Dragon's Heart

by LaVerne Thompson

  “I’m sure. You need one of us with power.”

  “And you do have power. What worries me is although the stench of the silver dragon is around this portal, he did not return to Earth. I think this is where he left and he may have had help from this side. That would explain the blood, a sacrifice in an attempt to open the portal.”

  “Is the betrayer the one that won’t let us close the portal?” Darryl asked.

  “No. That wasn’t his magicks at work. It’s the magicks in the other realm. But it doesn’t matter; he will not be able to break the seal. Not from the other side.”

  “But it can be broken from this side.”

  “Yes,” Draakar replied. “Using Earth magicks, but it would have to be very powerful magicks.”

  “Then it’s even more important one of your Firsts stays to keep an eye on things, at least for awhile.”

  “All right,” Draakar reluctantly agreed. “We’ll drop you off at the hotel. By the time we get there I will have everything in place. Tonight there will be two others who will join you who are strong in the blood. Train them. If you need help, call on Talon. He’ll remain in Ireland for some time and run the brethren worldwide business, but I’ll have you head the Akgon Enterprises here in the U.S. and you can report to Talon and have full access to all the necessary resources. Also there maybe other brethren on Akgon who would like to cross over and you can help them here. Whenever you’re ready to come to Akgon, get to the Stones and either Talon or I will bring you across.”

  They said their goodbyes in front of the hotel and returned to the car, waiting to take them to the airport and back to Ireland.

  “Do you think he’ll be all right?” Maya asked after they’d boarded the plane.

  “As long as the seal holds, and it will, he’ll be fine. Even if the betrayer finds someway to breach it, Darryl is very powerful and will be able to hold it in place with the help of the brethren I’ve awakened until additional help can get here.” He paused and took her hand. “Come, my love, let’s go home.”

  “Back to Akgon castle?” Maya asked.

  “No.” Draakar waited to see if she would put voice to what he already knew worried her. When she remained silent, he kissed her fingers and continued. “It’s time to go home. I must and I need you with me. I want to show you Akgon.”

  She squeezed his hand. “I know. And I want to go with you. It’s just…”

  “I know, beloved, and understand. But you have nothing to fear.”

  Maya released some of her anxiety, knowing he understood. “It’s just hard to leave my world.”

  “We’ll come back from time to time. And I know your parents will come with us when we leave, and they’re more than welcome.”

  “Yes, at least for awhile. I can’t see my dad leaving his volunteer charities or my mother leaving her friends for any significant amount of time. But don’t worry, we’ll take it one step at a time. Just know when you leave I will be by your side. That’s where I want to be. I just hope the brethren accept me.”

  Draakar pulled her closer to his side. At last she’d admitted the real issue. Maya still didn’t understand. Not only would they accept her, but she would be their queen. Her very existence on Akgon would save their world. They would love her for that alone, but they would love her even more for herself—her warmth and her caring, generous nature. She helped his son with no thought to herself, and she had been willing to help him when she hadn’t been sure of him. He opened himself fully to her, and let her hear his thoughts and examine his feelings so there would be no doubt in her head or heart of her place in his life.

  “Thank you,” she said. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

  “Not since last night.”

  “Well, I love you. Let’s go home.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “Are you sure you won’t come with us?” Maya asked Talon for the third time.

  “Maya,” Talon replied smiling, “yes, I’m sure. I have to be here for her if she needs me.” He spoke of his truemate. Maya smiled, glad for him.

  Draakar had decided to tell him they had seen her at the airport, but he had not been able to locate her since then. The same way Maya had initially blocked her presence from Draakar, Talon’s mate also seemed able to block him as well as Draakar. They thought she could do this partly because she was a child and not completely awakened to her powers yet, and it also acted as a defense mechanism. Her block protected her from any other magicks searching for her, including the silver dragon. But Draakar had established a connection with her, so if she called to him, he would be able to find her. When she got older, so would Talon.

  “I know you have to stay, it’s just that…” Maya’s voice trailed off.

  Talon hugged her. “You’ll be fine. You’ll make a great queen. Tell Valour I said so.”

  Maya smiled. “I guess I can’t put this off any longer.”

  “No,” Draakar said, coming to stand behind her, “you can’t.” He wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back into his embrace.

  “Well then, what are we waiting for?” she said. “I’ve kept the others waiting long enough. Let’s go.”

  Draakar transferred himself, Maya, and Talon to the circle. Maya’s parents were already there; each held a suitcase. Cass stood next to Ian. Robert and James stood apart from the others but approached as their Lord and Lady appeared.

  Maya stepped out of Draakar’s embrace to hug James goodbye.

  “Take care, lassie,” James said, kissing Maya’s cheek. “And don’t worry about a thing. Everything will be fine.”

  “That’s right,” Robert agreed, also kissing Maya’s cheek and shaking Draakar’s hand. “We’ll take care of everything at this end.”

  “I know you will,” Draakar stated. “There will be other brethren crossing over. As my Firsts they will answer to you and Talon. Help them to adjust and whenever you all wish to cross over, I will know.”

  Draakar looked over at Maya. “It is time.”

  “Wait,” Cass said. “Where are your bags? Aren’t you taking anything with you?” Cass held two bags in her hand and one of the suitcases Ian held also belonged to her.

  Maya smiled. “I already have everything I’ll need.” Maya had decided she would live as the brethren lived. She dressed from an image Draakar had provided for her of the types of garments the women on Akgon wore—a very sheer, sleeveless, ankle length gown, woven with golden thread, with one slit at the side, but you could not see through it. It reminded Maya of a Roman toga, but this dress wrapped around her curves and moved as she walked. Maya felt beautiful in it and by the look in Draakar’s eyes when she first showed it to him, he agreed.

  Around her throat she wore a torque Draakar had given her the night before. He also now wore a matching one around his neck. Hers was made of onyx in the shape of a dragon with emerald eyes, whose tail wrapped around her neck. Draakar’s was bronze, with a gold-tipped tail, and his dragon had golden eyes.

  Maya briefly wondered if their daughter’s eyes would be the color of her father’s or her mother’s. She had to stifle a sharp intake of breath, and her hand flew to cover her stomach. She was pregnant. How did she know? She just did…and…it was a girl child. She smiled.

  Their first time together in the realm of the mist, she had conceived. She glanced quickly at her mate. He didn’t know, but he was a little busy just then. Maya would tell him once they were on Akgon. Their child would be born there.

  Once again Draakar shone when he called his powers and the magicks of the Stones, to open the gate.

  When the gray mass appeared, Maya gasped. “You…you did that alone!”

  “Yes. My powers have actually been growing. I can open the gate alone now, and I think so can you. Now help me get everyone safely across.” He raised his hand and she placed her palm in his.

  She had forgotten about the bond. The moment he touched her, he knew too. We’re having a child, a daughter. His voice sounded hoarse in her mind. She
nodded at him in confirmation. His smile matched the golden light surrounding them as they watched her parents, then Ian and Cass, walk into the gray cloud.

  Together, beloved. Shall we?

  Let’s.

  Maya wasn’t sure what to expect when she stepped into the cloud with Draakar, however it was not the sensation of her body moving forward. Her legs remained standing still but her feet no longer stood on solid ground. Draakar remained beside her, his hand clasped tightly in hers but she couldn’t see him. Maya could see nothing but bright light. Then suddenly the brightness dissipated and she could see color, the colors of the rainbow, and her feet rested on solid ground once again.

  She blinked to adjust her sight and saw they stood out in the open surrounded by what appeared to be a circle of stones, like on Earth, but looming just beyond the circle a fortress rose made of stone of gigantic proportions. She looked up. The sky would take a little getting used to. A light purple, and not the blue her mind kept insisting it should be. She turned around to examine the width of the fortress but her eyes slid past it and she kept turning into a half circle. Her lips parted.

  The circle of stones and fortress stood on top of a plateau. But it no longer claimed her attention. She walked beyond the perimeter of the stones and looked down. Before her on bended knees, were thousands of brightly dressed brethren in human form.

  “What…what’s going on?” a stunned Maya asked. “What are they doing?”

  “They are paying homage to their queen, to you.” Draakar replied in a husky voice.

  “Did you…did you tell them to do this?” she gasped. “Do they know I’m pregnant?”

  “No, how could they? We only both just realized it. They do this on their own, for you.”

  Draakar kissed her hand before raising it above their heads. My brethren, I give you your queen, Maya.

  Several thousand heads raised and their voices chanted “Maya” to the purple heavens of Akgon.

  Maya looked down through the tears in her eyes at the happy excited faces and felt as though she had come home. She saw her parents in the front of the crowd along with their Firsts beside them.

  I’ve come home.

  The noise the brethren made at her declaration rose even stronger.

  Yes, you have, Maya. Yes you have.

  Nine months later…

  The cry of the child could be heard throughout the realm. A new brethren had been born to the Dark Lord and his queen. The dragons raised their heads and roared in celebration. But within the walls of the castle, Draakar’s advisor beheld the female child for the first time and clutching at his heart, stumbled backward before fainting.

  An exhausted fearful Maya cradled her child closer to her breast as Draakar and Valour’s seer sisters bent to take care of Valour.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Draakar demanded. “What did he see?”

  “I do not know, Lord,” the oldest of the three sisters replied. “But he saw something.”

  Sherri came running into the room; she had stepped out for a few minutes after delivering the child. Draakar had summoned her before Valour even hit the floor.

  She rushed to his side and Paul stood framed in the doorway. They were never far apart. “What happened?” Sherri asked.

  Draakar answered, “We’re not sure, but I think he had a vision.”

  Maya spoke in a soft voice from the bed. “Sherri, he was looking at the baby when he just kinda staggered away, and his eyes rolled back into his head before he passed out.”

  “Ooooh…”

  All heads turned toward the sound of the groan. Valour moved, raised his hand toward his head and opened his eyes. “Oh my, what…what happened?” he asked.

  Sherri kneeled closest to his head and answered him. “You gave us quite a scare. You fainted.”

  Valour tried to sit up, and Draakar immediately moved to help him. “Easy, old friend. Just stay still for a second.”

  His advisor looked at him before glancing over at the bed. He quickly returned his attention to his Lord. “I…I will be fine.”

  “Did you have a vision?” his eldest sister asked.

  His mouth opened and closed twice before he spoke. “Yes. Like none before.” His eyes swung back around to Maya and the child who lay on the bed wrapped protectively in her mother’s arms.

  “What…what is it, Valour? You saw something about the baby, didn’t you?” Maya’s voice wobbled. In the nine months since she had been on Akgon, she and Valour had become more than close friends. He became her teacher, her mentor, and she trusted him like a brother. She couldn’t think of him as elderly. With his long brownish hair, smooth skin, and lean physique he seemed only a few years older than she. He was in fact even older than Draakar, but she preferred not to think about the age thing. It blew her mind. If what he saw caused such a reaction in him, Maya didn’t want to know about it. Her body trembled.

  Valour crossed to stand beside the bed. Draakar followed and sat on the other side, engulfing his mate and child in his arms.

  “What is it, my friend?” Draakar said, “Tell us.”

  The advisor looked down at the child. Maya noticed her daughter turned her head so she could gaze trustingly up at him with vibrant green eyes, surprisingly clear and alert for a newborn.

  “Wow! Look at that!” Sherri exclaimed. “It takes most newborns a few days before they can turn their heads; she has very strong neck muscles.”

  “That’s not the only thing she’s strong in,” Valour said. “I am sorry, Your Majesties. I…I did not mean to scare you. It was such a shock. I didn’t know such a thing could ever happen. But we should have known, so much has changed on Earth and the forgotten brethren have been surprising us everyday.” Valour shook his head in seeming exasperation. “I did indeed have a vision.” Then he smiled and his smile told Maya everything. She had nothing to fear.

  “Your child, this child,” he continued, “will be the next Dragon Lord, ah Lady, ah Queen.” He took a deep excited breath. “I’m sorry. There is no precedent for this.”

  “What are you talking about?” Draakar said as each of Valour’s sisters gasped at Valour’s words. Maya glanced at them. They wore shell-shocked expressions.

  “But…but I thought only brethren males could be Dragon Lords,” Maya said, clearly confused, “because only the males are strong enough to wield that much magicks?”

  “That’s true,” Draakar replied.

  “With all due respect, Lord and my Lady,” Valour said with a slight bow of his elegant head, “apparently not. This child is clearly female and she is the next Dragon Lord. Her powers are clear. Open yourself to her and you will see what I saw. Ah, but that’s not all.”

  “What, there’s more?” Draakar asked sarcastically.

  “She will be a Dark Dragon.”

  This time, Draakar gasped. “But…that’s impossible.”

  “What about Talon?” Maya asked. “Talon is Draakar’s heir. He’s the next Dragon Lord.”

  “That’s not the way the ascension works, Your Majesty. The strongest in power lead the brethren. This child could grow to be stronger than even her father.”

  “What?” Maya exclaimed. “But wait a second, wait a second. How can this be?”

  Valour raised his eyebrows. “I do not know. Only what is.”

  Maya knew Draakar quietly delved into the soul of their child before speaking again. “Valour is correct. Our daughter is indeed a Dark Queen.”

  All eyes looked to the smiling child.

  Epilogue

  Talon walked down the narrow stairwell and stepped into the bowels of the dark smoke-filled nightclub. He had no trouble seeing in the gloomy crowded room. Bodies stood rubbing shoulder and thigh everywhere. They were even closer on the dance floor as couples or threesomes moved in a simulation of the sex act to the pulsing beat of the latest craze passing for music. But no one touched Talon’s six-four frame as he moved through the crowd toward the private tables raised on platforms in the back.
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  No one dared.

  There were some in the crowd who noted his passing and saw he wore the face of an angel, with a waterfall of golden hair cascading around one broad shoulder to lie across his leather-covered ribs. But for all his beauty, an air of danger or difference surrounded him. It could be seen in the flash of golden fire erupting from the depths of his eyes. Clearly proclaiming him a fallen angel.

  People automatically moved out of his way, yet all the female eyes in the place tracked his movement. However, one set of eyes tracked his approach with both anticipation and dread.

  You came. Talon sent into the void.

  You knew I would. So you are real. The voice in his head sounded soft, feminine and husky, causing cells already sensitive to her growing nearness to vibrate even more.

  Yes. Very much so. But you always knew I was.

  It had taken him twelve years but he had finally found her. All the time he had been here on Earth he had dreamed of her. Catching fragments of her life in shared dreams—emotions really. At times he could see her as though through a mirror looking back at him between the frames. Once, for one incredible moment, both of their auras met on the plane known as sleep and they had made love. But it wasn’t real, and he woke up with tears in his eyes because she did not lie beside him, and he did not hold her in his arms. The dream propelled him even more to find her, although he never could—until now.

  A lone woman sat at a table against the far wall, the farthest from the stairs and the dance floor. She sat in the shadows and no one approached the table or bothered her. He could not see her face. Even now, she cloaked herself from him. It didn’t matter. Every cell in Talon’s body knew her.

  Would know her anywhere.

  Her gaze on him burned through the cloth covering his body and seared into his soul.

  Mine!

  He paused with his foot on the bottom step to the raised platform and ruthlessly stripped the glamour she used to protect herself and then enfolded her in the protection of his own powerful magicks. She bowed her head as though to hide from him still. But there was nowhere she could go now he would not be able to find her. They were linked. And soon they would be bonded. Finally, when he had called to her she answered. Or rather she had called out to him for help.