Master of Dragons (22 page)

Unfortunately, they'd all have to go through hell to do it. Literally.

 

“Kel!” Nineva stretched
out a shaking hand to touch her dragon's head. When Cachamwri had rushed into him, he'd gone down like a felled ox. She'd feared for a moment he was dead, until she'd felt the breath puffing from his nose.

Suddenly those great ruby eyes sprang open and met hers, fierce with demand and determination. Magic burst around him, and he was human again. He rolled to his feet and reached out to take her cold hands in his warm ones. “Truebond with me.”

Thoroughly confused, Nineva gaped up at him. “What? Now? What happened to Cachamwri? I thought…”

“This is part of that.” Kel drew her closer, his gaze intent on her face. “We have to work the prophecy spell. It's the only way to save Semira and power Cachamwri enough to repair the wards before the next wave of Dark Ones arrive.”

A shaft of cold dread struck her. For a wild moment, Nineva wanted to refuse—but in that instant's hesitation, she heard the screams of agony and death from the battlefield. She took a deep breath. “I'm ready.”

“Not yet. The Truebond first.”

“But isn't that like the Magekind version of marriage? Do we really have time?”

“We've got to make time, because it's the only way any of us will survive it. I have to lend you my strength.”

“While I burn?” The implications were obvious. She drew back in horror. “You'd feel it, Kel. You'd feel everything.”

“Yes.” His ruby gaze was steady. “But I'll also make sure you survive.”

“No. No way in hell.” The idea that he'd share the agony she'd known in her dreams was appalling. “I don't want you suffering like that.”

“Do you think I want you to?” He released her hands and caught her by her shoulders. “Nineva, the spell will kill you if we don't Truebond, and then
none
of this will work.”

“But…”

“Trust me.”

Gazing up at him, she smiled slightly. “Of course.” She took a deep breath. “How do we do this?”

“As Cachamwri said—open your mind to me.” He lowered his head.

Nineva rose onto her toes and gave him her mouth, letting her eyes slip closed. For a moment, it was nothing more than the familiar touch of lip on lip, exquisite and tender. Then she carefully lowered the mental barriers she'd learned to build as a child.

Kel's thoughts brushed hers. She sensed his power, smelled the familiar wild musk of dragon scales…And something more than that. Something even older, even more powerful.

Cachamwri.

Uncounted centuries flashed over her. Faces, dragon and human, snarling and smiling and roaring in pain, voices howling and laughing. The clash of steel on steel reverberating through her body. Aching loneliness, the panic of being trapped and tiny in a cage of steel. Then the secure knowledge of Gawain's steady friendship as he shared his soul to keep Kel sane.

Finally her own face, looking surprisingly fragile, illuminated in the pure light of his love.

Realization took her breath and made her eyes sting.

Kel truly loved her. Loved the sweet lines of her body and the unwavering sense of duty in her soul. He admired her intelligence and enjoyed her humor. Adored the hot skill of her mouth on his body and the tight clasp of her sex.

And he was absolutely determined that he would not lose her. He'd do anything to save her. Anything at all.

She only hoped she was worthy of him.

Oh, you are
. And for a moment, he caught her up in a swirl of hot passion.

And Nineva gave it all back to him—the love she had for his courage, for his kindness, for that beautiful, powerful body. She showed him how she admired his strength and his skill, his unflinching loyalty to his friends no matter what it cost him. The curiosity and fearlessness that led him to reach out when the rest of his people shrank away.

He was everything she'd ever dreamed of in her secret girl's heart and her cautious woman's soul.

And so for a moment they were one, curled together in their glowing cocoon of peace, sharing the love between them like a fine, sweet wine.

Until Cachamwri's ringing voice pierced that instant like a chiming clock.
There's no more time. Shift, boy. Call the magic now.

Reluctantly, Nineva opened her eyes and found herself wrapped in his powerful arms. He looked down at her, and she saw the longing and regret in his gaze.

And the fear of what the next moments would be like for both of them.

She forced a smile and backed away, knowing exactly how much room he'd need to change. Oddly enough, the terror that had dogged her was gone. She knew he'd do everything he could to protect her—just as she knew he'd succeed.

Magic flared. The next instant, he loomed over her, blue scales glinting, his eyes glowing red. But she could still feel his mind, just as human, just as Kel.

Now,
Cachamwri ordered, his voice rumbling in their joined thoughts.

Nineva felt Kel tremble as he took a deep breath and closed his glowing eyes. Through the Truebond, she sensed him reach into the Mageverse deeper than he ever had before, drawing power into his being. She felt it fill him, flooding his cells, foaming in his blood. More and more of it, more than he'd ever known how to tap before, more than he would have dared even if he had known. So much she felt it splash into her, until every inch of her skin tingled and Semira's dead Mark came back to life on her breast.

Then Kel drew in even more.

He was glowing now, a shining brilliant blue that cast light across the frosty grass. Watching him blaze against the sky, Nineva thought he was the most magnificent thing she'd ever seen.

 

Varza swung her
magical axe with ruthless strength. The Sidhe loyalist tried to duck aside, but he was too slow. The huge blade bit into his enchanted cuirass as if it were no more than thin paper. Blood showered Varza's face as he screamed. Teeth gritted at the savage pleasure, she drew the life force from his dying body and added it to her store of magic, then jerked her axe from his chest. He fell in a bloody heap as she turned away in search of new prey.

Smiling in satisfaction, she surveyed the battlefield. It was going well, but that went without saying. Every death on either side became fodder for the Dark Ones' magic, making them still stronger. Even the dragons would eventually fall before them.

Slave!
Rakatvira's mental snap made her flinch in the anticipation of pain.

She whirled and hurried toward him, sketching a careful bow. “Yes, Master?”

“There's something going on atop that hill.” The Dark One glowered. His eyes glittered yellow against the mask of blood that covered his misshapen face. More of it dripped from his clawed hands and smeared his massive chest. “Find out what it is and stop it. I like it not.”

She bowed again. “As you command, Master.” Turning, she caught sight of the hilltop in question. Rakatvira was right. Something was glowing up there, bright and blue, waves of living power building steadily. Whatever it was, it was obviously a threat.

Varza started toward the hill at a jog. Spotting Arralt and a group of his men finishing off a dragon and its rider, she raised her voice in a shout. “General! With me!”

He whirled and snarled like a wolf, obviously in no mood to take orders. Wordlessly, she pointed at the hill. Arralt followed her finger and lost the snarl. Shouting a command at his men, he headed after her as Varza began to run.

 

“Nineva.” Kel's voice
seemed to ring in her head like the sound of chimes.

Nineva drew herself proudly to her full height and faced him steadily, though he glowed so bright now, he made her eyes tear. She watched his jaws open. There, down in the darkness of his throat, she watched the hot shimmer of a flame ignite.

It was the last thing she saw.

Kel's breath boiled over her in a savage sheet of fire like the blast of a flamethrower. The agony was worse even than her nightmares, a hell of white-hot pain, crisping skin, burning hair. Nineva shrieked, the sound blending with Kel's roar of anguish. She shrieked again, flailing, blind, her eyeballs bursting, flaming flesh peeling from charring bone.

Dying…

 

Varza stopped dead
at the top of the hill. Centuries of torment among the Dark Ones had made her virtually immune to horror, yet even she took a step back.

The woman was blazing like a torch, performing a macabre dance of agony on the burning grass. She could not possibly be alive, yet she continued to move, continued to scream.

The dragon whose breath had seared her lunged to grab her flaming body—and he ignited, too. Their shrieks of anguish rose in a horrific chorus that went on and on as they burned long past the time they should have been dead. Until, blessedly, the two figures collapsed, the fire winking out. Smoke rose from the blackened corpses.

Varza backed away as the hair rose on her neck. “I don't know what in Rakatvira's black name they were trying to do, but whatever it was failed,” she told Arralt. “They're no threat to us.”

Together they started back down the hill.

 

Nineva! Kel flooded
her consciousness like a blast of cool water.

Too late.
The thought was weak, dim. Nineva could feel herself beginning to float. Somewhere overhead shone a pearly, calming light. She tilted her seared face back to look up at it and sensed the sweet promise of peace. No more endless battle, no more pain. No grief or duty or failure. Just peace, drawing her upward.

No!
Kel's voice was distant, dreamlike, yet she could still hear the fear and desperation in it.
Don't leave me, Nineva. Please. Not when I've finally found you…

She looked down and met those crimson eyes that were somehow looking down at her as though he held her in his arms.

You can't die.
She knew he was trying to play on her sense of duty.
How will we beat the Dark Ones without you?

Semira can do it. She's got her power back.
Nineva could sense the goddess through the bond that connected them even now.

She's free. I've done my job. I can go home. I can see Daddy.

But what about me?
The pain in the thought stabbed through the pleasant numbness of death.
There's nothing for me without you.

She could feel his grief, his pain and failure. He'd done everything he could, but it meant nothing to her. She hadn't loved him after all.

His heart stuttered in his chest.
What are you doing?

It seems,
he said distantly,
that I'm dying.

And his heart stopped.

No!
She kicked away from the light.
No! We live together. Come back, Kel!
Desperate, she reached for him through the Truebond, reached for her magic, and sent it flooding into him.

Instantly she realized it wouldn't be enough. She was no longer even alive herself. They were both too far gone…

No, my brave girl. I'll not let you die. Not when you sacrificed so much.
It was Semira, her voice stronger than Nineva had ever heard it.

Power flooded her, sweet and clean and bright, washing through her poor, seared body. Spreading healing like the purest water sinking into parched, dead earth.

Her heart lurched and began to beat. Nineva convulsed, coughing, choking on ash. Then suddenly the obstruction was gone, and she dragged pure air into her lungs. “Kel?” Her voice emerged as a cracked wheeze.

Lifting her head, she realized she was lying on her back. She rolled over onto her hands and knees, ash crackling and raining around her, and staggered to her feet.

Something huge and black and misshapen lay in the center of a circle of burned grass. Something that looked like it might have been a dragon.

He couldn't possibly be alive.

“Kel!” she wailed it. Had she endured all this, only to lose the one thing that mattered?

A great red eye opened, bright against the surrounding char. He snorted convulsively and scrambled to his feet, shaking himself like a wet dog. Ash flew from his body, revealing clean, whole, scaled skin.

Would I have let him die when he gave me back my power?
Cachamwri asked in the Truebond, sounding amused.
That would have been a poor reward for such generosity and sacrifice.

Then would you do something about the nightmares I'm going to be having for the next six centuries?
Nineva asked tartly, brushing at the ash on her arms. The skin beneath it glowed. She stared down at it, startled.

He laughed.
I think that can be arranged. Semira, my love?

I'm here. Free.
Semira's voice spoke in Nineva's mind, reverberating like the sound of silver bells.
I'm free at last.

And we have a great deal to do, if you're to stay that way,
Cachamwri told her.
Let's get to it while our children tend to their enemies.

He burst from Kel's chest, blazing bright as a star as he flew skyward, sparks flying from his wings. Kel gasped in surprise.

Nineva felt something vast stir within her, then pull free. A lush female figure emerged from her body and darted skyward, shining like moonlight, her hair dancing around her naked body as she flew.
Wait for me, my love!

Semira. Free. Nineva felt tears sting her eyes. She'd done it. She'd succeeded.

“What. Have. You.
Done?
” The female voice roared in fury.

Startled, Nineva whirled. A group of armored warriors stalked toward her, Arralt in the lead. Ahead of them walked a woman, green hair matted with blood, yellow eyes narrow with rage, a massive battleaxe in her hand.