If Loke gave Bleu any information about the female dragon, any shred of something positive that might give him cause to order a stay of execution for her, then he wanted Leif to hear it first hand, straight from the dragon’s mouth.
Leif placed his hand on Bleu’s, his fingers closing around Bleu’s wrist. Bleu gripped the male’s arm and willed his portal to open. The green-purple light chased over both of them, darkness swallowing them whole, and then they were standing on the side of a black mountain, a valley stretching before them. Wind whipped up the side of the mountain, battering him and Leif.
The male released his arm and a blade appeared in it.
Bleu caught his wrist. “We are not here to fight. You will not need a weapon.”
Leif didn’t look convinced but he sent the sword away and nodded.
Bleu pointed to a ledge and the dark mouth of a cave, waited for Leif to nod again to show he had seen it, and then teleported solo to it. He walked forwards into the large cave, gaze scanning the meagre contents. A fire blazed in the centre, illuminating the black rough walls and a small stack of books and boxes beside the left wall. On the opposite side of the fire, a blanket covered the ground. Dragons had such basic tendencies.
He curled his lip at the thought of sleeping on the hard ground.
A feral roar blasted through the cave, piercing his ears and making them ring. He flinched back and quickly scanned the area ahead of him again. Not quick enough.
The bare-chested blue-haired male barrelled into him, taking him down onto the hard ground he had just been dissing, and so much for not being here to fight or needing a weapon.
Bleu grunted as his back hit the rock, the impact with it and the weight of the male landing on top of him pushing the air from his lungs.
He sensed Leif landing on the ledge before the dragon male whipped his head up and growled, bright blue eyes swirling like fire as he pinned them on his companion. Bleu used his momentary distraction against him, pressing his feet and shoulders into the ground and using all of his strength to lurch upwards in an attempt to dislodge the male.
An attempt that failed dismally.
And angered the dragon.
Strong hands closed around Bleu’s throat and the male growled down at him, lips peeling back off teeth that were all as sharp as Bleu’s own fangs.
The dragon bore down on him and Bleu wheezed as he fought for air.
“Unhand him, you wretched beast,” Leif snarled and gods, could he sound any more lofty and noble?
Bleu refused to die with those ridiculous words ringing in his fuzzy mind.
He bucked up again and the dragon responded by pressing harder against his throat, squeezing it so tightly that Bleu lost the ability to breathe at all.
The male leaned closer and growled right in his face, a hank of his bright blue hair falling down across his brow. “Keep away from Taryn.”
Taryn?
His heart gave a painful hard beat that had nothing to do with the fact he was about to suffocate.
Was that her name?
Gods, he could go to his death with that ringing in his mind.
Gladly.
“Loke!” A sharp female voice shattered the tense silence. “Get your bloody hands off him right this second.”
A slender hand clutched the male’s bare left shoulder and hauled him back. The dragon glared at it.
“It is him,” Loke husked and then pinned Bleu with a black look that promised more pain than he was already experiencing, which was saying something since his vision was going dark now.
Him?
Bleu would have frowned at that but his body felt strangely unresponsive.
The dragon had told him to stay away from Taryn and now he was insinuating that he knew him somehow, but Bleu had never met him before.
The female appeared in his dim vision and began pulling at Loke’s wrists, her blonde ponytail bouncing against her burgundy t-shirt with each attempt that only jerked Bleu’s head off the black ground before making it smack painfully hard against it again, derailing his train of thought.
“Both of you, let him go or I will cut you down.” Leif loomed over him, eyes bright violet and pointed ears flared back against the sides of his head as he aimed the tip of his sword at the dragon and then the female.
Big mistake.
Loke roared again, launched off Bleu and slammed into Leif. “You dare threaten my mate?”
“Oh, just fucking great.” The mate in question threw her hands up in the air and got onto her feet. “Seriously… this testosterone bullshit has to stop.”
She brushed her blue jeans down, taking her time about it considering that her mate had Leif in a chokehold and the elf was turning red as he struggled to break free.
Bleu slowly found his feet, swaying a little but determined to remain upright, and tried breathing. It hurt. Each breath he managed to pull down his battered throat scraped it raw. The blonde female’s deep blue eyes issued a silent apology. He rubbed his throat, wincing as even the lightest touch hurt, and shrugged it off. She had no reason to feel bad. She wasn’t the one who had attacked him.
Leif kicked the dragon in his blue-leather-clad shin, tearing a grunt from him but not shaking his hold.
Bleu frowned as an escape route hit him, but he was damned if he was going to mention it when Leif would think him an idiot since he hadn’t thought about it when Loke had had him pinned.
Teleporting.
Leif seemed to possess some sort of telepathic link to him since he did it the second Bleu thought it, disappearing from the dragon’s grasp and reappearing next to Bleu, his sword at the ready.
“I hear word of elves in the villages and now you appear,” Loke growled low, his bright blue eyes fixed on Bleu as he advanced on him. “I will not speak with you.”
Bleu stood his ground and would have responded, but he wasn’t sure that speaking was an option right now. His healing ability was kicking in, but it would be a few minutes before he could use his voice again.
The dragon didn’t even give him a second. The big male stormed off towards the back of the cave and disappeared into a tunnel, growling and snarling the entire time, detailing the ways he was going to kill Bleu.
None of them pleasant.
What the hell had he done to deserve such a reception?
He looked to the female. Anais. A hunter from Archangel. He had met her once, during the battle between the Third and Fifth Realms of the demons, when she had fought as part of Sable’s team.
She seemed to recognise him too as she smiled and then sighed. “Sorry about that.”
Bleu swallowed, testing his throat, and then squeaked out in English, “I do not mean the female dragon harm. I simply need to ask her about something.”
Leif slid him a look, one that asked whether the lack of air supply to his brain had turned it to mush. He shut the male out and focused on Anais, because her smile was a little too knowing, as if she was privy to all the information he was concealing with his lie and knew why he was looking for the female dragon.
“Loke and Taryn are close, like brother and sister.” She moved away to the fire and sighed again as the male dragon roared deep in the caves and the sound of rocks cracking apart reached them. Her blonde ponytail swayed across her back as she shook her head. “He’s going to be in an awful mood for days.”
She looked back over her shoulder at him.
Smiled again.
“You’re lucky he didn’t eat you.” Anais turned back to face them. “Or squash you like a bug.”
He knew that. He just didn’t understand why the male had reacted so fiercely.
He grimaced, held his throat and forced the words out. “I’ve never met him before.”
“No.” She shook her head again. “But he has seen you… in a vision when Taryn was here. He saw you.”
Bleu frowned and inched forwards, and was on the verge of asking what the male had seen when her blue eyes turned cold and dark.
�
��Loke saw you kill her.”
It took all of his will to stop himself from staggering back a step when she delivered that blow. He stared at her, sure that he must have misheard, but the coldness in her eyes didn’t lift and her expression remained sombre.
His blood dropped by ten degrees and he wanted to deny that he would do such a thing, but couldn’t as he realised his orders were to do just that.
“My mission is to bring her to my prince and recover what she stole.” Another lie, and another curious look from Leif that he again ignored.
“The sword?” Anais raised her fine pale eyebrows.
Bleu cursed under his breath. She knew much more than she should and she had just given him the best information yet.
The female dragon was in possession of the weapon.
Anais looked towards the back of the cave again, clearly listening to her mate raining unholy hell down on whatever was in the tunnels, growling and snarling, and then back at him.
She whispered, “I don’t think Taryn stole the sword.”
Bleu’s eyes widened and then he frowned at her, not quite able to believe it even when it was exactly what his heart had needed to hear.
He hadn’t realised that until a sense of relief had rushed through him in the wake of her words.
He wanted to look at Leif to make sure he was listening, was taking in everything Anais had said and was about to say, but played it cool and kept his focus on the mortal huntress.
“What evidence do you have to suggest otherwise?” He studied her as she glanced at the back of the cave again. Her heart was pounding and he could smell the fear on her. She was afraid her mate would hear her. Bleu moved a step closer to her, regaining her attention. “I witnessed the event, and her markings are unmistakable. It was definitely her.”
Even when he was beginning to wish it hadn’t been.
Not beginning. Not even close. He had been wishing it for seven centuries.
Anais’s blue eyes gained a sorrowful edge as she quietly said, “What if another dragon shared those markings?”
A chill skated down his spine beneath his armour. “Another?”
It wasn’t possible. Markings like the ones the female bore were rare. Nigh on unique. In all his centuries of hunting, he had never seen another dragon like her. He had seen white dragons and violet ones, but never a combination of two colours.
Anais glanced at the back of the cave again and her fear grew stronger, and panic lanced him, fear she wouldn’t continue when he felt so close to discovering something that might just save the female dragon’s life.
“If you have any evidence that might clear her name, you must speak,” he said, his throat aching with each word, and realised that only being honest with her would get her to talk to him now. “The elf kingdom is on a mission to retrieve the sword… and I have orders to claim the head of the one who stole it.”
She gasped and whipped back to face him.
“No… you can’t.” Her blue eyes pleaded him, her fear jacking higher as she shook her head. “Loke will kill you… heck, he’ll probably kill me for telling you… but from what I’ve heard, Taryn needs all the help she can get… and if I say nothing… her brother might destroy half of Hell to set himself up as ruler of it all.”
Brother.
Bleu could only stare at Anais as that hit him, unable to believe what he was hearing.
The seasoned soldier in him said not to believe it, that the female was lying to protect someone she viewed as a friend.
“Promise to help Taryn… to see for yourself that she took the blame to protect her brother.” Anais walked right up to him and grabbed hold of his wrists, squeezing them tightly as she looked up into his eyes, hers darting between his. “Her twin brother.”
Impossible. He had never heard of dragon twins. She had to be lying, even when the part of him he had kept silent for seven centuries roared that she had to be telling the truth.
He looked down into her blue eyes, and saw the fear and hope mingling in them. He needed the dragon’s destination and he knew Anais would give it to him if he agreed to her request, even when he wasn’t sure he could uphold any promise he made to her.
No matter how fiercely he wanted to keep it.
“I will do all I can to uncover the one responsible for stealing the sword and see they are brought to justice.” Not quite a promise, and not a lie either.
If the female dragon had stolen the sword, he would bring her to justice. It was his duty.
That duty came before his desires and dreams.
He only hoped that Anais was telling the truth and she wasn’t responsible.
“The Valley of the Dark Edge.”
That took a moment to sink in.
He knew the valley, had saved Iolanthe there once, centuries ago. It was no place for a female.
“Thank you.” He bowed his head to Anais and willed his portal, focusing on the stronghold in the elf kingdom when all he really wanted to do was teleport straight to the valley and the female dragon.
Taryn.
He rolled her name around his mind, picturing her at the same time. It was strange to know it after hunting for her for so long.
He appeared in the landing zone a short distance from the pale stone garrison and then called his portal again, teleporting to the gates. He pushed them open and strolled into the courtyard.
Dacian looked up from sharpening his blade, his broad shoulders rolling back as he sat up, revealing his bare honed torso. He uncrossed his black-leather-clad legs, planting his booted feet shoulder-width apart as he ran a glance over Bleu.
He tossed the stone on the bench beside him, pressed his left palm to his knee and leaned his weight on it as his violet eyes settled on Bleu’s neck, an unimpressed look entering them. “I should have gone with you. You clearly had a better time than we did.”
Bleu gingerly pressed his fingers to the healing bruises on his throat. “If by better you mean angering a dragon and almost dying, then yes, it was tremendous fun.”
Leif slammed the wooden gate shut.
Dacian’s lips tugged into a smile and he set his broadsword down beside him on the pale stone bench. “Did the dragon work you over too?”
The slender elf noble shot him a black look. “Did you even leave the compound?”
Dacian looked offended. “Are you insinuating I ignored my order?”
“It would hardly be the first time you have done such a thing… today.” Leif tensed when Dacian rose to his feet, a barely imperceptible flinch that Bleu would have missed if he hadn’t been looking for it. If Leif’s armour hadn’t already been out, Bleu was sure that it would have chased over his body in that instant as he readied himself for another battle with the larger elf.
He bit back a sigh and stepped between Leif and Dacian before they could start fighting again. As much as he appreciated Leif having someone else to throw his barbs at, he needed them to work as a team, and that meant somehow brokering a peace treaty between them.
“Dacian will not break another rule, will you Dacian?” Bleu straightened to his full six-five height and tipped his chin up, holding the larger male’s gaze. He despised veiled threats but he would do whatever it took to ensure that Dacian didn’t kill Leif when he left for the valley.
Alone.
Dacian huffed. “No.”
Bleu turned to Leif. “And of course, you will not disobey an order.”
Leif shook his head, managing to do even that small gesture with a regal air. “Never.”
Bleu grinned. “So, I order you both to get along and stop acting like children.”
Both males shot him daggers. Poisoned ones. The sort of looks that would have killed if he hadn’t found them so amusing.
Fynn strolled out of the squat two storey building, the open sides of his long black jacket bouncing off his trousers with each step, and stopped a few metres from them, his violet eyes leaping from Dacian to Bleu and then to Leif and back again. “I miss something?”
Leif and Dacian grumbled.
“Just issuing orders,” Bleu said, dangerously close to smiling properly as his two finest warriors huffed and stomped around the courtyard like adolescent elves who had just been told to eat their leafy vegetables and like them.
Fynn’s slight shoulders rolled in an easy shrug and he crossed the courtyard to Bleu. “We got some good intel. It seems offering gold… or what the dragons kept calling treasure with that weird glint in their eyes… was the way to get them talking.”
Bleu shifted his focus away from Dacian where he sat sharpening his sword again, a black look on his face as he glared at it, as if he was imagining cutting Leif or possibly him down with it, to the younger elf. “What did they have to say?”
“A few talked. They certainly have no love for the dragon we’re hunting and it was definitely her home once.” Fynn hooked his thumbs over the waist of his black trousers, pushing them low on his bare hips and revealing a hint of the tattoo on his left one.
A few of the elves under his direct command at the castle had taken to inking their skin with the insignia of their legion. Most soldiers chose a discreet size and location.
Dacian had the intricate design of dragons and stags spanning his broad back, a sign of his devotion to the legion he called his family.
“They called her… ah… Taryn,” Fynn said with a frown, as if he didn’t quite trust he had her name right, and Bleu resisted the temptation to confirm that he was correct, but also found it interesting that the dragons had sold out one of their own in exchange for gold when they had been so fiercely protective of her before. Fynn stole his attention away from the odd behaviour of their species. “Some mentioned family… a sibling. When we tried to get information on that sibling, the dragons clammed up and wouldn’t talk.”
A sibling. The twin brother if Anais was correct.
“Not even for more gold?” Bleu looked from Fynn to Dacian.
Both elves shook their heads.
“They got jittery.” Dacian set his sword back down.
So the dragons feared the brother more than they feared Taryn.
Possessed by a Dark Warrior Page 14
