by Tara West
He frowned, the lines around his eyes and drawn mouth looking like tributaries on a map. “Mi reina, the severance of souls is a dark magic. There may be dire consequences.”
She released him, pulling back her shoulders as storm clouds swirled in her vision. “You’ve already told me this, Josef.” Her voice was an ominous rumble as she channeled the she-dragon within her. “I will not ask you to break the bond again.”
Chapter Eight
Safina pumped her wings with all her might, putting as much distance as possible between her and Gabriel, and the storm. She had to reach Galveston before the hurricane did.
The change happened in a blink—so fast she’d no time to prepare herself. One moment she was a magnificent dragon soaring through the clouds, and the next she was back in human form, and she and Gabriel were falling through the sky.
She flapped her arms and closed her eyes, willing herself to shift, but nothing happened. How could this be?
“Safi!” Gabriel hollered. “What are you doing?”
“I can’t change back,” she screamed.
She watched with horror as her mate, tumbling beneath her, fell toward certain death.
“Gabriel!” she cried, reaching out to him. “Oh, Almighty Mother, help us!”
The blue unforgiving sea stretched beneath them, ready to crush them when they landed. Gabriel grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms as she continued to scream. He shut his eyes and grimaced, no doubt preparing for the finality of their fates. Just as they were about to hit, the sea rose like a spout, catching the two of them. The spout fell, Gabriel and Safina tumbling with it.
Safina lost contact with Gabriel when she went under. She swallowed salt water as she pushed herself to the surface with all her might. Gasping for air, she flailed until strong arms wrapped around her waist.
“Safi, are you okay?” Gabriel soothed.
She spun around, sobbing into his neck as she held him tight. “I think so. I’m just in shock. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, mi amor.” He cupped her face in his hands, searching her eyes. “What happened?”
“I don’t know.” She envisioned the shift in her mind—the burning in her lungs, the stretching of skin, and the grinding of bones—but no matter how hard she tried, nothing happened. “I can’t shift back into dragon form.” She ran her tongue over the roof of her mouth. She was parched, and the bitter water only increased her thirst. “How are we not dead?”
He grasped her shoulders as his mouth twitched in the slightest of grins. “I summoned a water spout to catch us.”
Safi arched back, eyeing him with amazement. “I didn’t think your magic was that strong.”
He shrugged. “Neither did I.”
Safina frowned. Something wasn’t right between them. As she gaped at Gabriel, realization struck her. She placed a hand over his heart, feeling only the sting of the cold water and his hard chest beneath.
“Gabriel, I can no longer feel your heart beating as if it were my own.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest. “Can you feel mine?”
His eyes widened as he breathed in through a hiss. “No.”
She pursed her lips together and closed her eyes, trying to summon that other thread that bound her to her mother, but she could not sense the dragon queen. Her eyes shot open, and she trembled. “The thread that tethered me to my mother was thin, but I could still feel her. Now I feel nothing.
Gabriel’s face was a mask of stone, all except his eyes, which darkened with thunderous intensity. “The severance of souls.”
Safina gasped, remembering her mother talking about severing the bond with her mate. “The magic spell?”
He slowly nodded. “Papi must have performed it on your mother and father.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, though she feared she already knew.
His mouth was set in a grim line. “It means the spell worked.”
“They took away my powers?” Her hand flew to her throat as the realization set in. She was a mortal girl with no magical ability and no means of protecting herself. For years she’d resented her immortal curse, and now she did not know how she could live without it. “But now we’re not bonded,” she cried. “We’re not immortal.”
Gabriel tenderly stroked her face. “Don’t worry. We will find my papi and make him fix it.”
Despite Gabriel’s reassuring tone, Safina could not help the panic which made her limbs shake and teeth chatter. “Gabriel, we’re in the middle of the ocean, and a storm is coming.”
“I can get us back.” Resolve set in the hard planes of his face before he turned his back to her and patted his shoulder. “Hold on to me.”
She obeyed, amazed when another waterspout swept them up and pushed them forward. Safina held tight to Gabriel, worried by their slow pace. At the rate they traveled, it would take days to reach Galveston. She did not know if Gabriel’s magic would last, or if they could survive that long stranded at sea with no food or water. And then there was the tempest. What if it overpowered them before they reached safety?
She closed her eyes tight, sending up silent prayers to the earth goddess and Almighty Mother to guide them safely to shore. And then, somewhere in the recesses of her mind, there was a flicker. Like a lone beacon in the darkness, she felt the soul of another. She willed that beacon to shine brighter. The image she saw in her mind made her heart shudder. It was a man. Tall, with broad shoulders, ruddy cheeks, and tousled, dark hair. But it was his eyes which took her breath away, bluer than the summer sky.
Her eyes flew open as she stifled a scream.
Oh, great goddess, help her; she was bound to her father.
* * *
Duncan wandered the streets of Houston, dazed and barely aware of his surroundings, oblivious to people who jostled him on their way home from work. It was evening. He’d missed the train to Galveston, though it made no difference. The light that he had followed relentlessly throughout time had been snuffed out, like an explosion in reverse, sucking the air from his lungs.
He could no longer feel the tether to his mate, the bond so strong that it had created an insatiable yearning in his heart. For him, it was the end of the world. Where had Fiona gone?
His ankle still throbbed from when he’d been pushed off a sidewalk. What an odd sensation after not having felt pain for so long. Such minor cuts and sprains had always healed within seconds. He stopped in an alcove, resting his weary head and trying to clear his mind.
His heart, which had once beat as if for half a man, pounded like a drum in his ears, though the rhythm was erratic and painful, as if beating against a casing of shattered glass.
He tried to summon the lost thread that had bound them together. Nothing. Not even the smallest trace of his amber-eyed lass. He balled his hands by his sides, doing his best to hold back tears as he tried again.
And then it happened, the faintest trace of another heartbeat. He covered his ears with his hands, shutting out the world around him, focusing all of his energy on that distant pulse. He saw her, a beautiful and frightened girl with pale blue eyes screaming for help as she splashed in the open sea, her flame-colored hair cascading down her back in sodden waves.
Safina!
What was she doing in the middle of the ocean? Had Fiona abandoned her, or worse, had his mate been killed? Why couldn’t Safina transform into a dragon and fly away?
Duncan raced for the train station as he formulated a plan. He would go to Galveston and commandeer a boat. He forced himself not to think of Fiona’s fate, though he feared his true love had indeed perished. He only hoped he reached his child in time.
* * *
“I cannot feel him. Oh, Duncan!” Fiona fell to the floor and sobbed. Josef’s spell had worked. For the first time in five hundred years, she was free. So why did it feel as if her heart had been shattered, along with their bond? She sat up, tears streaming down her face as she placed a hand on her chest. That insatiable yearning for her mate was no
more, replaced by a cold, hard loneliness that left her feeling more desperate than before. “He is lost to me now, but it was what I wanted, right?”
“Sí, mi reina.” Josef bowed his head. “This is what you wanted.”
Though her vision was blurred from the stinging tears, there was no mistaking the look of guilt in Josef’s drawn mouth and hooded eyes.
She stood slowly, legs shaky, the hollow ache in her chest making her hunch over. Straightening her shoulders, she forced herself to stand tall. She was a dragon queen, a powerful shifter, and had survived five centuries of heartbreak. She could withstand thousands more.
And now she was free of her cursed bond and could search for her child. She closed her eyes, willing herself to call upon that thin thread that tethered her to Safina, but she was met with nothing but the dull sound of her weary heart.
Her eyes shot open, narrowing at the old man. “The cord that tethered me to her was stretched thin, but now I don’t even feel it.” Her voice turned shrill as she clasped a hand to her throat. “It is as if it has snapped.” Panic robbed her mind of reason. “Josef, I cannot feel Safina at all.”
He said nothing as he shriveled beneath her glare like a delicate flower beneath the heat of the Texas sun. The quivering of his limbs confirmed her worst fears.
He knew this would happen. He knew!
Fiona fell to her knees, stretching a hand toward the distant shoreline as she let out a mournful wail. “Oh, my child. My sweet daughter. Where are you?” She buried her face in her hands, sobbing as the realization hit her. Her only reason for living was lost to her.
Why hadn’t Josef told her this would happen? Flames of rage shot through her skull, and she fought the urge to transform and burn him to a crisp.
She sprang to her feet, screaming as she rushed the old man and shoved him into a rocking chair. “How could you?!”
He grabbed the sides of the chair with whitened knuckles, but much to Fiona’s surprise, he did not flinch. “I warned you it was dangerous magic.”
She punched the air with her fist. “Why didn’t you tell me I’d lose my daughter, too?”
Josef heaved a long sigh, coursing bony fingers through thinning hair. “You were going to lose her either way, mi reina. You plan to kill my grandson. The only way you can kill him is if you kill Safina first.”
Fiona jerked back. Where had Josef conjured such a foolish notion? “I would never harm my child.”
“His immortality is tethered to his mate. How else would he know your wrath unless you killed your daughter?”
Josef could have struck her chest with a mallet, and it would have had the same effect. “I wouldn’t have harmed Safina. I would have brought her back to our shell, or I would have made you sever their bond.”
“You would subject her to an eternity of sorrow and force her to part from her mate?” Josef shook his head as he fell back in his chair. “I know you find this hard to believe, but my grandson has a kind, compassionate soul. I can promise you, he wouldn’t have run away with your daughter if he didn’t love her, and I know Safina loves my Gabriel, too.”
The barb of Josef’s words sank deep, piercing Fiona’s heart with cruel clarity. She hadn’t counted on Gabriel loving Safina or of Safina returning his love. Safina was just an infatuated child, giving her heart carelessly to the first mortal who showed her attention, and Gabriel, well, he was a man, and men weren’t to be trusted.
But what if Josef’s words were true? What if Gabriel did have a compassionate soul? What if they loved each other? Would Fiona have been cruel enough to separate them? To force her daughter to play out the same heartbreak she’d suffered for the past five hundred years.
Fiona recalled the last night she’d seen Safina. She had dismissed Safina’s affection for Gabriel and threatened to send her back to the cocoon. She’d even gone so far as to strike her child. Why? Was she truly afraid Safina would lose her heart to an underserving mortal? Or was Fiona more afraid of losing her daughter’s love and attention? The thought of Safina nestling in the arms of a loving embrace other than hers soured Fiona’s stomach.
Fiona fell into a chair beside Josef, burying her face in her hands. It was not Safina’s heart Fiona had been trying to protect but her own. She’d let her jealousy and hatred of a man come between her and her daughter, and now she may have lost Safina forever.
Oh, great goddess! I am a selfish monster.
“I have made a mess of things,” she cried, her chest rising and falling with convulsions. “I have no mother, no mate, and no child. I have nothing left to live for.”
“Have faith, mi reina.” Josef placed a comforting hand on her back, a kindness she did not deserve. “I know they will come back. Gabriel loves his family, and your daughter loves you.”
Fiona looked at him through a sheen of tears. “Of that, I’m not so sure.”
Fiona could not forget how she’d so foolishly slapped Safina or the pained look in her daughter’s eyes as her pale cheek swelled with the angry imprint of her hand. And Fiona remembered with heartbreaking clarity the words that had followed. “I hate you,” Safina had said before running away.
Looking back at the way Fiona had treated her child, she knew with every fiber in her being Safina had spoken the truth.
A dragon’s word is her honor.
Chapter Nine
Duncan jumped from the train, putting as much distance between himself and the steaming locomotive as possible. He had enough reasons to sweat in this stifling Galveston air. He did not need another. Heat flamed his face and chest. He was angry with himself for foolishly missing the earlier departure. It was nearly nightfall—too late to form a search party for his daughter. She would be all alone in the open sea until morning unless she transformed into a dragon and flew to land. But then what would happen to her if she was spotted?
He checked his pocket watch. The hour was late. He’d need to find accommodations and start his search in the morning. He grumbled when he knocked over a piece of luggage. The pain jarred his leg, forcing him to limp toward a bench as his knee swelled. He was still not accustomed to such pain. And with this new pain came a new fear—if his wounds wouldn’t heal, he was no longer immortal. For centuries he’d defied death. He’d been shot in the chest, scalped, and even beheaded. Each time his injuries magically healed. And now a simple piece of luggage had the power to cripple him. He was in a sad state, and Duncan feared his predicament would only get worse.
He jolted upright at the piercing sound of a feminine scream. “Help! Help me, please!”
Instinctively, Duncan ignored his throbbing knee as he raced toward the sound. He knew he put his life at risk, but fool that he was, he was unable to ignore a cry for help.
He came upon them in an alley behind a noisy saloon. A tall, reedy man with a crooked hat and a tapered moustache used a cane to press a woman against a wall. She flailed and gagged while he held the cane against her neck, cutting off her air.
“Let her go!” Duncan bellowed.
The woman crumpled to the ground as the man released her and spun around.
“Leave us be.” He eyed Duncan with a sneer. “This isn’t your fight.”
“A brute attacking a defenseless woman?” Duncan took a step forward, balling his hands. “I’d say it just became my fight.”
“Defenseless woman?” He tossed back his head and laughed, heedless of the hat that slipped off his head. “You mean a two-penny, thieving whore?” He waved at the woman, whose chest heaved while she gasped for air. “She ransacked my apartment.”
The woman’s brown hair was disheveled, and her dark, smeared face paint made her look part raccoon. Already, the welts across her neck were starting to darken. She couldn’t have been older than twenty-five, yet the lines around her mouth and eyes indicated a life of hardship. She kept a stony gaze focused on her assailant as she slowly rose to her feet. “You owed me money.”
She stepped away from him, but he blocked her with the cane and jerked
her to his side.
He eyed her coolly. “You didn’t finish the job.”
Duncan cautiously closed the distance between them. “Sir, unhand that woman, and we will get to the bottom of this misunderstanding as gentlemen.”
The man looked at Duncan with a predatory gleam in his eyes. Duncan had lived long enough to recognize this man was calculating the risks of an attack.
“Come now,” the man said as he dug into her arm, causing her to cry out. “You really don’t want to lose your life over a gutter slut.”
Duncan slowly slipped a hand beneath his belt, fingering the hilt of his blade. Though he hadn’t needed its protection since the last gold rush, he was glad to have it now. “I’m not going to tell you again to let her go.”
The woman turned up her chin, putting on a brave face, though her lower lip trembled. “You heard the man, Dr. Straw. Do as he says.”
Dr. Straw? This brute was a healer? Most doctors Duncan had known were respectable and genuinely concerned over the welfare of others. Over the past five centuries, Duncan had gotten pretty good at discerning the measure of a man, but this man, despite his position, had no more scruples than a common crook.
After he released his grip on the woman, she cursed him while rubbing her arm.
“Very well.” The doctor flashed a wide grin, one that didn’t match the cold void in his emotionless eyes. “Perhaps we can discuss this as gentlemen.” He stepped forward, holding out a hand.
Suspecting this was a ruse, Duncan warily eyed the doctor, keeping a grip on the blade.
The doctor whipped his cane so fast, Duncan had no time to react. Duncan’s blade went flying across the alley, landing with a clank against the brick wall. He cursed as blood spewed from his wrist, then blocked the cane as the doctor tried to strike him a second time.
He yanked the cane hard enough that Dr. Straw lost his grip, nearly falling on his face as he tried to retrieve it. The doctor swore when Duncan spun it around and whacked him across the nose. Dr. Straw held his bloody nose and backed up before taking off at a run in the other direction. Duncan thought about chasing him down, but a pain in his gut prevented him from moving. He looked down at the widening bulls-eye of crimson that seeped into his white shirt and then he looked at the cane in his grip. Why had he not noticed before that a blade protruded from one end?
