by L J Andrews
“Well, maybe,” he laughed. “I just have to get the woman to eat some meat—leaves aren’t warrior food. For now, I get to just be the favorite of all your little terrors.”
Kate laughed, but Mitch rolled his eyes, ready to offer their latest challenge. Sapphire’s predictions had been right. Mitch and Raffi—though constantly competing with each other—were practically inseparable. When Mitch gave Dash his name, it was the first time I thought I might see the warrior shed a tear—not quite, but almost.
I turned my attention toward Sapphire as he shifted into human form. He shook my hand, beaming widely. He didn’t have a beard any longer, but his eyes were still just as dark. The blue robe wrapped around his shoulders well, as it always had after he changed forms. “Good to see you, it feels like it’s been so long.”
“Well, you shouldn’t stay away. Plenty of room here,” I teased, wrapping my arms around his mate’s shoulders. Priya could’ve easily passed for a warrior the way she’d fought during the battle. She’d saved Sapphire at one point with the lindworms, and they hadn’t been parted since.
“Perhaps you should come and stay in the mountains with us, there’s plenty of room for everyone there too,” Priya offered, standing by Jade.
“Nuka insists,” Sapphire said. “But of course, she didn’t come today, so I’m not sure how she thinks she can demand others to visit when she doesn’t herself.”
“I wouldn’t leave a castle for the desert rocks,” Indy’s snooty tone broke through the chatter.
I laughed, nudging Sapphire’s daughter on her shoulder. She beamed at me, though it seemed her parents only caused her to scowl. She had the same dark eyes, but over the last few years, she’d drifted into a sharper attitude that brought Sapphire’s jaw into a tight knot. The former reform principal now had to deal with a dragon teenager. And I found it hilarious.
“You love the desert,” he muttered.
She rolled her eyes, but brightened almost immediately when she looked at the newest arrivals. “There’s Adron,” she gasped, straightening her hair before rushing away.
Jade laughed, now sharing the infant with Priya. “Adron, huh?”
“What?” Sapphire grumbled.
“Oh, come now, Konrad, do we need to do this again?” Priya teased, kissing the baby’s head.
“I think you have a little bit of a budding romance you have to deal with,” Jade said, watching the sapphire heir greet the dark haired royal once he shifted.
“No,” he grumbled. “I already told Ced, I dealt with the two of you—no more young romances in my lifetime.”
Priya snickered as Ced and Amber abandoned their son to flirt with Indigo.
“Don’t look at me,” Ced grumbled, holding up his hands when Sapphire lifted his brow. “I warned him he will have to impress the father if he wants to get anywhere with the daughter. It would seem they don’t care what we say.”
Amber laughed and hugged us all in her powerful arms before wrapping her hand around Ced’s bicep as Onyx and Ruby joined us. Peran and Shiv had come with the couple, both with their own mates and families. And Donovan limped at the rear near Ruby and Onyx’s two sons. One boy had dark hair like his parents, and the other had fiery tips. Being the bloodline of two royals had created strange energy, but it was fascinating how the two young dragons could conjure the strangest feats of fire and water. Though I’d taken the burden of all the energies, the royals and elemental mages maintained their unique gifts.
Then I saw her. My grin widened, and I loved the way her cheeks flushed when she met my eye.
“Be kind,” Jade warned, though she chuckled.
“She’s been preparing her retorts the entire way,” Ruby snickered.
“Athika!” I called, stalking arrogantly across the field. “Athika, it’s so good to see you.”
“Teagan, I don’t want to hear you run your mouth,” the ruby mage snarled, clasping her hand in her brand new mate’s powerful grip. I turned to him, grinning—and I enjoyed the way he tried to hide his amusement too.
“Leoch,” I said, clasping his forearm the way he greeted my father. “You as well. How was the ceremony? I mean, for some reason I wasn’t invited.”
Athika stuffed her finger in my face, but her smile was breaking through her stony face. “No one was, it was private, but you know full well why—because of this—because of what you’re doing now.”
I feigned offense. “Doing? What am I doing? Wait, do you think I’m saying this because for so long, someone told me it was impossible for a mage to mate with a wyvern? No, I wouldn’t do that. It’s not like I’ve waited for this for years.”
“I’m not listening to you anymore,” she snipped, dragging Leoch’s hand behind her.
“Okay,” I relented, placing a hand on both their shoulders. “I’ll stop. Honestly, I am thrilled for you both. Truly.”
“Thank you,” Leoch beamed, greeting my father before joining the others.
“Just think, Athika,” I muttered at her side. “Soon you’ll have your own little dragon mages.”
She scoffed, but her smile only widened as she watched Leoch laugh with the royals. “Yes, I suppose I will. I only hope they’ll turn out a little less like you.”
I laughed. “Hey, I warned you that I would make you uncomfortable whenever you mated. To be honest, we’ve all been wondering how much longer you were going to make poor Leoch wait. You’re really terrible at hiding your feelings.”
Athika chuckled and shoved my shoulder. Her hair was longer now, but in most ways she looked entirely the same as she had when we’d first met.
“Let’s go,” Mitch muttered, signaling to all the children scurrying about the lawn. “We have kids to clean and we’re starving.”
The table was enormous and filled as tightly as possible with different mages, dragons, and more lindworms than we’d once had. All had dressed in their finest clothes, but as predicted, Saina had soiled the front of her dress, and Dash left his collar unbuttoned in protest.
Ced and Amber were speaking with some of King Nag's old mates who had been freed after his death. The women were at ease now, but it hadn't always been so. Ced had found a way over the years to ease the transition to accepting all dragons as one race—not elementals and serpents. It hadn’t always been easy. It helped when Adron was born—blood of both types of dragons and all. Also, the combined stone filled with night energy as well as the elements, I believed helped smooth any lasting resentments between dragons.
The feast was exactly what we’d looked forward to. This moment was what I’d always hoped for when we fought to end the war. I still loved the way Gaia looked at Thane. My father pulled her mouth against his for a brief moment as though no one else could see. Sapphire laughed with Mitch and Kate, sharing embarrassing stories from when Mitch was in the reform house. Ced and Amber spoke with Raffi and Leoch as old friends, though once the two warriors would have killed Ced simply for being a lindworm.
I glanced at Malik, who was helping Saina straighten her tiara. I never imagined when I first stepped into Wyvern Willows all those years ago that I would ever find myself in this moment. My heart swelled with the overwhelming power—a power I knew was stronger than any energy I could absorb. I loved everyone in this room with me tonight. I never asked to lead, and as I’d said at the end of the war, I’d never been alone as we’d established a new way of life. We counseled with one another. Most of our people naturally respected my thoughts, Jade’s, Thane’s, or the royals as the guiding force. But I was at ease with the equality we’d established in our new world. Jade was queen, and I suppose I was sort of a king, but not really in my mind. I found myself caring little about titles and more about the happiness of my children and the dragon at my side.
Jade smiled at me, her emerald eyes taking my breath away. “You’re lost in your thoughts.”
I scoffed, cupping the side of her face. “I’m just thinking of you. Tonight we’re celebrating twenty-five years of peace. But I hope every day you know that ha
ving you with me is cause for celebration.”
Jade chuckled and kissed me. “Good line,” she teased. “You know I will always be at your side. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
“Good,” I laughed. “You have the fire and power of my heart.”
“You have my hand and my love.”
Pressing a kiss along her fingers, I nodded, my voice low as I was overwhelmed with the calm that all would be well in our lives from this day forth. Smiling at my mate, I pressed my power through her palm, hoping to convey every emotion that was simply too powerful to be said. My lips brushed along her ear, my voice low beneath the chatter and laughter. “You have my love, Jade. Always.”
Bonus Short Story
THE WAR OF AGES
When the war between mages and dragons began. See Bron’s betrayal, and the beginnings of Thane and Gaia.
Dragon Mage
The War of Ages
LJ Andrews
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This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, organizations, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Prologue
Mages and wyverns live peacefully in common affection for one another. Hidden from human eyes, the powerful mage defend the royal, honorable wyvern race. But what might become of them should one succumb to the power of anger—of hatred?
Would it be possible for a single wyvern, a single mage, to change the course of their people through the ages?
A war unfolds, but that moment is only the beginning.
Chapter 1
Gaia
Each granite brick gleamed with crusted gems and jewels tucked inside the stone work. The castle was kept at a comfortable chill, and to the outside human world the rocky bluffs looked like nothing but ruins or rubble. To the people inside its gates, it was glorious and exceptional.
I loved the castle. It was my home and had been since I was young and still honing my abilities. Now, for nearly a century the honor of defending the royal wyverns had been mine. People of the world once believed in dragons, the layman’s term for wyverns. Now, the family I protected every day was a thing of legend. I preferred it that way. Less knowledge of the elemental dragons meant less risk for their lives. Now, the greatest risk for the wyverns charged with controlling the elements of the earth, came from lesser dragons. Disgusting, slithering, wyverns that I hated thinking about.
Glancing out one of the intricately stained glass windows I stared into the distance. The rolling hills tucked high in the mountains of the upper Americas was the perfect place for our people to thrive, both wyvern and mage alike.
Prince Malik and Princess Reya were due back later in the evening and I greatly anticipated their arrival. Despite the serenity that abounded behind the walls of the wyvern kingdom, there was something troubling in the pit of my heart. Tugging my wavy auburn hair over my shoulder I stroked the smooth curls absently trying to rid my soul of the feeling. My gleaming mage robe was sweltering in the sunlight, but the peaceful sight on the lawn was too enjoyable to watch to move into the shade.
In the courtyard Eisha, the advisor to Princess Reya, played with Reya’s young daughter. Eisha’s monumental wyvern form spread from one side of the courtyard to the other, her ebony tail slapping the stones as Princess Ariana scurried about. The young princess was in her human form, and I thought she might be the most lovely wyvern child I’d ever seen. Her hair was like pure gold, and her eyes bright emerald stones that gleamed in the sunlight. Reya never used her daughter’s full name, and mage and wyvern people alike called the youngest royal by her nickname, Jade. I personally preferred her given name, and always addressed her as Ariana.
The nick name came from her family’s bloodline. The young princess was one of five royal families, all present in the castle for the first time in years. All bloodlines were marked with colorful stones filled with elemental powers. The royalty began with the jade stone, next the sapphire to command the wind, followed by the mysterious onyx stone that manipulated water, then the cut of amber that beautified the earth, finally the brilliant ruby gem emblazed the ruby bloodline with the strength of fire.
Watching Ariana, I knew the girl would one day have power over all the elements. The jade stone was unmatched with its connection to the earth and her gifts. What a heavy burden. I hoped, in the quiet of the morning, that I would always be able to help her along the way.
Ariana was perfect. Her demeanor kind and sensitive. She was strong for her young age. I was honored to be the mage called to defend her through the ages. I knew Malik and Reya worried about their daughter’s aversion to shifting to her wyvern shape. The young girl seemed to prefer the human form, so most of the wyverns spent their days in their full forms as a way to encourage the young princess to embrace her nature. Though the massive warriors remained in human form around the child. Malik feared one might accidentally step on the princess.
“Such a beautiful day, is it not High Priestess?” a voice shook me from my peace.
I smiled at the young mage, golden ribbons of color inking her skin had only just appeared on her forearms. Her face was so full of youth, and two blonde braids hanging over her shoulders added to her childlike expression. The marks swirled along her skin, striking just below her elbows. But I knew if a threat ever came to the royal amber bloodline, the marks would shift into impenetrable armor. Just like my own wyvern armor. “That it is, Rochelle. What brings you to the inner castle?”
Rochelle, the daughter of one of my closest friends. Naomi had been the mage for the amber bloodline nearly one hundred years longer than I’d defended the jade wyverns. Sometimes it didn’t seem fair that I had risen to be the High Priestess of the mage race, but it was how destinies unraveled amongst our people. The highest mage bloodlines connected with the highest wyvern bloodlines. It was the way of things. It was how I hoped life would always be.
“I’m here to stand with Duchess Amber while she meets with the jade family this evening,” said Rochelle.
It seemed all the royals had taken on the nickname of their stone. I nodded. “What an honor you’ve been entrusted with. Your armor is coming in beautifully.” I traced a finger along Rochelle’s arm. The young mage flushed with pride.
“I was assisting in the training with Amber, and finally after all these years it took form,” she said softly.
“Soon, you will be coated, like me,” I smiled, pointing to the green markings curling around my temples and jaw line. My skin was completely marked in the jade wyvern armor, and to my relief, I had only called upon my strongest weapon once.
The night the lindworm king attacked was the last time the hardened green armor peeled over my skin. King Nag was power-hungry, evil, and blood-thirsty. He’d come the night of Princess Ariana’s birth—the thought of him actually taking the child as he’d intended sent an icy shudder down my spine.
The lindworms were the lesser dragons I spoke of, and I hated every last one of them. The final ribbons of rich green markings had sealed along my face and skull that night. My armor was completed when the serpents faded back into the night—hopefully never to return, though the nagging in my stomach told me I wo
uldn’t be so lucky.
“I can’t wait for the day I can be as strong as you, Priestess.”
“Rochelle you know you are allowed to call me by my name,” I offered, lightly.
“Oh, no Priestess, my mother would have my tongue if I dishonored you in such a way.”
“I shall tell you a secret,” I whispered. “I’ve known your mother most of my life, and she may say such things, but she would never harm a hair on your head. It will be our little secret.”
Rochelle flushed and nodded. “As you wish, Gaia.”
“There that wasn’t so hard,” I teased.
“Always pleasing the young ones,” a silky voice filtered down the hallway.
Rochelle swallowed and nodded quickly in respect. Cocking my head I smirked, though my chest tightened pleasantly at the sight of him. “Bron, not all of us wish to be addressed so formally every minute of the day.”
Bron sauntered down the hallway, the gleaming emerald blades crossed along his back in the traditional way. His dark hair was sleek like midnight, and his silver eyes proved how powerful his energy was. I always found it beautiful the way his pale eyes stood against the jade markings on his face.
“High Priest,” Rochelle whispered, her head kept low.
“See, the girl has perfect respect,” Bron said, his smile spreading across his handsome face.
“We shall see you later, Rochelle. Don’t let the High Priest fool you, he adores being called Bron.”
Rochelle swallowed back her grin, nodded once more at Bron and me, and scurried toward the outer courtyards. Bron leaned against the wall, glancing out the window where Ariana and Eisha still played.
“You are welcome to leave the wyverns occasionally. Eisha is defending the child. Enjoy the time before Malik and Reya return, my love,” Bron said, his hand cupping the side of my face.
I flinched, though I wasn’t certain he noticed. It was a strange phenomenon that had been happening for several weeks now. Our energies were always connected, bonded in a beautiful way. But, and I hated to admit it, lately something seemed to be distancing my husband from me. The wyvern king, Lux, kept Bron occupied most days—it was to be expected. As the High Priestess I protected the heirs of the jade bloodline. Lux’s daughter, Reya was to be queen of the jade stone in the coming decades, and his granddaughter after her. Bron was the mage for the sitting king. I’d told myself during many lonely nights this was the reason for our mounting distance.
