by Bianca D’Arc
Livia’s body quaked as the men came, the three of them locked in climactic bliss for long, long moments as the dragons fell from the sky and headed back downward. At the last possible moment, Livia knew they would break apart and catch the air under their wings once more.
Livia felt the echoes of their flight in the arms of her mates. They were the wind under her wings, holding her up and supporting her through everything that would come. They were her foundation and her freedom. Her loves and her life, from now until forever.
EPILOGUE
The next morning, Seth woke much too early and left the suite of rooms to check on Hrardorr, before anybody else woke up. Creeping downstairs, Seth found the two dragons curled up in front of the massive fireplace in the great hall once again. Genlitha was dozing, but Seth could see that Hrardorr was awake as Seth walked over.
“Good morning,” Seth said, feeling out the dragon’s mood cautiously. He kept his speech silent so as not to wake the dragoness.
“It is a joyous morning, my friend,” Hrardorr replied. The dragon was in a good mood, then, Seth mused, smiling.
“It is, indeed,” Seth agreed, sitting quitely facing the dragon pair so Hrardorr could see what a beautiful tableau they made.
“You’re up early, though,” Hrardorr said finally, when the silence lengthened. “Is everything all right?”
Seth paused, not quite sure how to ask. “Well, there is one thing that’s been on my mind. In fact, it’s been nagging at my brain all night.”
Hrardorr’s nostrils sent amused rings of smoke toward the ceiling. “You don’t say?” He turned his head just slightly, tilting it to one side in a questioning pose. “Must be something pretty momentous to distract you on our mating night.”
“Well, it didn’t distract me all night. Just part of it,” Seth admitted, smiling freely.
“Is it something I can help with? You know, as my knight, you’re entitled to ask me anything. I won’t always answer, but you can definitely ask.” There was no doubt in Seth’s mind that Hrardorr was playing with him. It was good to see the dragon in such a carefree mood.
“All right then. What did Gryffid tell you yesterday that had you looking so shocked?” Seth asked quickly.
The great hall was empty this early in the morning except for a few silent servants, putting things back to rights after the festivities that had lasted long into the night, and gearing up for the new day. They hadn’t started serving breakfast yet, but Seth suspected that wasn’t far off.
Hrardorr took a moment before answering Seth’s question. He turned his head toward Seth as if he could look right at him through his own eyes, though of course, he couldn’t.
“Gryffid told me that my blindness wasn’t going to be permanent. In time, I will regain the use of my own eyes, but that we two were blessed with the spell he had woven and that I would always be able to tell if you were in danger by using the ability to see out of your eyes.”
“Sweet Mother of All.” Seth was astounded. “Did he say how or when your sight would come back?”
Hrardorr shook his head just slightly. “He gave no particulars, but I believe you will have a great deal to do with it. He said your knowledge of healing dragons will not go to waste, and that I will be your greatest success, in time.”
If he’d been standing, Seth would have fallen to his knees at the pronouncement. There had been a reason he’d apprenticed himself to Bronwyn all those years ago. A very important reason…
“I gave up my shot at being a knight so that I could learn all I could about healing dragons,” he thought, struck by the way things in his life had unfolded. “I think my path led me ultimately to you, Hrardorr. It’s as if the Goddess knew there was only one dragon for me and that I’d need the extra healing skills to help you.”
“The Mother of All works in mysterious ways,” Hrardorr agreed. “I’m truly sorry I fought against Her plan for so very long. You and Genlitha didn’t deserve my stubbornness, and I’ll spend my lifetime making it up to you both.”
“No need, my friend. I think it all happened the way it was supposed to happen.”
*
Alone in his study, the last of the great wizards sat at his desk, turning each page in the ancient book slowly, looking each one over with great care. It was a large book, and every leaf had to be examined in minute detail to make sure nothing untoward had been done to it while it was out of his care.
He’d been at this since the party had broken up last night, and there was still quite a way to go. He finished with one page, certain it was all right and turned to the next. And then, the great wizard Gryffid gasped.
A page had been cut out. Sliced cleanly out of the binding in a way that made it almost imperceptible… Except Gryffid knew every page of every book in his extensive library. He’d had centuries to study them all and learn them by heart. He knew exactly what was supposed to be on the page that had been removed...
The downfall of the Citadel. The spell that would unlock the icy tombs in which the most evil of the ancient enemies were locked.
“Goddess help us all.”
*
Thanks for reading Dragon Mates (Dragon Knights ~The Sea Captain’s Daughter #3). If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review.
A complete list of all of Bianca’s books, separated by series, follows the excerpt of Bianca’s fortcoming paranormal romance book The Bear’s Healing Touch. You can also check out Bianca’s website at WWW.BIANCADARC.COM. Or you can sign up for Bianca’s Newsletter to be alerted when new books are released.
EXCERPT FROM THE BEAR’S HEALING TOUCH
©2017 Bianca D’Arc. All Rights Reserved.
Chapter One
Sirena hated being laid up and out of the action. Her people needed her and she was stuck in bed, too hurt to move. Damned sea monster had nearly killed her and only her hunting party’s fast action and the timely arrival of a werebear who had more than his share of chutzpa and magical ability had allowed her to continue living. He’d saved her life and the lives of every member of her pod.
And then he’d brought them all to safety in the sheltered waters of Grizzly Cove. It all seemed almost too good to be true…except for one thing. Or rather, one man.
The lone doctor in this small community had patched her up, certainly, but he was also driving her completely insane. He was some kind of giant bear shifter who didn’t have much of a bedside manner. At least not with her.
The rest of the people who came in and out of his office—which had a private hospital-style room that she was currently inhabiting while she recovered—seemed to like him well enough. She could hear a lot of what happened out in the main area when the door was ajar. He seemed to be pleasant to most of the visitors who came by to get supplies or just chat with the doctor.
He didn’t have a lot of patients because the town was full of shifters and they healed fast. As did mer—when they hadn’t been sliced and diced in a zillion different ways and dragged out of the water more than half dead.
That’s the pathetic state Sirena had been in when her pod had brought her ashore and put her into the doctor bear’s hands. He’d had to stitch her together in a few places because her energy reserves were so low, she couldn’t heal even the small cuts. All her healing magic had been going toward just keeping herself alive in the beginning, and she’d been drained to the point where she was recovering at a much slower rate than normal.
The good news, of course, was that she was recovering at all. She probably should have died of her injuries, but her people—and the doctor—had saved her. The bad news was that her energy was still at an all-time low. She was healing, but slowly. At something like a human pace rather than a mer level. And it was infuriating.
Sirena wanted to be better now. She wanted to be out there in the town, making sure her people were safe and helping to organize things. After all, the Alpha bear of the Clan, who had set up this town, had invited the mer here and given them safe harbor from t
he creature that was out there in the ocean, preying on magical folk. The creature that had nearly killed her. The leviathan.
A thing out of legends, not of this world. A creature of evil that consumed magical folk and swallowed their souls. A terror she never wanted to meet again.
She’d been traumatized enough the first time, and almost hadn’t lived through the encounter.
She didn’t want to think about it anymore. Of course, all she did lately, was lie in bed and think. It was all too much. Sirena was a woman of action. As the leader of a hunting party of mer, she decided where they would go, what they would hunt, and when they would return to the larger group that counted on them to provide food and protection from the threats of the ocean.
To look at her now, no one would ever realize that she was a warrior. One of the mer’s best. No, now, she was a weakling. An invalid. Stuck in bed for the most part, needing help with the most basic necessities of life. Someone had to bring her food. Someone had to help her get up when she needed to limp over to the attached bathroom. Someone had to administer painkillers, just so she could sleep. It was unheard of. Mer didn’t feel pain away humans did. Not often, anyway.
Circumstances had to be pretty bad, for a mer of Sirena’s caliber and experience to be laid so low. And they had been. She had gone toe to toe with the leviathan and lost. It was a crushing blow to her pride, but the encounter also had damaged her courage.
She now had nightmares—for the first time in her life. They were all about the leviathan and its rows of razor sharp teeth that had savaged her skin and broken her body. She woke in a cold sweat every night, at least once, reliving the terrible moments when she’d thought for certain she was going to die.
Sirena hated her own weakness. She should be stronger than this, dammit! She shouldn’t be ready to leap out of her skin at the slightest sound and jump at every shadow.
But she was. And she hated it. She hated herself.
She hated the bear shifter doctor most of all, for reminding her of her own weakness. And for seeing her at her worst.
Oh, he was a handsome son of a gun, all right. Why couldn’t she have met him when she was in her prime, instead of broken down and nearly crippled? Surely the Goddess was punishing her for her vanity to show her what might have been with a man who might very well be Sirena’s equal.
She could see that he was a bear to be reckoned with and his fellows treated him with cautious courtesy, except for the inner circle that dared treat him as an equal. That inner circle, she had come to learn, was the core group of ex-Special Forces bear shifter soldiers who followed the Alpha of the colony.
To read more, get your copy of The Bear’s Healing Touch by Bianca D’Arc.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Bianca D’Arc has run a laboratory, climbed the corporate ladder in the shark-infested streets of lower Manhattan, studied and taught martial arts, and earned the right to put a whole bunch of letters after her name, but she’s always enjoyed writing more than any of her other pursuits. She grew up and still lives on Long Island, where she keeps busy with an extensive garden, several aquariums full of very demanding fish, and writing her favorite genres of paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi romance.
Bianca loves to hear from readers and can be reached through Twitter (@BiancaDArc), Facebook (BiancaDArcAuthor) or through the various links on her website.
OTHER BOOKS BY BIANCA D’ARC
Paranormal Romance
Brotherhood of Blood
One & Only
Rare Vintage
Phantom Desires
Sweeter Than Wine
Forever Valentine
Wolf Hills*
Wolf Quest
Tales of the Were
Lords of the Were
Inferno
Tales of the Were ~ The Others
Rocky
Slade
Tales of the Were ~ Redstone Clan
The Purrfect Stranger
Grif
Red
Magnus
Bobcat
Matt
Tales of the Were ~ String of Fate
Cat’s Cradle
King’s Throne
Jacob’s Ladder
Her Warriors
Tales of the Were ~ Grizzly Cove
All About the Bear
Mating Dance
Night Shift
Alpha Bear
Saving Grace
Bearliest Catch
The Bear’s Healing Touch
Guardians of the Dark
Half Past Dead
Once Bitten, Twice Dead
A Darker Shade of Dead
The Beast Within
Dead Alert
Gifts of the Ancients: Warrior’s Heart
Epic Fantasy Erotic Romance
Dragon Knights
Maiden Flight*
The Dragon Healer
Border Lair
Master at Arms
The Ice Dragon**
Prince of Spies***
Wings of Change
FireDrake
Dragon Storm
Keeper of the Flame
Hidden Dragons
The Sea Captain’s Daughter Trilogy
Book 1: Sea Dragon
Book 2: Dragon Fire
Book 3: Dragon Mates
Science Fiction Romance
StarLords
Hidden Talent
Talent For Trouble
Shy Talent
Jit’Suku Chronicles ~ Arcana
King of Swords
King of Cups
King of Clubs
King of Stars
End of the Line
Diva
Jit’Suku Chronicles ~ Sons of Amber
Angel in the Badlands
Master of Her Heart
Futuristic Erotic Romance
Resonance Mates
Hara’s Legacy**
Davin’s Quest
Jaci’s Experiment
Grady’s Awakening
Harry’s Sacrifice
Print Anthologies
Ladies of the Lair
I Dream of Dragons Vol. 1
Brotherhood of Blood
Caught by Cupid
The Beast Within
* RT Book Reviews Awards Nominee
** EPPIE Award Winner
*** CAPA Award Winner
