For the Love of Her Dragon (16 page)

“We
have a few that are ready for their Swordsman test, thank the Heavens you’ll be
there to administer it,” Devon added, smiling like all had been forgiven. Royce
knew he had put him in a terrible position when he asked him to look after Kyra
and he would be forever grateful for all his brother had done.

“Oh,
yeah? Do we have anyone good?” he asked, trying to think of anything but Kyra,
just a few feet away and still ignoring his very existence.

It
was Aaron that answered, “There are a few. The others just need more practice.
They could really benefit from your sparring.”

“Then
they shall have it, and I’ll bring this useless lug with me,” he pointed
towards Rory. “He’s been known to be handy with a blade, after all, he had the
best teacher around.”

Royce
smiled, just about to give himself credit, but
Rian
was quicker, “Damn sure did…ME!”

The
group erupted into laughter and then Rayne appeared with
Kyndel
on his arm. “Would you all care to join us inside?”

“Sure,”
they all answered and followed the Commander.

As
soon as Royce spotted Kyra at the front of the room his heart skipped a beat.
He was once again amazed at how absolutely gorgeous she was and for the first
time noticed the beauty of the aura that surrounded her. It was a spectacular
mix of red and orange that reminded him of the sunrise they had shared all
those days ago and indicated the depth of her strength, passion, and courage.
The longer he admired her, the brighter the white light mixed with the red and
orange became, telling him that his mate was in perfect balance with everything
within and around her. It was just as his mother had said; she was everything
he could have ever hoped for.

His
mind reeled with thoughts of how to make her at least talk to him when Max
appeared at her side. Royce took a step forward before he was able to get his
emotions under control. Of course, it didn’t go unnoticed by his brethren.
Devon moved to his side and spoke under his breath, “You okay?”

“Yeah,
I’m good,” he answered, not sure who he was trying to convince.

Thankfully,
Rayne appeared at the front of the room and called the meeting to order before
anyone else could speak. After explaining all they knew so far, Max spoke and
Royce had to continually remind himself to listen and not think of all the ways
to skin a cat. When the King yielded the floor to Kyra, Royce held his breath.
It had been over a week since he had heard her voice above a mumble from across
the room, and he realized in that moment how much he had missed it.

Her
voice shook with nerves and her fingers fiddled with the strands of her hair
that had fallen over her shoulder. His heart and dragon begged him to do
whatever possible to ease her stress. Doing the only thing he could think of,
he focused all his energy on Kyra and pushed reassurance, confidence, and the
tiniest bit of love through the bond he had only found existed a few days ago.
It was weak and fading due to his negligence, but it was the only tie he had to
her and the only way he knew to help.

He
watched as her shoulders lifted and she stood a little taller. Her voice became
clearer and the shakiness disappeared. He could see her searching the crowd for
who had helped her. It saddened him that because of his own prejudice and
ignorance, she didn’t recognize her own mate’s energy, but he had no one to
blame but himself. He gave no indication it was him and soon she was so
engrossed in her presentation that she gave up the hunt. As she spoke, he was
filled with pride at how intelligent and intuitive she was, but his pride damn
near overflowed during the question and answer session. A younger Guardsman,
Jase
, asked, “How can you be certain he will perform his
ritual on the mountain by Black Lake?”

“I
am sure because I lived on that mountain and I know the power it holds, as well
as the power of the Black Lake. When the conditions are optimal, as they will
be in five short days, the combination of those two places will quite literally
glow with power. Now, as I stated, I have no idea what he has planned, but I
know he will have to harvest a ton of power to even attempt to take out you
behemoths.” The room roared with laughter and appreciation at her assessment of
the Dragon Guard.

When
they settled down, she began again, “I also know he’ll want everyone working
for him holding as much power as possible, so they will all be in attendance.
It’s my belief that we will be able to stop him
and
capture him before
he can gain the power he seeks, let alone work whatever spell he believes will
harm all of you.”

The
men all clapped at her words and Kyra beamed. He had thought she was beautiful
before, but the woman standing before him now was simply magnificent. His need
to be near her overrode his common sense and he started towards her. Devon’s
hand on his shoulder stopped him and he spun around to tell his brethren to
‘Fuck off’ but Devon’s words halted his rage, “You can’t go to her here, not
now, not in front of everyone. Save it for later.”

He
sighed and nodded, knowing what his friend was saying was true. Not that it
stopped the ache in his heart and soul to go to her, only her forgiveness would
soothe that.

The
questions continued until Rayne stepped to the front and called their meeting
to an end. Royce followed the others towards the door but not before one long
last look at Kyra. She was caught up in packing her supplies and unaware of his
attention, but he still took in all that he could before he left the building
and headed to the training pit. The others’ chatter was a buzzing in the
background as he thought about his situation and looked for any glimmer of hope
or for a way that he could make amends. Luckily, they reached the training area
before he had to admit that he had once again come up empty-handed.

He,
Rory, and Devon watched all the young Guardsmen for the better part of an hour
before pairing off with ones that needed the most help. Their sparring went on
until the first glimpses of dusk touched the sky. Tired and in desperate need
of a shower, Royce and his brothers headed for home. They had steaks marinating
and cold beer in the fridge, and for the first evening since he had gotten
home, Royce was going to relax. The Heavens knew that all the problems of the
last few days would still be there in the fresh light of a new day. Who knew,
maybe a little reprieve was just what he needed to find a solution.

Their
steaks had been amazing and they had laughed until the wee hours of the
morning. The fresh new light of day shone through the window, and aside from
the headache that only came from the three O’Reilly brothers, two fifths of
Bushmills
, and a case of Budweiser combined, Royce was no
closer to an answer than when he had fallen into bed still clothed. He should
have been happy that he hadn’t had another erotic dream starring Kyra, but in
all honesty, he missed it and he knew that made him more pathetic than he was
willing to admit.

Standing
in the shower and praying for aspirin, he heard his brothers in the kitchen and
prayed they were making coffee. Once the water was off, he listened to their
conversation.

“Do
you think Kyra will come around and forgive Roy?” Rory asked.

“Yeah,
she’ll come around. No one, even a witch as powerful as her, can resist the
pull of the mating call, and I guarantee you the mating call is working on both
of them,”
Rian
answered and Royce could tell he was
smiling.

“I
know, but she is still really pissed,” Rory said. Royce could hear the
uncertainty in his younger brother’s voice that mirrored his own.

“She
is and she has every right to be, but did you see her sneaking looks at Roy
when he wasn’t looking yesterday?” Royce immediately felt lighter than he had
two seconds before. Could
Rian
be right, was she
looking at him with something other than a scowl?

“I
saw, and I also know he was trying to help her when she was all nervous and
fidgety. Do you think she knew it was him?” Royce could tell Rory was smiling
now too, and that made him feel better about the mess he had created.

“Nah,
she had no clue. For all she does know about our kin, thankfully, there are a
few things she is still clueless about.” They both laughed.

“I
think we need to help this situation along,
Ri
. I’m tired of waiting and
damn
tired of
watching both of them mope around.” Rory sounded determined and Royce wondered
if it was time to walk out there and shut the gossip session down.

But
Rian’s
response stopped him dead in his tracks,
“Already taken care of little Bro, already taken care of.”

~
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~
~
~
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Watching
butterflies flit around the garden out the window over the sink while waiting
for the coffee to brew was the most restful thing she had done in the last
twelve hours. After the meeting with all the Dragon Guard, she had been in a
planning session with Max and Rayne until just before sundown. By the time she
had gotten home all she had wanted was a huge glass of wine and a hot bath.
Over an hour later, well pruned and buzzed, she had fallen into a dreamless
sleep. When her alarm had gone off at eight a.m. she’d hit the snooze until it
had finally shut off on its own.

She
wondered what it would feel like to have nothing more pressing for an entire
day than to float on the breeze, land on flower petals, and enjoy the sun on
her wings. Butterflies might have the most perfect life ever; or maybe it was
cats. Either way, they damn sure had it better than she did. It was becoming
harder and harder to stay mad at Royce. She was still hurt and still cringed
every time she thought about what had happened, but then she would catch him
looking at her and it all kind of faded to the back. Every time their eyes met
she could feel how much he wanted to talk to her, see in his eyes that he was
sorry, but then he would take a step towards her and she would find an excuse
to leave. No matter how pitiful he looked, she was not ready to listen…not yet.

So
instead she tried to stay busy every waking minute, even if it meant wondering
what it would be like to be anything but what she was or to be anywhere but
where she was. The last few drops of coffee dripped into the pot and she
grabbed her favorite mug to pour her first cup of the nectar of the Goddess.

Heading
to the dining room, she almost spilt her coffee when the ringing of the
doorbell startled her. She grumbled to herself as she grabbed the knob. When she
saw who had seen fit to make an appearance, her first thought was to slam and
lock the door and run and hide under the bed, but she knew it would only
prolong the inevitable. Instead, she smiled her sweetest ‘eat-shit’ smile and
used the nicest tone of voice she could muster, “Hi, Mom. How’s it going? Long
time no see.”

Calysta
swept past Kyra and sat primly on the very edge of the couch. It had been a
long time since she had laid eyes on her mother but not much had changed. She
was still tall, thin, and elegant. Her hair might have had a few more silver
strands, but for the most part it was still a perfect strawberry blonde and
hung past her butt in cascading waves. Her aquamarine eyes shone bright and
moved across the room, taking in everything and disapproving of it all with a
slight downturn of her mouth and a crinkle across the bridge of her nose.
Some
things never change
, Kyra thought as she sat in the chair directly across
from her mother.

“So
what brings you to my door?” Kyra asked.

In
the tone that had always made Kyra want to run screaming from the room,
Calysta
responded, “Well, darling, if Mohammed will not
come to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed.”

“So
I’m Mohammed in your scenario?”

“Would
you not say I have been patient? Twenty-five years seems sufficient enough for
you to sow your wild oats or whatever it is you took off to do.” Condescension
dripped off the Grand Priestess’ every word.

Kyra
counted to ten in her mind and took a few deep breaths before speaking, and
even then she knew she sounded pissed, “Sowing my wild oats? That’s why you
think I left. At fifty years old, you thought I needed to drink and have sex
with strangers to make my life complete?”

“Do
not be crude, Kyra. I simply mean that you needed to be free from what you saw
as an oppressive situation.”
Calysta
sniffed and Kyra
wanted to laugh, but instead waited for her mother to continue. “For the first
few years I expected you to show back up, but as time went on I realized you
felt the need to punish me.”

Kyra
really wanted to laugh at the theatrics but it was almost too pitiful to be
funny. She did, however, look around to see if maybe some of her aunties were
peeking in the windows or had snuck in when she wasn’t looking, a performance
like she was witnessing was usually not wasted on just one person. But she saw
no one and her mother was apparently waiting for her response.

“Mother
we had this conversation the day before I left. I did not leave for any other
reason than to live my life the way I saw fit. If you could have seen reason I
would have stayed, but as always, things had to be your way.”