As soon as Luc’s tongue touched hers, she saw it. A man and a dragon fought evil side by side. This wasn’t a dragon like her sister’s husbands were dragons. This one couldn’t shift its shape into that of a man. Still, the dragon fought beside the man who had more power than she ever thought possible.
Somehow, she drew memories from both of them. The dragon thought of a life of utter isolation and exile from his own kind because he couldn’t shift his shape. The man, he was the greatest sorcerer known to mankind.
Side by side, the two fought men who wanted them dead. The two together weren’t strong enough to win without sacrifice. The dragon breathed fire on those who would harm them taking a spear to the heart to protect the man. He fell, killing the last of their enemies. Filled with both pain and regret, he breathed the wounded sorcerer’s name. Merlin, apart we both die. Together we will live to fight another day.
Iris gasped, pulled away from Luc and stared at him, her mouth open. “Merlin? You’re Merlin?” Stepping back, she shook her head. “You can’t be. Merlin would be over a thousand years old.”
Of course, her sisters had called and told her about what happened with Emily and the Red Dragon. She hadn’t really believed it, but she gathered they had. Iris had decided to reserve judgment until they all returned and she could question her brother-in-law, Drake.
“Besides, Merlin was a sorcerer—a human. You can’t both be a sorcerer and a dragon.” Could he?
“I can. I am.” He stepped closer, his arm out. “Let me explain.” He winked at her. “Or we could do it the easy way and you could kiss me again,” he said, his mouth quirking up at the corners.
“No.” She held her hand out, as though that could hold him off if he really wanted to kiss her. “I’m fine just hearing your explanation.”
“As you wish.” He sighed. He led her to the sofa in the sitting area of her room, sat and pulled her down onto his lap. “Lluc, it’s the Catalan name of the dragon you saw, and I fought off a host of sorcerers bent on ruling the world.
“They wished to kill King Arthur and his knights to do so. What you saw, was our battle to stop them. It has taken them this long to rebuild their ranks, for one of them to gain the strength to rule the others.” He sighed. “As much as I didn’t want to believe it could happen, I predicted this turn of events hundreds of years ago.”
Shifting, he settled her closer, as though he couldn’t bear to have her be apart from him now.
“We fought together, the two of us. We saved the world from the impending doom, only to have it return.” His gaze shifted. It was as though he was there again, watching the battle unfold. “After what felt like days, but,” he paused to chuckle mirthlessly, “was likely only a few minutes, we won. However, both of us had received mortal wounds. We needed each other to survive. Lluc didn’t have enough magic within him to heal his great dragon form, but he had enough to heal a human.
“Since he’d never been able to shift, his soul was free to bind with me. With his last breath, he pushed his soul from his body and into mine. His magic merged with my own. It healed me and our blended magic allows me to shift my shape like one born to their kind.
“Who knows? Maybe that’s how all dragon shifters came to be.” They had to come from somewhere.
She stared at Luc for a moment. He was Merlin, for crying out loud. She was in love with fricking Merlin!
“I can hear your thoughts now.” He grinned. “They are quite...interesting.”
Her face heated and she slid off his lap. “Well, stop listening. I don’t like it.”
“It’s not something I can turn off. I think it has something to do with Lluc’s dragon magic.” Reaching out, he grasped her hand, his expression serious. “He loves you, you know. As do I.” He shook his head. “I didn’t mean to tell you like that. It’s not very romantic, is it?”
“It was a beautiful way to tell me.” She smiled. “What do we tell the others?”
“Nothing.” He stared into the distance for a moment. “We shouldn’t have to tell them anything. They don’t have to know.”
“I can’t possibly keep this from my sisters. Especially now.”
Tilting his head, he stared at her. “What do you mean, especially now?”
“You don’t know?” She almost bounced in his lap, wondering how he would take the news. Her sisters had told her all about the truth of the Arthurian legends. If everyone thought they and Merlin were dead all this time, did he believe Arthur and his knights were dead, as well?
“Well...” she drew the word out, hoping she was about to impart good news. “Did you know that Arthur and his knights are still alive?”
Chapter Twelve
“What?” Luc stared at her for a minute. “Don’t play with me now that you know who I really am. It’s not funny.”
“I’m not playing.” Leaning toward him, she kissed him on the nose. “I just found that out myself.” She patted his arm. “Apparently, Emily, an old family friend, went to Scotland with Drake, April and a few of my other married sisters to find her mate that she rejected years ago. While there, they found out that King Arthur and at least most of the knights of the round table are still alive and well.”
Luc sat up, almost dumping Iris onto the floor. “That can’t be. They would be over a thousand years old.”
“You are.”
“Yes, but I’m a—” he stared at her for a moment before he got her meaning and smiled. “So, they were dragons all along?”
“Yes.” She nodded. “They’ve also found my brothers who are all alive and well. They’re looking for my parents.”
“It’s too bad you don’t know where they are.”
“If I knew, I would probably leave them alone. They obviously aren’t in a hurry to see us. If they were, they would be here.” She shook her head with a grin. “Five years ago, they disappeared. One would think that if they wanted to be found, they would be here.”
“At least you know your sister didn’t kill them.” He waved his arm in a dismissive manner. “A witch’s magic cannot kill. It can’t harm anyone directly in any way.”
“Tell that to my sister Tansy. She’s caught half the city on fire at one time or another.”
“Her magic did no harm. Her magic started the fires. The flames did the rest.” Luc had learned a bit about the Flowers sisters over the last few days. He had no idea why they insisted on blaming themselves for their errant magic. It was a fact of life for them and no one’s fault they couldn’t control it.
“Yeah, well, we found that out a few years ago, but Rose still blames herself for our parents’s disappearance.” She smiled sadly. “At least she doesn’t think she’s killed them anymore. That’s something.”
“Tell me,” he said as he set her on her feet and stood. “Do you know if the sleeping dragons have awakened?” He probably shouldn’t have stayed in his lair so long. There were too many things he didn’t know. Yet, it wouldn’t matter if he had carried through with his plan to end his life.
“The sleeping dragons?” She frowned at him for a moment. “Oh! Do you mean the Red Dragon, the Spirit Dragon and the Water Dragon? Yes. They’re all alive and well.”
If something was able to pull them from the forever sleep, there is much to be done.
What do you mean, if something pulled them from the forever sleep? The forever sleep is death. At least that’s what Lluc had led him to believe.
No. The forever sleep merely mimics death. One sleeps until a catastrophic event, or one’s mate calls upon you. Luc felt the old one chuckle. Sometimes these things are one and the same.
“Tell me, how did they awaken and how many have risen?”
“You’re scaring me now. You know that, right?” Iris stared at him, her eyes wide. “As far as I know, three have awakened. Though, only two of them had been sleeping for more than a hundred years.”
“Which two?” Her answer was of the utmost importance. If the Crystal Drag
on had risen, he would already be too late.
“The Spirit Dragon and the Water Dragon are the only two ancients who have risen that I know about. They are mates to my sisters Jasmine and Summer, respectively. The Red Dragon can’t be one you’re asking about. He had only been asleep for fifty years.”
“Their mates awoke them?” That would be good news. Although the prophecy he recited while in that trance didn’t say they couldn’t be awakened by their mates, only that they would awaken.
“Yes. Summer and the rest of us pulled Adrian from some sort of weird forced sleep while he was imprisoned in ice and Jasmine woke Ryuu up on a trip to England. Why?”
“It’s nothing important at the moment,” he said, giving a relieved sigh. “It would only have been important if they had managed to wake up on their own. A mate can pull even the most stubborn dragon from the deepest sleep.” He smiled. “She can even keep him from sleeping altogether.”
Leaning down, he slanted his lips over hers. He’d waited lifetimes to feel this way. The soft touch of her lips against his sent waves of heat spiraling through him. His heart slammed against his ribs and his body hardened to a point near pain.
Scooping her up, he carried her from her room and the reminder of the pain he’d caused with his stubbornness and into his room. Slowly, he undressed her, covering every inch of her beautiful body with kisses meant to drive her mad.
When he drove her to a fevered pitch, they came together with a fiery need that left them both sated and spent. Collapsing on the bed, he pulled Iris into his arms. “I never thought to find someone like you. I never would have believed it possible to love someone the way I love you. I love you, with every breath in my body.”
“I love you, too, silly.”
“Silly? You call me silly, woman? Why?”
“Because.” She smiled, cupped his cheek and pulled him down for a brief kiss. “I knew I loved you on Valentine’s Day the first moment I looked into your eyes. I knew you were the one.”
“And you kept that information to yourself.”
“Of course.”
He stared at her, unable to believe she could be so utterly devious. “Why would you do such a thing?”
“Well...” She rolled over, rested her head on his chest and snuggled closer. “You would have run.”
Epilogue
Luc studied the man who sat staring at them. His expression was one of anger, perhaps hate. Was he the sorcerer he’d taunted? Was this the time he would strike?
The man in the window looked away and sipped his drink, almost absently, as though the next few minutes didn’t matter.
No matter how much he prayed, Luc couldn’t shake the feeling that soon the other shoe would drop. Very soon. He was too happy. There was no doubt in his mind that the man in the window didn’t want that.
The smell of car exhaust kept him focused. As long as a car idled, there was danger. As long as there were people milling about whom he didn’t know, there was risk. Still, he vowed he would never keep Iris cooped up the way she had been when he found her.
Folding his newspaper, the man across the street tipped his cup back and finished his drink. Standing, he pulled his hat low over his eyes and headed for the door. On the sidewalk, the man strolled down the street as though there was nothing wrong at all.
He does not strike today, then. Lluc commented with a low growl. It is good. We have more time to prepare.
“What’s wrong, darling?” Iris followed his gaze with furrowed brow. “Did you see something?”
“Nothing worrisome. Not yet, anyway.” He’d never been one to borrow trouble, he’d always seemed to find enough without doing that. “Where did you say Drake was?” If her brother-in-law really was Arthur, they needed to meet, quickly. Two of the sleeping dragons had already awakened. They were running out of time.
Iris wrapped her arms around his neck. “Have I told you I love you today?”
“Yes, love.” Bending, he kissed the tip of her nose. “About a dozen times.”
“Oh.” Her face fell.
“But I could stand to hear it at least a dozen more times.”
“Really?” She smiled, her face lighting up.
“Really.” He gave her a wink. “After so many years alone, I couldn’t bear another day without you telling me that again and again.” He rested his forehead against hers. “I love you more than life itself.” After pressing a quick kiss to her lips, Luc straightened. “I hope you have a passport.”
“Why?”
“Because, we’re headed to England. I need to talk to Arthur as soon as possible. He always knows what to do. You’re going to stay by my side where I can protect you, and if you don’t have a passport, you’re not going to enjoy the flight.”
About the Author
Dear Reader:If you’re reading this, I hope it means that you’ve just enjoyed reading one of my books. Always a romantic, I started weaving little fantasies for my friends at the tender age of fifteen. Never once did I think that writing would be my dream until around 2002. After complaining to my husband that my favorite authors didn’t write fast enough, my husband asked a fateful question. “Why don’t you write one of your own while you’re waiting?”
Once I started, he couldn’t stop me. Now, I write in the morning before work. I write during my breaks at the day job, I write at night when I should be relaxing. Heck, I’ve even been known to write in my sleep. Every member of my family has had the dubious honor of witnessing my fingers moving over the keys while I’m off in dreamland. Sometimes it even makes sense!
I grew up in Southwest Florida where I met and married the love of my life. My husband was in the Navy for twenty years, so if you wonder where I have gotten some of my ideas, I blame him. I suggest you do the same. He’s always saying he has wide shoulders. Let’s load them up, shall we?
Currently, I live in a small town in Michigan, seven miles from the nearest grocery store. I love living out here in the country. It gives me the peace and quiet I need to continue to write these stories for you. It also shows me a lot of natural beauty that I try to share with you in my books. While my titles may be dedicated to certain individuals who have touched my life in differing ways, please remember, every one of them is written for you.
My most recent dream is to continue what I do—to share more stories with anyone willing to read them. My new dream is to be able to pursue both my writing and my husband fulltime. Do you think he’ll run?
More of Tianna’s Books
The Caspian Cascade series
Gate To Fate series
The Paradise series
Brianna’s Prophecy
Dragon Bound series
The DARE series
The Endowed Series
The Chosen Series
Hidden Breeds
Highland Bears
Where to find Tianna:
www.tiannaxander.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TiannaXander/
http://twitter.com/#!/TiannaXander
http://www.myspace.com/tianna_xander
http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=635929605
The Silver Dragon Page 4
