by Lauren Smith
But as Madelyn closed her eyes, all she could think about, all she could see was his mother’s eyes and hear the almost half-imagined whisper, “The truth will frighten you, but you must hold fast to your heart.”
* * *
Dimitri Drakor flew under the cover of darkness, his eyes sucking in the light so he could see the changing landscape more clearly than a mortal. It was going to be a long journey, but it was worth it. Any day now, Grigori would mate his female. That moment of their mating would seal Grigori’s death and the noble line of the Barinov’s would burn to ash.
All I have to do is get to his woman and kill her. Shouldn’t be too hard. His dragon wanted vengeance for the slaying of his favorite drakeling.
A bank of heavy clouds appeared ahead and he dove through the empty space below, his wings folding back. It would take him three days to reach the Fire Hills from Lake Baikal, since he could only travel unseen and undetected at night.
Once he had Grigori’s mate, he would challenge him to battle and kill Grigori’s mate in front of him. No male dragon would be able to survive that.
Dimitri opened his jaws, hissing out a breath in a blaze of fire . . .
* * *
Madelyn was dashing through a hall of mirrors in a dark corridor. The mirrors cast off ripples of light, momentarily blinding her as she ran. She caught glimpses of half-remembered dreams. Ahead of her, a woman in a long cream and gold gown that billowed out behind her was moving away too fast for her to catch up.
“Wait!” She cried out.
The woman halted and turned. Madelyn froze too, blood pounding in her ears and her lungs tight as she struggled to breathe. They stood a dozen feet apart. The other woman’s gown caught the moonlight. The pearls on dress’s bodice hung like frozen dew drops.
“How do I know you?” Madelyn asked. “Please, you must tell me.” She was close to crying. She had to know why she was dreaming of Grigori’s mother, a woman who’d died years ago.
“You are the last.” Her voice echoed in the hall despite it being barely above a whisper.
“The last?”
“Birds of lightning and wings of thunder . . . we hunted you down to the last but I could not . . .” The woman’s brown eyes glowed gold in the pale light from the endless windows in the mirrored hall.
“I’m the last?” The simple act of speaking these words seem to drive home how true it was. She had always felt alone, always. Her chest ached with a hollowness she’d never thought possible. Everything she’d searched for, answers, a place to belong, she would never find because she was the last of her kind.
“Look.” The woman raised one hand and pointed to the mirror at the far end of the hall.
Madelyn followed her gaze and started running. Whatever answer she needed would be within that mirror.
As Madelyn reached the mirror she glanced down and saw the faint coating of sparkles on her hands. She jolted in surprise but before she could try to brush the diamond-like dust off her hands she lifted her gaze to the mirror and . . . was sucked inside.
“Abi, we must run! They found us!” A man shouted as he slammed the SUV into park. Outside the winds howled. He unclipped his seatbelt and leaned over to the beautiful auburn-haired woman who sat frozen in terror. Madelyn watched them, her body small and tiny, trapped in fear. But when she looked at their faces, she felt only a powerful sense of love.
“Abi,” he murmured, his voice breaking. “You have to take Madelyn and run. I can hold them off. Please . . .” The handsome young man’s eyes were silver, mercurial gray and fear glinted in their corners.
“No, Valgard. I won’t leave you behind. We fight together.” She reached out to cup his cheek and a tear rolled down to drop off her chin. Rain began to fall and thunder boomed. They both turned to look at her in the backseat. Madelyn squirmed, trying to reach out to them and comfort them, but her hands were tiny, a child’s hands.
“What if we don’t—” Abi’s lips trembled.
“We will. We will survive. I have killed dragons before, I can do it again,” Valgard swore.
Abi nodded and then started to weep as Valgard kissed her lips. She curled her fingers around his shirt, holding onto that last moment, the truth of their coming doom stirring in her bones. Valgard looked at Madelyn and reached back to place his palm over her heart.
“I love you. Never forget that, Maddie. Your father and your mother love you.” He choked on the words before he got out of the car.
Madelyn stirred in her car seat, watching the figure of her father as he walked back down the road and toward an open field. His white shirt was the only thing she could make out in the darkening storm. Why was he leaving? She didn’t understand. Madelyn’s chest tightened and she opened her lips to let out a mewling panicked cry. Her mother reached out and tucked a single long golden feather into her blankets.
“You are the last, Madelyn, and you are loved.” She brushed her tears away and then with a resigned look of grief, she squared her shoulders and exited the car.
Madelyn stared through the rain-splattered car window. Abi joined Valgard and suddenly a large silver and blue serpent beast came out crawling out of the darkness. Her parents joined hands and they shared one look before they exploded into the air, leaving their humanity behind. Through the storm Madelyn watched two red and gold birds soar above the silver dragon and then the battle began.
Claws, teeth, talons . . . It was too hard to see through the mist rising from the rain on the warm ground. Madelyn could see parts of the fight through the windshield of the car. She screamed in fear as a battered, gold-feathered body tumbled from the air to lie in the field, motionless, a few yards from where Madelyn was in the car. Piercing screams tore through the heavens and a golden bird appeared seconds before it became a blinding blur of heavenly light rippling through the sky, straight to the silver dragon that prowled through the field toward Madelyn. There was a deafening boom! The earth shook and the SUV rolled into the nearby ditch. Madelyn screamed in terror as the ceiling crunched and glass shattered around her. She was trapped in the car seat upside down unable to move. Everything went dark.
After an eternity she heard a woman’s voice.
“Ivan . . . my God, Ivan . . . They had a child . . .”
The woman from the hall of mirrors stood there, in jeans and a rain jacket, reaching into the overturned car.
“Oh no . . . What have you done, Ivan . . . What have you done . . .” The woman wept and cradled Madelyn to her chest.
“It’s all right . . . I’ll take you somewhere safe, my poor little one. I don’t have . . .” she shuddered as pain wracked her body. “Long now. But I will save you . . .”
The woman walked along the dark road, the rain still pounding down on them. Madelyn had stopped crying. She was simply too exhausted and almost fell asleep, her small fists bunched against her cheeks protectively.
The distant lights of a white painted house with a picket fence covered with thick colorful blooms stood out in the rain.
“Almost there.” The woman pressed a soft kiss to Madeleine’s brow and then she crossed the yard passing a wooden sign said “Welcome to the Haynes.” Then she stepped into the shelter of the porch and pushed the doorbell. A few seconds later, a lovely woman answered the door. “Hello, can I help you?” She looked between Madelyn and the woman who held her, concerned. “Is everything all right?”
The woman holding Madelyn spoke, her voice soft and silken, her eyes glowing gold as she spoke. The words were mesmerizing . . . impossible to ignore or forget.
“You found this child on the road. Her parents passed on before you arrived. She must not know that she’s the last of her kind, a thunderbird, until she comes of age. Protect her, shelter her . . . Love her.” Madelyn was handed into the young woman’s arms and caught one last glimpse of the woman who’d rescued her. The woman had golden eyes.
“Goodbye, Madelyn.” She traced her fingers over the name that was stitched into the baby blankets before she vanished into the
rainy night . . .
Chapter 15
A billion stars go spinning through the night,
blazing high above your head.
But in you is the presence that
will be, when all the stars are dead.
—Rainer Maria Rilke
Grigori was roused from his restful sleep by the sound of sobs. He jerked awake to find Madelyn beside him, shaking as she cried in her sleep. Tears soaked her face and pillow and her body jerked with shaky breaths. Everything in him shattered at the sight. What could upset his mate so deeply that she wept in the land of dreams?
“Madelyn.” He curled his body around hers, trying to absorb her body’s trembling and ease her pain. “Wake up, please sweetheart.”
She came awake, slowly bit by bit and when she blinked up at him her eyes were brimming with more tears.
“What’s the matter? Please, you’re scaring me,” he said.
She wiped her eyes. “It was your father,” she whispered.
“My father?” He echoed in confusion.
“He’s the one who killed my parents.”
For a long second Grigori couldn’t think. How could he have been so blind as to not see what was right in front of him. His parents had died in Michigan, Madelyn was from Michigan. The thunderbirds that his father had died trying to kill had been her parents. He was a damned fool not to see this. Fury at his father rose like a black cloud within his heart. His mate could have died, would have died, if his father had survived to find her as a baby.
“Your mother, pulled me from the car and took me to the Haynes’ house. She told them what I was.” Madelyn’s eyes were haunted as she spoke. “I am the last of my kind.”
Grigori had no words to offer that could ease the burden of this awful truth.
“I’m so . . .” He trailed off and simply took her into his arms, hugging her fiercely. He wished he could give her the lives of her parents back, the sunny childhood she would’ve had with them.
“That’s why I’m so afraid of the rain. I dreamt about your father as he stalked my parents. They didn’t—didn’t want to fight, but he attacked.” She choked on her words and his heart bled with every agonizing sound.
“You don’t have to tell me,” he whispered as he stroked her hair. His heart was breaking as he listened to her voice break and watched tears form shiny streaks down her cheeks. His father had destroyed her family, had murdered them. What if Madelyn would never forgive him for his father’s sins? What if he would lose her, his one true mate? His chest seized with terror but he tried to stay calm.
“I need to. Someone has to say it out loud. My mother Abi and my father Val died to save me. And your mother helped me.” She stared at him, almost in awe as she continued. “If she hadn’t rescued me, I would not have survived.”
“But my father destroyed your life,” he said quietly, but he could see she wasn’t listening. There was a faraway look in her eyes that troubled him.
“I never would have met you, Grigori. Don’t you see? Without my nightmares about dragons, I never would have been obsessed with them and the history behind their legends. I never would have come here seeking answers. Our paths would never have crossed. I wouldn’t have discovered who I truly was, or that we . . .” she blushed.
“That we belong together.” Fate was a tightly woven tapestry built on surprising twists and unforeseen connections. Her dreams of my father brought her to Russia, to me.
“It doesn’t hurt as much,” Madelyn confessed. She rubbed her cheek against his shoulder.
“What do you mean?” he asked. All he could think was that it had to hurt her more now than ever.
“For as long as I can remember, not really understanding who I was or where I came from left a hollowness inside me, an emptiness that was ate away at my sanity and my soul. But now, those memories have been freed and I can . . . let the rain wash the pain away.” She brushed a stray tear away from her cheek. “I will always be sad when I think of them, but it doesn’t hurt as much. Life goes on in the face of death and so shall I.” She leaned into him and he held on tight, amazed that such a wise and wondrous creature was his mate.
How could he be so blessed?
* * *
The next two days seem to pass in a blur of laughter, lovemaking, and the beginning of a lifetime of happy memories that Madelyn had never dreamed she’d have with another person. Madelyn couldn’t get enough of Grigori. They spent dawn to dusk exploring his house. He’d shown her his infamous dungeon, which was really a beautiful cavern with jewels embedded into the cave walls that danced and sparkled under torchlight.
And in bed things were explosive. She’d learned to trust him. It seemed the thunderbird inside her, once she was completely safe, didn’t unleash the pulse when she climaxed. Instead there was only the most intense rush of pure pleasure and joy inside her, as though she were freefalling without fear. Grigori had seemed to let go of his control when they were together. His eyes would glow a molten gold. Wherever he touched her, her skin would heat but never burn, like making love in front of a roaring fire in winter. It was . . . intoxicating.
When they weren’t tangled in his sheets or exploring his house, they cuddled up together silently reading in the library. She read Barrow’s journal and he read the poems of Rilke, a German writer, to her. She adored it when he would clear his throat and read a passage to her from his book and often it would touch her as deeply as she sensed it touched him. There was a romantic in him, a gentlemanly, passionate spirit that enraptured her.
“What do you love about Rilke’s poetry?” she asked, as she let Barrow’s book open on her lap to a portrait of Mikhail and Rurik as dragons. She and Grigori were seated next to each other on one of the couches, one of his arms around her shoulders. Grigori he traced the bodies of his brothers on the page with a fingertip.
“Rilke’s words reminds me of the endless press of time, yet he captures fleeting moments so perfectly—the ephemeral, the small wonders that vanish too fast. I forget sometimes what it means to a mortal being who can die. There was a time, when I first met you, that I feared I could lose you. Sixty or seventy years wouldn’t have been enough, not for the life I want to share with you.”
At his words, Madelyn turned her face to his, and what she saw in his gaze made her heart swell with endless love. He was open to her, every vulnerable emotion, every powerful feeling of love pouring from his gaze. There were no secrets, no lies. Only love.
“I love you,” she whispered, afraid to look away, but needing to say what her heart felt so strongly. “I think I knew it the moment I saw your portrait in Barrow’s book. Seeing your face—I didn’t realize it at the time, but something clicked into place. It made my heart stop.” She ignored the wild blush in her cheeks.
A playful, wicked grin curved his lips.
“Well, I am dashingly handsome.” He lowered his head to kiss her and she laughed a second before their lips met. It was strange, knowing the truth about her life now. It released so many emotions in her that she felt free. There was so much she would never know about her family, but she knew what was most important now. Her parents had died to protect her, and she had been loved. That was what really mattered.
“Madelyn, I know we barely spent any time out of this house or my bed, but I want to show you something. Do you mind a little hike?”
“Hike? Okay.” She was fairly indifferent about spending time outdoors, but the Fire Hills were too beautiful to miss. It made her want to spread a blanket on the grass and stare up at the stars or go on a long walk in the woods, to explore hidden glens.
She and Grigori dressed in comfortable clothes and Rurik tossed them an umbrella.
“In case she gets emotional,” he teased.
In the last two days Rurik had softened toward her. They had successfully managed to train for the battle without upsetting Rurik’s dragon, and Rurik was convinced Grigori could take Dimitri Drakor on in a fight. Madelyn was glad about that, but relieved too tha
t Rurik’s beast seemed to figure out that she was a force to be reckoned with and—at least for now—that she was not the enemy. Maybe someday she could be around the dragons completely. She truly believed that she, Grigori and Rurik had a chance to change the way the thunderbirds and dragons interacted. Even if she was the last, she wanted to do something good in honor of her parents’ sacrifice.
“Follow me.” Grigori held out his hand and they began a long, quiet, peaceful hike through the Fire Hills. The winding footpath led them through a shower of red and gold leaves that fell to the ground around them.
“Raining gold,” she whispered in awe.
Grigori squeezed her hand and smiled a cryptic, teasing smile.
“Dragons are obsessed with gems, but not all gems are stone.” He waved to the leaves which whirled around their bodies in a breeze, but he was looking at her as he spoke.
Not all gems are stone . . .
“If you could meet anyone from the past, who would it be?” she asked Grigori as they walked. It had become their favorite game, learning about each other. Everything from secret dreams to favorite ice creams. Her dragon had a thing for Rocky Road.
“A figure from the past?” He shook his head, an odd softening in his gaze. “It’s not someone dead and gone that I wish to meet, but someone who has yet to be born.”
Madelyn cocked her head to one side. “Okay . . . who is it?” She had to admit her curiosity was piqued.
They paused at one final bend in the path and he turned to catch her waist, tugging her against him.
“I am most curious to meet the baby drakeling in our near future.” And then he kissed the tip of her nose before he sprinted into the woods, leaving the path behind.
For a full five seconds Madelyn stared at where he’d gone, and tried to comprehend what he said. A baby drakeling . . .
“Did he mean what I think he means?” She murmured aloud and then put her hand protectively to her abdomen before she shouted and ran after him. The leaves rained down, whispering over her face and hair. She suddenly halted as she reached a clearing.
