The Dragon Of Her Dreams: A Paranormal Love & Pregnancy Romance

by Lilly Pink

  An infusion of new blood would bring the people hope, and if he brought his friends in on the game, just one true mating would buy him years of time. I thought causing you to miscarry would expose the fraud for what it was, destabilizing his rule enough for me to step in. I admit that when I saw the marriage spell performed, I felt a bit guilty for that, but it also changed my plans significantly.”

  Zoe’s head drooped onto the arm of the chair and she saw, to her horror, that Sirius was suffering too. The Vryka was sprawled out on the floor, his chest heavy with rasping breaths. Faizel saw where she was looking. “Yes, quite a shame to waste the last of my viper venom on a dog, but I could hardly have him interfering with my plans. You see, reuniting the worlds is the height of foolishness, for just the reasons I have stated. Giving billions of humans the gift of magic, a gift which their ancestors squandered, would only hasten the destruction of the Kumari way of life. Why share our birthright, when we can use it to conquer?”

  Now he lifted her up, with only a little difficulty despite her increased bulk, and opened a secret passage in the back of his office. A stairway went up and up, perhaps the whole length of the tower, and that was the way Faizel went. “You see, I too have been to the mortal world, many, many times. When your husband was a child, his father and my wife died in a magical accident, but no one knew what it was they were trying to achieve. Except me, of course, and I pretended ignorance, because I knew they had succeeded.

  There is already a physical gate to the world of humans. Imagine what we could do with such a prize. I, for one, have become quite wealthy, using magic to aid me. It would be easy enough to insert ourselves into the upper echelons of human society, and seizing control would require so little effort that it pains me to think of it.”

  He stopped to catch his breath. Zoe could not move, could do nothing but whimper. It was actually difficult to breathe. Somehow, she thought maybe dying of the poison might be better than what he had planned for her, but she also wanted to hear the end. Part of her still held out some hope for rescue. “I knew that no one would approve of my plan with Saint Kian on the throne, but I thought if I could discredit him, prove his plan a failure, then perhaps we might take a more sensible approach.

  I could have been king, you know. My grandmother was Jahan’s younger sister. She should have been queen, but Mehr found that bastard to take the throne. How he managed to convince everyone that was Jahan’s son, I have no idea, it was well-known he never had mated. In any case, now all those ancient wrongs will be righted.

  It will be so tragic when they find that you have thrown yourself from the tower, but you have had such a stressful few months, I am sure no one will be that surprised. And Kian will be heartbroken of course. Perhaps he will kill himself too, although I suppose I might have to help him along. With that, there will be no choice but to do things my way.”

  Zoe thought she could feel the heaviness in her limbs fading. If she waited for the right moment, she might be able to wriggle free, at least scream. Maybe she could even give Faizel a good kick. No, do magic, you idiot, said her mind. As soon as you come out of this passage. If you can make into dragon form, there will be nothing he can do.

  There was a howl from below. “That damned dog!” Faizel cursed, speeding his pace. “How did he survive that? No matter. There is no way anyone will reach us in time.” Zoe wanted to cheer. Vryka were resistant to mirrored viper venom, and the archivist hadn’t known. If she survived this, she had no doubt Kian would want everyone to own one of the guard dogs.

  She concentrated on remaining as still and lifeless as possible, not wanting Faizel to suspect something and change his plan to include a less easily escapable death for her. There was the sound of a door opening below, and running feet.

  “Zoe!” Kian’s voice floated up to them. She wanted desperately to call back, to let him know she was alive, but she couldn’t take the chance when rescue was so far away.

  “Curse that fool,” Faizel muttered. “There is hardly any point in continuing this farce.” But then they burst into sunlight and cold wind stung her cheeks. She didn’t dare risk more than a peek, but it looked like a small landing area, maybe some sort of guard post. Faizel strode to the edge, and Zoe prepared herself for one desperate action.

  “Ah!” Faizel shouted as he was hit by an arrow in the leg. He started to crumple to his knees, and Zoe shifted her weight t just enough to slide out of his arms and to the ground. Luckily, he was too preoccupied with his opponents, which proved to be Zhubin and Shahin, to notice that it had been more than chance.

  She lay still for a long moment, watching Faizel cast a misty barrier over himself before pulling the arrow from his leg. He must have cast some sort of healing magic, because he only winced a bit, and the wound didn’t even bleed. “Stand down, you idiots! I am trying to forge a better path for our people. The king is leading us to destruction!”

  “Even if I thought that was true,” Zhubin said in his profound bass tone, “he is still my king, and I have a duty to oppose you.”

  “As it happens, we think that you’re a cowardly weasel,” Shahin added. “And Queen Zoe is my friend. By harming her, you have earned my special hatred. If you surrender quietly, perhaps I will grant you a merciful death rather than allowing the dogs to eat you alive.”

  Magic flashed between the three men so quickly it was difficult to say what happened, but when it died down, all were still standing. Zoe wondered why Faizel didn’t just transform, but then she realized, if he became a dragon, he would have to fly. The landing platform was too small to give him room to maneuver. If he took to the air he would reveal his position to the entire tower.

  He could probably evade the guards, but then he would be committing himself to a lifetime as an outlaw. She had a feeling that, for the archivist, this moment was either win or die. She started to crawl, slowly, to the open doorway. Not only did she not want to attract attention, but she wasn’t free of the poison, and moving was difficult.

  Zhubin had brought out his broadsword, and was swinging it toward Faizel’s head. The archivist was surprisingly agile, he kept dodging and deflecting the blows, while occasionally flinging magic at Shahin, who was still firing arrows, though he had to be careful not to hit his brother. The Kian burst into the doorway, panting with exertion but wreathed in magic and obviously furious.

  He saw her from the corner of his eye, and she blinked at him, trying to let him know she was alive. She could see, though she hoped no one else did, the slight relaxing of tension in his shoulders that let her know he had seen. He charged at Faizel, whipping a fireball at his face that was barely deflected. That seemed to be all the man could take. From one breath to the next, the archivist became a spiky purple and red dragon, a wyvern actually, with large leathery wings, powerful rear legs, and a long, sinuous neck. Zhubin and Kian backed up, shielding their faces from the dust blown up by his wings.

  Zoe felt nothing but relief, assuming Faizel was going to flee and it would be over at last, but instead, he lunged toward Kian. Zhubin leaped in the way, and was caught by the dragon’s jaws and thrown aside like a dog might do with a toy. He hit the side of the tower with a sickening crunch, and then there was nothing to break his fall.

  Zoe couldn’t help the cry that escaped her mouth as his body tumbled out of sight. Shahin cried out a desperate denial, but Kian was, if possible, even angrier. His dragon form was larger than Faizel’s and he shoved the archivist right off the landing platform before lunging into the air himself. The two dragons fell from sight, locked in a murderous embrace. Zoe let out a soft cry, worried for Kian but knowing there was little she could do.

  Shahin now rushed to her side, tears flowing down his cheeks. “Zoe! You are alive! Are you hurt? What did that bastard do to you?”

  “Poisoned me,” she rasped out. “Temporary paralysis, he said. He planned to throw me from the tower, make it look like suicide.”

  “But why? No, never mind. Should I get Ameretat?” he aske
d, checking her over for wounds and then helping her to sit up.

  She shook her head. “Kian, we have to help him. Faizel has been trying to get rid of him all along. He’ll kill him if he can.”

  “I am sure your beloved can handle himself. No doubt he will have aid, once someone sees what is happening, but if it will soothe your fears, we can watch. I admit I do not wish to leave you alone until I know it is safe.” He helped her over to the edge of the platform, and she saw he was right. In the distance, three dragons could be see flying to the two combatants, and between the four of them, they soon had the archivist cornered.

  They forced him to the ground, but it was too far down to see much else, except eventually, Faizel resumed his human form, and Shahin said he suspected the man had been bound and gagged. “Ah, Kian is taking off now. He means to return here to check on you, I am sure. Let us get out of the way.”

  Zoe felt almost normal and they quickly pulled themselves against the back wall to await Kian’s return. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a great flapping of wings announced his presence, but when Zoe saw him, she cried out. Shahin had to hold her back just to give him space to land. He was bleeding from terrible wounds to his face and belly, and he had several other injuries that looked like burns from fire magic.

  The moment he landed, he fell to the ground from exhaustion and Zoe staggered over to him, cradling his great head in her arms. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, Kian. This is all my fault,” she sobbed as she pressed her face against his.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Zoe saw Shahin sprint down the stairs, no doubt to fetch the healers. There was a sparkling light around them as Kian’s dragon form fell away. He was still gravely wounded, but now he could at least speak. “There is plenty of blame to go around, jãné del-am, some is my own,” he rasped, “but most of it belongs to Faizel. He will face consequences for his actions, I assure you. I am just thankful you are all right.”

  “I’m fine,” she said shakily. “But what about you? And he killed Zhubin, just like that. I can hardly believe it.”

  “Shhh,” he said, his hand reaching to touch her face before falling back against his chest. She wrapped her fingers around his, both their hands pressed to his heart. “I am fairly certain I will survive my injuries, though it is painful enough to make me wonder if I would rather not,” he said with a hint of his old humor. “But even if I do not, I want you to know that I love you. This was not of your making.”

  “And I love you, more than anything, Kian. You are not allowed to die,” she said roughly, and just then, Ameretat arrived with all the other healers, and they were whisked apart.

  CHAPTER 12

  Late that evening, Ameretat finally gave her leave to see Kian. The healers had quickly determined that no harm had come to Zoe or to their unborn children. Faizel had measured the dose carefully, hoping the poison would be undetectable by the time they found Zoe’s body, and it was not a toxin that was able to pass through the placenta.

  Sirius was recovering too, and news of the Vryka’s determination to save Zoe even after he was almost fatally poisoned had made him an instant celebrity. Faizel was locked in the dungeon, under every sort of guard and binding imaginable, awaiting judgement, which, if the people had their way, would be both swift and severe. Despite being the injured party, Zoe wasn’t sure she agreed.

  But she would have to wait if she wanted to consult with her husband. He had survived, despite the severity of his injuries, and the fact that, somehow, Faizel had managed to poison his own claws. “I have never seen anything like it,” Ameretat told her, in private. “I suppose it must be some kind of spell, but I have never heard of such a thing.

  There is no obvious antidote, so we have simply treated Kian’s injuries and have placed him in a magical sleep. Hopefully that will minimize the damage while the poison works itself out of his system, and we will treat the symptoms of the poisoning as they appear.” She estimated that he would have to remain unconscious for as little as three days, perhaps all the way to a week.

  His skin was paler than usual, making him look frail against the white linen sheets, and his skin was clammy when Zoe pressed her lips to her forehead, wanting to weep for probably the fiftieth time that day. But otherwise, his sleep seemed peaceful, and Zoe felt reassured that he would recover as Ameretat promised.

  The healer would not let her stay with him and sent her to her own bed with instructions to stay there until someone came to get her in the morning. It was hard to sleep without Kian there beside her, and Sirius was recovering in the kennels under Shahin’s watchful eye. Zoe could hear a cadre of guards patrolling outside her door. She was extra grateful for Nahuel’s soothing presence against her chest, and for the fact that Kian had taught her that sleep spell after all, or she might have lain awake all night.

  ***

  The next day, Shahin, Darya, and Ameretat all converged on her the moment after she had finished breakfast and gone down to check on Kian. Not much had changed since the night before, but since his condition hadn’t worsened, they could only take it as a good sign. Now, her three most trusted friends surrounded her, all with serious expressions on their faces. “What have I done now?” she asked, feeling a combination of bewilderment and annoyance.

  “Nothing, dear girl,” Darya said with a slight chuckle. “But we do wish you to do something, which you will perhaps not enjoy.”

  “We all think,” Ameretat said, gesturing to the three of them, “that it would be best if you spoke to the people and told them what happened. The longer the rumor mill has to get going, the worse it will be, and with Kian unable to speak, it only makes people more nervous.”

  “Of course I will, if you think it will help. I’m not as good of a public speaker as Kian, but I don’t want people to think there is some kind of conspiracy going on.”

  “There is something else, too,” Ameretat said, her voice hesitant but her expression set. “I know you wanted to wait for Kian to judge Faizel, and normally I would agree, but he’s too dangerous to keep around, even in the dungeon. He won’t stop talking, and people are afraid that eventually someone is going to listen to his ranting. Or kill him themselves, which will only fuel the conspiracy rumors.”

  “It will be better just to get it over with,” Shahin agreed. “He is a cancer, and I am afraid that he may already have accomplices. Perhaps eradicating his madness will scare them into good behavior.”

  Zoe swallowed. “It’s not that I’m against punishing him, but I… I’m not sure execution is the right answer. I mean, not that I think he’s redeemable, but if he does have followers, killing him will only harden their resolve. It will seem like silencing dissent. But I doubt anyone else is going to agree with me. What if they don’t accept my judgement? We’ll end up with a mob.”

  “What else would you suggest?” Darya asked, silencing the forthcoming protests of the other two. “Ameretat is correct; Faizel is too dangerous to keep around. He knows much, and his words can seem wise, especially in times of great change. While most of the people stand with Kian’s vision, I have no doubt that some of them could be swayed by promises of power, wealth, and mastery. And I am not sure Kumarinatu is big enough for exile. That would just give him space to act in secret.”

  “Is there a way to strip someone of magic?” Zoe asked thoughtfully. “If he couldn’t cast anything, he would be fairly crippled.”

  Ameretat frowned, but Shahin grinned. “Actually, I see where you are going, and I like it very much,” the hunter said. “Without magic, he would be forced to survive on his own. He would not be able to transform, to fly, or communicate with anyone in the palace. I doubt he knows how to hunt or find shelter.

  If we could strip his magic away, and then take him somewhere in the mountains, with some basic supplies, well, it would be up to the gods whether he survived. He can hardly be a martyr if the gods will his death. Or because he was too proud to learn basic survival skills,” he added with a chuckle, before sighing. “Unfort
unately, I do not know of such a spell.”

  “Ah, but I do,” Darya said, wagging her finger. “An ancient magic, that, going back to the days when the Kumari were just one tribe of many. Part of a ritual of shunning, it was the way they punished their worst offenders. It used a sort of magical brand, applied to the face, so that anyone who saw the person knew they were the worst of criminals. I think this is a good idea.”

  Ameretat sighed and shrugged. “I admit it has some sort of poetic justice to it, though a good, clean death would be so much more final. Can you teach us the spell before tomorrow? I don’t think we should wait any longer.”

  Darya nodded. “It takes four people, much like the marriage spell, and is complex to set up, but not difficult to perform.”

  “If Zoe and Shahin are in agreement, I can hardly complain. They are the ones most injured by Faizel’s betrayal,” Ameretat said in a resigned tone.

  “I think Zhubin would approve of this judgement,” Shahin said with a grave nod. “Death may be final, but it is almost too merciful for a treachery this deep.”

  “My plan is this. We offer him mercy if he shows us this portal he claimed to possess, so it can be destroyed. If he refuses, we’ll have to execute him, because you’re right, if he can escape to the human world or call reinforcements from there, it’s too dangerous to let him live,” Zoe replied with a firm nod. The more she thought about it, the more sure she was that this was the right thing to do.

  They were all in agreement. Darya said she would immediately go to research the spell and the set up so they could get to work right away. Ameretat went to announce the details of the judgement for the following day, and Zoe and Shahin went to speak to Faizel.