Return to Shanhasson

by Joely Sue Burkhart

  “Unleash your darkest needs upon me, brightheart.” His eyes flashed molten silver, his voice hissing with the undertones of dragon. He shook his head, slinging droplets of blood like rain across her chest and stomach. “You can’t hurt me.”

  He dropped his weight against her and set her flesh on fire with oil mixed with his blood. Howling, she fought, clawing and writhing to escape the flames.

  Dharman’s bond vibrated with tension. :Na’lanna.:

  Her lungs burned, sweat dripped into her eyes, and she swore each drop of blood had charred her flesh. No wonder he was concerned. :No.:

  Mykal slithered down her body. He snaked his arms beneath her hips, locked his hands together around her stomach, and dragged her lower body up toward his mouth. “Now I quench the thirst of a thousand years.”

  Trembling, she braced for his teeth, but he barely touched his tongue to her, lightly and reverently lapping at the well of her body. His shoulders pressed her legs back against her stomach. Doubled over with his weight bearing down on her, she could barely breathe. The whisper-soft strokes of his tongue incensed her. She snarled at him, kicked her legs higher to press tighter against his mouth, but he refused to deepen the caress. She raked her claws down his arms and flanks.

  Shedding his blood only increased her desperation. Sandalwood clogged her nose, his blood dripping and smearing liquid fire on her body, with that annoyingly delicate mouth driving her insane.

  Gleaming, his silvered eyes mocked her. Make me, he’d said.

  She fisted both hands in his hair and wrapped a length around her forearms, another, drawing him inexorably closer.

  His bond radiated shadows through her mind but she wasn’t afraid. It was like dusk spreading gently across the sky, darkness rolling over the drowsy setting sun like a whispering blanket, blissful shade from the merciless heat of day. His dragon loomed, a dark whale beneath the surface of the sea, a vague massive shadow beneath the waters, but nothing she could see clearly.

  Working his tongue deeper, he spoke through his bond. :Shine for me, brightheart.:

  Shine. Of course. Now she knew what he wanted.

  Closing her eyes, she hovered as the White Dragon in a midnight sky. White wings outstretched, she let love fill her. The reluctant love she’d felt for Rhaekhar, the barbarian Khul who conquered her army and her heart; the doomed love she’d felt for Gregar, the Shadowed Blood whose most secret heart’s desire was to kill her even while he made love to her; the long-denied love she’d felt for her nine Blood, all those years of forcing them to remain boys in her mind despite their dedication and loyalty to her.

  And yes, the love she felt for this tortured soul, this Black Dragon who haunted her dreams and smelled of sandalwood and desert.

  She glowed, filling the night sky with rainbowed moonlight, and the he crashed into her embrace.

  Mykal surged into her, his body urgent. :Black longs to swallow the Light, to snuff it out in its shadowed embrace.:

  She wrapped him tight in her arms, his hair falling about her like a curtain. :And Light shines all the brighter in the darkest hour.:

  Breathing raggedly, he drove into her, hammering her into the tile, blood and oil and sandalwood smoldering with her roses until she thought she’d never smell anything but him.

  :My heart beats for you.:

  Dragons spiraled higher in her mind, white and black whirling together in a dizzying dance of wings and grace that made her heart hurt. So beautiful. :And my heart—:

  “No,” he growled, slamming his hand over her mouth. “Don’t say it. Don’t bind yourself to me like that.”

  She sank her teeth into his hand. His breath hissed out but he didn’t release her. :It’s too late, my savage Black. I already carry your bond and your blood, and you carry mine. We are bound as surely as I’m bound to my Blood.:

  His body shook against her, fighting his release and his own desperate need to hear her say those words.

  She licked his palm, turning his restraint into a caress. Brighter than the sun but lacking its heat, the White Dragon blazed in her mind. The Black gripped her in his talons, and she knew her Light caused him pain. Her talons might not damage him, but her light sent shards deep into his body. They hovered, the air thin and high, and then they began the spiraling plummet to the earth.

  :Release me,: she whispered, licking the tears of blood from his dragon face. :Save yourself this pain.:

  :Never.:

  As the dragons in her mind tumbled toward the Silver Lake, pleasure wound higher in her body and she dragged Mykal with her. Tangled dragons plunged into the Silver Lake, and she came so hard light exploded behind her eyes. Waters crested within her, a crashing flood that surged through his bond. He screamed out his release, the dragon riding him so hard she swore shadowed wings hovered above them.

  Burying his face in her neck, he clung to her, shaking. “I have a purpose,” he whispered, his voice broken. “I don’t want to die. I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I won’t let you die, and you’re not going to lose me.”

  He groaned and gripped her tighter. “Shadow waits for me. I can never escape Him.”

  She fisted her hand in his hair and jerked his face back so she could stare in his eyes. “I won’t let Him have you.”

  His eyes flared wide with pain, his breath hitching in his throat on a gurgle that sounded as though he was drowning. She barely got him rolled off her before he went limp, his body shivering and twitching with pain.

  “What is it? What can I do to help you?”

  “Don’t leave me,” he whispered, his voice ragged. “This happened when you cursed us not to harm your people. Your water poisons me.”

  “I won’t leave,” she promised. “Why would you take my water through the bond if it hurts you?”

  “I’ll drink every drop you’ll give me and hope you can somehow wash me clean.”

  Blood leaked from the corner of his eyes, just as the Black Dragon had suffered in the White’s blazing embrace. Leaning down, she licked those bloody tears away. He shuddered, his hands convulsing, reaching for her.

  A foot stomped on his forearm, trapping his hand.

  “Forgive me, na’lanna,” Dharman said, his voice grim. “I think those might accidentally cause too much damage to your body. You have no dragon living inside you.”

  She stretched over to see Mykal’s hand and sucked in her breath. Long, vicious blades extended from his fingers, and his skin gleamed with obsidian scales. Sal pinned his other hand, similarly enclawed.

  Those long silver claws sent a shiver of dread through her. The vicious points reminded her of needles. Her skin felt clammy, her heart raced, and she wanted to flee, hide, which was totally unlike herself. Years ago, she hadn’t been able to let Alea pierce her ears because of this unreasonable fear.

  Her own nails had extended when she carried the White Dragon. That hadn’t been revolting, so why were his? Troubled, she fought her irrational reaction. She refused to break her promise. It wasn’t the sign of his dragon that bothered her. The scales didn’t make her stomach churn. He’d been a dragon in her dreams; she’d even seen these claws on his human hand before and protected herself without hesitation.

  What was different now?

  “You never liked my needle.” Mykal's voice was faint. His eyes flickered, rolling back in his head, his breathing shallow, and his skin burned with fever. “At least your water didn’t leave scars this time.”

  Ice water flooded her entire body, freezing her skin on her face tight enough she felt like she would shatter. Her scalp crawled, and her heart tried to explode out of her chest. She jerked her eyes to his left hand trapped beneath Sal's foot. No ring on his pinky, but the unmistakable traces remained: a blackened mark banded his finger, betraying the presence of a ring worn recently and long.

  Dharman hissed beneath his breath and shifted closer so he could pin the dragon-clawed hand and hold her against his thigh at the same time.

  :What is it?:
He demanded. :Why are you so afraid?:

  Standing in a small chapel in Dalden Bay, she'd fought chains around her neck and soldiers pinning her arms. She'd watched in horror as a man exhibited a vicious needled silver cap on his finger, light-colored eyes flashing like blades. Through Our Blessed Lady, she'd Seen his Shadows and had fought back by spitting waters from the Silver Lake into his face. She’d learned later from his peasants that he’d worn those acid marks on his face until the day he supposedly died in the uprising on his caffe estate.

  :He’s Stephan. He took me to Theo in chains.:

  With murderous fury, Dharman whipped out his rahke and struck at the Keldari’s throat.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY ONE

  :STOP.:

  Her bond thundered the order and no matter how loudly his instincts demanded that he eliminate this threat, he couldn’t not obey her. Digging the tip of the rahke into the man’s throat, he paused, waiting for her next order, but he made sure she clearly felt his rage through the bond.

  :I know.: Shaking, she turned her cheek against his thigh. Her fingers dug into him. A shudder wracked her body and she peeked at the incoherent, mumbling Keldari. :I can’t believe it’s him. That I…:

  The man had betrayed and tried to poison and kill her numerous times. Stephan, Duke of Pella, one of her worst enemies ever. And she loves him.

  Her reluctant love banked the smoldering rage boiling in Dharman's stomach. After her years with Khul while he stood guard only as Blood, he held too much sympathy in his heart to condemn a warrior who had loved her from afar with no hope of ever holding her in his arms.

  Cold trickled down his thigh and shadows flickered about her shoulders.

  :Gregar,: she whispered.

  Dharman listened intently to her bond, hoping to overhear whatever the Shadowed Blood said to her.

  :Did I not try to kill you?: Gregar stroked icy shadows down her cheek and neck to his mark on her shoulder. :I had to wait until my death before I could give you this lovely mark without slaughtering you. Why is this man any different?:

  :I knew him before. He tried to kill me for years, plotting, lying, cheating… He's so evil, I can't even begin to count the number of lives he must have taken.:

  :While I was Kae'Had-Mangus, most honored Right Hand of Vulkar, the Death Rider with the most kills on the entire Plains. I killed you for years every time I closed my eyes, na’lanna. Your sweet love saved me, and you can save him, too.:

  :What if I don’t want to save him?:

  Dharman felt the sadness welling in her heart like a cold, lonely rain. No matter her words, she would regret not helping this man who moved her heart despite her hatred and fear. Regardless of what horrors he'd committed in his past life, the Keldari already lived in her heart.

  He didn’t make the mistake of removing the rahke. If she said to kill the Keldari, he would without hesitation. It would certainly be easier to eliminate this man than work out a way for her to have him and still keep her safe. Easy, but not her heart's desire, which untangled the knots of pride and jealousy binding his heart.

  Much as Rhaekhar must have swallowed his pride to give her Gregar. In the face of her love, though, he would never make any other choice.

  “Would Stephan have been stunned at the sight of your bath? Did he smell of sandalwood when you knew him before? Did he walk as the dragon in your dreams? Nay, the dragon was Keldari, this Keldari whose scent calls to your heart. He's not the same man as the Duke of Pella. He's been changed, both by Shadow and by the Dream of you. We would all be dead this day without his assistance.”

  He gave a pointed look to Sal, who sighed disgustedly. The red-haired Blood was loath to help this man in any way. Dharman didn’t miss that the other Blood trod on his competition’s hair. “Has he ever told you an untruth?”

  Frowning, she mulled through every Dream and moment she’d spent with the Keldari. “I don’t think so.”

  “Shadow lies,” Dharman said. “If Mykal did not lie, then he could not wholly be a tool of Shadow. Who, then, sent you his Dream? What purpose has brought him to you?”

  “Lady,” she breathed, turning her face up to stare at him. “He knew my water would hurt him, but he held his bond open and took everything I gave him.”

  “If I had fallen to Shadow and committed unspeakable crimes, would you turn away from me?”

  Her face firmed with determination. “You know I will never let you go.”

  Smiling, Dharman straightened and sheathed his rahke. “Allow us to carry him to your bed, na’lanna.”

  Grumbling, Sal helped him carry the Keldari into the other room. The man muttered and moaned beneath his breath, his skin hot as though he burned from the inside out. The bites she’d placed on his flesh pulsed with light, mixing oddly with the dark shining scales etched in his forearms and biceps, and silver claws glistened in his fingers.

  “I need him to bring those back inside before I’ll allow him to sleep beside you,” Dharman said. “He might hurt you and not even know it.”

  She climbed onto the bed and stretched out beside the man, wincing at the heat rolling off him. “Mykal, I need you to make your talons go away.”

  “Can’t,” he groaned. “Without the ring.”

  Dharman felt the flash of memory through their bond: a twisted iron band that had reminded her of a venomous spider crouched on his hand.

  She shivered. “You were the dragon earlier and transformed.”

  “Barely.” Mykal laughed, his breath a wheezing rasp in his throat. “I dare not try to transform again. I threw it away, as far and deep as I could.”

  Cold water surged within her bond, her eyes flashing with moonlight. “To hide your identity from me?”

  “No, no, I knew you'd recognize me. You always do. After you tried to drown me in Nurzhan, I couldn't come to you with that thing on my hand.” Mykal reared up, eyes wild, and grabbed at her shoulder. Dharman caught his hand to keep those blades from piercing her flesh. “Don’t let that ring anywhere near you!”

  “I won’t,” she soothed, settling her hand on his chest to push him back down. “Where is it?”

  “The bottom of a well in Nurzhan.” He fell back, shivering. “This is my last life. Without that ring, I won’t be given a new body. If the dragon takes me again, I won't be able to shift back. Let your Reds kill me now, brightheart. I can die happy indeed.”

  She leaned down and pressed her lips to his forehead, his cheek, making her way toward his mouth, but he jerked his face aside.

  “No kiss from me. I would not taint you with my Black Dragon any more than I already have.”

  “Close your eyes,” she whispered, kissing his cheek instead. “Open your bond.”

  After giving Sal the command to take over, Dharman did as she asked, too, determined to guard her bonds as much as her body. The Keldari’s bond was a like a deep black tunnel in her mind which housed a very irate dragon. The beast hissed at her, its red eyes full of malice. Smoke billowed about it, thick and acidic with hatred.

  Her bond blazed as bright as day, flashing with white scales, moonlight and rainbows, and sweet clear water. The White whuffed softly to the Black. Images tumbled through her mind of tight dark spaces, two sinuous bodies entwined, sleeping, while the heat of the day blazed outside.

  Dharman opened his eyes and verified the claws slowly retracted. She laid her head on the Keldari’s chest and his breathing smoothed into sleep. Dharman wrapped himself about her back. While her red-haired Blood stood at the foot of the bed looking as dejected as an adolescent colt that had been driven from the herd by the head stallion.

  Pillowing her head on the Keldari but turning to lie on her back, she looked up at Sal. “There’s still room for you, if you don’t mind lying in the middle.”

  He flickered his gaze at the Keldari, his lip curling in distaste. “The middle of him and you?”

  Laughing softly, she spread her legs in invitation. Sal pounced on the bed quicker than Dharman could d
raw breath. He draped his upper body on her stomach and wrapped his arms around her. “Are you sure you can sleep this way, na’lanna?”

  She curled her arm back to Dharman’s head, tangling her hand in his hair, while she stroked Sal’s head. “Absolutely, if you’re very, very good and don’t move from that spot.”

  The Keldari rolled onto his side, shaking his head and muttering incoherently. His hair slipped down onto Sal’s face. Spitting out a mouthful, he swiped the black hair off him with a decidedly disgruntled look. “Dharman, forgive me. I begin to see why you weary of my hair.”

  “On occasion.” Dharman laughed and wrapped her tighter against him. “I hope for your sake that he keeps his mouth to himself.”

  * * *

  WAKING IN HER ARMS WAS something Mykal had never dared dream. Especially since she now knew exactly who he’d been once upon a time.

  As soon as he opened his eyes, he felt the sting of steel in his lower stomach. Carefully, he cast his gaze downward. Draped over her lower body, the red-haired Blood flashed a hard smile, jabbed the blade slightly harder, and withdrew it, but he didn’t relinquish his spot between her thighs.

  Ah. Mykal must have displaced the guard from his normal sleeping position, although he surely wouldn’t have complained in the man’s place. Of course her other big Red lay at her back, his gaze steady but not challenging. Bewildered, Mykal searched his eyes, trying to understand why they’d let him live.

  She knew the truth.

  She knew he’d once plotted with the worst of her enemies to see her either dead or chained for Shadow. He’d killed and manipulated threads for years. Wells and sands, he’d been the one to remove her from the horse king’s protection in order to thrust her into the snake pit of Theo’s Shanhasson.

  Throat tight, he whispered, “How can you forgive me?”

  He didn’t expect an answer, but she nestled closer, cupped his face in her palms, and smiled. When she opened her eyes, they glowed with a soft light that made his heart stutter in his chest. “Because I love Mykal, I can forgive Stephan. We do have a problem, though.”