Dragon's Ground (The Desert Cursed Series Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  My brain made the connection fast and my mouth spit it out before my faulty brain-to-mouth filter kicked in.

  “You’re her grandmother, aren’t you?” I asked.

  Amalia turned her head to me and gave me a toothy grin. “Clever, cat. Yes, I am.”

  Bryce urged his horse forward. “Healer, it is I who comes begging your help.”

  She swiveled her head around, lowering it so she was in front of the horse. Ali snorted and spun, trying to get away from the massive predator. “Get off your horse then, boy.”

  I leapt off Balder and hurried to his side. “Here, let me help you.”

  “No!” he snarled as he unbuckled the straps that helped him stay in the saddle. My heart lurched as he undid the last one and pushed himself over to the side. His legs dangled, useless. Slowly he lowered himself so that he stood beside Ali, hanging onto her saddle in order to keep himself upright.

  Amalia stretched her wings wide and snapped them hard, the crack of wind off the white leather a startling boom that sent Bryce’s horse spinning away. He was thrown to the ground, face-down on the ice-coated grass.

  I made a move to help him up, but he pushed himself up and back onto his ass, though it looked uncomfortable.

  “Can you help me, healer?” he asked.

  She looked at Lila. “You truly have the sapphire? It would give you the power you need to stop your father.”

  Lila grabbed the leather thong and pulled the stone from around her neck, then flipped it to her grandmother. “I either lead on my own, or I don’t lead at all. That’s how things are done. I don’t know why you are even asking me this.”

  Amalia grinned as she caught the stone spinning through the air. “That’s my girl.”

  The old dragon twisted the stone around between the tips of two claws, looking at it. “So, they brought this. What did you bring to pay me, broken lion? Or did you think I would heal you out of the goodness of my shriveled and jaded heart?”

  Bryce reached under his shirt and pulled out a stone I knew—the first stone I’d ever brought back for Ish. The diamond had belonged to a coven of witches, and I’d slipped in, stealing it while they slept. The story had more to it than that, but that was the gist. Unlike most diamonds of value, this one was not clear. Or not completely clear. Throughout the fist-sized stone were jagged black lines that resembled lightning bolts, making it easy to identify.

  That first theft had cemented my place in Ish’s life, making me an asset despite my size.

  “Oh, another pretty. Lovely. But you give that one to your sister. I want this one.” She clutched at the sapphire.

  Bryce turned just his head and lifted an eyebrow. “Why would Zam need this stone? She’s no mage.”

  Amalia laughed. “You are correct. She is no mage. She is no lion shifter either. So, what does that make her?”

  A shiver of apprehension rolled down my spine, mixing with a healthy dose of curiosity. “You know what my mother was, don’t you?”

  Amalia nodded. “I do, but that is not for me to tell you.”

  Damn it.

  She turned again to Bryce. “You must know this, lion. If I heal your legs, your life will not be as long than as if you would stay here, in your broken form.”

  Bryce stared up at her. “If I could only walk for one day before my life was taken, this would be worth it.”

  My throat tightened, and I couldn’t speak past the lump in it. I’d never understood the depth of his pain until that moment.

  He’d rather be dead than broken.

  Maybe I didn’t understand it because in his eyes I was broken, and. . . I didn’t let it stop me from living.

  And that’s when the penny dropped. “That’s why you hate me, isn’t it?”

  He looked up at me, a frown dragging his golden brows together. “What?”

  “You see me as broken, but I still live. I still fight to have a life even though I’m considered useless. You gave up. That’s why you hate me.”

  He closed his eyes. “I never hated you, Zam. I envied you. You lived with what you were. You never let it slow you down. I. . . I couldn’t get past my own brokenness.”

  A breath slid out of me. “Don’t do this, Bryce. I’d rather you were in my life for as long as possible in a chair, than healed for a short time. Please.” I dropped to my knees beside him, taking his hands in my own. “I’ll beg if I have to. You’re my family, the only family I have left.”

  He set the diamond in my lap and took one of my hands. “I know. But I can’t do this anymore, Zam. I was born to lead, to be an alpha. Not to be a burden on those I love.”

  “You can lead, even now,” I said, not caring that the others were all watching this family drama play out. I knew Lila would understand, and even Maks. Much as I didn’t want him to, I think he probably understood.

  Bryce looked up at me, sorrow flickering through his eyes. “Before I do this. . . Zam, in case it goes poorly. . . we had different mothers.”

  His words could not have slammed the breath from me any harder than if he’d punched me in the solar plexus. I struggled to speak.

  “What?”

  “My mother died when I was very young, and Dad found a new mate in part to take care of me. I never knew my mother, I only knew our mother. But. . . she was not like the rest of us.”

  I knew he was telling the truth. “And you waited to tell me because?”

  “Because it didn’t matter to me that you were different. You were my sister.” He lifted a hand and put his fingers under my chin. He opened his mouth as if to speak more, but Amalia interrupted.

  “Our time here is limited. And the one stone is not enough to warrant me healing you.”

  “Then take them both,” Bryce said.

  “No. You will perform a task for me.” She grinned at us. “That I will tell you after you are healed.”

  “No,” I said, but I was too late. She reached out and snatched Bryce up with one paw and then launched into the sky.

  I shot to my feet, screaming. “BRYCE!”

  Lila flew in my face, blocking me. “No, this is how she will heal him. She’ll use the lightning and her magic together.”

  I was shaking so hard, I didn’t notice Maks’s hand on my arm right away. And when I did, I didn’t pull away.

  “I fought the lion shifters, Zam. I didn’t kill any of them,” he said. “I was young and the sight of all that death changed me.”

  “You didn’t stop the other Jinn either, Maks.” I turned into him, resting my head on his shoulder. My rampant emotions and fear for Bryce were just too much. I couldn’t deny the comfort Maks was to me, how much he fit into my life. We might have been on opposite sides of the war, but that didn’t matter while I stood there, waiting to see what would happen to my brother.

  The diamond was cool in my hand and I let it drop to the ground. Maks’s arms swept around me, anchoring me. “He’ll be okay. He’s stronger than any other lion shifter.”

  I looked up at him and then to the sky above us. Lightning danced across the clouds, silhouetting Amalia here and there within the shadows. “He’ll die sooner because of this. I don’t want to lose him, Maks.”

  “It’s his life. Let him live it.” His eyes hardened a little. “He needs to make his choices like you make yours.”

  I pulled back from him. “He’s not your damn brother. You don’t get a say in this.”

  “And he’s not your child. Neither do you,” he barked. “You can’t make his choices for him, Zam. You can’t keep trying to protect him!”

  “It is my job!” I yelled back. “He’s all I’ve got.”

  Lila swept between us, back and forth. “That’s not true. You have me. And I think even though you’re fighting, you’ve got Maks too.”

  I turned away from her, shaking my head. “It isn’t like. . . he’s my brother, Lila.”

  I couldn’t find the words I needed to make it clear what I was feeling. Above us there came a roar and a boom of thunder that ma
de me reach for the handle of the flail.

  The boom was followed by a scream that made the hairs all over my body stand on end and a low hiss escaped me before I could catch it. “Lila, what is this?”

  “I don’t know.” She came to me, landing on my shoulder. “I don’t know what it means. Maybe she couldn’t heal him after all?”

  That was what I was afraid of. That if Amalia couldn’t heal Bryce, he’d tell her to drop him. To just end it.

  The scream cut off and the storm clouds peeled back so rapidly, there was no doubt it was Amalia and her magic. She spiraled her way down from where they’d disappeared. Bryce was still caught in her talon on her right side.

  I held my ground, Maks’s words ringing in my ears. I knew he was right, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. Amalia landed and let Bryce go.

  He crumpled to the ground, his legs useless under him.

  I stared at him lying there, remembering all too well what he’d asked of me. That if he couldn’t be healed, he wanted me to use my kukri blade on him.

  Could I do it, though? Could I kill my brother to save him from the pain of living?

  Chapter 22

  My brother lay on the forest floor in front of me, the big pearlescent dragon healer behind him. Surreal was the only word I could come up with for what was happening. Bryce had asked me to finish his life if he could not be healed.

  I put my hand to the kukri blade that rested in its sheath against my thigh. To use it on my brother. . . even though he’d asked—no, demanded—I do, I was not sure I was strong enough to follow through.

  But. . . that glimpse into his pain, that feeling of being broken, I understood, and I would do what I could to give him the peace he craved. It was the least I could do considering my part in his injury.

  No one spoke as I approached my brother. Not Maks, not Lila, and not Amalia. I made myself pull the knife and grip it loosely in my right hand. Lila stayed where she was, her tiny grip tightening and loosening over and over. Supporting me the only way she could.

  I went to one knee, pulled the blade and buried the tip of it into the frozen ground. “Bryce? Do you want me to end it still?”

  He lifted his head and pushed back to a sitting position, then pushed. . . up. Until he stood above me. Wobbling, but standing.

  My jaw dropped. “Holy shit, she did it.”

  Amalia snorted. “It was not what either of you thought. He was not truly wounded.”

  I stared up at her. “What the fuck did you just say?”

  She flopped down on her belly and stretched out, wrapping her tail and neck around our group, circling us close. “The wound in his back healed long ago. He had on him a gift from Ishtar. That ‘gift’ kept his legs from working.”

  Bryce yanked the necklace he wore, snapping the chain. From it hung a ring with the head of a lion etched into it. Just like mine. “She said it would help keep the pain at bay and keep the paralysis from spreading. I never showed you because. . . I thought it was a sign of weakness.”

  I just stared at it; how could I not? My mind was reeling with the implications. Of what Ish was trying to do, and why.

  Bryce slowly turned to look at me. “Why would Ish do this?”

  He might not know the answer, but I could feel it burning in my belly. “The jewels, this has all been about the jewels, Bryce. I was her thief. I proved it by getting that first diamond when I was supposed to stay in the Stockyards. As long as you were injured, I was guilty of damning your life to nothing. And I would deny her nothing if it meant she might be able to cure you.”

  Bryce reached for me and tugged me into a classic one-armed brother hug. “She used your guilt to do her dirty work and she kept me immobile for the same reason. To control us.”

  I wasn’t about to let the moment pass. I wrapped my arms around him, my head fitting under his chin. He sighed and put his other arm around me, and I admit, I might have clung to him, needing to feel his strength buoy my own.

  “We can never go back to the Stockyards,” I said.

  “I know. But I have a task yet to do.” He dropped his arms and stepped back, turning to face Amalia. “You are sure about everything then? What you saw and what it means for all of us?”

  “I am. The Emperor is waking even now. The magic in our world is growing and coursing over the land. There are very few that will be able to stand against him. You need four jewels, and four souls. You have two jewels.” She handed the sapphire to Lila.

  Then she tipped her head at the cracked diamond. “That one is for a male, one who is broken beyond repair.”

  Bryce grinned, still holding me with one arm. “Not it. Must be you, Maks.”

  I tensed, wondering if Bryce would remember that Amalia had called Maks a Jinn that was not a Jinn.

  My brother turned his face to Maks. “I’ll forgive you for being a Jinn only because you’ve kept her alive.”

  Me. Because Maks had kept me alive. “Hey, I saved his life, too, you know,” I said.

  Bryce tightened his arm on me. “I don’t doubt it, little lion.”

  My eyes welled up. That was what our father had called me. I was never just a house cat to him, but a miniature black lion.

  “Don’t cry. There is no crying in the desert.” Bryce chucked my chin with a finger.

  I pushed him with one hand, not hard enough to really even move him but it felt like we were young again, and safe, which was stupid considering everything. “We’re not in the desert, dummy.”

  He laughed, goddess, he laughed, and it was like the sun came out on my soul, warming it to the core. This was my brother, the one so quick to smile, so quick to protect others. I reluctantly let him go.

  “What is the task you have to do?” I asked.

  Amalia flicked the tip of her tail. “No, it is his task I gave him alone. He will know when the time comes.”

  I stared into her purple eyes and a shiver ran down my spine followed by a spark of strength that started in my belly and spread through me like liquid lightning. “If he dies for this task, I will come back for you, Amalia.”

  Maks groaned and even Lila gave a startled chirp.

  Amalia’s eyes narrowed. “You would threaten me?”

  “Get my brother killed, and it will not be a threat,” I said.

  She let out a low rumble. “You see now, Bryce?”

  I looked at my brother who was looking at me as if seeing me for the first time. “Yes. I see it.”

  What the hell were they talking about?

  Amalia pulled back from us. “You must gain the gemstone from the dragons. Ishtar left the three most powerful jewels to the end, and you need them all if you are to have even a hope of stopping the Emperor.”

  Lila flew up to her grandmother and sat on her muzzle. “Will the dragons be free of the gemstone’s curse if we take it?”

  “It will take time, but eventually, yes, it will fade. Do not touch that gemstone, Lila. It will devour you.” Amalia blew out a ring of smoke that floated up and over the two of them.

  Lila tucked her wings to her sides and dropped off her grandmother’s muzzle. “Then who should carry it?”

  “The Jinn who is not a Jinn. It will fit well with his abilities. Do not use it unless you must,” Amalia said.

  We all looked at Maks. He frowned. “Why are you doing this, old one? Why, when so many of the other dragons would have torn us apart?”

  “Those who live on the outskirts are not as affected by the power of the jewel. Those nearest the horde. . . they will not hesitate.” She tipped her head to one side. “Three of you can be small enough to slip in unnoticed.”

  She grinned at Bryce. He glared up at her. “You’re shitting me. I get my legs back and now you’re telling me I can’t use them?”

  “I am telling you the best way to get the four of you out alive. Four from the desert, remember that. And. . . watch out for Merlin.” She shook her head. “He thinks he is helping, but I am not sure he won’t make things worse.”


  Awesome, that was just what I wanted to hear. “But he’s not actively trying to hurt us?”

  Amalia snorted another smoke ring. “He is not. But he is the Emperor’s son and the one who put his father to sleep all those years ago. His father will be hunting for him to make him pay. There is nothing else I can tell you right now, except that your time is running short. If you wish to find those who were taken into the desert before they face the full wrath of the Jinn, you must go for the stone now.”

  How the hell had she known about Kiara? Or that Steve and Darcy had gone after her? A seer indeed then.

  Her body faded from sight, turning into a mist that blew away on a gust of wind before anything else could be said.

  I stared into the space where she’d been. Hope and fear warred inside my chest, and I decided right then that I would only let one of those emotions rule me, and it would not be fear.

  “Mount up. Let’s get this show on the road,” I said as I swung onto Balder’s back.

  Bryce laughed. “Dad loved that saying, didn’t he?”

  I grinned back at him. “I only use it because he liked it. I think it’s dumb.”

  Maks and Bryce did as I said, and it took me a moment to realize that Bryce hadn’t argued. He’d let me lead. I glanced at him and he gave me a nod. “Lead on. You’re in charge here, aren’t you?”

  My heart clenched, and my eyes filled up.

  He frowned. “No crying, I said!”

  “Then stop saying things you know will make me cry!” I shot back. I rubbed a hand across my nose and eyes, pushing the worst of the tears and snot away. “Lila, you lead us.”

  She flew backwards a few feet and winked at me. “I am on it, Alpha.”

  I pinched my lips together to keep back the exasperated snort that wanted to slip out of my mouth.

  Lila turned east and drew us back into the forest. The ice rain had left sheets of—you guessed it—ice dangling precariously from the tree branches. As soon as we stepped under the cover of the forest, the sound of snapping wood filtered through from every direction. “The ice rain, it’s dragging the trees down,” I said.

  Maks rode up beside me on my right, and Bryce to my left. Bryce looked around, his eyes never resting.