by Rinelle Grey
Taurian suppressed an angry retort. Of course Karla hadn’t understood. Her people were different, he’d seen that from the start. Love was far more important to them than obligation. He would be more bothered if she had simply accepted it. That would indicate that she didn’t care about him at all. “Karla’s people see mating differently,” he explained. “They don’t understand mating for the benefits it can bring.”
Mesrian smiled, but Taurian didn’t think his evasiveness had fooled her any. “She would never understand our ways. Jayrian and Gretchen are having a hard enough time having their relationship accepted, and neither of them has the responsibility you do.”
“I fail to see that that is any of your business.” Taurian was aware that his voice had taken on a haughty tone, completely unbecoming in a prince, but he couldn’t shake the fear that had gripped him. No matter what their personal feelings, if he decided that mating with Karla was better for the clan than mating with a dragon, they’d better just nod and say ‘yes, sir’.
They didn’t know her like he did. They might think that a life dragon would give them more power over Ultrima in a generation, but he knew that Karla’s sharp mind could come up with a solution right now. If only he could talk to her.
“Some of the elders are unwilling to give up the power we have had during your long sleep.” Mesrian glanced over at Ostrian, then back to Taurian, her implication obvious. “I just want to see our clan restored to the place we held before the division. We have enough dissent within the dragons, without bringing a human into it.”
Taurian wanted to insist that he wasn’t the one who had brought humans into it, but that would bring censure onto Jayrian. Anyway, the humans weren’t the problem. Not Karla anyway. “The issues dragons had with humans were centuries ago. Before that, didn’t we live in peace with humans? Isn’t it possible that we could do so again?”
From Mesrian’s wide eyed stare, it was clear that she had never even considered the possibility. Her sharp eyes stared at him, and then she shook her head, as though to rid herself of the thought. “That is a matter for another time. Maybe we can consider it once our current issues are settled.”
Taurian didn’t want to hear that. He didn’t want to wait. He wanted Karla now. She had thought that once he was back among other dragons, he would prefer one of them. But he had no interest in any of them. His body burned to have her, to claim her, to mate with her. Didn’t Mesrian understand?
Her sharp eyes said she understood only too well. And there was a note of sympathy in her gaze as well. Somehow, that made Taurian feel even more hopeless.
He didn’t want sympathy. He wanted a way to make this work.
Taking a deep breath, Taurian realised he couldn’t rely on someone else to figure out how to make it work. He was their prince. He was supposed to have all the answers. He needed to figure this out for himself.
“There is no need to rush into anything,” he said, as much to himself as to Mesrian. “I need time to get to know my clan again, and to assess everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Now is not the time to make rash decisions.”
It hurt to have to wait to mate with Karla. Now that he had made up his mind, the last thing he wanted to do was wait. But it would also give him time to win her over completely. Much as he hated to admit it, she was not as keen on mating as he was right now. Oh, he was sure he could convince her. A few moments alone and he suspected the deed would be done, with as much enthusiasm from Karla as from him. But he wanted more than just the mating bond. He wanted her to want to be together for the rest of their lives as much as he did.
Somehow, that thought wasn’t scary anymore. It was as much a part of him as his scales and tail were.
“Rash decisions, no,” Mesrian agreed. “But you do need to do something decisive, something that proves you have the clan’s best interests at heart, and will not waver in your dedication to achieving that.”
“I need to defeat Ultrima,” Taurian said firmly.
If only he had some idea how to do that. How brilliant would it be, if he could defeat the other dragon without the help of his brothers and sisters?
Much as he liked the idea, he knew it was impossible even before Mesrian spoke. “You do not need to do everything alone, Taurian. That is not the answer, even if it were possible.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?” Taurian resented the fact that she’d lead him into letting his frustration show. He was sure she had a plan, but instead of coming straight out and telling him, she was making him guess.
Everyone was trying to manipulate him into doing what they wanted. And he’d only been back for a few hours.
“You need to consolidate your position by convincing the clan that you put their needs first, and then wake your brothers and sisters.”
Right. Simple.
“I know that,” Taurian growled. “But how?”
Mesrian glanced over at Ostrian, and Taurian’s stomach clenched. She wasn’t thinking…
“Ostrian’s plan has merit,” Mesrian said slowly. “Much as I am uncertain of his motivation. Marrying a dragon would relieve the clan of any concerns that your attention was divided, and if there were a chance of producing a life dragon, then even better. That would give them hope. A feeling we have been severely lacking for the last three hundred years.”
There was a touch of awe in her voice as she said the words. Life dragons had always been so rare, their powers so… well… powerful, that they were revered. Having a life dragon child would certainly raise him in the eyes of his clan. Especially now.
Taurian shook his head. “That doesn’t get us any closer to waking my brothers and sisters, or to defeating Ultrima.”
“Not immediately, no,” Mesrian agreed. “But this war has been waging for many years now. It will not be won in one day, or even one year. Ultrima has spent the last three hundred years growing his clan, and his own personal power. Defeating him is going to be even harder than it was before.”
“Nonsense,” Taurian said. “I fought Ultrima only a few days ago. He was more powerful than me, yes, but not by that much. Age and time have weakened him. Once all my brothers and sisters are awake, we will defeat him easily.”
In fact, he wasn’t sure why it had been so hard last time. It reminded him of something. “What is Ultrima doing still alive anyway?”
The question distracted Mesrian. “Ultrima went a little crazy after he realised that he couldn’t get into your Mesmer chambers,” she said slowly. “Or so I’ve been told. Many Rian clan dragons died from his wrath. We thought all we would have to do was wait until he died, so we hid. Some of us made the ultimate sacrifice of staying close enough to the Mesmer chambers to watch. It was a dangerous job, but we needed to know you still lived.”
“Get to the point,” Taurian growled. “I didn’t ask for a full history lesson. How did Ultrima survive for so long?”
“We can only guess,” Mesrian said softly, “but from what we could observe of the Trima clan, and this wasn’t much you have to understand, he was absent quite frequently. The only explanation we can come up with is that he suspended himself in the Mesmer as well.”
Taurian frowned. The Mesmer sleep had extended his life all this time, so it was possible. But… “You can’t enter the Mesmer sleep voluntarily,” he argued.
Mesrian shook her head. “No, you can’t,” she agreed. “But it would only take a small injury, and there were plenty of skirmishes with our dragons in that time, and then if you weren’t woken, you could sleep for years without ageing. He must have woken just often enough to keep tight control of his clan, though we almost convinced them to return to us once.”
The idea was unusual for dragons. Choosing to voluntarily sleep all that time away wasn’t in their normal personality. Then again, nothing Ultrima did had ever been normal. “So he has still aged, just not as much,” Taurian said thoughtfully. “That explains his continued strength. Still, I believe that we could take him if all of us were awake.”
“Do you really think Ultrima is going to fight you alone?” Mesrian demanded. “Of course he can’t win if it was one dragon against six of you. But he will name other dragons as his court and insist they have the right to fight to. Many dragons will die in a straight out confrontation, on both sides, as they did last time. And Ultrima has more numbers than we do.”
Taurian hadn’t had a chance to assess the strength of Ultrima’s clan when he had attacked. He’d been too focused on the battle. And Karla.
A twinge of guilt cramped his side. He’d been too focused on Karla since this started. But that was only because he hadn’t known the rest of his clan was still alive.
If he wasn’t careful, it could cost him his position, his clan, and possibly his life. That thought was like a cold bucket of water on his desire.
No matter what his feelings for Karla were, he couldn’t put her above his responsibility to his people. He had already come far too close to doing so. His stomach sank as he realised that in order to save his clan, he might just have to give her up.
No, there had to be another way. There had to be. Which brought him back to the fact that the only answer was to defeat Ultrima. Then his personal choice of a mate would be irrelevant.
“How many dragons are we talking about?” he asked sharply.
Mesrian shrugged. “I don’t know exact numbers. What I do know is that we have lost nearly fifty dragons in skirmishes in the last three hundred years. He has lost two.”
“Ultrima had far smaller numbers to start with than we did,” Taurian reminded her. “Even given those numbers, we should still have more dragons than he does.”
“As we did last time,” Mesrian said flatly. “We still lost.”
“We didn’t lose,” Taurian said automatically. “We just didn’t win.”
“Is that really any different?”
Of course it was. But Taurian didn’t bother to argue. He was too busy mulling over one inconsistency. Why had Ultrima been able to hold them off three hundred years ago? They had gone into the battle expecting to lose dragons, but to win without great difficulty. Warrian had held Ultrima off in the battle in Sarian’s rooms.
Numbers weren’t the cause either. Ultrima hadn’t even convinced all the lightning dragons to leave with him, and though lightning had been a prolific power, perhaps a little more than one sixth of the clan, it had not been by much. Lightning was a powerful power, no doubt, with fewer weaknesses than the others. Water only intensified it, for example, not like fire, where it neutralised it. Still, they should have been able to defeat them easily.
They hadn’t.
Why?
Was Ultrima cheating somehow? He wouldn’t put it past the sneaky lightning dragon. He’d already proved that he felt no need to play by the rules. If only Taurian could figure out how he was doing it. That could be the key to defeating him once and for all.
He and his brothers and sisters had been so badly injured that they’d entered the Mesmer as soon as they returned from the battle. There had been no time to discuss what had gone wrong. They’d expected to do that, and plan tactics for the next battle, when they awoke.
Now there was only him.
And he needed a way to defeat Ultrima.
He needed to talk to Karla. He needed to see if he had any chance of convincing her to mate with him before he could even consider any other options.
Mostly, he just hoped that she would have some sort of suggestion. An answer to his dilemma that he couldn’t see.
A rumble vibrated his feet through the ground, and his heart beat a little faster. That was a car. Was it the ute? It was impossible to tell through several meters of dirt.
“I shall consider your advice,” he growled. “But first, I have something I need to do.”
He strode out of the lair, not looking back.
Chapter 7
A few dragons looked at Karla strangely as she left the lair, but none attempted to stop her, or even talk to her. Their feelings were clear, just intensifying Karla’s belief that she had to get out of here.
Yet, she couldn’t seem to make her feet hurry as she walked from the entrance to the lair to the ute, parked near the trees. She tried to tell herself it was because of the searing heat. While it certainly didn’t make her inclined to hurry, it was a poor excuse. Especially when she turned back to the lair several times to see if Taurian had noticed her missing and was following her.
She chastised herself for hoping he was.
She was far better off without him. She knew that.
So why couldn’t she convince herself?
She heard the car approaching before she saw it through the trees. A little blue hatchback. For a moment, she was concerned, but when it pulled to a stop beside the ute and Gretchen, her father, Lisa, and Bruce stepped out, she remembered. Gretchen had promised to bring them as soon as the library closed.
She increased her pace towards them, stopping herself looking back to the lair again with great effort. “Hi, everyone,” she called out.
“Hi, Karla,” Gretchen said cheerfully. “How did you know we were arriving?” She looked back at the lair. “Where’s Jayrian?”
Karla shrugged. “He’s still down in the lair. I’m actually on my way out.”
Gretchen stared at her. As did all the others.
“Is something wrong?” her father asked.
“What do you mean, on your way out?” Lisa demanded. “I want to meet some other dragons.” Her voice was suggestive.
Bruce just stared at her silently. Was that understanding in his eyes?
“I did what I set out to do,” Karla said firmly. “Taurian is back with his clan. He doesn’t need me anymore. I have a life of my own to get back to.”
“But…” Gretchen stared at Karla. “I thought you loved him?”
How had Gretchen figured that out? She’d only seen them together for a short while. She couldn’t possibly know that Karla loved Taurian.
The words slammed Karla in the chest. Her? Love Taurian?
She didn’t even want to examine that too closely. “What I felt for Taurian was a product of the Mesmer bond. What I feel for him now is an echo of that magic. Nothing more,” she said firmly, as much to herself as to Gretchen. “It would be a mistake to think it means anything more than that.”
Her father frowned. “Are you sure, Karla? That isn’t what it looked like to me.”
Karla cut him off. “He plainly feels the same. He’s sitting there with all those dragon women, doing just what the elders tell him to do. Since it’s obvious they don’t approve of me, it doesn’t matter how either of us feel. There’s no future for us.”
Her mouth went dry and a lump formed in her throat. Even though she knew it was the truth, apparently admitting it out loud made it worse. As though she could no longer even pretend to deny it.
She wanted to add that there was obviously no future for Jayrian and Gretchen either, given the way the other dragons felt, but she didn’t have the heart to burst her friend’s bubble. Gretchen needed to figure that one out by herself.
But Karla was out of here.
She turned towards her father, Bruce, and Lisa. “Why don’t you all come back to England with me for a few weeks? Ultrima will never find us there, and by the time you come back, all this will be long over.”
“I’ll support you, whatever you want to do,” Bruce said readily.
Lisa folded her arms. “I’ll stay here. Those dragons might need my help.”
Good luck with that, Karla thought, but she didn’t say anything. Let Lisa figure out how the dragons felt about humans for herself.
“Dad?”
“I think you need to think about this a bit longer,” her father said, his face troubled. “There’s no rush, is there?”
Karla bit her lip. How could she even begin to explain? How every minute she was around Taurian just made it infinitely harder to walk away from him. That if she left it long enough, she would find it impossible. Not o
nly would she lose herself and her own dreams, but he could never be hers anyway.
“Karla?”
She froze at the sound of Taurian’s voice behind her.
It was too late. She’d hoped to slip away without talking to him, but he had found her. Relief warred with panic in her heart.
She turned around slowly, trying to tell her body not to react.
It was a pointless exercise. She reacted even before she saw him. Her body temperature rose a notch, and considering she was standing in the summer sun, that was saying something. Her heart-rate sped up, and her breathing hitched. He was gorgeous, no denying that.
The lower angle of the sun turned everything to gold, including him. His skin shone, and the sun brought out he highlights in his dark hair. And highlighted the frown on his face. He crossed the distance between them quickly. “Where were you going?”
Karla felt a stab of guilt. She should have told him, but she’d known he’d only try to talk her out of leaving. Probably successfully.
“I’m going home, Taurian,” she said softly. “We both know this isn’t going to work. I have my own life to live, and you have yours. And it looks like it’s already planned out.”
“I haven’t planned anything yet,” Taurian said firmly. “My clan don’t understand that you are more valuable than any life dragon. You’ve helped me through everything since I woke, and I know you can help us through this. You are the only one I want, Karla. Will you mate with me?”
His heartfelt words slammed into her chest, causing her to stumble back. She stared at him. She’d been so certain that he would be swayed by his clan’s insistence on the pairing they had planned for him. She almost was herself.
His intense gaze and determination almost caused her reservations to begin to melt, along with her knees. Why was she surprised? Knowing how passionate he was about everything else, why should it surprise her he would be passionate about mating? He made her feel like she was the only important person in the world, even more important than his clan.
For a moment, she let herself imagine mating with him. And not just the physical part. She imagined waking up beside him each morning, talking to the clan elders, planning a way to defeat Ultrima, caring for his people, and most of all, loving and supporting him no matter whether things failed or succeeded.
