Winter Kiss

by Deborah Cooke

  What about Delaney?

  What else could Rafferty do to help? He’d left the verse for Ginger to find, sensing that she was in a better position to change Delaney’s mind than any of the Pyr. The firestorm gave her a certain hold over Delaney’s thoughts and, in herself, Ginger had a compelling strength.

  What else could he do?

  Could the earth tell him more? Gaia hadn’t been responsive of late, and Rafferty wasn’t entirely certain that it was safe to lie in the street in the middle of the night in this part of town.

  He missed his London town house, with its small garden and his neighbors with their high tolerance of eccentricity. They thought little of it when they spied him lying in his garden during the night.

  He was aware of Eileen and Erik sleeping in their room, and was unwilling to disturb them. All the same, he was restless, unable to dismiss the sense that he should do something.

  If only he’d known what it was.

  He paced, as quietly as possible.

  But then, Erik had nearly paced a hole in Rafferty’s own carpets the year before. Rafferty figured that his pacing was fair play.

  He found himself on the threshold of the small room they used as a nursery. Erik was convinced that three-month-old Zoë was the new Wyvern. Rafferty wasn’t sure—he’d come soon after her birth, hoping to find Sophie’s soul resident in the new baby. He’d been disappointed. Zoë didn’t strike him as having the same energy that Sophie had. She didn’t remind him of the lost Wyvern, and that made him doubt that she was the Wyvern at all. It didn’t matter much, not until she was capable of communicating with them and came into her powers.

  Zoë, though, had an affection for him. She let out a plaintive cry when he would have turned away, and Rafferty moved into the room instead. He liked children and was said to have a special touch with them. He thought he might save Erik and Eileen another break in their sleep. They were both tired with the challenge of a new baby, although Zoë was comparatively tranquil.

  He halted beside the crib, only to find her eyes open and fixed upon him.

  “Are you wet?” he asked quietly. Her diaper appeared to be dry, although she kicked with enthusiasm when he checked. “Hungry?” He offered the bottle that Eileen had left in the nursery, but the baby spurned it.

  Her left hand opened and closed, and Rafferty had the sense that she was asking him for something.

  Maybe she was bored. Lonely. Restless.

  He could understand that.

  Rafferty picked her up, smiling at her little gurgle of satisfaction when he did so. He tucked a blanket around her and she bounced a little, so clearly showing her pleasure in his decision that he smiled a bit more.

  “Some nights, we all need a little company,” he said to her, turning to go back into the living room.

  She seized his hand, her little fingers locking on the black and white glass ring. Rafferty had a moment to assume that she was fascinated by shiny things, like all children, then she pulled the ring into her mouth.

  The vision that assailed his mind left him reeling.

  He saw the earth spinning on its axis, the moon orbiting around it more rapidly than it did in actuality. The earth, in its turn, orbited around the sun, until the three orbs were aligned with the moon between the sun and earth.

  “A lunar eclipse,” Rafferty murmured to himself. The Pyr were sensitive to lunar eclipses, seeing as they announced important firestorms.

  The planets moved again in his vision, traveling through space at wildly accelerated speed. He saw the earth move through shadow and light so quickly that the continents seemed to flicker. There were other times when the three were aligned for a lunar eclipse, but the rotation didn’t stop. He became aware of a ticking, and saw a number imposed on the earth. It became higher and higher, the count accelerating with lightning speed, until suddenly it stopped.

  Sun, moon, and earth were aligned again for a lunar eclipse, and Rafferty thought the arrangement looked very similar to the first time this display had halted.

  The number imposed on the earth read 6585.322.

  Then the vision faded, a silver curtain of liquid beads dripping over the view and obscuring it. Rafferty was left staring into the darkness of Erik’s loft. Zoë gurgled again and sighed. Her grip on the ring slackened and when Rafferty looked down at her, she had fallen asleep again.

  He stared at the child and wondered.

  The Wyvern traditionally had the ability to dispatch dreams to the Pyr. Could this child, this new Wyvern, do that already?

  If so, what did his vision mean?

  He balanced her on his hip as he booted up Erik’s laptop. It didn’t take long for him to discover—when he searched for lunar eclipses and 6585.322—that eclipses occurred in groups called Saros cycles, and that a Saros cycle was a period of 6585.322 days.

  Why was that important?

  Rafferty kept reading, his excitement rising as he found details. A Saros cycle was a period of time in which the positions of the planets were replicated in three ways. A synodic month is the time from one full or new moon to the next, and a full or new moon is a necessary element for a lunar eclipse. A draconic year is the time it takes the sun to travel through the moon’s north node to the south and back to the initial starting point. An anomalistic month is the time it takes for the moon to move from perigee to perigee, from the point where it is closest to the earth to the point where it is farthest away and back again.

  And all three of these cycles repeat roughly every eighteen years, or every 6585.322 days.

  Even more important, when they repeat, another eclipse will occur that is very similar to the one eighteen years before. Thus, eclipses are grouped together and numbered to indicate their Saros family. Each Saros family had an eclipse roughly every eighteen years.

  Because nineteen draconic years is eleven hours longer than 223 synodic months, the alignment isn’t perfect—thus, Saros families have a beginning and an end. The entire life cycle of a Saros family of eclipses lasts centuries, including seventy or eighty eclipses. They begin as penumbral eclipses, become total eclipses, then diminish until they stop completely.

  On impulse, Rafferty looked up the most recent penumbral eclipse, the one that had presaged Delaney’s firestorm. It was part of a family assigned the number 143, which had begun in the eighteenth century. That couldn’t be it. He looked up the next eclipse, the one that would come in July, and his heart skipped.

  It was the second to last eclipse in Saros family 110.

  He looked down at Zoë sleeping against his chest and the ring on the hand with which he held her. He thought of cycles, of Sophie’s passionate insistence that everything must live and then die. He thought of Ginger’s story of Cinnabar, and Magnus’s determination to replace Cinnabar in the Elixir, and he looked at the date of the first eclipse in the Saros cycle 110.

  May 28, 747.

  The Moors had been in Spain by the mid-eighth century. Could the Saros cycle be governing the effectiveness of the Elixir? Was Cinnabar waning because the Saros cycle that had marked his becoming the source of the Elixir was ending? If so, the last eclipse in this cycle, the one that would happen on July 18, 2027, would signal the end of the Elixir.

  So why seek a replacement for Cinnabar so early?

  Rafferty tapped on the keyboard with one hand, seeking the answer that he knew had to be there. Saros cycles didn’t begin very often. A new one would begin in May 2013, then not another before June 2096. Rafferty doubted that Magnus could survive the interval of sixty-nine years without any Elixir.

  And it was in Magnus’s nature to prefer a buffer. He’d create his new source by 2013, which meant capturing Delaney before that date. Rafferty didn’t want to think about how Magnus would ensure that Delaney didn’t escape him again.

  Somehow, Magnus had compelled Delaney to seek the Elixir, to put himself in the easiest position for Magnus to succeed at his plan.

  He remembered the curtain of dripping silver and guessed.


  Rafferty glanced up to find Erik on the threshold of his room. The leader of the Pyr glanced at his child, and evidently read Rafferty’s expression. “The effectiveness is tied to the Saros cycles,” Rafferty said.

  “And the toxin in Delaney is quicksilver,” Erik said. Rafferty knew then they had both had the same dream. “Mercury.”

  “She sent us the vision,” Rafferty said, and his old friend nodded.

  “It’s not the first time.” Erik exhaled. “She’s powerful, more powerful than we’ve guessed.” He came into the room to take Zoë from Rafferty’s arms. “We have to stop Magnus, no matter the risk. This is too important for any of us to stand aside.”

  Before Rafferty could agree, Eileen spoke from the doorway. “Then we’ll all go,” she said. Erik might have protested, but she gave him a stern look. “You’re not leaving me behind when interesting things are happening.”

  “Dangerous things,” Erik corrected.

  “All the more reason to have Zoë defended by her father.” Eileen claimed the child, snuggling her close. “Don’t imagine that you’ll leave without us.” Rafferty could see Erik had mixed feelings about this decision.

  “I suppose you want to take commercial flights,” he said, his tone tight.

  Eileen smiled. “There won’t be any with the snowstorm in Ohio, and I can live without being diverted all over the continent. Sleeping in airports isn’t good for little people.” She tapped him on the shoulder. “If nothing else, you always land where you’re planning to land.”

  Erik rolled his eyes. “At least I have some merit,” he said, but there was laughter underlying his complaint.

  “More than a little bit,” Eileen conceded. “Give me ten minutes.”

  “I’ll go ahead,” Rafferty said, and Erik put a hand on his arm.

  “Don’t take unnecessary risks,” Erik said, and Rafferty knew the leader of the Pyr had guessed his intention.

  Rafferty smiled. “A wise Pyr once told me that no risks are unnecessary in these times.” The pair stared at each other for a moment; then they shook hands and Rafferty left.

  If one of them didn’t return, they had parted in understanding.

  In the lower peninsula of Michigan, Sara awakened with a start. Snow fell lightly in the meadow outside the window and the house was silent. Her heart was pounding, and she thought at first that she’d heard Garrett. She left Quinn sleeping as she rose to check their son.

  The baby was asleep as well, his room tranquil as ever.

  Sara, though, couldn’t dismiss the sense that something was very wrong. She felt agitated and the hair was prickling on the back of her scalp.

  This was how she had felt when Sophie, the Wyvern, had sent her a dream.

  But not as vehemently as she had when the Dragon’s Egg had been broken.

  Sara was the Seer of the Pyr, the foretold mate of the Smith who sensed the future through her dreams. Even though the Wyvern was dead, Sara tried to review her dream. There was no telling its source, and really, the source was unimportant. She leaned over Garrett, her heart tight at the perfection of his tiny fingers and the sight of his dark lashes against his round cheeks, and let her mind seek the shreds of her dream.

  “What is it?” Quinn asked as she tucked the quilt more closely around their son.

  Sara touched Garrett’s cheek and he fidgeted, impatient even in sleep with such shows of affection. He rolled over and burrowed into his quilt, his fierce expression easing Sara’s mood.

  “I woke up, certain that something was wrong.”

  “A dream?” Quinn asked.

  “I was dreaming about Nikolas and Sophie.” She swallowed, still overcome by emotion. “It was so sad. He was seeking her everywhere, with that single-mindedness of his.”

  “Nothing could stand in his way,” Quinn agreed quietly, his eyes gleaming like sapphires as he watched her.

  “He couldn’t find her, Quinn,” Sara said, her words husky. “He sought her everywhere, but couldn’t find her. She was lost to him forever.” Tears rose to her eyes again.

  Quinn crossed the room in two steps and pulled her against his heat. Sara closed her eyes as she leaned against him, his quiet strength soothing her fears as it always did. “Maybe not forever. Maybe just for now,” he said. “If anyone can find her, it will be Nikolas.”

  “But he was so upset. He said she was lost forever.” She felt Quinn shake his head.

  “No. Nothing is truly lost forever, certainly not souls or sparks of the divine.” He kissed Sara’s temple. “Everything becomes something else. There are transitions, not terminations. The steel melts and is reshaped, but it never disappears.”

  Sara smiled, knowing she should have anticipated that he would use his forge as a metaphor. “You’re so sure.”

  “I am. Sophie must have something to do, or she must be somewhere Nikolas can’t follow her.”

  “They have to be together, Quinn.”

  “They have to be together in their own time.”

  She tipped her head back to ensure that she saw his reaction. “He looked like Donovan’s son in my dream. It was Nikolas, but he was a child. He was Nick.”

  Quinn smiled. “So, maybe Donovan is taking on the job of Seer, too. He said the baby reminded him of Nikolas from the beginning. That’s why they named him Nicholas.”

  “Alex said the delivery was quick, as if the baby had set his own schedule and was going to keep it.”

  Quinn chuckled and held her closer. “Sounds like Nikolas.”

  Sara braced herself for Quinn’s reaction to the suggestion she had to make, knowing he wouldn’t like it. “We have to find Delaney.”

  He stiffened instantly, though he didn’t say anything. He was utterly still, waiting for more information.

  Sara stepped out of his embrace to make her appeal. “We have to go. You have to help him.”

  Quinn looked as resolute as she’d expected. His eyes narrowed. “Have you forgotten that he tried to attack you?” His voice rose slightly. “Have you forgotten that he would have snatched Garrett from inside you? You tried to help him then—”

  Sara interrupted him. “In my dream, Nikolas found a scale. He gave it to me. He said I would know what to do with it, and I do.”

  Quinn swore softly and turned away, but not before Sara saw his features soften. “What color of scale?” He knew the answer, but Sara said it aloud, anyway.

  “Copper and emerald, with a red tinge at the root. It was Delaney’s scale.”

  “Has he lost it already?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe he will lose it in the future. Maybe you need to be there for whenever it happens.”

  Quinn shoved a hand through his hair and paced in silence.

  “You have to fix Delaney’s armor, Quinn. You know it. We have to go to him.”

  Quinn took a deep breath and folded his arms across his chest as he looked out the window. “He’s having his firestorm.”

  “Really?” Sara hadn’t known this.

  Quinn nodded. “I felt it. I can feel it.”

  “You weren’t drawn to it?”

  “I was, but I declined to go.” He glanced over his shoulder, protectiveness clear in his eyes. “I’m not going to put you two in danger, firestorm or not. I won’t go alone and leave you undefended, and I won’t take you with me.”

  “But it’s more than a firestorm, now. It’s his scale.”

  Quinn grimaced.

  “It’s your inherited duty as the Smith to heal the Pyr. We have to go, Quinn. That’s why I had the dream.”

  “He’s half lost, anyway. He’s already outcast himself.”

  “No, Quinn. We need to bring him back.”

  “Or?”

  Sara shrugged, unable to articulate the sense of doom that her dream had left with her.

  Quinn growled and he paced, caught by the simple truth in her statement, yet unhappy with it. When he didn’t argue further, Sara knew then he’d do as she requested.

  He pause
d to point a finger at her. “If we’re going, Donovan has to come, too. And Erik.” He was so clearly displeased that Sara knew he trusted her instincts enough to put aside his own concerns. He gave her an intense look, his eyes a stormy blue. “We’re not going near Delaney without every talon I can muster.”

  “Fair enough,” Sara said, smiling as she used Quinn’s favorite expression.

  He shook his head and shoved both hands through his hair, irritated yet prepared to do what had to be done. His brow was furrowed and he looked troubled.

  His features softened when he studied her. “You’re absolutely sure that we need to be there?”

  Sara nodded, honored by his trust. “You have to help him, Quinn, or we’ll lose him forever.” She tried to express the sense of dread left by her dream. “And maybe more than that, too.”

  “Who sent you the dream?”

  “I don’t know. It’s not quite the same as when Sophie sent me a dream, and not at all like the dream I had when the Dragon’s Egg broke.” Sara tried to identify the strange sense she had. “Could a different Wyvern have sent it to me? One less subtle in the use of her powers?”

  Their gazes met across the darkened room. Quinn swallowed. “Erik said his visions are sharper when he holds Zoë.”

  Sara nodded. “So, we do have a new Wyvern. We have to trust her counsel, Quinn, no matter how she communicates it.” She licked her lips. “We have to believe that if we act as she urges, it will all come right.” Quinn held her gaze for a long moment, and Sara knew he was gauging her conviction.

  Then he turned away with a terse nod.

  “Fair enough.” Quinn was decisive then, his choice made. “I’ll get my tools.”

  In Minneapolis, Donovan awakened suddenly, his eyes flying open in the darkness. His heart was leaping as if he had been running. Alex slept deeply beside him and he listened, but Nick was sleeping as well. Their home was quiet. At peace.

  It wasn’t the first time this had happened to him in the last week.

  He knew in his heart what was wrong, but also knew that he couldn’t go to his brother’s firestorm.

  He wouldn’t risk his partner and child.