Dragon Flight (4 page)

“He hides them,” Caden told her. “Queen Amalthea says that he’s ashamed of them.”

Zorin growled. “My mother talks too much.”

Isabelle approached him quietly until she was able to brush her fingertips against his lower back. She felt him freeze under her, but she persisted anyway, sliding her fingers over the fine cloth of his tunic up his back to the hard planes of his shoulders. Her fingers brushed against the soft down of his feathers, but she still couldn’t see them.

“You really do hide them,” she whispered.

He nodded. “But not because I’m ashamed.” His voice was just as soft, just as cautious.

She pressed her body against his, wrapping an arm loosely around his waist just above his hips. “Then why?”

“I don’t stay in Feeorin all the time. I like to be out in the world. But out there my wings mark me as different. I still stand out of course, the tales of my deeds have reached even the poorest towns and they have always been very graphic and quite specific about what I look like, but I’m not stared at. About two centuries ago I got tired of the women openly weeping and the men bowing before me. Good men and women. They thought they were worshiping an angel, something to be revered and cherished. I didn’t deserve any of it. I’m a murderer with far too much power for my own good and I should never be cherished like that.”

Isabelle blinked back the tears that touched her eyes and placed her lips between his shoulders in a gentle kiss. “You’re wrong,” she murmured to him.

“Or perhaps you’ve been deceived by yet another man,” he told her, covering her small hand with his own, warming it.

“Not this time,” she told him before remembering that Caden was still in the small barn and probably watching them. She stepped away from him, letting her hand drop from his waist.

“Get the gelding saddled,” he told Caden, stepping away from her.

She was effectively dismissed.

Caden eyed them both curiously, but quickly did as he was told, grabbing a fine leather halter and slipping it over the gelding’s head before leading him from the stall and tying him up near Zorin’s stallion. The gelding was old and gentle, the perfect horse for someone with Caden’s limited experience and while Zorin continued having to reassure his prancing horse, the gelding merely stood relaxed with his head drooping to his knees as he munched on the pile of hay at his feet.

Isabelle sat down in a nearby bench to watch them, Zorin’s fluid movements being mimicked by Caden’s gentle but inexperienced fumblings. The gelding didn’t seem to mind, he was as patient with her brother as Zorin was and the quiet encouragement the man gave him brought a soft smile to her lips as Isabelle relaxed into the hard wood of the bench below her.

“Feeling better, Izzy?” Caden asked her as he finished tightening the soft leather saddle on his horse. He gave the horse a gentle pat on his neck and picked up the matching bridle.

“You were ill?” Zorin asked as he stepped away from his own horse.

Isabelle blushed under their combined attentions. “Just a little,” she admitted. “I felt slightly breathless on the way out here. Nothing to worry about. Probably just the stress of the last few days.”

Zorin looked her over closely, his eyes narrowing on her pale cheeks and the glassy sheen to her eyes. “Perhaps. But I want you resting this afternoon anyway. Caden will be fine with me.”

“But I—” she began to protest, but at Zorin’s worried look she dropped her head and nodded. “I’m sure you’re right.”

Zorin nodded. “Good. You know your way back?”

Isabelle nodded, kissed Caden’s cheek and with one last look to Zorin she made her way back to her bedchamber to rest.

Zorin landed easily on a rocky outcrop just outside of the largest room in the Draconian mountain palace. He stretched his black wings, delighting in the light breeze as it ruffled his feathers before he folded them neatly against his back. A quick thought and his wings vanished, though their weight on his shoulders was a comforting reminder of just who and what he was. He thought back to what Isabelle had said and quickly shook his head. Silly woman didn’t know what she was talking about. Still though… He frowned and shook out his wings as they became visible again. He was not ashamed.

“Zorin?” Faolan asked as he stepped out from the shadows, dressed simply in a pair of loose pants and a tunic. He seemed curious and just a bit tired with small circles under his eyes and his usually neat hair was rumpled. Zorin knew better as his nostrils flared and took in the bright glaze to Faolan’s eyes.

He shook off what he knew though and took a step towards the other man. That Faolan had recently bedded his wife was none of his business. But Zorin was a bastard and needed to know more. “I have to be quick,” he said, forcing an air of impatience that he didn’t feel. “I have to get back in time to help my mother with her latest party.”

“Oh?” Faolan asked, leaning nonchalantly against the stone wall.

Zorin shrugged, turning away from him as he scanned the red mountains surrounding them. “My mother is throwing a party to try to find a husband for Isabelle now that you’re done with her and she’s going to be queen.” He let out a put upon sigh. “It’s really nothing that important.”

Zorin glanced back at the other man to see him more beast than man as he growled low in his throat. As Zorin kept watching, the man’s tan arms turned black as shiny scales began to cover his skin. “Problem?” he taunted.

Faolan violently shook himself, clearing his mind as he settled back into his human skin. Zorin grinned at him. Faolan shot him a murderous look which only made him laugh harder. There was a soft noise behind them as Celeste, dressed in only a sheet, walked into the bright sunlight and settled against Faolan’s stiff, unrelenting side. Zorin gave her a cruel smile which she uneasily returned as she wrapped herself around Faolan.

“Darling,” she cooed. “Come back to bed.”

Faolan shook her off. “We’re having a meeting. Leave us.”

She pouted and pressed herself closer to his side. “A meeting? Sounds like fun. What about?”

Zorin slowly prowled towards her. “We were discussing Princess Isabelle Falcone’s upcoming marriage to one of the Phaedran Empire’s young bachelors. Perhaps you’d like an invitation to their wedding?” Zorin taunted them both. He knew that he was being cruel to Faolan, but he deserved it. And he couldn’t tell what Isabelle had ever felt for this selfish man that was so confused by his affection for her that he stood fuming now at the thought of her with another man as his wife wrapped herself around him.

Celeste scoffed at him. “That lowly human? Why would I want to even breathe the same air as her?”

Zorin ignored Faolan’s low growl as he moved away from her. “You wouldn’t breathe her air even though she had your husband in bed first?” he taunted her. He tilted his head to the side, considering her. “Or do you just enjoy sloppy human seconds?”

Celeste’s beautiful face twisted with hatred and rage. She spat at his boots. “That whore tricked my Faolan into bedding her! He would never soil himself with her kind by choice!” she shrieked.

There was a flash of black scales as raw power hit Zorin like a tidal wave. Both he and Celeste turned toward Faolan as his body shifted and grew into his natural form. Zorin winced, knowing how much pain forcing a shift that fast would cause. Celeste smiled at him and licked her lips as she stared at him as he shook off the last of his shift and leveled his large head at her. She knelt submissively in front of him even as he pounced on her, pinning her to the hard stone beneath his massive body. Instead of being afraid like any normal person, she instead writhed against him, her need and pleasure evident in her glowing face.

Zorin looked away, embarrassed.

Faolan growled at her, pressing further against her as she stretched beneath him. He opened his mouth wide, his long teeth pressing against the smooth skin of her cheek. Unafraid, she merely laughed at him and ran her fingers delicately over the tight scales of his jaw. He turned away, disgusted with both her and himself. With an agonizing slowness and intense pain Zorin was sure that he deserved, Faolan forced himself to shift back. Mostly man, but still feral he stumbled away from her. Celeste followed after him, concern marring her beautiful features, but a sharp growl from Faolan had her pausing mid-step.

“Get away from me,” he hissed at her.

Celeste whined a little, but at his fierce gaze she stepped away from him. With a flounce, she turned her back on him.

“She disgusts me,” Faolan said loud enough that Celeste heard him. She gasped and looked hurt, but Faolan didn’t apologize and Celeste didn’t come back.

Zorin shrugged. Faolan’s marital problems, while entertaining to watch, were hardly his concern. Still, he felt the need to offer some opinion. “She wants power. Isn’t that their way?”

Faolan huffed something that sounded to the affirmative.

“So your power calls to her and she reacts to it.”

Faolan shot him a glare. “It’s not right. She’s a beautiful horrible thing that I can’t believe I still allow to live here.”

Zorin rolled his eyes. “I remember you taking her into your arms while Isabelle was still here. And I know she’s been in your bed. So don’t play martyr to me, little boy.”

Faolan stopped and blinked at him. “I have needs that a wife will fill,” he replied.

Zorin nodded. “A wife would fill them. And judging by Celeste’s lithe body and rounded curves she fills them well.” Faolan glared at him. “But she is not the gentle Isabelle. This wife is more your kind, your equal. Isabelle—”

Faolan cut him off with a raised hand and a sharp look. “Isabelle was human, but she was not weak.”

Zorin tilted his head, considering him carefully. “No, I suppose she’s not. She lived here for over a year. And she put up with you and your father. Not many women would have. Certainly not human ones.”

“My father wishes to speak with you,” Faolan told him before turning away.

Zorin raised a perfectly arched black brow. “My weekly meetings have always been with the Draconian king of the Kasak Mountains. Are you not him?”

He paused, a shudder going through him as old memories seemingly wound tightly around him. “We will meet later. For now, go visit him.”

“What does he wish to talk about?”

Faolan shook his head. “I don’t know. Just please, go see him. You and I will speak later. For now I must be with my son, Sebastian.”

Zorin nodded and bowed his head slightly. “Of course. I will see you shortly.”Faolan nodded and left, leaving Zorin alone on the cliff to follow or not as he wished. Zorin watched the dark clouds roll across the evening sky for a few moments before silently going after him. A short walk later found him deep inside the mountain where Thadius lay resting in the hot springs.

Zorin approached carefully once he saw that the man was in his natural form, the long black shape of his dragon body, so much bigger than Faolan’s, stretched lazily over the hot stones and deep pools of the large cavern.

“You wished to see me?” Zorin called to him, not stepping closer. He wasn’t afraid of the Draconian. His magic was so much stronger than theirs, but he had size and speed. It would be a close match if Thadius ever decided to take him on. So he stayed where he was.

You’ve spoken with my son?

The man’s voice inside Zorin’s mind was rough, almost a cough. It was what he would have expected from the throat of a dragon.

“I have.”

He seems unhappy.

The sadness in Thadius’s voice was a surprise to Zorin.

“You sent away his love. Betrayed him. How should he seem?” Zorin countered.

Thadius growled irritably.
Love? The boy doesn’t know what that word means. He loves his son. But Isabelle? Celeste? He loves neither. And never will.

“He could have.”

You’ll make sure it doesn’t happen though.

Zorin chuckled. They had never spoken about what Zorin had known the man had done, but there had never really been secrets between them either.

“She won’t want him once this month is over,” Zorin promised.

Oh?

“She’s getting married. No idea to who yet though. But she’ll be married and you’ll never have to see her again unless you decide to visit the new queen.”

I don’t see that happening.

Zorin shrugged. It really didn’t matter to him one way or the other.

I used to think of you like a son.

That surprised him. Zorin stood blinking dumbly.

You were always so much stronger, more powerful and smarter than any of my children. They’ve all been failures.

Z
orin snorted. “That’s not exactly hard. Except for Faolan your other offspring were all murdered as children before they could ever disappoint you.”

The dragon before him visibly flinched.

You don’t try to be gentle do you, Zorin?”

“And you’re just a little too blunt. I don’t exactly like Faolan most days and we’ve certainly never been friends. But I’d hardly count him a failure. As far as I can tell he’s done everything you’ve asked of him, even without him knowing it,” Zorin snarled.

You’re defending him against me? Don’t be ridiculous.

“Anything else?” Zorin asked impatiently, refusing to argue the point. If Faolan wouldn’t stick up for himself against his father, then Zorin was hardly going to waste the effort either.

The dragon shook his massive head.
No, we’re done for now. Just make sure that girl doesn’t interfere with him again.

Zorin smiled softly and nodded before finding his way to Faolan’s chambers. He could hear Faolan’s soft voice as he approached the large ornate door, so out of place in a fortress with very little to decorate it. He paused to knock.

“I’m not taking visitors,” Faolan called back, his voice bitingly hard.

Zorin rolled his eyes and ignored the threat in the other man’s voice as he opened the door. And calmly stepped inside.

“I said I’m not—”

“I know. I’m not deaf,” Zorin said back as he took a few steps closer to where Faolan and his infant son lay on the massive bed.

“Then just stupid enough to irritate a Draconian with his child?” Faolan growled back as he pulled his son closer to him defensively.