Dragonmark

  "Um, Cade?"

  "Aye, lass."

  "How big is this dragon, anyway?"

  He paused to consider it. "I've only seen him from a distance. When he's flying in the sky, hunting for prey. But from nip to tail, I'd say about twenty-five to thirty feet."

  "Nip?"

  "Mouth."

  "That's a big-ass dragon. Does he breathe fire?"

  "I know naught, but would assume it."

  Her eyes widened as she reached out quietly and put her hand on her companion's arm. "What would his range be on that fire, do you think?"

  "No idea, lass, why?"

  She held him by her side. "Because I'm looking at him and he doesn't appear happy that he has guests."

  The knight she called Cade froze as her words hit him. The blood drained from his face as he turned to see Illarion crouched low, watching them to see if he needed to add them to his menu.

  "Nice draggy, draggy," the woman breathed in a singsongy tone. "You don't want to eat the nice people. Do you?" She shook her head. "No, you don't. We're not even snack size."

  That woman was definitely crazy. Perhaps he should eat her just as a matter of saving the human gene pool.

  Cade's jaw dropped. "What are you doing, lass?"

  "Shh," she snapped. "I'm being a dragon whisperer."

  Illarion scowled at her. What the hell was a dragon whisperer?

  The man was even more aghast at her words. "A what?"

  "Dragon whisperer." She slid her gaze to Cade. "I'm assuming that if you fight him, it's going to be a bloody mess. Right?"

  "Probably."

  "Could result in both our guts and entrails flying?"

  "Most likely."

  Definitely.

  She patted his arm kindly. "Then let's try this my way first. Shall we?"

  He snorted at her offer. As did Illarion. "I'm not sure I like your way, Josette. It seems even more dangerous than mine."

  She winked at him. "Not sure I like my way, either. Just promise me that if he starts to eat me, you'll flash us out of here."

  "I shall do me best."

  Illarion cocked his head as he took note to watch Cadegan a bit more cautiously, since he knew he was a sorcerer.

  "Cool, now shush and let me do something galactically stupid."

  This Illarion wanted to see since he couldn't imagine anything dumber than the two of them waltzing into his domain.

  With an amused and horrified expression, Cadegan watched her bravely and slowly make her way toward Illarion.

  Illarion narrowed his eyes on the dark-haired woman. She was a fascinating creature. While not as beautiful to him as his Edilyn, she was certainly brave. He'd credit her for that.

  If not completely stupid to approach him, especially given how much pain he was in.

  Biting her lip, she stopped as she reached his nose. "Hi, Mr. Dragon. How are you today? Feeling in a good mood, aren't you? Yes. Yes, you are. You don't want to eat people, do you? No. No, people taste icky. They're sinew and gross. No eat people." She shook her head to emphasize her words. "You're gonna be a sweetie, aren't you?" This time she nodded.

  Yeah, she'd been inhaling some of Morgen's better fumes. She must have gotten lost in the Valley of No Return and found all kinds of interesting places before she came here.

  She took a step forward.

  Illarion inched back, not quite ready to kill her. She seemed more a harmless moron than a serious threat. He made a low growl of warning.

  "Shh, it's okay, Mr. Dragon. We're not going to hurt you. No. We like dragons. I used to draw you all the time when I was a kid. I did. I had a whole collection of dragon toys. 'Cause you're a cutie, you are."

  Woman, you are effing crazy....

  But he kept that thought to himself as he continued to watch her.

  She drew up short as she realized one of his wings was on the ground, where it lay broken from his last fight. "You got a boo-boo, Mr. Dragon?"

  You think? But again, he didn't share that thought.

  Cadegan drew closer to her. "Its wing's broken." He started to unsheathe his sword.

  Illarion hissed in warning. This bastard he wouldn't hesitate to eat. Chainmail and all.

  "No!" she said to both of them. "Cade, keep your sword down."

  "Why? Now's the time to strike."

  She shook her head. "I think he understands me.... You do, don't you?"

  Making sure to keep his gaze on her sneaky, armed companion, Illarion nodded.

  She inched closer, until she was able to reach out and touch the gray scales around his nose. Treating him like a dog which he really didn't appreciate, she held her hand out to him for him to smell her skin. As if he needed that to smell her presence ... or to determine her emotions or mood. "See, I mean you no harm, little big dragon."

  Yeah, she was nuts. And he didn't move as he eyed her warily, still unsure of their ultimate intent where he was concerned.

  She moved her hand slowly to pet his head, near his ear. Something only Edilyn had ever done. "It's okay." She cradled his ear against her chest and stroked his skin. Then she looked over at Cadegan. "See? He's harmless."

  "I wouldn't go that far. But I can understand his motivation. I'd be quiet too for a chance to rest me head on your breasts."

  She blushed.

  Illarion growled at him.

  "Now, boys," she teased. "Play nice."

  Illarion didn't care for her tone, but it was nice to feel a kind touch again. Even from a stranger. For a moment, he pretended it was Edilyn who held him.

  That weakened him a lot more than it should. And it brought a painful lump to his throat as he missed his wife more than he could stand. Time was forever a merciless bitch who tormented him more with every passing day. Instead of getting easier, it was harder and harder to live without his heart.

  Jo placed a kiss to his ear. "We just need a claw from the dragon, right? We don't have to hurt him for that, do we?"

  "Depends on how fiercely he fights us for it."

  Illarion hissed and growled at the bastard who was about to become his next meal.

  Josette stroked his ear. "Can you heal him?"

  Cadegan hesitated. "I can, but am thinking a healed dragon might eat us."

  If you heal me, I won't hurt you.

  "Was that you?" she asked Cadegan in a fear-filled whisper.

  He shook his head slowly before he eyed Illarion with murderous suspicion. "That you?"

  Illarion, and yes.

  Still, Cadegan wasn't sold on it. "Can we trust you?"

  Illarion glared at him. Really? The sneaky bastard was questioning him? Sure, that made sense. And this close, he finally could see the truth of what Cadegan actually was. If I wanted to harm you, demon, you'd both be in flames right now.

  "All right, then." Cadegan moved to Illarion's broken wing. "Stand back, lass. This might hurt him and I don't want him to harm you in turn."

  Cadegan was right about that. While he'd never harm her intentionally, he could accidentally twitch in reaction and damage her.

  You'd best do as he says. Stand near the cave.

  She tapped him on his snout in a way that only his Addie had ever done. "Don't hurt Cadegan, either. I'll be very put out with you."

  "And I won't be fond of you, either," Cadegan groused.

  Illarion snorted as Cadegan moved to his injured wing and Jo sought cover.

  As she started away, Cadegan stopped her. He pulled a medallion over his head and kissed it as a monk would a holy relic, before he placed it around her neck. "Never take it off and it will protect you always."

  "Thank you, sweetie." She kissed his cheek and wished him luck.

  Illarion choked back his own pain as their actions made him long for what he'd lost. As hard as it'd been all these centuries, their obvious affection for one another, made it even more difficult.

  Damn. How he missed his wife.

  If only he could have her back for one more day....

  Once Joset
te was out of the line of fire, literally, Cadegan touched the wing.

  Illarion grimaced in pain as he debated barbecuing him for the affront.

  "What did you do to break this?" Cadegan asked him.

  Fell. Now are you fixing it, or am I having Welsh Rarebit for dinner?

  "Ooo, you're a bit bold, aren't you?" Cadegan summoned his powers. "Brace yourself. This will burn."

  Do it.

  Finally, he felt the demon begin to repair his wing. But it was excruciating. And it didn't help his temperament at all.

  Once Cadegan had finished, Illarion flapped his wing to test its movement. Something that forced Cadegan to brace himself against the stiff breeze it caused.

  "Can I come out?" Josette called.

  "Aye, love. He's all better now."

  Satisfied that he could suffer them to live, Illarion lifted himself up and sat back on his haunches to watch them. Thank you.

  Cadegan inclined his head to him. "No worries."

  Illarion started to remain in his real body, but there was no need to keep scaring them. Especially the woman, whose fear had yet to lessen. So he flashed himself into his hated human form.

  Eyes wide, she jumped to stand behind Cadegan, who didn't react to it at all, except to put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

  "Why's he in color when nothing else here is?" she whispered to Cadegan.

  "Not really sure," he responded over his shoulder as he kept his eyes locked on Illarion.

  Neither Morgen's nor Merlin's magick works on me. For reasons Illarion still didn't understand, this zone negated all their magick, as well as Savitar's mating.

  And that continued to burn like the mighty Phlegethon in his gut. It was so unfair that he was left here to live on without Edilyn.

  Cadegan arched a brow. "Really?"

  Illarion nodded as he tested his arm to make sure it was fully healed.

  "I'm confused." Jo kept herself behind Cadegan. "I thought mandrakes were the shapeshifters and not the real dragons?"

  Cadegan shrugged.

  Illarion offered her a patient smile. In my true and natural form, I'm a dragon--born from an egg, as all my kith before me. But, because of the magick of a Greek king and his bastard god brother-in-law centuries ago, my kith have the ability to turn themselves into humans.

  "Did you know that?" Jo asked Cadegan.

  He shook his head before Illarion continued. At one time, there were many races and species of dragons. We walked the human realm, and fought untold battles against each other. But between our wars, and the hatred of both your species, all dracokyn have been pushed to extinction, or the brink of it.

  What few of us remain are either enslaved, such as the mandrakes, or, like me, they're in hiding.

  Cadegan narrowed his gaze on Illarion. "What is your species?"

  I'm a Katagari Drakos. As far as I know, I'm the last of my breed. At least I am here in this realm.

  "And you can't speak, even in human form?" Jo asked.

  He pointed to the vicious scar on his neck. While I was enslaved as a hatchling, humans tried to remove my ability to make fire. But the flames don't come from my throat, only through it.

  She cringed at the horrible scar. "I'm so sorry, Illarion."

  Placing his hand over his heart, he bowed kindly to her. Now what is this about a dragon's claw that you need?

  "It's needed for a sharoc potion."

  Illarion scowled at Cadegan. Since when do they make potions?

  "I'm hoping now."

  "Hang on," Jo interrupted them. "If the magick here doesn't work on you, Illarion, can you leave this realm?"

  His eyes dark with sadness, he shook his head. As a dragon, I'm too large for the portals, and whenever I attempt to go through as a man, I'm transformed back to a dragon and am stuck. It's humiliating. I once spent two days with my ass hanging out while I tried to get my head back through the portal. How he wished he'd thought of that before he killed Gale.

  Jo pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at the image in her head.

  "Then how did you get here?" Cadegan asked.

  I was brought here by a Greek sorceress who'd been bribed by Morgen. He jerked his head to a stack of bones that he'd pinned to the side of his cave in an artistic display that at least helped to lighten his mood whenever he looked at them and remembered that while he was trapped here, he'd at least had the satisfaction of taking Gale's life. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy about it. Neither was she, in the end.

  "I'm surprised you didn't befriend the mandrakes."

  He snorted at Jo's innocent comment. Dracokyn are very territorial, my lady. We don't play well with others. 'Tis why there are so few of us left. I'd rather die alone than den down with my enemies.

  "You remind me of someone else I know." She glanced pointedly to Cadegan, then, impulsively, she hugged Illarion. "Again, I'm very sorry for what they did to you."

  He passed an uncomfortable glance toward Cadegan, who didn't appear pleased that she was hugging another male. Not that he blamed him. He would have skewered anyone who touched his Edilyn.

  Seeing that look, Jo moved to kiss Cadegan's cheek. "Don't look like that, sweetie. We don't need to find out if dragon meat tastes like chicken."

  Illarion scowled at her. What?

  Cadegan snorted. "She does that a lot. I only understand about half of what she says. It's part of her charm." He looked up at the sky. "And we be needing a claw quick. We're almost out of time."

  You trust the sharoc?

  "Not really."

  Smart man. And when they said claw, what exact words did they use?

  Cadegan paused to think. "A dragon's claw. A stone from Emrys Merlin. The lion's heart. A bit of hair from the White Stag. Arthur's blood, and the blood and sweat of a waremerlin."

  Illarion let out a silent whistle. Quite a list you have there.

  "Aye, believe me, I know."

  And it's not a list so much as it is a riddle.

  Cadegan arched his brow. "How so?"

  A stone from Emrys Merlin would be a goylestone, not a rock. Arthur's blood is a flower that blooms on the other side of the Tor, and a dragon's claw isn't a fingernail.

  Cadegan growled low in his throat. "That dodgy bastard. I should have known it was a trick."

  Aye. I'm sure the others are every bit the riddle. But I don't know them. I only know those three because the goylestones are what the mandrakes feed on. It's easy to set a trap for them when they go to eat. The Adoni use Arthur's blood for healing, and I know exactly what my claw is.

  "And that is?"

  One of the most sacred of objects to a dragon. It's almost the same as asking you for a testicle.

  Cadegan actually blushed. "Watch your language before me lady!"

  Unabashed, Illarion smiled at her. Forgive me, my lady. He turned toward Cadegan. Why do you need this potion?

  "Me lady can't get through the portal without a key. Gwyn ap Nudd says he can make one for her."

  At what cost?

  "It's for me to pay. Later."

  Illarion winced as he understood exactly how harsh the payment would be. As a fey king, Gwyn was indeed a dodgy bastard who screwed everyone over in the end. For what you've done for me this day, I will loan my claw to you, but you have to take me with you and return it once this is done. Understood?

  "You have me word."

  Word of a demon. Illarion shook his head. He was being a complete and utter dumbass. Again. And he knew it. But what choice did he have?

  In all these centuries, this was the closest thing to a way out of this hell realm that he'd found.

  "He's good for it," Jo said without hesitation. "You won't regret trusting him."

  Not so sure about all that, Illarion hesitated before he unlaced the leather cuff from his arm. There was only one person he'd ever entrusted with his claw before.

  That thought brought another painful lump to his chest and tears to his eyes. There wasn't a day that went by wh
ere he didn't feel her loss like a stab in his heart. He'd give anything to have one more hour with her.

  And if she were here, Edilyn would be the first to tell him to help Cadegan and Josette. It was what the romantic in her would demand. Even now, he could hear her voice and see her beautiful face as she ordered him to do something for them.

  So he exposed Falcyn's gift--a weapon fashioned to appear as a metal baby dragon sitting over the cuff. It was the very image of what Illarion had looked like as a dragonet--a loving homage from his brother who claimed to care for no one.

  He handed it reverently to Cadegan.

  "How's that a claw?" Jo asked.

  Illarion pulled the bar the dragon was holding on to, until it locked into place. When it did, two sharp spikes shot out and a third shot from the dragon's head.

  "Holy crap! What is that?"

  Illarion smiled at her shocked question. A dragon's claw. They are given to each Katagari Drakos once he or she comes of age, to protect us should we ever be locked by magick into a human's form.

  "Your weaker state."

  He inclined his head to Cadegan. A custom started by Falcyn and one Maxis taught to the rest of the Were-Hunters. As I said, my people were hunted to the brink of extinction.

  Respecting its sacredness, Cadegan held it with the same reverence. "I shall guard it with me life, and make sure it's returned to you as pristine as it's been received."

  Jo frowned while Cadegan wrapped it in a cloth to protect it. "I have a weird question. Why would the sharoc need that? What purpose could it serve for a potion?"

  She's right. They had no way of knowing I would simply give it to you when normally I'd kill before allowing another to take custody of it.

  Cadegan sighed as he stored the claw. "Believe me, I've already thought of that. The purpose, obviously, was to get one of us killed. Maybe both."

  And to have you fail your quest.

  "Aye, to be sure. There is no other reason for this assignment." Cadegan winked at them. "Now, what say we go and ruin Gwyn's day?"

  15

  Not that Cadegan had any doubt that Gwyn had wanted him dead, but the look of shock on his face as they walked through the portcullis of the king's floating castle, Galar, confirmed it for sure.

  The fey king stared at him in utter disbelief. "You barely made it back here in time."

  "I would say that I'm sorry to disappoint. But I'm not."

  Ignoring the sarcasm, the king narrowed his eyes on Cadegan. "So where's the claw?"

  Cadegan pulled it out and carefully unwrapped it. When Gwyn reached to take it, he moved back and shook his head. "This be only a loan." He indicated Illarion, who was in human form, with a jerk of his head. "The dragon wants it back when you're finished, and I promised him we would do so."