Granted, it did pulse to the same rhythm as the owner’s heart, and it did warm to the heat of the wearer’s skin. And it couldn’t be stolen or even misplaced. If left more than a matter of a few yards from its owner, the Dragon Heart Opal would simply dematerialize from wherever it lay and reappear where it should be. And now, perhaps the Dragon Heart Opal had acquired a brand new skill. It had just become a death sentence for the very person it meant to honor.
The sound of Kitrina’s angry voice brought Zander back to attention.
“No, Father, in this you are wrong. We can’t make a stand here. That would be suicide.”
She stood and placed both her hands flat on the surface of the table while glaring down its length at the man who sat at the head.
“You can’t worry about me. You must concentrate all your energy and that of the Paladins of Albrath on Mother, Lara, and Tawny. And…and on the dragons. It’s your sworn duty to protect the dragons, for they will certainly die trying to protect all of you.”
Uthiel wasn’t having it. “You dare try and tell me my duty? You’re my daughter. It’s my duty to protect you. I will not argue this.”
Kitrina paced before her seat, and Zander couldn’t help but smile at her tenacity. She stopped, folded her arms across her chest, lifted her chin, and scowled. “I can take care of myself. I’m a rogue, taught by none other than yourself and Uncle Leeky. Remember? If nothing else, I know how to track them down and kill them before they can kill me.”
Uthiel’s face turned an ugly shade of purple. “No daughter of mine is going hunting after dangerous individuals and that’s all there is to it. You will stay within the safety of these castle walls and let us men handle the situation. That is an order.”
She was almost spitting fire and, for a moment, reminded Zander of the half-grown ball of fur he’d seen when last here.
“If you didn’t want my opinion and you expect me to just sit here and do nothing while our family is slaughtered, then why did you summon me to this stupid meeting in the first place?”
Uthiel looked ready to explode, and Zander hurriedly intervened. “I have an idea.”
All eyes turned his way.
“I have nothing but respect for you, Uthiel, and will follow whatever dictates you decide, but Kitrina is right about one thing. If she stays here, her presence puts not only herself but all of you in grave danger.”
He took a deep breath, allowing himself a moment to arrange his thoughts. “Castle Kuropkat and its lands would be a prime target for attack from as many as three armies. But if I heard from my sister correctly, Kitrina plans to start her first year at The Academy next week, right?”
Uthiel nodded stiffly and Zander continued. “I say, have her go as if nothing unusual has occurred. Though I do suggest we not wait until The Academy is overflowing with people to get her settled in. I propose we leave first thing in the morning. I’ll personally keep her at my side, and when that isn’t possible, I’ll make sure she’s with someone we all trust. I give you my oath.”
Uthiel shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but Zander held up a hand.
“Don’t you see? It’s all about strategy, sir. Those other three commanders won’t dare bring an army to bear on The Academy of Magical Arts. No matter how big their forces may be. Also, with Leeky, myself, Graydon, Gareth, and even Pierced there, we can keep her safe. I know we can.”
He allowed himself a quick glance at Kitrina before looking at her father once more. “Kit is a rogue, and from what I’ve heard, a VoT of a good one. Give her a chance. Give us a chance. It would be a shame to once more spill blood where all trace of it is finally gone.”
“She’s my daughter.” Uthiel’s voice cracked. “It must be I who protects her.”
Zander nodded. “Aye, she is your daughter, my lord, and much like you.”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with the youngsters on this one, Uthiel.” Sarco added his opinion to the discussion. “I’ll help in any way I can, and I’ll do whatever you ask, but Zander’s plan sounds as if it might just have merit. We all know there’s no safer place in all of Albrath than The Academy.”
“What the drippy nose of a bare-assed troll trollop with saggy tits and a bad case of hay fever, are ya thinking by being so stubborn, Uthiel?” Leeky interjected. “There’s something else ya obviously haven’t taken inta consideration either. If Kitrina does come back ta The Academy with us instead of staying here, she can do research. Perhaps she’ll be able ta find something we don’t already know about the Stone of Anthion or even something new about the other three commanders. Two of them I never even set eyes on. It’s doubtful, but she might even discover a peaceful solution ta this mess. Who knows?”
King Adan nodded. “You know me, Uthiel. I’d rather stand up and fight any day instead of waiting and watching from the background, but in this, I too have to agree with my son. Having Kitrina remain here is much too dangerous, not just for her but for your entire family.”
The barbarian king turned and glared at Kitrina. “But you, young lady, you will not be going off to track down those commanders. You will stay with Zander at all times, and you will sit back, wait, and allow those bastards to come to you, or I’ll personally drag you right back here myself, and I’ll bring Zander’s head along with me for decoration.”
Zander didn’t pay attention to his father’s rantings. He’d heard the barbarian king’s bluster too many times before. But Kitrina was a different story. He thought for a moment she was going to balk at his plan and especially at his father’s declaration that she stay at his side. For the woman was glaring right at him, and it wasn’t love he saw gleaming in her eyes.
Then Briar spoke and stopped any objections Kitrina might’ve been about to voice.
“I love both you and your father, but in this situation, I too implore you to do as Zander…Adan, Sarco, and Leeky suggests, Kitrina. Your father can’t help but wish to protect you, and I fear he speaks with his heart and not his head.” She leaned over and placed a kiss on Uthiel’s cheek. “He is a wise man, however, and in the end, will listen to the sound counsel of those he trusts, and he trusts everyone in this room. You truly are your father’s daughter, my dear, but you are also mine and you will go to The Academy just as you’ve planned.”
She held up a hand. “I believe in your skills. I’ve seen what you are capable of, and I know you can handle yourself. I trust in your judgment emphatically. But in this particular situation, I implore your cooperation for one small point.” Briar took a deep breath. “Though I realize it isn’t what you may have wished for, I must also agree with Zander and his father about where you should reside. After all, one single room would be much easier to defend than a large dormitory and will put fewer people at risk. So, please, stay with Zander.”
Kitrina opened her mouth, but Briar shook her head.
“I’m not finished. Sleeping in his room, being under his…protection doesn’t mean you have to be under his thumb or even do things his way. You’ll do what needs to be done, and you’ll make use of your very own unique talents to do it. I know you will. And with the help of your friends, you’ll defeat these…these monsters if and when they have the audacity to come for you.”
Briarlarn Dragonheart smiled at her daughter, and the love and confidence Kitrina saw in that smile had tears prickling her lashes. She fought them back and refused to let them fall. She was a dragon-riding, stealthily sneaking, lock-picking, dagger-throwing expert. In other words, a rogue just like her Uncle Leeky and a woman full grown to boot. She was no longer a child, and there was no way she’d let these people see her weakness, see her fear. Especially not Zander Hammerstrike. Instead, she swallowed hard and listened to what more her mother had to say.
“Men at times don’t easily comprehend the strengths we women possess. They think they must protect us, coddle us even. It is simply in their nature, so we must strive not to hold it against them. But this is your adventure, daughter, your life and your quest, and
don’t forget that. As for me, I have complete faith in you, my dear.”
Lark Sunwalker and Lizbeth Hammerstrike both nodded and smiled.
Briar grinned even wider than either one of them. “Now that all of this…unpleasantness has been settled, for the moment anyway, I’ve had a meal prepared and little Tawny is anxious to sing for us. Shall we adjoin to the hall?”
Chapter Three
Kitrina watched the courtyard from the battlements just as she’d done every sunrise for as long as she could remember. Below, sixteen-year-old Lara and twelve-year-old Tawny ran headlong out the front gate and down into the valley below.
She sighed. She missed them already.
Lara, the young lioness, her hair all the shades of gold and brown just like the large predatory cat she’d been able to shift into since the tender age of three. With eyes the same forest green as their mother’s and an ability to heal animals that already rivaled most full-grown druids, she was kindhearted and wise beyond her tender years. Kitrina’s heart ached at the thought someone might hurt such a gentle soul.
And then there was Tawny. Though small for her twelve years, she was the feisty one of the bunch. What she didn’t have in stature, she’d more than made up for in talent and spunk.
The earliest of the three to shift, by the time Tawny took her first steps she could morph into a tigress with a coat of bright red stripes matching the locks she’d inherited from Mother. That wasn’t the only thing mother and daughter had in common, either. While in her human form, Tawny could already channel heal through her fingertips. A talent Briarlarn Dragonheart herself hadn’t mastered until her twenties. And her voice, Tawny had the gift of song.
Kitrina smiled at the sight of the young lioness and the tigress cub frolicking in the dew-covered grass. They were so carefree, so young, so alive.
She loved being a part of this family, even if she had gotten the lesser share of magic, other than her father that was. Though a great paladin, Uthiel Dragonheart had absolutely no magical abilities. The capability to shift had come from his mother.
Jewels Stoutheart’s grandfather had been half bahsheer, a race of cat-like people who’d sought sanctuary on Albrath when their planet had been overrun. The gift, as Father called it, was known to skip generations, and so, though his mother had been blessed with the skill to shape-shift into a sleek black leopard, he couldn’t turn into anything. All three of his daughters could, though.
Not that she herself could shift into anything of consequence.
Kitrina shook her head. Her talent hadn’t even manifested itself until she’d been five, and then it had scared her parents to death the first time they’d witnessed it.
That did make her smile. The memory of Uthiel and Briar Dragonheart chasing the tiny black kitten all over the castle and trying to catch her was a good one. Tormenting her parents by hiding in crevices too small for them to get their hands into had been her one guilty pleasure.
But then, what use was there in being able to become a common run-of-the-mill house cat? And what benefit could there ever possibly be when still, even at the ripe old age of twenty-one, there were times she couldn’t control when it happened?
As a house cat, she certainly didn’t frighten anyone, not even the castle mice, and as a house cat, she couldn’t communicate with those around her, and as a house cat, she was vulnerable and didn’t have the capacity to protect herself.
After all, what powers did a house cat possess? What was she supposed to do, meow attackers to death? Perhaps purr them into submission?
No, as a house cat, all she was capable of doing was lap milk, jump out and swat at the unsuspecting passerby, hide in small places, and roll in disgustingly smelly things on a regular basis. That thought, as always, didn’t bring her much joy.
“I thought I’d find you here.”
Kitrina jumped, so lost in thought she hadn’t heard her father approach.
“Father?”
The man with hair almost as dark as her own and eyes her exact same shade of stormy blue smiled as he reached out and stroked her cheek. “Still mad at me, Kitten?”
Kitrina shook her head. “You know I can never stay angry with you for long.”
Her father chuckled. “Perhaps not with me, but what of young Zander Hammerstrike? You do tend to hold a grudge, daughter. Will you be able to finally get beyond what happened in the past and work with him?”
“I hope so.” She sighed.
Her father’s hand resting lightly on her shoulder and giving it a gentle squeeze conveyed the warmth and caring his touch always had.
Kitrina held back the tears she’d been fighting since the moment she awakened this morning. And though she dreaded the topic, she had no doubt he was about to bring up, she knew it needed to be discussed.
“He didn’t marry that horrid barbarian lass, you know? Zander broke off their engagement that very night.”
Kitrina nodded. “I know. Mia told me.”
“He’s a good man, Kitrina. Who he weds isn’t his choice to make, never has been. He must join himself to a woman whose bloodline is at least mostly barbarian if he wishes to become king someday. It’s his destiny. It’s what he was born to do.”
A single tear did escape then. “He could have told me, himself. He didn’t have to let me find out the way I did. I made such a fool of myself, Father. I was nothing more than a joke between them, something to laugh about. And…and you speak of his destiny? You’ve always told me, we are masters of our own destiny. That’s not true for Zander?”
Her father sighed. “Some destinies are harder than others to master, daughter. So, will you be able to reside with him? Trust him? Rely on him? Confide in him as to what you are, what you can become?”
The last question caught her off guard, and Kitrina had to think about it for a moment before she answered. “I will reside in the same dwelling with the arrogant barbarian because I gave you and Mother my word that I would, but I can tell you right now, I won’t enjoy it. As far as trust…trust is earned, so we shall see.
“I am a rogue, Father, and it is those instincts I rely on the heaviest. Though I do promise to be not only open to Uncle Leeky’s council but to Zander’s also. And, of course, I’ll take in consideration what Graydon and Gareth have to say. I’d be a fool to discount the opinions of not only a great rogue like Leeky, but also a powerful spiritmaster like Zander and two fire wizards like Graydon and Gareth. Their abilities will most assuredly come in quite handy.”
She took a deep breath. “As for my capability to shape-shift into a house cat.” She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. “Someday, I’ll tell the whole world perhaps, but not any time soon. A girl deserves to keep one teensy, tiny secret to herself, don’t you think?”
****
Her heart filled with excitement, and Kitrina stared, awestruck as The Academy’s high spires came into view. She smiled. No matter how many times over the years she’d come here with her parents, she always had this same reaction, as if seeing The Academy of Magical Arts for the very first time.
It truly was breathtaking. Five grand castles situated around a central courtyard and nestled within a beautiful valley. It was the center of higher education for all of Albrath. And what an education one received if one were lucky enough to be accepted into its programs.
The waiting lists were long and the rules strict. Students had to be at least twenty-one, they had to have passed all middle-, high-, and prep-school curriculums with above-excellent marks, including sexual practice and theory, and they had to have scored very high on the entrance exams.
The acceptance or not into The Academy of Magical Arts could make or break marriage contracts, business deals, land conversions, or even in some cases, who would or wouldn’t ascend to a kingdom’s throne.
And what a beautiful central place it was to get an education. In the backdrop to the north were the mountains of Landis where the high-elfin kingdom lay, and beyond them, the Dak Forest where her mother had spent
her childhood. Even further north was the barbarian stronghold of Alaria, Zander’s home.
To the west lay the desert, and beyond it, the troll swamplands of Karza. Far to the south and across the Tansian straight, the homelands of both dark-elves and ogres could be found. Between The Academy and the dark-elves were the fertile lands of the halflings. And to the east, the dwarves, and to the very, very far northeast, across the Tansian sea or just a quick step through the portal like the one they’d just made, sat her human home, Castle Kuropkat, the village, and the people she already missed.
She sighed, and Zander’s arm tightened about her waist. A rush of heat flowed through her extremities, and Kitrina fought the tingles of awareness shooting outward from where his hand lay casually against her hip.
She hadn’t wanted to ride before him upon his steed, she hadn’t wanted to be positioned so snugly between his thighs, and she hadn’t wanted to feel the heat he gave off seeping into her skin, making her too comfortable, making her think thoughts she shouldn’t be thinking.
Kitrina had wanted to ride her dragon, but dragons weren’t allowed at The Academy. Dragons frightened people, and in some instances, though not often and never without cause, they ate them.
She chuckled to herself. What an entrance they could’ve made with her sitting atop Sid as he circled the sky before swooping in and making his landing in The Academy courtyard.
Large even for a male dragon, Obsidian was more than a little scary to most strangers. His scales were like the stone he’d been named for, black as the night until sunlight hit them. Then they turned as golden as the sun itself. And his wingspan was so wide, from the ground he looked like a demon coming straight from the pits of VoT. Oh, yes, Sid could be scary, but to Kitrina, he was a friend, and she regretted having to leave him behind.
“I felt you tense, my lady. Are you all right? I’m sorry if the ride isn’t…to your liking, but rest assured, it will be over soon.”
The whisper of air from Zander’s breath upon the skin of her neck sent shivers skittering down her spine to land deep in the pit of her belly. She didn’t want to react to him, not in word or in deed, but her traitorous body hummed with responsiveness. Her nipples hardened, and her pussy throbbed.
Tamed by the Fire Page 4
