Koshi

by Annie Nicholas

  A callused finger rubbed her chin before drawing it back up so she could meet his stare and shy smile. “You’re wonderful. Isn’t that enough?”

  Leaning on her elbows, she rose until their foreheads touched. She wanted to believe him, yet she was just a woman among billions. He was the only known dragon on Earth. How could she compare to that?

  She sensed his muscles go stiff like they always did when the gate called him. Their gazes met and he faded from her sight. She slapped the empty spot he’d left in the bed, still warm from his body.

  The gate had terrible timing. She buried her face in the pillow and listened for the clash of metal on metal, but nothing rang in the air. Rolling her tense shoulders, she peeked over the footboard toward the doorway. What if whatever came through the gate injured him, or worse, killed her dragon?

  She jerked in surprise as he stormed back through the doorway naked, his skin blistering with blush.

  “That was fast. Did you eat them on sight? I didn’t hear any battle.”

  Tugging on his pants, he pinned her with a glare. “Stay in here.”

  Her stomach knotted. “It’s not gone?” She pulled the blanket to her neck, covering her nudity. “How dangerous are we talking?”

  He stopped before exiting. “It’s the worst thing that could happen to this world.”

  “What the hell is it?” Her innards cramped as they suddenly shrank in terror. All manner of monsters flashed in her mind. She scanned the room for places to hide and things she could use as a weapon.

  “My mother.”

  She stopped with one bare foot touching the warm stone as she prepared to arm herself. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “I’m not. Stay here.” He pursed his lips. “Uh, maybe hide under the bed.”

  Raising her eyebrow, she gave him her best what-the-fuck expression.

  “Her favorite bedtime snack is human, Sandra. For her, the idea of my bedding one is as appealing as someone shagging sheep is to you.” His scowl deepened. “Stay out of sight. Remember, she’s the one who trained me how to fight.”

  She swallowed a lump of fear and scurried to find some appropriate clothing.

  * * * *

  Ishi’s mother lay across the gateroom expanse. Her black scales glistened in the torchlight as she swished her tail back and forth with a whip-like snap. She didn’t look at him when he returned. “Why did you run off so quickly at my arrival?” Something on the floor held her attention.

  “Because being naked around you has proven to be dangerous in the past. I still have the scars to prove it and I’d like to keep certain aspects of my anatomy unscathed.” He moved to get a better view of what she was playing with. A green arm flailed under her clawed paw. He ground his teeth. She always destroyed his things. “Did you find that here?” He pointed to what he suspected was his pet.

  “Why, yes I did. You really should take better care of the gate. Goblins are nasty things.”

  He crossed his arms and tried to see past the red in his vision. “Get off of him. He belongs to me.”

  She lifted her foot with a grimace. “Why would you want one?”

  “He’s useful.” He approached Urgle, who slowly rose to his feet. A trickle of green blood came from his nose. “Are you injured?” He knew the goblin had to ache. Ishi didn’t need a degree from a human medical school to know that, but he wanted to know if he had to send Urgle back to Outremer to seek magical healing.

  Shaking his head, the goblin weaved on his feet.

  “Go lie down.” Ishi clapped him on the shoulder and watched him wince. “Good boy.”

  Urgle left the gateroom, sending fearful glances at the black dragon over his shoulder as he exited.

  “Things must be direr than I’d thought if you’re seeking company from goblins.” She lowered her snout so they could see eye to eye. “I smell human on you. Do you have any leftovers?”

  “Mother, what are you doing here?” Of all the creatures in the universe, why did she have to be the one who visited him today? She was the least tolerant of his beliefs and practices. What he saw as progressive, she saw as weak. She never did understand why the gate chose him as keeper.

  Maybe part of the reason was his fondness for humans. Considering his duty was to protect a world full of them, it seemed like a job requirement.

  “Can’t I just visit my only offspring?”

  “You rarely have before. Why start now?” He crossed his arms and stared at her with false boredom. He hoped to draw her gaze and keep it away from the tunnel leading to his bedroom. Even he could smell Sandra from here. Fuck.

  A familiar evil smile was her answer. “I noticed you have a dwarf infestation growing close to your gate. Are you interested in hiring someone to take care of it for you?”

  He snorted. “Is work so sparse you have to come to me?” To his mother’s horror, he had joined armies for the glory of battle. She, on the other hand, wanted to be paid in gold and gems.

  “Pa-sha.” She waved her hand in the air as if she didn’t care. “I happened to see them as I flew in this direction. You can’t expect me to ignore a business opportunity. Those things are hard to root out once they make a permanent base.” She grimaced. “You should take care of it sooner than later. They’ll smell your gold eventually and come for it.”

  He hated to admit it, but she was right. Sighing, he nodded. “I know. I know.”

  “They’ve already tried once, haven’t they?” She chortled and rolled on her back, clutching her stomach.

  “I took care of them. If you’re hungry, I’m sure there’s still some roast dwarf around.”

  Still laughing, she shook her head. “Too chewy.”

  The acid in his stomach rose. Too bad human medicine didn’t work on him. He sure could use an antacid. “Let’s get on with this.” She made his blood boil.

  He might be her only child, but it didn’t mean she doted on him. No way. The day he could crawl without landing on his head, she’d shoved a sword in his hand. He’d tromped across Outremer with her band of misfit mercenaries fighting for coin for decades. Then one night he’d had a drunken conversation with a knight about a thing called honor.

  He’d been hooked and quit her crew the next morning to join the king’s army.

  She didn’t speak to him for a hundred years. When he accepted the gate’s offer as keeper, she had come to berate him for three whole days about his life choices. As the years passed, she visited once in awhile, mostly to steal from his hoard.

  What could he do to possibly piss her off enough to leave him alone for centuries again?

  “I was thinking about a vacation–”

  His heartburn became molten. “You’re not staying here.” The last time, she had stolen half his hoard.

  “I wouldn’t inconvenience you.” She shifted to her human form, wearing her well-used armor and weapons.

  Something in his heart ached at the sight. The pain seemed similar to envy, but why? He had weapons and he’d stopped using armor, since his opponents weren’t worthy. He rubbed at an ache in his chest. Was that it? He missed the thrill of fighting real warriors? To walk around in armor as if it were a second skin, his sword on his back, and the wind his only map.

  She poked his stomach and it didn’t budge. “You’re getting soft.”

  “I know.” He shrugged. Why argue? “It’s not like I have a choice, Mother.” Chewing his bottom lip, he regarded her hard form. How unlike Sandra. “How much gold do you want?” He only had two days with his human companion and he tired of wasting it on the one female who’d never really cared about him.

  She raised an eyebrow. “It’s that bad?”

  “Bad? What’s bad?”

  “I’m your mother, Ishi. Showing up naked at the gate smelling like fresh sex and delicate human female flesh?” She strolled toward the tunnel leading to his bedchamber. “Willing to part with gold so you can go back to her? That’s the tragedy.”

  He blocked her path. “I don’t kn
ow what you’re talking about.”

  “Hmm…fine.” She glanced over his shoulder. “Nothing except heartache will come from it. They don’t live long, you know?”

  Years of experience helped him school his expression, but inside, his heart shattered. He did know this and it didn’t matter. “You’ve nothing to worry about.”

  Chapter 15

  As soon as Ishi left, Sandra dressed with the first things she pulled out of the trunk and then paced the room. What was going on? Why was his mother here? The room shrank. This morning it had seemed so big that she thought she’d float away, but now it didn’t contain enough space to hide. She was waiting on two dragons, who were probably discussing her. Would his mother try to eat her?

  She could imagine him asking, “Mother, would you like dark meat or white?” Shaking the thought from her head, she edged closer to the bedroom door. He wouldn’t do that. Trust, she’d promised trust. He’d already had every opportunity to hand her over to his mother and hadn’t done it.

  Creeping down the hall, she stopped when she heard talking. The urge to peek inside the room was intense, but she managed to curl herself into a small ball on the tunnel floor instead and like an idiot, she eavesdropped.

  Ishi told his mother she had nothing to worry about when it came to falling in love with a human.

  Sandra’s heart settled somewhere between her ankles. If something struck her, she was sure her chest would ring hollow.

  On numb feet she rose, using the wall for balance. She wanted to throw up. To think, she almost would have wasted her limited finances to return here. Boy, the joke truly would have been on her. Best prank her dragon could have pulled.

  She wiped a stray tear from her cheek. Her worst suspicions were true. She’d fallen in love with a creature who would never return her feelings.

  Blinking the tears away, she tightened her gut and tugged her soul from despair. She deserved better. What the hell had she been thinking? That a dragon would fall in love with her and sweep her into a happily forever after? What a moron. Inside her heart, she’d known this was the truth, but she had allowed herself to believe in his lies.

  “Mother!” Ishi’s command snapped Sandra out of her pity party for one. “Where are you going?”

  “Nowhere special.” Around the corner strode a female of stature and strength. She seemed more than capable of knocking Sandra back home with one punch and saving her the airfare. Her long black hair reminded Sandra of Ishi’s, except instead of flowing behind her back it hung in dreadlocks. Their gazes locked. “Well, well. Didn’t your mother teach you that eavesdropping is rude?”

  Ishi almost ran her over. “Sandra!” His eyes narrowed as he tossed her a why-don’t-you-ever-do-as-I-ask look.

  “I wasn’t…” She pressed her hand to her chest, then let her shoulders sag. She’d been caught fair and square. “Sure she did, but it doesn’t mean I listened to everything she told me.” She shrugged.

  “Is this human from this world or ours?”

  Sandra raised her eyebrow and set her hands on her hips. “She’s from this one.”

  Ishi skirted his mother and drew Sandra further away. “Why don’t you return to the bed chamber?” It was more of an order than a request. He emphasized it with a little push in the right direction.

  “Are you afraid I’ll eat her?” His mother didn’t follow as Sandra took a few steps in the direction he encouraged her to go. “It’s unnatural to bed them. If we were intended to mate, they’d have a life span to match ours.”

  Sandra hesitated at the threshold at those words. His mother was right, wasn’t she? Escaping into the bedroom, she resumed her pacing. If she ate right and exercised, maybe she’d live until her nineties. That was what in dragon years? One? She hung her head. They were doomed before they even started.

  Bet his mother had never been in love her whole superlong existence. Sandra stopped in front of a full-length mirror and stared. She loved him. She hugged herself tight. Hell.

  The next couple of decades wouldn’t be so bad, but she’d age, and eventually it would catch up to her. Flying with him would become detrimental to her health, let alone the invasions through the gate, or living in a volcano.

  Did she want to see the desire in his eyes fade?

  With a heavy heart, she shuffled to the bedside table and pocketed the saji. He’d given her the best couple days of her life. No man would ever compare to him.

  He had ruined her for anyone else.

  It wasn’t fair. She whirled around and raced to the doorway, listening. The tunnel was quiet. She peeked and found it empty of dragons or goblin. On tiptoe, she went in the direction of the ledge and the only exit on foot from Ishi’s den.

  She’d rather fade into a happy memory. The alternative would only destroy her…and possibly Ishi. The gatekeeper deserved a female who could stay at his side forever, not for just a few fleeting years.

  * * * *

  Ishi guided his mother to the gate by the arm. “Nice of you to drop in. Now it’s time to go.” For good measure, he tried to shove her through, but she ground her heels into the stone. The solid material moved as if made of putty to give her better leverage.

  She always was better at controlling the element. A great warrior knew how to use both weapon and magic with equal skill. His mother might appear a common grunt, but magic pumped within her blood and she’d had many more centuries than him to hone those talents.

  “Leave me be, Mother. I enjoy her company and I’ve grown weary of these empty tunnels.”

  “At least choose one from our lands. She’d understand you better, with less expectations upon your relationship.”

  “I’m not looking for a whore.” He scrubbed his scalp, hoping to loosen some thoughts.

  “I’ve sent you some lovely dragonesses to warm your den. The last two said you sent them away moments after they arrived.” She caressed his cheek with a tenderness she hadn’t displayed since the day of his birth.

  He groaned and turned away from her touch. “Is that what this visit is about? I don’t need you to play matchmaker.”

  “Of course you do. You’re stuck out here all by yourself.”

  His groan transformed into a growl. “Mother, you’re going to drive me to bed males. I’ve been living in Inverness for so long that I’ve begun to think like the humans.” He retreated from her, but never turned his back. “I socialize with them, I eat with them, and I’ve become immersed in their technology.” Pointing in Sandra’s general direction in the bedchamber, he confronted his mother. “I have more in common with that woman than any dragoness you’ve sent me.”

  Mother scowled. “That’s what I’ve feared. This damn gate business is a trap, a prison for my only child.” The corners of her lips turned downward. “I won’t stand for it, Ishi. You’re worthy of happiness but this damn gate won’t let you have it.”

  He sighed and gathered her into a hug. He had always known she didn’t approve of him accepting the gate’s call. “I am happy.” Now that he’d found Sandra–but it didn’t need saying.

  She grimaced. “I can’t bless this union. However, I promise not to eat her.” With those words, she shrugged out of his embrace and passed back into Outremer. May the gods have mercy on any dwarf that crossed her path.

  He chuckled and shook his head. She meant well, but, wow, she needed to stay out of his life. Hurrying, he needed to explain his mother’s attitude to Sandra.

  Life with a mortal mate would prove to be interesting, especially when part of his family considered her an appetizer.

  Entering the room, he scanned the empty bed. She wasn’t there. A cold foreboding settled on his shoulders, the weight almost buckling his knees. He half-walked, half-jogged to the kitchen, where Urgle stirred a pot on the fire. A booted foot stuck out of the stew. He now knew what had happened to the roasted dwarf. “Have you seen Sandra?”

  “Soft female?” He shook his head. “No. Hungry?”

  “No, maybe later. If you see he
r, report to me.” He rubbed his chin. Could she have gone to the hot spring? His treasure room? As he passed the bedchamber, something odd caught the corner of his eye. He stuck his head through the doorway. The bedside table surface was bare.

  The saji was gone. His heart caved in. She’d said she trusted him. Her scent grew fresher as he strolled to the ledge and gazed at the ocean.

  Gentle waves rolled over the beaches with a lover’s caress. Stars twinkled from the clear night sky, calling him to fly high and join them in their cold emptiness. Clenching his fists, he listened to the distant rumble of the caldera’s sympathy. Sandra had left him.

  Jumping, he shifted mid-air and stroked his wings, climbing high above his home. He traced the path that led from his den, and spotted her.

  Running.

  She’d used him.

  Roaring, he dove and landed to block her way. Fire burned in his gut. How dare she? He pawed the ground, yet couldn’t unleash his fury.

  “Well? What are you waiting for?” she shouted and stood her ground. “You claimed you cared for me and now I’m on the menu?”

  He blinked. “Claimed? I do care. I’m not the one running away. You claimed to trust me.” He lowered his snout to meet her glare. Wrath flowed around her as she stepped closer into his field of vision. The wind tugged at her dress and her hair billowed around her head like a halo of chaos. By the gods, she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.

  “That’s not what I heard. I quote, ‘You’ve nothing to worry about’ when your mother mentioned me possibly breaking your heart.”

  The cold claws of surprise squeezed his chest and extinguished the heat of his fury. “Is that what this is all about? I had to say that. She’ll see my affection for you as a weakness and destroy you. I told you. She’s very dangerous.” He reached for her, but she retreated from his touch. “I’ve never had your trust, have I?”