by Bianca D’Arc
But she knew her own little trio was missing a very key ingredient. In her case, the dragons were not part of it. She assumed the dragons were what bound the whole thing together, but she didn’t really understand how or in what way. It seemed—judging by Hrardorr’s refusal to take another knight so soon after being blinded and losing his previous knight—that she would never find out. At least not with Seth.
For in her heart, she knew that if Hrardorr was going to choose anyone as his partner, it would most likely be Seth. It didn’t matter that Seth had consciously chosen to follow the healer’s path. In his heart, he carried everything noble and necessary to being a knight. He would be a fine knight. A credit to his family and his land. But Livia couldn’t see him partnered with anyone other than Hrardorr, which they all knew was improbable if not impossible.
“What are you thinking about?” Gowan whispered, his gaze boring deep into hers.
She knew honesty between them was the only way, which is why she told him. “Seth.”
Gowan stilled, removing his hands from her body. His knees lay on either side of her hips, straddling her, but he still wore his trousers. She was the one who was almost completely naked.
“Do you miss him? Do you want him here?”
“Yes and yes, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to be here, making love to you, Gowan. I just…” She rolled away and he let her go, moving off her to sit on the wide bed while she clutched her petticoat to her bare body. “I was thinking about Seth and Hrardorr and how it would be so perfect, if only—”
“If only Hrardorr were Genlitha’s mate and Seth his knight,” Gowan finished her thought for her. She looked up at him in shock. Had he really been thinking the same things? Gowan gave a short bark of laughter at her expression. “It’s fairly obvious, isn’t it? I mean, that would be the perfect solution for us all, but I have to be honest. I just don’t see it happening. Hrardorr’s got too much to work through, and I don’t even know if Genlitha thinks of him as a potential mate.”
“You don’t?” Livia was surprised.
She’d thought a knight would know everything about his dragon partner. She’d heard they shared minds at times. Wouldn’t that mean he’d know if Genlitha was attracted to Hrardorr as a mate?
“In my experience, most females are inscrutable. Dragon females even more so than human ones.” He laughed, and she realized he was sort of joking, but also somewhat serious. He didn’t seem to understand Genlitha as well as Livia had thought he would. “It would have been nice, though, wouldn’t it?” he went on, musing as he looked away from her.
“It would have solved a few problems for me,” she admitted. “Particularly with my father. He couldn’t object to our relationship if it was sanctioned by the crown, and we could go live in the Lair. He wouldn’t have any say in the matter at all since the needs of dragons and their knights overrule almost any objection he could’ve made. Especially since, in the eyes of the law, I’m an adult entitled to make my own decisions.”
Gowan sighed. “I think your father will always see you as his child. He’ll want to protect you. I mean, if a man sets sail with a fleet of ships ready to do battle at great cost to himself and his business, simply because he knows his daughter is in danger… Well, that says a lot about him.”
She hadn’t thought of it quite that way. Gowan had just opened her eyes a bit. “Yeah. You know? I think you may have something there.” She moved closer to Gowan, wrapping her arms around him from behind. “You almost sound as if you admire him.”
Gowan covered her hands with his, over his heart. “After today, I think I do. At least a little. I don’t like hiding our relationship from him—or from anyone—but I can’t do the noble thing here and leave you alone, Livia.” He turned, taking her in his arms, her petticoat slipping away to the floor.
“I don’t want you to leave me alone, Gowan.” She smiled at him, looking into his eyes. “I want quite the contrary.”
He kissed her then, and it wasn’t the polite, gentle foray of before. No, this was raw need. Bare emotion. Sizzling attraction.
This was more like it. An honest, open need that raged between them. She realized then that he’d been holding back before, trying to give her a different sort of experience. While she was touched by his gesture, now was not the time for such gentility.
They’d both been through a lot that day. Gowan had fought alongside the fey. He’d wielded his sword and spilled pirate blood in defense of an ally of Draconia. He’d faced death and come out on top.
She, too, had been asked to do things quite out of her ordinary experience. The desperate flight, the walk over land into an uncertain situation. Meetings with gryphons and wizards. Magic and mayhem. It was more than her usual boring business day, and it had left her feeling rough in places…especially those close to her heart.
Tonight, she needed complete openness between her and her lover, and Gowan was giving it to her now. Just what she needed from him.
No time to think. Only to feel. To give and receive pleasure in its most basic form.
She turned the tables on him, tackling him to the bed. He let her. She climbed over him, tearing at the trousers that separated them. He helped.
Finally, when he was freed, she took him almost brutally. Surging down onto him, claiming him for herself. Wild with need, potent with emotion, she began rocking on him, wanting…needing…desiring all he had to give.
And he was with her. Blessedly so.
When she came in a fast, hard climax, he held her. When she collapsed onto his chest, almost sobbing with each breath at the intensity of her feelings, he comforted her. And when he rolled them over, carefully maintaining the connection between their bodies, he began to seduce her all over again.
Gowan was a powerful man, and he used his strength wisely that night, bringing her to climax after climax, letting her rest for short periods before he started it all again. They rarely spoke, but they were always touching, speaking in caresses and murmurs of skin on skin.
He took her hard and fast, then soft and slow. Languorous, one minute; hectic, the next. He gave her everything and demanded all she had in return, which she gladly gave. She was raw emotionally, but his loving presence put a balm on her inner turmoil. When the night started to fade into the next day, she felt renewed in spirit and soul.
He’d done that. He’d restored her. His loving embrace had rebalanced her battered emotions, and she felt she could face whatever the new day brought them in better spirits.
When she left his bed, reluctantly, she was a little sore, but Gowan—for all his hard use of her body that night—had been careful not to harm her. He’d taken exquisite care of her in every way, and she loved him all the more for it.
She hadn’t thought it would be possible to love the man any more, but she’d been wrong. Every time they were together, he burrowed a little deeper into her heart.
She left him with a last lingering kiss, wishing she didn’t have to go. They both knew, however, that she had to be careful. Gowan had told her that he didn’t want anything ruining the memory of the night they had just shared. He got up and opened the door to his room, checking the hall before he let her out.
She made her escape back to her own room just as the first bird began to sing in the darkness. Collapsing onto her own bed, she sighed in bliss and couldn’t stop the smile that curved her lips. She fell asleep that way, still smiling.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Sir Leo was on watch again when dawn broke over the ocean to the East. Lizbet had not reappeared when he’d gone back on watch, and he was both glad and sad. Glad because he wanted her to rest, but sad that he didn’t have her company during the long lonely hours before dawn.
In the pearly light, Leo saw a gryphon approach. It looked like he was making directly for the beach and the bonfires that had died down to mere coals. Sure enough, a few minutes later, a proud gryphon of noble bearing walked soundlessly into camp, giving the glowing coals a wide berth, Leo noti
ced. Feathers and fur didn’t do well with fire, he supposed, unlike dragons who could bathe in the flames with impunity, their flexible, armor-like scales protecting them.
Atop the gryphon was a man. Not a fey. A dark-haired older man. The wizard.
“Hail, Sir Leonhardt,” the wizard called as he jumped down from his seat astride the gryphon’s massive shoulders. “How is the patient this morning?”
“Greetings of the day, milord,” Leo answered politely, standing to face the last of the great wizards of old. “I believe Seth is already at his work, checking on Lady Shara’s wounds,” Leo told him, unsurprised when Gryffid strode right past him and into the cave without hesitation.
Leaving Leo, of course, facing a rather fierce-looking gryphon. Leo tried to keep in mind the proper etiquette when meeting a gryphon for the first time. He didn’t want to do anything that might offend such a fierce creature.
“I am General Falthith,” the gryphon said to Leo, surprising him.
“Greetings of the day, General. May I offer you breakfast? Or a snack? I have apples in my pack that Xanderanth often enjoys.” Leo wasn’t quite sure what to offer a gryphon. They might be roughly the same size and shape as a dragon, but they were quite a different beast altogether.
“No, thank you,” the general replied. “We have been touring the island, looking to ssee the sscope of the damage for oursselvess in the light of day.” Falthith turned suddenly, looking toward the water. “Ah. Company comess.”
Seth looked to where the gryphon was gesturing and saw at least a dozen dragons walking out of the waves and onto the beach. Sweet Mother of All, the sea dragons had come to visit their injured friend. Or maybe they’d come to see the wizard…
As it turned out, the sea dragons had come to do both. Several went into the large cave to check on Shara. A few went to visit with Hrardorr. Leo noticed that Xanderanth stayed by Shara’s side, even when her fellow sea dragons came to see her. Xander seemed almost possessive of the female dragon, and he was definitely protective to a degree Leo had never before witnessed—except maybe when Xander was watching over Leo’s youngest siblings.
About half of the sea dragons gathered around the wizard when he came out of the cave. Leo heard only a small a portion of their conversation, but he got the idea that Gryffid was thanking the sea dragons for helping to defend the island and offering them a more involved role in future. They walked off a short distance away and seemed to be discussing things in earnest when Seth came out to sit by the small fire Leo had kept burning, and over which he was cooking breakfast.
“Is Lizbet still sleeping?” Leo asked, trying to sound nonchalant.
“Lady Lizbet is with Lady Shara,” Seth answered, stressing the fey woman’s title as if reminding Leo just how out of his league the beauty truly was. Seth sighed heavily and walked around the cook fire to face Leo. “Look, just be careful, will you? She is fey. The next best thing to immortal. Not human, you know? I just…I just don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Leo felt his face flush with heat, but he appreciated that Seth was trying to be a good friend.
“Thanks, but…it really is none of your business. Don’t take that as a rebuke, Seth. I appreciate your friendship, but in this matter, I will have to find my own path.”
Seth regarded him for a long time, then finally nodded. “Stars know I’m no one to give advice on romance. Just know I’m here for you if you need a friend.”
“Thanks.” Leo was truly touched by Seth’s concern, but he knew he’d said the right thing.
This felt too important to allow anyone to influence the turn of events—even well-meaning friends. This thing between Lizbet and himself would have to prove itself strong enough to stand in the light of day, or peter out like last night’s coals.
Seth took his breakfast, and nothing more was said of the matter. Instead, the men discussed the plan for the day ahead as they ate together, saving a portion for Lizbet when she finally emerged from the cave that had become a temporary home to a now-sizable flock of dragons.
Lizbet saw Gryffid come in and chose to stay by Shara’s side. She would remain unless, and until, Gryffid asked her to leave. Thankfully, he didn’t. He merely smiled at her in that fatherly way he had and looked speculatively between her and Shara while he examined Shara’s wounds.
He spoke a few words of magic that seemed to help Shara feel even better than Seth’s potions, for which Lizbet was grateful. Anything that helped Shara—be it magic or medicine—was more than welcome. Lizbet hated seeing Shara suffer.
Gryffid surprised Lizbet by staying to chat a while after he’d checked over Shara’s wounds. He even invited Lizbet to ask some of the questions that had been bothering her.
When Leo entered the cave, coming over to stand near Lizbet, she saw a knowing look in the old wizard’s eye that said all too much. He knew there was some sort of spark between them, and he seemed to be waiting for Lizbet to work up the courage to ask him what she wanted to know.
It was Leo who started the conversation, though, much to her surprise, as they walked the wizard out of the cave. Leo had more courage than she’d thought, to question the last of the great wizards.
“Milord, are sea dragons and land dragons really so different?” Leo began. “I confess, I was expecting them to be much more different from each other, but besides the ability to flame and the webbing on their feet and hands, they seem more alike than they are different.”
“At one time, there was no distinction between the types of dragons we know today,” Gryffid said in his thoughtful way. “Ice dragons, snow dragons, sea dragons and all the others were all brethren of the dragons who remained in Draconia in the beginning. Most stayed there, but those that branched off turned into these separate enclaves over the centuries.”
“So then, it’s possible that Xander and Shara could be mates?” Leo asked the question Lizbet had not dared to voice, his brows furrowed.
“It is very possible,” Gryffid nodded. “But that leaves you in a quandary, does it not? Because of the way you are joined to Xanderanth, you must find your mate before he can take his.”
“But Shara isn’t a fighting dragon. She hasn’t bonded to a knight—or to any person,” Leo said in a glum tone, clearly upset by this idea.
“Hasn’t she?” Gryffid turned his knowing gaze to Lizbet.
“I’m not sure…” Lizbet hedged. She was bonded to the sea dragon, but was it the same kind of bond the knights shared with their dragons? She had no idea.
“Aren’t you?” Gryffid challenged her again in the same tone. He shook his head. “Come now, you are joined on a deep level with your dragon friend. I see the same link between you and Shara as I do between those two.” Gryffid pointed to Leo and Xanderanth, who had followed them out of the cave and onto the beach, leaving Shara’s side for the first time since the night before.
“You do?” Leo blinked a few times and looked at Lizbet, then he looked back at the wizard. “Could that work? Would we not need a third?”
“A third in the relationship is something you knights have faced due to several factors, including the scarcity of human women who can bespeak dragons or even tolerate living with dragons, and the fact that only males are chosen as knights. Back in the beginning of dragon knight pairings, many things were tried, and the triad was proven the most stable arrangement and has become the method of choice over time, but I see no reason why your situation couldn’t work just as well.” He had taken on a sort of lecturing tone, and Lizbet was glad Gryffid has put some serious thought into his answer. “Furthermore…” he went on, “…I am too old and wise not to acknowledge the hand of the divine often stirs the pot where you dragon knights are concerned. Although I am a man of science and magic, even I bow to the Mother of All’s wisdom.”
Lizbet was shocked, but also pleased by his words. The idea of mating with a human—albeit a dragon knight—was scary. Leaving her homeland was an even more frightening thought. She had never been to the lands
where humans ruled. She had never wanted to leave Gryphon Isle. But if she joined with Leo…
Dear, sweet, irresistible Leo…
How could she?
How could she not?
The conflict within her heart made her head spin. She didn’t know what to think. What to do. She wasn’t sure of anything at the moment, only that she felt something when she was with Leo that she had never experienced before. Something that told her this was significant. He was significant.
“You must contemplate many things, young ones. And you must be patient while decisions are made on your behalf in faraway places.” Gryffid took on that mystical tone he used when imparting information about future.
Lizbet perked up. Gryffid knew more, but he wasn’t telling. She would have to think hard on his words and look for every possible nuance of meaning, for when the wizard decided to keep his own counsel, he did just that and not even a herd of rampaging gryphons could make him budge.
*
Later that morning, Seth arrived back at the wizard’s keep while breakfast was still being served in the great hall. He’d left Leo and Xanderanth with Lizbet and Shara. Hrardorr had allowed Seth to guide him in for a landing in the keep’s huge courtyard because he wanted to meet the wizard, if at all possible. When asked why, Hrardorr only replied that it was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to converse with someone who had walked among the ancient dragons and designed the gryphons.
The respectful tone Hrardorr used when talking of the wizard surprised Seth, but also pleased him. It seemed there were still a few things in the world that could rouse the interest of the blind dragon. Seth took it as a good sign. To him, it meant that Hrardorr’s attitude toward the world—while still bleak, at times—was improving.
Each success built on the next, and Seth hoped that, at some point, Hrardorr would come to accept his blindness and move on with his life. There was still so much he could do—so much he had done since coming to the seaside Lair. But all he saw was his disability, instead of the incredible gifts he could still give to the world and all the beings in it that wanted to give to him in return. Friendship, love, laughter and happy times could be had, if he was willing to accept them.
