I am. It’s been a long time in coming, and I just want it over with. Forever. He was glad to hear that. I’m so exhausted. It’s been a long couple of weeks. I need some downtime. Don’t you?
So long as I can spend it with you, I’m for just about anything. But I am tired as well. Just the thought of getting into bed and not waking until my body tells me to is very appealing. I feel like since we’ve met, there has been very little time to ourselves, much less time to rest up. She told him that she agreed with him. After this is all finished, you and I should go on a nice long vacation. We could book a cruise, and then when all is quiet at night, fly over the oceans for a better view. Also, fishing out of the ocean as our dragons used to be such fun when there were fewer people around. The two of us should give it a try. It can’t hurt, right?
No. I’d love that too. When I was fighting, we would go to the bigger lakes and seas to get our fill of seafood. It was a good way to wash off all the blood, too. I can remember times when a few of us would swim under the waterways and come up on some unsuspecting fishing boat, and scare the shit out of them. I think there were times when I nearly drowned, I’d be laughing so hard. Matt had done things like that too. It was a way to deal with the boredom of being so old. Not necessarily old, he supposed, but being around for so long. While I don’t feel bad for doing it, not a whole lot, I can see that we should have taken better care not to be seen by humans. They sure did make up some very convincing stories to explain what they’d seen out there. And the drawings of us? Have you gone to any galleries of the old painters and seen what they’d come up with in what we looked like? Some of them are true to form. Others have us looking like a topping on a cake. I wish I could have met some of those artists, just to find out what sort of animal they were really seeing. It’s like the paintings of the faeries. They make them half naked and always thin as sticks. I’ve seen a great many faeries in my time, and seldom are they rail thin and naked. Mostly the workers look thin, but never naked. I don’t think I ever want to see a naked faerie.
Matt thought about what she’d said. It was a vision that he couldn’t make himself not see. He thought of all the aeries he knew; not once did he want to think of Honey naked, and all he could see was them with some sort of blurred outfit on. He supposed it was his mind telling him to go elsewhere. Laughing, he told her that was something that he couldn’t think of. Not and be able to look at any of them in the face again. They were both laughing hard as they landed near the castle keep.
Chapter 9
Medusa could almost taste the first meal she was going to buy herself when this thing with Aisling paid off. It was going to be an entire menu of sweets. It was something that she craved all the time, and when she had the money for food, it would always be something sweet. She supposed that was why she was carrying around so much extra weight all the time, even though Colin had told her that once they were together, she’d never gain an ounce. A lie, like a lot of the things he’d told her—the fucking bastard. Of course, she had rarely told him the truth. It didn’t seem to bother him when he’d catch her at her lies, like Aisling being a hatchling that she’d found.
“You found it?” She nodded, and Colin just stared at her. “I no more believe that than anything else you have told me, Medusa. In fact, this one will get you killed should the king of us all find out.”
“He’s your king, not mine. I’m not a dragon, so I don’t abide by his silly rules. But I did find it.” Colin asked her if she’d killed the parents of the thing. “No. I had nothing to do with their deaths.”
It was then that she’d backed from her mate. Well, her lover, she guessed he’d be called. His anger then was so bright that she could see the fire burn over his face and eyes when he faced her. That was the last time that they were anywhere near one another—until Aisling was born.
Medusa didn’t know how he’d figured out that she’d been hatched. Within minutes of the egg starting to open, he was there. She had planned to sell the small dragon off, thinking that it would be easier for someone else to take from her while it was so small. What she didn’t figure on, however, was that the hatchling would be bigger than her, and meaner. Right out of the shell, Aisling had hissed and nipped at her. She asked what was wrong with it.
“She. It’s a female. I would imagine that she knows what goes on in that vicious mind of yours. Did you plan to sell her off, Medusa? Perhaps train her to be a servant to you? It wouldn’t have worked no matter what you planned. I’ve been waiting on this day for months now. I shall take her.”
Medusa started to protest, to tell him that she’d been watching the thing. But honestly, she was just glad to have it gone.
Medusa would have broken the shell open if she’d been able to. But that proved to be so difficult that after bashing a rock into the side of it for days on end and nothing broke, she figured that she’d sell it like it was. That wasn’t any more successful than breaking it had been. No matter how much padding she had on to pick the egg up, it would catch her on fire until she had to go to the coldest water she could find to take away the sting. Even others, great men who felled trees for a living, couldn’t lift it up because of the heat burning through them nearly to the bone.
All she could do was wait for it to hatch, then try and figure out a way to get close enough to the baby dragon to sell it. Having Colin take it away had probably saved her life. She knew after it hatched and hissed at her with its sharp claws out, that it would never have allowed her within a foot of it without killing her.
That was another thing that Colin had told her. She would live forever and not be sick. Forever, she’d figured out, was a long fucking time. And not being sick was just that—she was never sick. However, after Colin had left with the dragon, she began to feel every wound she got, and it took her longer and longer to heal now. As recently as last month, when she’d fallen and broken her ankle, it had taken her several weeks to heal, and even now, it bothered her something terrible when a storm was rolling in.
“Mother.” Medusa came out of her reverie. It startled her, first of all, to see someone in her home, and secondly to realize that she was calling her mother. Asking her what she could want from her, she wondered why the woman smiled. “Why, you dead, of course. Isn’t that what you planned for me? I have contacted the buyers that you had lined up. They’ve decided that you’re as insane as I told them you are. You should know better than to fuck around with a full-grown dragon, Mother. It will get you killed.”
“Aisling?” The woman smiled again when she nodded. Christ, she was much more beautiful than she thought she would be when she’d seen her at birth. “You’ve grown up?”
“Yes. It’s nice to know that all your planning was for nothing. I mean, if you’d have gotten your way, I would have died the day that Dad did. As it was, I had to find a hidey-hole to be in until I was able to heal. Before I forget to tell you, the dragon king and the grand witch would like a few words with you when you and I have finished.” Medusa sat down in her chair, reaching into the deep cushions for the gun that she always had there. “It’s gone—the gun, the knife, as well as the dragon poison that you had here. The poison wouldn’t have worked, just so you know. It was nothing more than baby powder that glowed. The magic on it was to find you. Didn’t you feel so happy when you were called to get it? That was part of it as well. To make sure that you were found before you hurt someone else.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about. You should have let me know you were coming. I would have made no plans for the night. As it is now, I have too much to do to visit with you.” Aisling continued to stay seated. “You’ll have to go and come back some other time, Aisling. I have people that I have to talk to.”
“You don’t, and you know it. No one around here likes you.” That was true. She’d burned her bridges, so to speak, and would have to move on when she had the money from her buyers. “There are no buyers, Mother. I told you. I’ve spok
en to them.”
“You didn’t do anything like that at all, and you know it. Why would you even care anyway? Because it might be a friend of yours that is the dragon? It’s not. I asked.” Aisling stared at her before laughter rang around the room. “You think I’m jesting?”
“No, I don’t.” Medusa wanted her daughter gone so that she could be prepared when she returned. “I think you lie. Jesting implies a joke. I find nothing about you the least bit funny. Nor do I care overly much for you. And of course, you’d tell me a lie when we both know that you had sold me off to the highest bidders. What do you think they’re going to do to you now that you can’t pay them back what you took from them to be the first to cut me? I’m thinking that if each of them only takes a part of you, they’ll be scrambling over your bones before they’re satisfied.”
“You were never a daughter to me.” Aisling told her that was the first truth she’d told her in all her life. “I took you from the couple that had only just birthed you. There was another, a golden egg, but it was gone before I could get you out. I still don’t know how I was able to do that.” She asked her what she meant. “You never did anything but burn too hot for someone to touch you before you were born. I swear, it was like you knew what my plans were for you before you were hatched.”
“I’m sure that in some way I did. Like I do now. Tell me something, Mother. How did you feel when Dad fell to the ground like he did, with his rider still atop him? The armor that he wore that day was heavy enough to crush anyone below him as he plummeted to the earth. How did you feel when you saw either of us falling?” Medusa thought about it. It was what she thought of every time she had sex so that she could enjoy it. “You killed him, and in turn, you killed several hundred others when he landed in the field of the fight. How do you live with yourself after all that you’ve done?”
“Quite nicely, thank you. I would like to have a little more money. I will. Unless what you’re telling me is true, and the buyers have backed out. Not that it matters much. There are always people out there that will believe whatever you tell them. Especially the rich. Have you ever noticed that they’re the ones that believe every little thing that comes along? I’ve asked you before, and now I’m demanding—I want you out of my house.” Aisling snapped her fingers, and Medusa could feel the magic that she had used to surround herself with pretty things fading. “You think that you’re so smart? Well, I’ll be able to get more of the same magic, more so this time, and live in any style I wish. Even before I was able to change it, this place was a damned sight better than the hovel that we lived in when I was with Colin.”
“Are you saying that four walls and a roof over your head wasn’t enough for you? You do know that the others around you, they had even less than that. Including food.” Medusa knew that. She’d stolen from them as well. “Dad and I lived in a cave when I was growing up. Did you know that? We lived happily for what we had. There was plenty of enough food should we have wanted it. Work, no matter where we landed. But you never had enough, did you, Mother? Nothing was ever good enough for you.”
“No, it wasn’t. I’m surprised that you feel like what you have now is enough. Do you have a home, Aisling? Someone to warm your bed? I’m sure you do. A woman as pretty as you, I’m sure you have a great deal of things because you were willing to spread your legs for someone to take care of you. I think we might be more alike than I thought if that’s true.” Aisling said nothing, but the smile on her face was making Medusa feel uncomfortable. “You will leave here now, Aisling. We both know that you and I aren’t related. There is no reason for you to stay here when I have things to do.”
Even if she wasn’t able to get in touch with her buyers to talk them into buying her daughter, there were, as she’d said, more people out there. She just needed to pick up what she could and go to another part of the world.
The newspapers that landed in front of her were from different countries. Each paper she could see was written in a different language. The only thing that didn’t change was her face staring back at her from the front page. She looked at Aisling, asking her what that was supposed to mean.
“It means that every paper in the world has been notified about you. Not just the ones that are still in print, but the ones on the Internet as well. They all say that you’ve been selling off your daughter and that you believe she’s a dragon. There is a small part there that tells the readers that Aisling, me, now has a husband, who goes on to say that if I were a dragon, he’d surely know it. Funny that. He’s a dragon too. Do you have any idea what that means?”
“That you’re going to be popping out eggs soon? I don’t care. However, if you find that you wish to get rid of one or two of them, or for that matter, all of them, let me know. I can take them off your hands.” Aisling said nothing but continued to smile at her. “Does nothing I say bother you? Christ, you’d think you’d be disgusted by the words flowing from my mouth. But there you sit, quiet as a mouse and smiling at me like a simpleton. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Wrong with me? Well, nothing, as a matter of fact. I’m happy. I’m wealthy, and I know that before the day is finished, you’ll be dead, and all will be right with the world.” Medusa just laughed. “You think I’m jesting, Mother? I assure you that I’m not. It’s a given that you’re nearing your end because everything you’ve said has been heard by the king of all of us. I told you that he wished to speak to you.”
Medusa knew a ruse when she saw one. Looking around the room, she made a big deal of looking under the coffee table that was now rubbish. She even went so far as to use a flashlight in the corners, where cobwebs and other creatures were living now that the magic was gone. When she sat back down in her chair, Medusa did it carefully, knowing that to fall on her ass right now would be the end of her. Aisling would pounce on her in a moment.
“Have you looked well, Mother? Did you perhaps miss someone?” The man appeared first. He stood with his hand on Aisling’s shoulder like he was possessing her. That would never go over well with Medusa. “This is my mate, Matt. Or you will call him the Duke of Green Gables, Lord of Lilac Castle, Matthew Patrick St. James. You might also want to know that he’s an earth dragon, one of the earth, wind, and fire. He can control not just the elements, Mother, but he can control the elements that make them up. The soil that this house sits on. The stone that holds it up. The wind that could carry into this room and destroy all. Even fire that can burn hot enough that will melt stone and render it useless should he want. And since he mated to me, a white dragon, I’m just as fucking bad assed as he is.”
The house rumbled for a bit, then the roof blew off. Shingles that she’d loved when she came here were peeled off the blowing roof like they were nothing at all. The foundation shifted, making the house slide to the right. As she sat there, trying her best not to lose her seating, Medusa tried to remember what she’d read about a white dragon.
“The white dragon is one of purity. One of those rarest of rare dragons that can mate and become the same as any other being that they are the other half to. The white of their scales are bright enough to reflect the sun back onto itself.” She looked at the second man who walked into the shifting house as he spoke. “A blue dragon is rare. He is a dragon that is cherished for his magic, held in the highest esteem because of all that he can control. When a white and a blue dragon come together, their magic is boundless. They could control the world on its axis. But most importantly, they can breed and have dragons of blue that will be more powerful than they are. As pure-blooded as any dragon that is born of two of the same kind. What would you have done, Medusa, should you have known that the treasure you had in your possession would have died to protect you should you have been a better mother to her? That the magic the two of them now hold is enough to bring the sun to the earth, to destroy this place and all the worlds surrounding it? Would you have sold her then?”
“Of course, I would have.” She tried
hard to keep her tongue behind her teeth, not to give away all her plans. Now that she knew what Aisling was, what her mate was, the sky was the limit on how much she’d be able to get for their dragons. “I’ve given no permission for you to come into my home, Dragon. Leave or face me.”
The man stood there for several seconds before he just threw back his head in apparent mirth. Reaching deep inside of herself for her own bit of black magic, Medusa felt herself being tossed to the wall and then through it. As she landed hard against a stone that had shielded her house from storms, Medusa tried to get her breath back and to get her broken ribs back into place.
The woman that stood over her looked like a goddess. There was so much magic surrounding her in a white circle that Medusa was temporarily blinded by it. Her laughter made Medusa think of flowers in the summer for some reason. Like they were making sounds as they burst forth with wonderful scents. Medusa was raised up from the stone to face the woman. Neither of their feet were touching the ground.
“You’re a terrible person. I’m sure you’ve heard that before, but I think it bears pointing out again. Christ, what did you fucking think was going to happen when you murdered and killed for personal gain? Didn’t anyone ever tell you that in any kind of magic, that’s not the way it works?” Medusa asked her who she was. “I’m Bryce Farley, mate to Lord Farley, white witch, grand witch to all. You, Medusa, mate to the dragon Colin Alexander, dragon elect to the warriors of his kind, have been found guilty of the crimes of using black magic for your own personal gain. You have used magic against your kind, stolen it from lesser witches when they were murdered by you. Medusa Alexander, you are hereby sentenced to death and stripped entirely of magic. You will meet your death by my familiar.”
The dragon was simply there. He blew his hot breath over her in seconds, and the pain was unbearable. As her skin began to peel back from the bones, she could see them become nothing more than dust. Screaming until her mouth fell apart, Medusa couldn’t believe that she was meeting her end like this. By a fucking dragon.
Matthew: House of Wilkshire ― Paranormal Dragon Shifter Romance Page 13
