Kiss of Destiny (10 page)

“I had hoped that I might be enough.”

Her words cut deep, because Thad had never meant to imply that she was less than his every dream come true. “You are enough,” he insisted. “I will stay with you. The Great Wyvern chose you as my destined mate because our futures are entwined, and because there is more that we can do together.”

She eyed him. “But a son was part of your expectation.”

Thad had to nod agreement to that. “But you accepted me, only because there
wasn’t
going to be a child,” he said, no accusation in his tone. She dropped her gaze in acknowledgement and his heart clenched. “Why don’t you want my son, Aura?”

“It’s not your son, Thad. It’s any son. Any child, really.”

Had Aura been able to interfere with the firestorm’s promise?

Aura turned her back on Thad, and he knew this was important to her. He followed her and caught her shoulders in his hands, bending to touch his lips to her neck. He felt her shiver in response to the same shimmer of heat that erupted from the point of contact and rolled through his body. He could have tried to change her mind with passion, especially with the firestorm on his side, but Thad sensed that he had to listen. “I won’t abandon you, Aura. I promise. Son or no son, our futures are bound together.”

Her hand rose so that her fingers entangled with his, and he felt her trembling. “I believe you,” she admitted quietly, and he was relieved. “But I still don’t see a son in our future.”

“You think you know why,” he dared to guess and she nodded once. “Aura, tell me.”

She glanced up at him, both enticing and vulnerable. “Remember that tree?”

Thad was startled by the change of topic. He spared a glance at the orchard of golden apples, but Aura shook her head. “Not those trees.”

“The one outside the garden?” he asked, unable to think of another she’d singled out for his attention. Aura nodded. The tree had something to do with the firestorm?

“Let’s go there, now, and I’ll tell you a story.”

Thad was ready to do anything to fulfill the firestorm and to win Aura’s trust, even if he couldn’t understand her reasoning as yet. He summoned the change from deep within himself and savored the surge of power that rolled through him with his transformation. He took flight over the lush garden, then hovered over Aura.

She had picked up the golden apple, the one they had shared. It had two distinct bites out of it but was otherwise intact. She tucked it into her tunic, hiding it from view, then smiled at him and lifted her arms toward him. “Show me what it’s like to fly with a dragon,” she demanded, and Thad was only too glad to comply.

She was his mate. She was his future. He would spend every moment of his life believing in the firestorm and proving as much to her.

And if the firestorm burned for all of that time, he would savor every spark.

Thad swept down and gathered Aura up, chuckling at her shout of delight. He soared high over the garden, even as her hair swirled around him and tickled his scales. She was unafraid, her eyes shining. He showed off a little, wanting to prompt her laughter, but only until she pointed to the road outside the garden.

“The tree,” she commanded, so fearless that he knew she was his match in every way.

“The tree,” Thad agreed, fixing her with an intent look. “And the story.”

Aura nodded and settled against him, leaning her cheek against his chest. Thad raced out of the garden and over the lip of the mountaintop, spiraling through the air in a way he knew Aura would appreciate. He was so busy trying to show her the similarities between their powers that he didn’t notice the scale from his chest fall free and into her hand.

* * *

The dark scale lifted from Thad’s hide so easily that it might not have really been attached. Aura caught it in her hand and glanced up at him, realizing immediately that he hadn’t noticed it fall. He was intent upon flying, and while she admired his skill, the scale mystified her.

Did the
Pyr
lose their scales like this all the time?

It couldn’t have hurt him to lose it, or he would have noticed. Maybe the
Pyr
routinely shed scales and grew new ones. But when Aura looked over Thad’s muscled dragon form, she couldn’t see another missing scale anywhere. The dark scales were locked over each over in perfect rows, as if providing complete protection.

Except for the spot this one had left bare. Aura could see a bit of uncovered skin, and it worried her to think that her dragon had any vulnerabilities. She’d ask him more about the scale after she told him the story she’d promised him.

The sky was brighter in the east and the sun had crested the horizon. When Thad flew high, they were above the lingering shadows of the night, and a crisp wind lifted Aura’s hair. She wondered if it was anyone she knew, a notion that made her smile.

“I’m waiting,”
Thad murmured in old-speak and Aura smiled.

It was so easy to confide in Thad. Aura knew that was because she trusted him to keep his word.

“Once upon a time,” she said. “There was a beautiful nymph.”

“I know a beautiful nymph,” Thad interjected and she poked him.

“A different nymph.”

“Then she must have been less beautiful than my nymph.”

Aura smiled at his possessive tone then continued. “She loved to make music in the world around her. She would make water spray so that it splashed on broad water lily leaves, or cast it tinkling into a pool of still water. She would blow through the rushes so they whistled and race through icicles so they made a sparkling tune. She was happy with these amusements and would have stayed so.”

“But...” Thad prompted.

“One day, Zeus himself spied her and was filled with lust. She refused his advances but he was determined to have her. He tricked her by becoming a tree with silvery leaves that made music when they were stirred by the wind. She discovered this and couldn’t resist the tree, for the music it made was sweeter than sweet. The third time she blew through the tree’s leaves, Zeus surprised her. He changed shape, captured her and claimed her by force. Once he had had his fill of the beautiful nymph, he abandoned her on a remote hilltop and went in search of another beauty to claim.”

Thad stilled at this and fixed her with a look that commanded the truth. “Are you certain I don’t know this nymph?” He looked dangerous and ready to avenge her, even against the king of the gods.

“Positive,” Aura said, liking how Thad closed one claw more protectively around her. He flew higher, taking a turn over the mountain that sheltered the garden and narrowed his gaze as he stared toward the horizons. Was he checking the area for amorous gods? Aura could believe not only that, but that he wouldn’t flinch from defending her.

The warm glow of the firestorm surrounded them, like an orb of golden light, its caress making her imagine many earthy ways to reward her loyal dragon.

But first, the story.

“Hera knew of her husband’s infidelity, but she blamed the nymph for tempting Zeus. She came to the nymph, determined to punish her. Once Hera saw the result of what her husband had done, though, she felt only pity for the nymph who had been so ill-used. She also knew at a glance that the nymph would bear Zeus’s daughter. The nymph had no desire to play or change shape any more. She was weary of the world and begged Hera to help her somehow. She vowed to accept any price to avoid the lust of gods and men.

“This suited Hera very well, for she didn’t want Zeus returning to the nymph—not for the sake of any of them. So, Hera made the nymph an offer: she would change the nymph into a tree, a tree with lovely silver leaves that made music in the wind, and the nymph would be safe forever from the desires of men and gods in that guise. The nymph loved this idea and would have accepted immediately, but Hera told her that she was going to have a daughter by Zeus. The nymph felt snared by this news and appealed to Hera for help.

“Hera had been trapped by the children of Zeus and his lovers before, so she resolved to make an ally of this unborn daughter. She offered to raise the nymph’s daughter as her own, letting the girl grow up in the Garden of the Hesperides, which was tended by other nymphs. The nymph gratefully agreed, asking only that her daughter knew the truth of her conception. Hera said she would do better than that and give the daughter the gift of foresight, so that she would know the result of any union before it occurred. She took the nymph to the Garden of the Hesperides and after her daughter was born, Hera kept her promise and raised the child there. She ensured that the daughter not only knew her mother’s story but visited her mother often on the hill below, stirring the silver leaves to make music.”

Thad turned high in the sky then and dove toward the tree, his choice telling Aura that he understood her meaning. It was as thrilling to soar down toward the mountain in his grasp as it was to do it herself and Aura held fast to his mailed chest as he descended. He flew around the tree with a flourish, and Aura saw that there were two pilgrims beneath its shelter.

It was just as she’d expected.

Thad must have seen the pair, too, because he continued in old-speak.
“And one day, the nymph met a
Pyr
, who was determined to win her heart forever. He called the sparks that flew between them ‘the firestorm’ and insisted that they were destined lovers. The nymph knew there would be no son, but she brought him back to the Garden of the Hesperides, giving him a golden apple to see if he was sincere in his pledge to stay with her forever.”

“And he was,”
Aura whispered in the speech of her own kind.

“And he was,”
Thad agreed. He landed beside the tree with ease, shifting shape in the last moment so that Aura was surrounded by a sparkle of pale blue light. Then Thad was in his human form, holding her in his embrace, his strength against his softness and the heat of the firestorm between them.
“And so she brought him to meet her mother,”
he said, before he bent to brush his lips across hers.

Chapter Four

The firestorm was blinding in its brilliance as Thad kissed Aura. She reveled in his kiss, not even caring that they were being watched. Finally he lifted his head and smiled down at her, his satisfaction so clear that Aura smiled in return.

She knew what she had to do.

“So she did,” she murmured aloud, and changed to a breeze. She flew through the leaves of the solitary tree, making the silver leaves tinkle against each other. They made a beautiful music, more beautiful than Aura had ever heard before, and she dared to believe that her mother approved of Thad.

That was when the man beneath the tree caught his breath. “You tell a story well, my friend,” he said, his voice weak with pain. “I can almost hear the music of that tree’s leaves. I could believe myself to be there.”

“You are there,” said the cloaked woman beside him. Aura caught sight of the woman’s smile and knew her identity without doubt. She spun around the tree, making the leaves tinkle with joy, suspecting that Hera would reveal herself in a moment.

But the goddess had no chance to fling back her hood. A cold shadow passed over the tree. Aura even shivered in her breeze form, her move making the leaves vibrate tunelessly.

A heartbeat later, a woman with hair the color of a flame stood a dozen steps away from them, her smile so malicious that Aura was chilled. She hadn’t been there before, Aura was certain of it.

“Murderer and thief!” she said, her voice dropping low with threat. She pulled a knife and twirled it, then advanced upon Thad. “I will avenge my sister’s death upon your kind,
Pyr
, one dragon at a time.”

“She-who-should-not-be-named,”
Aura said in the speech of her kind and Thad started. She knew from his expression that he didn’t fully understand and wished she’d told him what she’d learned from the other nymphs.

He remained calm and spoke reasonably to the woman stalking toward him, and Aura appreciated that he tried to find a peaceful solution.

“Why don’t we talk about this?” he suggested. “I don’t know your sister, but I’m sure we can work out any misunderstanding...”

The woman laughed, and Thad cringed at the harsh sound. She snapped her fingers and changed shape in a flash of brilliant blue. She became a winged hag with eyes that dripped blood on the ground. She looked like something from a nightmare, but Aura knew this was the truth of her appearance.

Tisiphone’s naked body was smeared with blood and perhaps something darker. The smell of her was foul. Her hair writhed, and Aura saw it was composed of glistening black snakes. When she laughed, her rotted teeth were visible. Her fingernails were yellow and her breasts sagged low. She was ancient and withered and should have commanded sympathy, but the fury of her expression and the large bat wings sprouting from her back inspired only horror.

When Tisiphone leapt toward Thad, with all the vigor of youth, Aura feared her dragon would not survive. Thad suffered from no such doubt. Aura saw him change shape and leap into the air in his dragon form, roaring as he lunged at Tisiphone with talons bared, more than ready to fight.

* * *

Jorge huddled behind a rock, sniffing. He had a keen sense of smell, keener even than that of the other
Pyr
and
Slayers
. His senses had sharpened when he’d drunk the Dragon’s Blood Elixir. Now, he inhaled deeply of the dying pilgrim’s scent, trying to identify the man’s illness.