by Alisa Woods
Those dark thoughts were pushed aside when they arrived at a hefty wooden door.
Leonidas rapped on it then smiled at her, slipping an arm around her waist and snuggling even closer to her side. His touch was reassuring.
The door creaked open with Lucian behind it. “Thank magic, you’re here,” he said with a broad smile. “Arabella’s going out of her mind waiting for you.”
“I am not!” a voice yelled in from inside the lair. Arabella strode out from the receiving room which Rosalyn could just glimpse over Lucian’s shoulder. Arabella was carrying a large bundle of fluffy blanket. “I just can’t wait to meet my future sister-in-dragon-mating” She quickly reached the door and threw a one-armed hug around Rosalyn.
It wasn’t until the bundle in her arm squirmed a little that Rosalyn realized—it was a baby.
“Oh!” Rosalyn said, pulling back and staring. “It’s the, um… baby prince.” He was so much bigger than the last time she’d seen him, just two weeks ago—he seemed twice the size now. How was that even possible?
Arabella grinned. “His name is Larik, and yes, he’s a prince. Only a month old, and already charming everyone, just like Daddy.” Her eyes shone with motherly pride, and Rosalyn could see why—Larik was ridiculously cute. Rosy cheeks. Flawless skin. Giant blue eyes peering up at her with such steadiness she was sure the baby was peeking into her soul.
What did he see there? The thought gave her the chills. He was a dragon prince of the House of Smoke, just like Leonidas—could he sense the demon inside her, too?
An awkward silence had fallen among the four of them. Rosalyn was too quiet. “He’s… he’s beautiful. Truly.” Holy magic, she was screwing this up already.
Arabella beamed. “Would you like to hold him?”
Rosalyn shot a panicked look at Leonidas, but he had a smile like the sun. He reached for the baby, and Arabella handed him over. Leonidas held him like he’d been cradling babies in the crook of his arm all his life.
Rosalyn just stared.
He gave her a fake look of amazement. “I know, right? Babies are intimidating as fuck.”
“Leonidas!” Arabella scowled. “You need to cure that sailor mouth before Larik starts to talk.”
He gave her a look like she was crazy. “How will he ever learn to curse?”
Lucian was stifling a laugh. “Probably from his mother while she’s in my bed.”
“Oh my God!” Arabella threw her arms up in outrage then planted her hands on her hips. “That’s it, you’re on baby duty, Leonidas Smoke. I’m taking Rosalyn away from you foul-mouthed cretins before she regrets this whole thing.” Arabella beckoned Rosalyn away from the threshold of the lair where they were still standing.
Rosalyn glanced at Leonidas, but he only had eyes for the baby.
“Did you miss me, buddy?” Leonidas asked.
The baby had that soul-piercing stare again, only directed at Leonidas now.
“See?” Lucian said, fluttering his fingers, trying to catch the baby’s attention. “He’s all about you, man, anytime you’re here.”
“His magic’s getting stronger, too.” Leonidas was so damn cute with that kid… Rosalyn couldn’t even imagine what it would be like when he had his own.
Arabella wrapped her arm around Rosalyn’s and tugged her down the hall. “Do you see what I have to put up with?” she said quietly, guiding her out into their receiving room. It was more lavishly decorated than even Leonidas’s lair, a mixture of modern, comfortable-looking sofas and ancient tapestries on the walls and floor. A towering two-story fireplace roared in the center, blazing heat out into the room, which sparkled with all kinds of gold trim, from the vase holding fresh flowers to the gilt-framed painting of a royal couple over the mantle.
Arabella led her to the couch and gestured for her to sit down. The men stayed by the front door with the baby, quietly talking. Rosalyn couldn’t make out their words, but it was the same light banter.
“It’s a good thing I don’t have to be queen,” Rosalyn said, but the tension had drained from her shoulders. “I’m not even sure I’ll know how to be a mom.”
Arabella smiled gently. “You figure it out pretty fast. And with all these dragons around…” She shook her head, still smiling. “The biggest danger is getting lost in all the pampering.”
Rosalyn nodded. “Leonidas already takes care of, well, all my needs.”
Arabella gave her a knowing look. “That mated sex… they really can’t get enough of it.” She leaned forward and dropped her voice. “And it doesn’t stop when the baby’s born. They’re sex machines, I tell you.”
Rosalyn flushed and tentatively smiled, all at once. Or maybe the heat was from the fireplace was burning her cheeks. But a cold prickle of sweat at the back of her neck said it was legitimately hot in here. Or at least, she was. “They do have a one-track mind,” she said, but it felt weak. The heat was getting oppressive. “Did you ever feel like… like it’s too much?”
Arabella frowned. “I was definitely stir-crazy during the pregnancy if that’s what you mean.” She shook her head. “There’s only so much lovemaking before you need to do something else.”
Rosalyn sighed with relief. “So it’s not just me.” Or the demon, as she feared.
“God, no!” Then Arabella’s expression went serious. “But you’ve already met Zephan, so you know how dangerous this business of having a dragonling in the House of Smoke can be. Just don’t do anything foolish like leave the keep. Trust me, it’s not worth it.”
Rosalyn frowned, but before she could ask what had happened, the men returned, the baby now cradled in Lucian’s arms.
“I think our prince is hungry,” he said as he bent down where Arabella sat on the couch and handed over little Larik.
“Time for magic milk!” Arabella smirked at Rosalyn’s wide-eyed expression. “Don’t even ask what happens when you feed a dragonling formula.”
“Okay.” Except now Rosalyn was dying to know.
Leonidas was holding back a laugh.
Lucian settled into the couch next to Arabella, looping an arm around her shoulders as she discretely loosened her shirt to feed the baby. Rosalyn rose up from sitting, feeling suddenly awkward like she should leave and give them some privacy, but no one else was going anywhere. Still, she joined Leonidas next to the fire.
He was gazing at Arabella feeding her baby with such a soft look that Rosalyn felt a strange twinge inside. Was she jealous? That seemed crazy, but there was a dark stirring that had her slipping under Leonidas’s arm and watching the baby-feeding. It was so natural the way the three of them—Lucian, Arabella, and baby Larik—fit together, cuddled up on the couch. That jealousy grew like a dark fire, heating her up from the inside out.
A trickle of sweat worked its way down her chest, hidden by her t-shirt, but tickling the small mound of her belly. Arabella had survived her pregnancy with a magical dragonling, and now she and Lucian had the perfect little family. Larik was such a gorgeous baby, and Lucian doted on them both. The longing in Leonidas’s eyes as he watched them… what if Rosalyn failed to give him this? What if she couldn’t make a baby, all because of this demon inside her? A demon that was so much a part of her that all Leonidas’s magical fae powers couldn’t separate them.
And what would it do to Leonidas if he lost both her and the baby?
He would die. She knew it in her bones.
She held all their lives in her hands… and she was polluted with demon. A demon that grew every day and now, she was certain, was infecting her baby as well.
Each second that ticked by, she was more certain she would never have this, never be this smiling family on the couch. Just as she would never be in a coven. Never be a true witch.
She would die before any of that happened because, ultimately, she was damaged goods inside. Was that why her father rejected her all along? Because she wasn’t good enough?
The heat grew inside her. Too hot. Like a boiling volcano of jealousy was churnin
g in her chest. She edged out from under Leonidas’s arm and stepped away from the fireplace. It was just that—just the radiant heat of the flames—not the demon. At least, she told herself that as she pretended to examine the tapestry by the tall, thin window to one side of the receiving room.
“You okay?” Leonidas asked from behind her. He kept his voice quiet, not disturbing the perfect family on the couch.
The heat inside her was still burning, but some of it morphed into tears that pricked the corners of her eyes. “I’m fine.” But even she could hear the half-sob in her voice.
Leonidas’s arm slipped around her shoulders. “My love, what is it?” He stood by her side, gazing out the window with her. Lucian’s lair overlooked the courtyard, but they were high enough to see the forest beyond the walls of the keep.
“What if I’m broken?” she whispered without looking at him.
He turned her to face him and took her cheeks in his hands. “You’re not broken.” Then he scowled. “You’re warm.” He brushed her hair back from her face and kissed her forehead. “Too warm. I don’t like it.”
She pulled away from his touch. “I’m fine.” But a fever chill ran through her, and her skin felt like she’d just stepped in from the Mojave desert, all parched and tight with heat.
“You’re not fine.” His scowl grew darker. “Rosalyn, you have to tell me if you’re—”
A pounding on the door to the lair cut him off. His attention whipped that direction, along with Lucian, who was instantly on his feet. The two exchanged a look, then Lucian took off for the door. They must have sensed something with those magic fae senses.
Leonidas ducked his head and whispered, “It’s just Leksander. But he’s brought someone with him.” He pursed his lips.
Arabella finished feeding Larik. She was on her feet again, holding the baby snuggled up against her chest.
“Someone who?” Rosalyn asked Leonidas.
“An angeling named Erelah.” His scowl turned to the entranceway as his brothers, Leksander and Lucian, rounded the corner, already having a tautly-whispered conversation. But behind them…
An unearthly beautiful woman strode into the room, her blonde hair floating behind her in a magical wind. She was ethereally thin and yet voluptuous in a way that wasn’t hidden at all by her clothes—because she barely had any. Thin white strips of gossamer fabric comprised a skirt that mostly didn’t cover her legs. They gathered at the waist and met two looser pieces of fabric that clung desperately to her breasts, barely staying in place with each bounce.
The woman’s blue-eyed gaze immediately zeroed in on Rosalyn. “Is this the one?” she asked, her tone at once incredulous and disgusted.
“What is this?” Leonidas demanded of Leksander. Leonidas slipped his arm back around Rosalyn’s shoulders.
His brother stopped arguing with Lucian and held out his hands to Leonidas and Rosalyn. “Markos insisted on coming.” It was an apology or perhaps an explanation.
“Who’s Markos?” Rosalyn asked. But the fury on the angeling’s face was surging up a dark anger inside of Rosalyn’s chest. This Ereleh person was judging her, two seconds in the door, and finding her lacking in every possible way.
“Markos is an angel,” Leonidas said quickly. Louder, he growled to Leksander, “And we don’t need him here. So tell him to fuck off.”
“I tried,” Leksander said, panic in his eyes as Erelah slowly paced toward Rosalyn. “He insisted on sending a representative—”
Lucian growled his frustration. “Leksander.” He hurried over to stand by Leonidas’s side.
“I don’t understand,” Rosalyn said, but everything inside her was screaming run… or maybe attack. Anything but stand here, waiting as Erelah advanced. The look on her face was that of a lion stalking a gazelle.
And Rosalyn was the prey.
“Stay back,” Leonidas warned the angeling.
She didn’t look at him, just hissed, “You mate with demons, now?”
Oh, fuck. “I’m not a demon!” But Rosalyn’s voice was hiked up with fear.
“No fucking way,” Leonidas whispered angrily to Lucian.
“I’m not letting her pass,” Lucian said, standing between them and Erelah.
The righteous fury on Erelah’s face was even more chilling as she got closer. She flicked her wrist, seeming to swipe at the many long, flowing strips of her skirt, but somehow, a glittering crystal knife appeared in her hand.
“Erelah, no,” Leksander cried out and leaped in front of her, blocking her path.
Erelah stopped, blade raised, flipping it back and forth, as if she couldn’t decide just the right way to hold it… but it was obvious she meant to bury the blade into Rosalyn. The angeling was still a dozen feet away, but Rosalyn could feel the angel’s blade singing—it was more like a high-pitched keening that reverberated throughout Rosalyn’s body, almost painful in its intensity. It shook her with a bone-chilling fear, and the darkness inside her surged. Heat flushed through her body like a rolling fireball looking for release.
“Why do you stop me?” Erelah demanded of Leksander. “You know what has to be done.”
“I won’t let you.” Leonidas’s brother stood his ground, but Rosalyn wasn’t at all sure it was enough. Even with all three dragon brothers between her and the angel blade, it was still causing an inferno of terror inside her body. Leonidas tucked her behind him, but she could still see the fury on the angeling’s face and feel the singing of her blade.
“I will not kill her, Leonidas,” Erelah said, like his protection of Rosalyn was baffling her. “I will only exorcise the demon.”
“She’s a purebred witch,” he said. “You’ll destroy her magic. You’ll destroy her, Erelah.”
Her nose wrinkled in disgust. “She is useless for the treaty like this.”
“That’s not for you to decide!” Leonidas roared out.
Useless for the treaty… what did that mean?
They kept arguing, but Rosalyn shrunk behind Leonidas. Suddenly, it was hard to breathe. Was the demon killing her baby? Was the darkness inside her going to destroy everything? Would she lose it all just because she wanted it all too much?
The volcano of jealousy roiled inside her anew, building from her toes up through her belly where she felt, for the first time, a tiny little kick. The baby. It was inside her, burning with this heat that was scorching her lungs and everything else.
“No, no, no,” Rosalyn whispered, backing away from Leonidas’s protective stance in front of her. She could go nowhere, just flatten up against the window. She was burning up inside. So hot, so hot. She tore at her clothes, wrenching her t-shirt away from her, but it was fighting her, and the heat was making her writhe. “So hot! Ahhh!” She tried to keep the flaming madness inside her, but it welled up from somewhere deep… suddenly, her cry wrenched out of her. Her head tipped back, letting the scream loose.
“Rosalyn!” Just as Leonidas reached her, a roaring stream of dragonfire erupted from her mouth, shooting high to the ceiling and rolling blue magic along the timbers and tapestries.
Everything burst into flame.
Then all tension left her body.
She slumped to the floor.
Leonidas’s panicked face loomed above her just before the blackness closed in.
Leonidas ran through the keep like he was on fire.
Only it was Rosalyn in his arms burning up. He would have conjured a bath of ice water for her in Lucian’s lair, but he wasn’t thinking straight, and by the time his panicked mind realized that, he was already to the pool next to the royal couple’s lair. He waded straight in, clothes and all, immersing her as quickly as he could.
She was still limp in his arms.
“Please, Rosalyn, please.” He wasn’t really speaking to her, just frantically mumbling as he pulled her soaked jeans and t-shirt from her body. Her wet hair clung to the sides of her face, her head lolling against him as he held her in the water, submerged all the way to her neck. Her clothes
floated free, drifting toward the stone blocks at the edges. His family stood on deck, watching. Leksander was conjuring the pool colder, so cold it made Leonidas’s teeth chatter even as his dragon heat protected him from the chill. Lucian and Arabella huddled nearby with baby Larik, watching as Leonidas stroked Rosalyn’s scorching hot face, begging her to live.
Erelah perched at the far edge of the pool near the steps, wide-eyed.
“Get out!” he growled at her, but she didn’t move. And he didn’t have energy to waste on her.
Not that he could actually do anything for Rosalyn. He could taste the demon surging inside her, brought to life by the nearness of the angel blade or whatever else had triggered it. He could reach inside her with his fae abilities and pump her full of dragon magic, only the dragon part of her was raging out of control to battle the demon… and that was precisely what was burning her alive from the inside out.
There was literally nothing he could do.
He sobbed and cupped water with his hand, gently splashing it against her face. It steamed off her skin, and the pool water churned with the heat of her body.
He held her close, her skin scorching his. “Rosalyn, please,” he whispered into her wet hair, eyes squeezed shut because he couldn’t bear to watch. “Come back to me.”
A splash forced his eyes open.
His family was still on the deck. It took Rosalyn actually squirming in his arms for him to realize it was her.
He sucked in a shaky breath. “Rosalyn.”
She frowned and whipped her head back and forth, eyes still closed. Her skin was hot as a furnace, but she seemed to fight it… or perhaps this was the end. He choked up and held her head above water as she thrashed, struggling to keep back his own tears.
“I’m here, my love,” he whispered. “I’m here.”
