by Rinelle Grey
In reality, it was a wonder he hadn’t done it earlier. Probably it hadn’t occurred to him until the Rian clan had sent Karla to wake Taurian. They’d literally shown him how to do it.
Lisa felt sick.
If she hadn’t ended up here, they never would have known, and Ultrima would have woken the princess and stolen her away. It sounded like he’d been about to, but the police had arrived first and interrupted his plans.
But who knew how long that would keep him. As Latrima had pointed out, he would only stay as long as he wanted to. When he decided to leave, no one was going to stop him.
She needed to get out of here and tell Taurian and Karla. They needed to do something to stop him, to wake the princess as quickly as possible so that she wasn’t there for Ultrima to find.
They needed to wake all of them. Because if Ultrima found the princess missing, she suspected there would be no limit to what he’d be prepared to do in revenge.
The trouble was, they couldn’t do it fast enough.
Ultrima could be back tonight. He could be back in an hour.
He could be back any moment.
That thought made her stomach clench.
“Verrian?”
“Yes?”
Lisa hesitated, but there was no hiding it. “I think Ultrima is planning on using a human to wake your sister.”
“What?” Verrian demanded. “What makes you think that?”
Lisa explained the conversation she’d just heard. Verrian didn’t say a word until she was finished.
“We need to get you out of there so we can get back and tell Taurian. We need to wake Sarian immediately,” he said, as soon as she was finished.
That was exactly what Lisa had been thinking. Except for one thing. “We don’t have time for you to hang around here and get me out,” she told him. “You need to go now.”
Verrian was silent for a long moment. “I won’t leave you,” he said eventually.
Lisa’s heart swelled with love. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said stoutly. “I’ll keep searching for the secret entrance you talked about, and keep my ears open in case I hear something else…”
“There’s someone here,” Latrima said sharply.
How had the life dragon known she was there? She hadn’t spoken a word out loud, or even so much as moved.
Lisa pressed back against the wall, but even as she did so, she knew it was hopeless. Life dragons had powers far beyond any other dragons. It probably sensed her presence magically.
“You need to go,” she told Verrian urgently. “Now, before it’s too late. Warn Taurian. Save your sister before Ultrima gets to her.”
“Is something wrong?” Verrian asked, his dragon speech sounding concerned.
Lisa hesitated. If Verrian knew she’d been discovered, he'd probably rush in here to save her. There wasn’t time for that. “Everything’s fine,” she lied. “But Latrima is back, and I can’t talk now. Go,” she urged.
Verrian hesitated, then said, “I’ll be back for you.”
Then his dragon voice disappeared.
Lisa tried not to feel like she was suddenly alone. She forced herself not to call out and tell Verrian to come back. She could do this.
Latrima came around the corner, her mouth a thin line and her forehead furrowed. “Lisa. Why am I not surprised to find you poking around? I’m sorry that you had to hear all that.”
Lisa couldn’t help frowning. Anger, she’d expected. But sorry?
“What do you mean?” she blurted out.
“Ultrima’s plan had been to release you as soon as he returned, but now that you are aware of our plans, I’m afraid that will not be possible. You’ll have to remain a little longer.” Then she suddenly smiled. “Actually, that’s perfect. You’ll be able to go back to Rian clan and tell everyone there how happy Princess Sarian is to be with Ultrima, and then we can stop this stupid feud.”
Lisa stared at her.
Princess Sarian happy? Just what had Ultrima told his clan? Obviously they all believed the princess was as obsessed with Ultrima as he was with her.
Lisa wondered what they were going to think when they found out she wasn’t? Would they keep hiding the truth? Would they keep denying it?
“And if she’s not happy?” Lisa challenged. “What then?”
Latrima looked at her for a few moments in stunned silence, then she laughed. “Not happy? Of course she’s going to be happy.”
The man, who rounded the corner behind her, laughed just as readily. “You don’t get it, do you? All of the Rian dragons want you to believe that Princess Sarian wants nothing to do with Ultrima, but it’s not true. She loves him just as he loves her.”
Despite not wavering in her own belief, Lisa was starting to feel rather stupid. Why had she thought she could convince the Trima dragons their leader wasn’t the lovelorn dragon they seemed to think him?
“That’s not what I’ve heard,” she said stubbornly.
“Of course they’re not going to tell you the truth,” Latrima said gently. “Rian clan are not big believers in mating for love. They’re too busy trying to engineer a life dragon.” She gave a tinkling laugh. “Which is going sooo well for them.”
The man smiled at her, a little too fondly. Lisa noted the expression. She was pretty sure, by now, that he was a human. His hair was dark, like Taurian, but his skin was too pale, and his face too rounded. The glasses he wore were a dead giveaway. She was pretty sure a dragon was never going to need glasses.
The story Latrima was telling had a concerning ring of truth to it. Ostrian had been so set on Wayrian mating Taurian because he was sure that would get them a life dragon.
Was there any truth to what Latrima was saying?
Could there be?
But Wayrian hadn’t married Taurian. Taurian had married the woman he loved.
Because Ultrima had made a deal with him.
This was crazy. She knew the Rian clan dragons. She’d lived with them. She was mated to one of them. She knew neither Taurian nor Verrian would choose a life dragon over love.
Unless it would save their clan.
That was the rub, wasn’t it? There were two kinds of love—romantic love, and love of their clan. And she’d seen them war in the dragon prince’s hearts.
None of that made them bad dragons. It was a logical thing to struggle with.
The question was, was it enough to indicate that Latrima’s story might be true?
Was it possible that Princess Sarian was in love with Ultrima, and had rejected him in favour of supporting her clan?
No matter how she looked at it, Lisa couldn’t be sure.
The truth was, there was only one way to find out—ask Princess Sarian.
“Not so sure you’re in the right clan, are you now?” Latrima taunted.
“I’m in the same clan as my mate,” Lisa said firmly. “That will always be right to me. And it’s also clear that this issue could be on either side. The only way to know for sure is to ask the princess.”
“Which is what we plan to do, isn’t it, Altrima,” Latrima said firmly, smiling at the man beside her.
He inclined his head.
“No it isn’t,” Lisa argued. “What you plan to do is wake her and bring her to Ultrima. Are you really sure he’s going to ask her what she wants first?”
“Of course he is,” the man said. “Don’t you get it? Ultrima helps people. Everything I’ve seen him do is to help others.”
“Sure, that’s why he’s constantly attacked Rian clan, and prevented them waking the princes and princesses all these years,” Lisa challenged. “And why he… he… made Verrian promise not to see me again.” Her voice broke, and no matter how hard she tried to stop it, her eyes filled with tears.
She was exhausted, alone, and confused. Why did this all have to be so hard?
She’d finally realised she was in love, and that Verrian loved her too, and they couldn’t be together.
It was all too unfair.
“Don’t you get it,” Latrima said softly. “Ultrima did that on purpose. He wasn’t trying to pull the two of you apart, he wanted to make you both realise you love each other, and that you’d do anything, even break a deal, to be together.”
She was the one who didn’t get it. And Ultrima never could. “Verrian honouring Ultrima’s ‘deal’ isn’t an indication that he doesn’t love me,” she said flatly. “It’s an indication of who he is as a person, and how much he cares for his clan. Both of those things are important to him, and they define him. Him breaking them damages who he is, and I won’t let him do that.”
Her heart sank as she heard the words coming out of her mouth, but they were true.
She couldn’t ask Verrian to break his deal with Ultrima.
Suddenly, none of the rest of it mattered.
She was tired of caring about clans and what was right, she wanted something to work out right for her for a change.
Chapter 65
It was hard for Verrian to tear himself away from Lisa, even though he knew he had to.
It wouldn’t take long to get back to the lair and warn Taurian. Then he could come back and get her.
Except it wasn’t that simple.
He didn’t dare fly this close to all the humans and police, meaning he had to walk through the bush. No point in even trying to find the car, he wasn’t confident enough to drive it even if he could.
Adding to all that, after he’d been walking for twenty minutes, it occurred to him to wonder if he should stop and check Narrian and Bruce. He glanced a little in the direction they’d gone, but it would take him too far off course.
Anyway, hopefully they’d woken Lyrian, and were on their way back to the lair.
He’d find out when he got there.
Verrian kept trudging on, barely aware of where he was going after a while. He was so tired even his brain didn’t seem to want to think, meaning he didn’t have to keep going over the situation and wondering how he was going to solve it.
He had one goal in his mind—to get back to the lair and tell Taurian that Ultrima was trying to wake Sarian—he pushed everything else aside. He would worry about that later.
He wasn’t sure how long he walked, but eventually it hit him that he would never reach the lair at this pace. He looked back, but Ultrima’s mountain was small in the distance. Surely he could fly now? None of the humans would be able to see him at this distance.
Taking a chance, he transformed, not even bothering to remove his clothes. When he launched into the air, the torn remnants fluttered to the ground behind him.
Verrian kept as low as he could, skimming over tree tops and dunes alike, heading directly to the lair.
He wasn’t quite sure how he reached it, but eventually the wave rock appeared in front of him, and he half flew, half fell into the entrance.
Dragons clustered around him in moments, their concerned, worried voices all blending together.
“Give him some space,” Taurian commanded, and all the other dragons fell back. “What happened, brother?” Taurian demanded. “Where are the others? Were you attacked?”
Verrian’s mind turned over everything that had happened that night, confused on where to start. There was so much to tell Taurian, but he couldn’t decide which was the most important.
There was one thing he knew he had to remember. “Ultrima is planning on using a human to wake Lyrian,” he managed to get out. “Have to stop him. Must wake her… now.”
“How did you find this out?” Taurian demanded. “Where are the others? Did you wake Lyrian? Did Ultrima attack?”
“Start at the beginning,” Taurian said gently. “And tell me what happened.”
“Bruce and Narrian, they’re not back? They didn’t bring Lyrian?” Verrian demanded first. He had to know.
He’d hoped they would be back by now. Had something gone wrong?
Taurian shook his head. “We haven’t seen them. We thought they were with you.”
Verrian explained how he and Lisa had distracted the dragon while the others had gone to find the Mesmer chamber. How Lisa had been injured, and he’d flown her to Ultrima’s. He hesitated over disclosing the deal he’d made. Somehow, he didn’t feel the whole clan needed to know that one.
Taurian must have seen something in his expression, because he switched to dragon speech. “The enemy dragon, you’re sure he's dead?”
Verrian’s heart skipped a beat. “No,” he said, dragon speech conveying his guilt far more than it would have been evident out loud. “I was so worried about Lisa I didn’t think to.”
He didn’t say any more. He didn’t have to. If he’d left the dragon wounded and angry, it could well have gone after Bruce and Narrian. If it had found them before they work Lyrian, or even just after, it could have wreaked havoc, even injured.
Was that why they weren’t back yet?
He’d failed, yet again, to do the right thing.
Yet what else could he have done? He couldn’t have let Lisa die.
Verrian shook his head. It was all too much. He wasn’t ready for this.
“What happened?” Taurian asked softly, “When you took Lisa to Ultrima?”
All the other dragons around them were staring at them silently. They knew the conversation had gone private, and no one was saying anything, despite the rampant curiosity he could see on everyone’s faces.
He’d have to think of something to tell them, but later.
“Ultrima told his life dragon to heal her,” he said. Even his dragon voice choked up when he remembered back to that moment.
“And?” Taurian asked sharply.
“He would only heal her if I promised never to see her again,” Verrian said wretchedly. “I should never have agreed. I should have thought of a clever comeback, or some way to make him offer something different, but I couldn’t think of anything. I just wanted her to not die. What choice did I have?”
He could see the pity on Taurian’s face. “We all make mistakes, brother. We will find a way out of this one too. Where is Lisa now?”
Verrian explained, as quickly as he could, how Ultrima had left with the police after making sure they wouldn’t arrest Lisa as well. Instead, she was trapped inside Ultrima’s lair.
His dragon voice warmed as he explained that was how he knew about Ultrima’s plan. That Lisa had overheard the dragons talking about it.
Taurian gave a tight-lipped smile at that. “Sometimes, despite how terrible it seems at the time, things happen for a reason. If you had not made that deal with Ultrima, if he had not taken Lisa into his lair, we wouldn’t know our sister was in danger.”
Verrian stared at him, aware that his eyes were widening. Until Taurian mentioned it, that hadn’t occurred to him.
He’d had to go through this pain to discover his enemies plans and to be able to prevent them?
That knowledge only helped so much. His heart still ached at being separated from Lisa, at not knowing if he would ever see her again. But it had eased a little.
At least he was able to help his clan.
“What are we going to do?” he asked Taurian.
Taurian stood up and looked around at the dragons, all watching him expectantly.
“Ultrima is scheming to use a human to wake our sister. I have no doubt that if he is able to do so, he will attempt to force himself on her again. We cannot let this happen.”
He glanced down at Verrian, then back at the crowd. “Princess Lisa, Verrian’s beloved mate, is being held hostage in his lair. Held hostage not by force, but by a promise Verrian made to him to save her life. This is typical of our enemy’s wiles. He will use anything he can against us, even our own honour.”
There were murmurs of dissatisfaction among the crowd.
It was almost as if they’d forgotten that there had been objection to Lisa and Verrian’s mating earlier. Verrian couldn’t help a small smile, the first one he’d given in hours. His clan may question his decision, but that didn’t
mean they’d brook anyone else interfering in his choice.
“We should go and rescue her,” someone called out from the back of the crowd. Verrian didn’t recognise the young, dark haired man, but he held hands with a pretty young human wearing glasses.
There were murmurs of agreement.
Taurian held up a hand. “Ultrima has been arrested. If we are going to make a move, now is the time. But we must plan it carefully. We must wake the rest of our brothers and sisters—today. Before Ultrima can get to any of them.”
Verrian’s heart rose. If they could defeat Ultrima, once and for all, then his deal would not matter.
He could be with Lisa.
He could be with his mate.
It was enough to wipe any tiredness from his mind.
Chapter 66
“Ultrima gave up on deals the day Princess Sarian told him she didn’t love him, because her clan expected her to mate someone else.”
Latrima stared at Lisa, her eyes challenging, obviously expecting some sort of response.
Lisa was too tired to think of one. She’d been awake for about twenty hours at this point, and her brain was slowly shutting down. It seemed pointless trying to keep it awake, since there seemed no hope of things improving.
She’d given the message to Verrian. He would take it back to Rian clan, and they would find a way to keep the Trima dragons, and their human friends, away from the princess. Her part was done. There was nothing more she could do.
Maybe that meant she could have a sleep. Even just lying down on the stone floor and closing her eyes for a few minutes seemed like a luxury.
She just needed to get rid of Latrima. But the life dragon was still staring at her, waiting for an answer. What had she said again? Oh, that’s right.
“Perhaps Princess Sarian was telling the truth when she told Ultrima she didn’t love him?” she suggested.
The dark-haired man, Altrima, Latrima had called him, made a disapproving sound under his breath.
Lisa wondered, briefly, if she had been mistaken about him not being a dragon. He had a Trima clan name. Surely that wasn’t normal?
Latrima frowned at him.
Then she turned to Lisa. “As you yourself said, the only way we are going to know the truth is if we wake her and ask her. Which is what we plan to do.” She paused for a long moment, looking at Lisa consideringly. “If you feel so strongly about it, how about you come and help us?”
