s waters, you should be able to channel sufficient power from all of us to link to the entire bloodline, to speak to those dormant parts of each human that possesses the blood of any of the higher races, and to transmit the message they need to hear.”
“What is the message, exactly?”
“I will tell it t
o you before the ritual begins. To put it simply, we will be imparting understanding to these humans about the higher races. If they discover our existence any other way, we would have to kill them, and that is not the ideal solution. Instead, we will provide an image that answers all their questions, offers our protection, and compels them to secrecy. If the power is strong enough, we will also encourage them to swear loyalty to the higher races, but that will remain up to you.”
Deva’s skin tingled with the prospect of having a role to fill for once. Her throat tightened with the most potent desire she’d ever experienced—the desire to have a true purpose. Even if she didn’t use her still limited powers, she could help in a way no one else in the room could.
“When do we start?” she asked.
Chapter Three
Deva fended off mental exhaustion the next day as she made her way to the Source with Llyr at her side. She’d spent the previous evening in the council chamber with Dionysus and Nyx coaching her through the process of linking to the bloodline and transmitting the message.
Neph’s and Nikhil’s protests hadn’t ceased, and finally she’d asked everyone to leave, which had been one of the hardest things she’d ever done. But their world depended on her now. Couldn’t they see that?
Only her uncle Naaz remained, along with Naaz’s closest friends, Marcus and Sterlyn. They were to be her test subjects for delivering the message. As humans who’d endured Meri’s experiments, all three men were part of the bloodline.
Llyr also insisted on remaining by her side, for which she was grateful. And now he would coach her through the ritual, serving as a barometer for the amount of power that would be flooding through the waters of the Haven soon, and the telepathic link between her and all the participants.
Each of the immortal dragons and their mates would be stationed at different locations throughout the Haven. Deva had seen the elaborately decorated pavilion at the edge of one of the many waterfalls that cascaded down the Haven’s worn stone grottos. The main festivities would happen there, where Dionysus and his mates would hold court. But it was Deva’s aunt Numa who was the key—as a dragon, Numa was better equipped to absorb her mates’ sexual energy and channel it through herself into the Haven’s water.
This was why each of the six immortal dragons had spread out around the Haven, so they could each do the same if and when their power was required. All Deva had to do now was wait. When the first wave of magic reached her, it would be time to begin. It would be up to Llyr to anticipate her needs and communicate with the others if she required more power to complete the task.
She paused at the edge of the rippling pools of the Source, staring down at her wavering reflection. The Silas tree towered above, its high branches lost in the mist where it penetrated the border between the Haven and the Sanctuary, standing sentinel over the Sanctuary’s central lake. Around and beneath the surface of the Source’s pools, the tree’s roots extended in an endless tangle, so it appeared to float rather than being embedded in actual earth. The roots created endless ledges and steps that were tricky to navigate without slipping, and she struggled to stay dry as they approached the center.
“Only a little farther,” Llyr said, touching her elbow gently.
Deva took a deep breath and stepped into the water, wading slowly deeper, her gown floating up around her waist like a billowing cloud. She wore no undergarments and was suddenly self-conscious in front of the big satyr who followed close, but when she glanced back at him, he merely smiled and nodded.
“You’ve got this,” he said.
The pool they crossed wasn’t large, but it was deep, and soon the bottom fell away and she had to swim the last few feet to the island of roots that surrounded the trunk of the tree.
She reached the tree and grappled at the twisted roots to haul herself out of the water. Llyr hoisted himself out and took her hand, easily lifting her the rest of the way.
“Thank you,” she said, wringing out her dress. She inhaled sharply and turned away from the big man when she realized her bodice was soaked through to her skin and nearly transparent.
“We both need to keep our feet in the water,” Llyr said, wandering a few yards around the tree. “This pool looks better. There are roots to sit on under the water and it isn’t as deep . . . Are you all right?”
Deva glanced over her shoulder, nodding as he pointed at the perfect ledge of roots that twined together about a foot beneath the water close to the tree trunk. “I see, thank you.” Then she went back to brushing and plucking ineffectually at the wet fabric that covered her breasts, in a near panic because it wouldn’t dry.
Llyr called her name again. “Deva, we need to get into position. What’s wrong?”
He gripped her upper arm and moved around to her front.
“Don’t!” Deva cried, twisting away and covering herself protectively.
He stared down at her with a frown. “Are you hurt?”
“No, it’s just . . . my dress is wet. I don’t want you to see.”
“See what?”
Heat flooded her face and she shook her head. “Just don’t look at me.”
“You were just swimming. Of course your dress is wet. If you wanted to avoid that, you should have taken it off. Here . . . I can fix it.”
He reached for her arms where she had them protectively caged across her breasts and pried them open. Deva clenched her eyes shut, waiting for some kind of reaction, but none came.
“You don’t need to be afraid,” Llyr said in a gentle voice. “Your beauty is nothing to be ashamed of.”
“I’m not ashamed. I’m just . . . not used to . . . this.” She lifted her gaze and gave him a defiant look.
Llyr raked a hand through his inky black hair and laughed. “This? You are part nymphaea, Deva. And part ursa, I might add. Being naked in mixed company is no oddity for shifters like us. It’s something we grow accustomed to from an early age. Dragons are the only ones who are addicted to clothing, but even most of them don’t mind running around naked in the right environments.”
“Then why aren’t you naked now?”
He lifted a shoulder and let it drop. “Because you seemed to have trouble focusing yesterday when I was wearing less than I am now. I thought being naked might be too much. It’s my responsibility to protect you, not distract you. You are my charge, not the target of my seduction.”
With a glance at his hips, she realized that he was indeed wearing a sarong that was more opaque than the one he’d been in the day before, though the rest of his toned and muscular body was pleasingly on display—and glistening wet now, to top it off.
“Now, do you want me to dry you off, or can you deal with the exposure?” He dropped his eyes to her chest and smiled. “Because you really may as well be naked.”
Her nipples pricked and she slapped her hands back over her breasts, face blazing almost as hot as the flames that licked through her lower body in response to his frank appraisal of her.
“Dry me, please.”
He nodded. “Move your hands.”
She obediently dropped them and waited. Llyr stepped closer and lifted his hands to her shoulders. “I need to touch you for this to work, all right? When I’m done, your dress will be as dry as I can make it, though I think it’s pointless.”
Deva swallowed and nodded, her pulse racing at his proximity. He squeezed her shoulders gently and began to lower his hands, flattening them along her collarbone and moving down.
“You’re not just doing this to cop a feel, are you?” she asked, voice shaking.
His lips twisted and his eyes twinkled. “You did give me the perfect excuse, but no, I genuinely need to be in contact to absorb the moisture from your dress. See?”
He lifted one warm palm from the front of her chest just at the edge of her bodice, and she glanced down. The soft white fabric where his hand had been was bone-dry. Her eyes widened.
“That’s amazing! Can you teach me to do that?”
“Sure,
but after we take care of this task.” He slid his hands lower and Deva gasped at the sudden warmth that covered her breasts. Her nipples ached beneath his palms and Llyr’s brows twitched briefly, his aura spiking red for a split-second before he moved on, sliding his hands down her stomach. He left behind dry cloth covering hot skin, and when he dropped his hands to his sides again, Deva mourned the loss of contact.
He stepped back and waved his hands in a little flourish. “All dry. Well, except for the hem, but you’re kind of standing in a puddle.”
“Thank you,” she said with a hesitant smile. “I’m sorry I’m such a pain.”
“Nonsense. We need you to be as free from distractions as possible for this. Are you ready? The others are waiting for word from us before they begin.”
Deva spun to face the tree and surveyed the tangle of roots near the pool Llyr had indicated. She finally found one big root that jutted up enough to provide a rudimentary bench for her to rest on. The water from the Source moved in a constant flow beneath and within the tree, emerging in a cascade over the tops of the roots. She sat on the wet root with her feet still dangling in the water, feeling ridiculous for worrying about her dress now that she had no choice but to let it get drenched again. At least the part that covered her breasts was dry now.
She settled down and hiked up the hem to her knees so the wet fabric didn’t wind up tangled around her feet if she needed to move. Then she leaned back against the rough tree trunk and closed her eyes.
Inhaling deeply, she worked to center herself and focus on the core of power within her. She’d learned to recognize the five different aspects of her energy and had hoped that with gentle nurturing they would grow, but they still remained small and dim, like dormant seeds waiting for the rain and sun. Perhaps this task would infuse her with enough magic to kick-start her true power.
Reaching out, she could feel the bloodline, but at the moment it only consisted of the few individuals in the Haven who were linked: Nikhil, Marcus, Sterlyn, and Naaz, as well as her dragon father, Aodh, whose tie to it was faint. Her mother Neela had once been part of it, but when they’d tried to link to her, there was no sign of the bloodline to be found. They concluded that Zorion’s dragon fire had burned away the taint of Meri’s blood when he brought Neela back to life as a phoenix the year before.
Fate's Fools Box Set Page 3