“What did your mother do?” he asked instead of commenting on her statement. Rhonda sighed.
“Nothing much, she tried her best I guess, but she was very young when she had me, and let’s just say she wouldn’t have won any mother of the year awards. That night I got away and you found me was the last straw. She couldn’t cope with me anymore, especially as she was convinced that I wasn’t normal. I mean, which normal two year old does nothing but talk about dragons, and insists on running off to see her dragon stone.” She mimed quotation marks around the two words and swiped away a lonely tear that had escaped her eyes with an angry gesture.
Drorgan fought the impulse to go to her and offer comfort. Besides he didn’t trust himself to touch her as a man and not act on the primitive need to fuck. So, instead he stayed where he was, balled his hands into fists, and waited for her to continue.
“To cut a long story short, she gave me up for adoption. Only with my history of hallucinations,” again with the mimed marks in the air, “well, with that, adoption was out of the question. I was shoved from one foster carer to the other, and by the time they moved me to London, and deemed me cured by the latest shrink, I was too old for anyone to want me.”
She shrugged her shoulders at his frown.
“Anyway, it was the making of me in the end. I ended up living on one the roughest estates in London, but Marie, my last foster mum, well she saw something in me that no one else did. She was this big, no-nonsense, tough as two boots black mama bear, who ruled us all with an iron fist. No one dared misbehave under Mama Marie. She made sure I went to school and studied hard, and she helped me get my first job in a library. I never looked back. Books never let you down, see, which is why this…” She threw her arms out to encompass the long room with its thousands of books, most of which had never been read as far as he knew. “This is wonderful. I meant it when I said I want to organize it for you. Please let me. It really is the least I can do. You saved my life, twice now, and Mama Marie would turn over in her grave, if she thought I wasn’t showing my gratitude somehow.”
When he continued to simply look at her she sighed.
“Please, let me. I promise I’ll stay out of your way. I know you spend a lot of time in here.” When he raised his eyebrows at that she smiled. “Magda told me, but you won’t even know I’m here. When I get engrossed in books, I forget everything else, and Magda said the library is in constant flux, so, apart from anything else, if we’re going to find a way to break the spell you’re under then I reckon searching through the vast information held in this library is the place to start, and undoubtedly where we find the answers. It’s what you have been doing, isn’t it?”
Drorgan shook his head and groaned.
“You shouldn’t listen to rumors, girl.”
Rhonda pushed away from the table and turned her back on him, while twisting her shiny mass of hair on top of her head, where she secured it with the ribbon which had held it at her nape before. The action exposed the delicate curve of her neck where it hit her spine and the rapidly beating pulse point there, that called him to taste, to lick her fragrant skin, until all thoughts of this hapless pursuit of breaking the spell had fled her brain.
“I’m not, listening to rumors, that is.” Rhonda spun back round to face him, effectively relieving him of having to make that decision. Of course now he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the round softness of her bosom. Perfectly showcased by the bodice that made up her gown, the globes quivered with her breathing and made concentrating on what she was telling him impossible.
He stopped trying and shook his head instead.
“Fine, have it your way.”
Judging by the shocked expression on her face she hadn’t expected him to agree to whatever he had just said yes to, and a cold sweat broke out between his shoulder blades, especially when she took a step toward him. Getting on tiptoes she brushed her lips against his, and his dragon roared. Her scent enveloped him. The soft weight of her breasts crushed against his chest, the nipples hard little nubs seemingly intent on leaving their mark on his skin. The first tentative flick of her tongue against his lips meant the end of what little control he had left. With a roar loud enough to rattle the window he grabbed her ass and hauled her up against him, while taking full advantage of her moan, he pressed his tongue past her lips, and took charge.
Curse it all to the four winds, if she didn’t go pliant against him, as he took the kiss deeper, exploring every hidden facet of her mouth with a desperate urgency that matched hers.
It was only when she brought her legs around his waist and ground her cunt against his cock while kissing him back that he came to his senses.
Drorgan broke the kiss, slid her down to the floor, stalked over to the window, and wrenching it open flung himself out into the afternoon sunshine. His dragon emerged, and taking a wide turn he swept past the window again. What he saw made him feel the worst bastard ever, because Rhonda had sunk to the floor, fingers held to her lips, and she was watching him fly past with wide eyes. Even from the distance he could see the tears shimmering in their depths. It was the quiet determination with which she pulled her shoulders back, as she scrambled to her feet that made up his mind for him. He would have to stay well away from her, because having tasted her once, there was no way he would be able to stop his dragon from claiming her, if he ever got that close to her again. And damn it, his little dragon was up to something.
****
Of course, staying away from her proved nigh on impossible, as the whole castle seemed to conspire at throwing them together at every given opportunity over the course of the next week. It seemed his loyal servants and the villagers alike had taken a shine to his little dragon, and wherever he turned, there she was. It meant he spent most of his time in his dragon form, observing from above, and damn him, if that wasn’t more torture than having to be confined in that blasted stone was.
The more he watched her, the more enamored he became until it was hard to remember why he was resisting this pull between them in the first place. Far from looking out of place in his castle, Rhonda made it her home, and that meant her alluring scent was everywhere. Add to that the fact that she seemed to have taken little Geva under her wing … yes, it made him have all sorts of happy-ever-after thoughts that he had no right to be thinking.
The little girl lapped up Rhonda’s attention, and guilt gnawed at his insides, whenever she curved her lips into that lopsided imitation of a smile she was reduced to thanks to the scarring on her face. Previously unable to communicate due to the injuries she had suffered, he watched in stunned fascination as Rhonda taught her a basic system of sign language—out of a book found in the library—which meant Geva’s fingers never stopped flying. It was easy enough to pick up, and everyone who came in contact with Rhonda and Geva soon managed to learn the basics. As for him, he’d spent one night ensconced in the book to be able to understand their increasingly animated conversations.
What he’d learned had made him want to seek out Geva’s mother and kill the bitch on the spot. However, that would further cement him as the monster Cheryladna painted him to her daughter, so he resisted that impulse, and kept up his silent watch of the woman and child, who continued to confound him.
Just like she’d promised Rhonda spruced up the library, with Geva her ever-eager helper. It had to take Rhonda three times as long to let Geva help, yet she never lost her patience, always finishing the morning in the library by reading something to the little girl out of the fairytales section. Their firm favorite seemed to be a tale called “Beauty and the Beast”.
Drorgan was uncomfortably aware that a certain similarity existed between what was happening here at the castle and the oft repeated words Rhonda read to Geva.
That stuff and nonsense aside, he had to admit they’d done a sterling job of setting the library to rights. Everything was now catalogued and easy to find, and while new books and newspapers still magically appeared overnight, come morning the seeming
ly unstoppable Rhonda/Geva team had put them away. They marked the passage of time as surely as the clock on the nearby church tower, and made his dragon more and more anxious and restless.
He’d been hovering outside the library windows when he’d caught Rhonda reading the latest newspaper addition. Dated the day he’d whisked her away, he knew better than anyone what that meant. His time at the castle was up. It was somewhat of a miracle that he hadn’t felt the pull to return to the stone yet. Normally, the minute that blasted newspaper turned up, his dragon felt compelled to return.
Fighting that pull was out of the question, and would only result in Drorgan doubling over in pain, until he couldn’t stand it anymore, at which point he’d wake up cast in the stone for another miserable twenty-five years, with the knowledge that his entire castle and surrounding lands was also cast into suspended animation. While for them, at least, the passage of time was not noticeable, he felt the weight of that responsibility more than ever.
Raised voices made him swoop lower to investigate what all the commotion was about, and his dragon released a stream of fire when he saw Rhonda engaged in a heated discussion with none other Cheryladna. What in all that was holy was the blasted woman up to now? She’d been banned from castle grounds, not that she was on the grounds per se, and neither was Rhonda. Damn her, didn’t she know how treacherous the cliffs could be, especially wet as they were from the earlier rain they’d had?
Rhonda’s heated defense of him warmed his soul, even as his dragon screeched his alarm when Cheryladna clenched her fists and made a lunge for his girl. Rhonda sidestepped, and the other woman would have fallen over the cliff, had Rhonda not grabbed hold of her. It placed her at a precarious angle and slipping down the grassy side in increments.
Damn the foolish girl. She ought to just let Cheryladna fall to her death, but then that wouldn’t be his little dragon’s way. With another fiery exhale that burnt the last of the moisture off the cliffs he swooped down claws extended to put an end to this nonsense. He just prayed he wouldn’t hurt Rhonda in the process.
****
All the air left Rhonda’s lungs as she slid further down the grassy incline in an effort to hold onto the woman who for all and intents and purposes had tried to push her of the cliff. Had Rhonda not managed to get out of the way, she would have killed her, yet she couldn’t let Geva’s mother fall to her death. She would never forgive herself if she did so, and there had been enough deaths on her conscience lately.
While Rhonda had tried her best to block out the hideous details of the attack on her person, the newspaper article she’d read that very morning had brought it all back. Tucked away in the local section, it had been no more than a few lines, marked Tragic Motorbike Collision, but she’d read the body count. Four youths dead, another two seriously injured, because of her. Or rather Drorgan’s defense of her.
While she did not blame him one little bit for his actions, she couldn’t stop blaming herself. Had she not walked home that night, none of this would have happened. It all seemed so long ago now on one hand, yet it wasn’t, not really. Caught in this bubble of magical existence here at the castle, she had almost forgotten about her life back home. Only twenty-four hours had passed in her realm, compared to the weeks she’d been here, and Rhonda wasn’t ready for it all to end. Not that any of that would matter soon, for the way she was slipping down another inch she would soon be fish food at the bottom of the cliffs. It was a sobering thought, that, should she die here, no one would truly miss her, apart from little Geva. She had grown incredibly fond of the bright little girl since she’d gotten to know her, and it was for that reason that she hung on tighter. The woman she was attempting to save might be a bitch with a capital B, but she was the only relative Geva had.
Cheryladna flapped about like the proverbial fish out of water, further ensuring their downward descent, while screeching like a banshee and clawing Rhonda’s wrist to pieces with her long fingernails.
“Stop struggling for heaven’s sake, you daft cow. You’ll make us both fall.” Rhonda’s murmurs were drowned out by the almighty roar of Drorgan’s dragon self, and Rhonda had never been so glad to feel the heat of his fiery breath as she was now. Thank goodness, he was close by. In the next instant she lost her hold on Cheryladna, as her very own fierce dragon protector scooped the woman up and unceremoniously dumped her back on the path. Cheryladna erupted into a stream of curses, not that Rhonda was listening, because the grass verge under her gave way, and she screwed her eyes shut against the sickening feeling of falling, before strong hands grasped her round the middle and she found herself hauled up against the length of Drorgan. Back in his human form he looked murderous, as confirmed by the shake he gave her.
“Damn it, woman, what were you thinking? These paths are slippery when wet, and you don’t know your way around. If I hadn’t been here…”
Teeth chattering together with the force he used, Rhonda couldn’t form a reply, and his dragon roared when Cheryladna intervened, or tried to anyway. Drorgan spun Rhonda around, pushed her up against the rock side, and snarled at Cheryladna.
“Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t throw you off this cliff right now. I told you to stay away from my woman.”
Rhonda’s heart beat a little faster at the possessive words. He sounded as though he meant them, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, but still was. After all he’d done his best to avoid her, choosing to hover close by in his dragon form only, as though he didn’t trust himself around her as a man.
To be fair, Rhonda wasn’t sure she wouldn’t have thrown herself at him otherwise. That incredible kiss they’d shared still made her lips tingle in remembered pleasure. As unexpected as it had been passionate, it had only cemented her belief that Drorgan and she belonged together, and come what may she would ensure they would break this spell.
Cheryladna’s pain filled cry shook her out of her lust fueled imaginations of a future with her dragon. Right now, Drorgan looked indeed ready to throw Cheryladna off the cliff, and Rhonda couldn’t let him do that.
“Drorgan, let her go. You can’t. Think of Geva. She needs her mother.” Rhonda grasped hold of Drorgan’s huge biceps in an effort to pull him off the other woman, and dread curled around her spine at the poisonous look Cheryladna threw her way. Whatever had she done to her to earn herself such hatred?
“Yes, do listen to your new whore.”
Rhonda gasped at the insult, and Drorgan pushed the woman away from him. Cheryladna ended up in a heap on the dirt, flashing her pale, thin limbs in the process.
“Get the fuck away, and stay away. My patience with you is at its end. If I see you again, I will kill you, woman.”
“You wouldn’t dare. Who would look after your deformed offspring then?”
Drorgan reared back as though she had slapped him, and the air sizzled around him as his dragon roared his anger.
“Geva is not mine, you said so. I would have known…”
Cheryladna simply smiled and shrugged her bony shoulders.
“And like the fool you are you believed me. Of course she’s yours. Fucking little half-breed. Why else do you think she survived being exposed to your fire? She should have gone up in smoke, but she didn’t. That’s when I knew she was yours, and I was just waiting for the right moment to tell you. You harmed your own daughter, Lord Drorgan. And you think this pathetic little human is going to save you? Don’t make me laugh.”
She struggled to her feet and brushed the dirt off her skirts.
“You’re nothing but a monster, and you always will be.”
Drorgan’s shoulders slumped, and he shook Rhonda’s arm off him with a low growl. Before she could say or do anything, he stepped off the cliff, changing into his dragon mid-fall. No matter how many times she had seen the transformation now, the shift into his dragon still took her breath away. Seeing him soar through the skies was just utterly magnificent.
“Yeah, fly away. Go, not that you’ll get very far. That stone is
waiting.”
Rhonda tore her eyes away from Drorgan and glared at Cheryladna.
“He’s not the monster, you are. How could you keep his own daughter from him like that? Have you no heart?”
Cheryladna spat on the floor and sneered.
“It’s what he deserves. Do you think I had a choice in becoming his mistress? The great and all powerful Lord Drorgan demands, he gets. My own husband handed me to him like mere chattel, when the high and mighty Lord took a shine to me.” She glared up at Drorgan circling above them. “Still, I had the last laugh. Neither one of them had any idea how many lovers I had along the way. Anyone could have been Geva’s father, and the fucking stable boy would have been preferable to him.”
A stream of fire erupted over their heads at her hateful words, and Rhonda jumped as burning foliage rained down on them.
“In truth I had no idea who the father was, but I made them both believe that she was my husband’s. It helped that she was born early, and sickly, so no one suspected, apart from me. She shouldn’t have lived, but she pulled through anyway, and everyone, every fucking one doted on her. Miss Geva this, Miss Geva that. Well, I couldn’t have that, could I? I had to do something, so when he was due to visit that night, I made sure he would find me in bed with one of my lovers. He was furious, of course, threw that fool off the tower, and when her nursemaid sent Geva to me as she was instructed to…”
Another howl of the huge dragon above them shook the ground, and Rhonda knew just how he must feel at this moment.
“No, you didn’t … you…” Rhonda couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The woman had engineered her own daughter’s accident? Drorgan’s furious shriek trembled through her, and the ground shook as his massive form settled on the cliffs above them, dislodging stone and earth which fell between them, as the whole cliff shifted underneath their feet. Heedless of the imminent danger Cheryladna laughed.
The Dragon in the Stone Page 8
