by L. P. Dover
“See … that’s the thing,” Alston sneered. “I have no respect.”
With that, he turned his back to me and lay down on the ground, clearly saying the conversation was over. It was far from over, and I was going to make sure he fully understood that.
When I fell asleep, Sorcha was waiting for me.
“What took you so long?” she asked curiously.
“Oh, you know …” I began sarcastically. “Just warning Alston to keep his distance, but of course, he challenged me.”
Sorcha shook her head. “I told you, he’s possessive. He said he was going to work on it, but obviously, I guess he’s not getting the picture.”
“He’s not welcome in our court, Sorcha,” I added forcefully. “Sarette is your friend, and if she decides to follow you that’s great, but she has to know he can’t come.”
Sorcha nodded in agreement. “I understand, and I agree with you. Maybe he’ll come to his senses when I’m gone for good, when our bond is complete.”
“He has no choice but to let you go, beautiful. If he causes a problem I’m going to have to deal with it my way. He’s not going to disrespect me or you by acting this way.”
Sorcha smiled and placed her finger to my lips. “Please tell me we aren’t going to talk about Alston this whole time. Our dreams are about me and you. What adventures are we going to go on tonight?”
“We could visit your home in the Winter Court,” I suggested. “I know you miss it.”
She shrugged and said thoughtfully, “I will miss it, and once we get back I’ll have to face my parents. They’re going to be so angry with me when they find out what I’m doing.”
Taking her in my arms, I held her tight. “You’ll be safe with me. I’ll make sure you get back all in one piece.”
Running her hands along my back, she whispered against my chest, “I know, Drake, but tonight I want to feel safe in our court. Let’s picture it together and go there. I want to feel like I’m at home.”
“Home,” I repeated, smiling.
Closing our eyes, we both envisioned our court the way we wanted it to be: white, sandy beaches, clear blue water, palm trees, salty sea air, and us right in the middle of it. Even in the dream I felt at home, truly and utterly at home.
The next morning came quickly, and once the sun was up we packed our supplies and began our journey. Since we only had two horses, Alston rode Sorcha’s horse while she and I rode on mine. The ride was quiet until Alston opened his smart ass mouth.
“I don’t see why you don’t just fly while Sorcha and I ride the horses. You’re weighing yours down with both your weights. I’m starting to feel sorry for it.”
Growling, I turned to face him with my lethal gaze. “My horse will be perfectly fine, and besides, I’m not stupid enough to leave her alone with you.”
“She’s been alone with me many times and I’ve never heard her complain,” he taunted suggestively.
Sorcha tensed in front of me, and glared at Alston, fuming. “Enough!” she yelled. “What the hell is the matter with you? I thought you said you were going to change. What happened to that?”
“I’m trying,” he yelled back. “It’s hard to see you two all over each other when I’m still in love with you. I’m sorry if you don’t understand that.”
Sorcha paused and stared at him for a tense moment. She released a shaky breath and continued, “I know you still love me, but the snide remarks need to stop. If you have a problem with me and Drake being together you’re going to have to get over it. No one is making you stay with us. I’m sure you can find the way back to the Winter Court.”
“I’m not leaving you,” he answered firmly. “I don’t think I can.”
My anger grew with every word he said, and no matter what Sorcha believed, Alston was definitely going to be a problem. Sorcha tilted her head back to me and said, “Pull the reins. We need to stop.” I did as she said and we came to a halt.
When Alston’s horse stopped, she glared at him and began, “Alston, I will be leaving soon. I’m not going back to the Winter Court. It’s not my home anymore.”
“Well, then I’ll follow you to Summer,” he promised.
When I opened my mouth to protest, Sorcha jabbed me in the leg and whispered, “Let me handle this.” Biting my tongue, I kept my mouth shut even though I was shaking furiously.
“You can’t follow me, Alston. You don’t belong in Summer.”
“What about Sarette?” he asked. “She won’t leave the Winter Court without me.”
Sorcha shrugged her shoulders regretfully. “Then I guess she’ll have to stay in Winter.”
Alston fumed, his eyes going wide in disbelief. “Are you serious? You would actually refuse your best friend because of me?”
Her reply was soft and tinged with regret. “I’m sorry, Alston, but I have no other choice. You’ve given me no other choice.”
His mouth flew open and he sat there frozen atop the horse. When he made no attempt to move, I spurred our horse on to continue the way. We weren’t far from Endelyn because I could see the mountains looming ahead. The tallest peak soared high into the sky above, hidden by the gray clouds. Sorcha shivered as her gaze shot up the expanse of the mountain.
“Wow,” she breathed in awe. “I’m so glad we don’t have to climb that.”
“Me too.” I laughed. “Are you ready to go up there?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
“Okay, first thing I need to do is get out of my clothes and transform. I’ll stay in dragon form while we’re up there so as soon as you get the box open and grab the scroll we can fly down. After that, I’ll change back and we can make our way home.”
Sorcha nodded. “All right, let’s get this done.”
She bounced on her feet like she’d always do before we trained in our dreams. I’d come to realize that was her way to get the adrenaline going. I also thought it might be her trying to hide her nervousness, which she surely hated admitting to.
“Hey,” I murmured softly, taking her face in my hands. “You’re not alone. I’m going to be there with you, just as a dragon.”
Releasing a shaky breath, she sighed. “I know. I think I’m just a bit nervous, and you know how I hate to admit that.”
Looking her in the eyes, I kissed her lips long and hard until she relaxed against me. “I love you, Sorcha. You’re going to do fine up there.”
She smiled and brought her lips to mine again. “Thank you, and I love you, too,” she whispered across my lips.
Releasing her from my grasp, I began to strip out of my clothes and initiate the change. “When you’re ready and secure, just call out to me and we’ll fly.”
“I will.”
Once the transformation was complete, Sorcha climbed up on my back and settled into position. Her legs were clenched tight, holding her in place, while her hands wrapped firmly into my hair. She felt so light, almost breakable and fragile against my muscular dragon frame, but she was mine to protect, and I would do so with my life.
“I’m ready, Drake!” she called out.
As soon as I heard those words I was off into the sky. My wings flapped hard, lifting us off the ground and smoothly into the air. The wind grew colder and the air grew thinner the further up we went, and it wasn’t long before we reached the top, concealed by the clouds. We made it to the top, now it was time for the search.
When we reached the top of the mountain, Drake lowered himself to the ground so I could slide down his scaly skin with ease.
“Thank you,” I murmured, trailing my gaze over the lonely mountain top.
Even though Drake was there with me as a dragon, I still felt oddly alone knowing he couldn’t speak to me. Looking around, there was nothing nice about my surroundings. I could feel the dark magic plaguing the life of the land, making it gloomy and dank. I shivered in response when I felt the darkness float over my skin. There was no life, not even a shred of it as I walked around the huge boulders. It was almost like everything
turned to stone … empty.
“Okay, I need to find the pile of rocks Brokk mentioned. He said I’d be able to feel the dark magic and pinpoint the scroll, but I can feel it everywhere. It’s hard to pinpoint it when it’s surrounding you. I guess I could always try my earth magic.”
Drake nodded his large dragon head in agreement. With my natural ability being with the earth, I decided to give it a try, to see if it would lead me to the scroll. Kneeling on the ground, I placed my hands on the cold, stone pebbles. I concentrated as hard as I could on finding the life inside the mountain. It was there, just deep and buried. I could feel its essence drawing up through the ground until it pooled at my hands and feet. My hands tingled as the power flowed through my body.
“Please … show me the way,” I pleaded.
The energy surged beneath my feet and it was as if my legs had a will of their own; one minute I didn’t know where to go and the next I was being pulled like a magnetic force. My eyes were closed in concentration as I followed the invisible path in my mind. Once the magic dissipated and the connection broke, I knew I was where I needed to be. When I looked down, there was a collection of rocks piled into a mound just like Brokk had said.
“Drake, I found it!”
He came up behind me and hovered over my shoulder. The heat he gave off was scorching, but what else was there to expect from a fire breathing dragon. He winked at me with his smoky gray eyes as I ran my hands down his snout, smiling.
“Here we go,” I began.
Rock after rock, I moved them aside until there were no more. Nothing was underneath the rocks except dirt, so I scooped it away—layer by layer—until I came upon something hard. Smiling, I pulled the box out of its resting place, blew off the dirt, and held it in my hands. It was made of wood, but had symbols carved on all sides, symbols that I had no clue what they meant. My hands hummed with energy, and it wasn’t the good energy either. There was only a slight seal where I could see where the box was connected together. I had an idea, and I was going to try it.
“Oh, what the hell,” I said, picking up the box. Raising it high over my head, I slammed it down on the rocks as hard as I could. Over and over, I threw it on the ground and rammed it into the rocks hoping it would open, but it never did. There wasn’t even a scratch or dent on the surface of that dreaded box.
Drake’s dragon eyes showed amusement as he sat there watching me, almost as if he was laughing at me. “Hey, it was worth a shot,” I told him. “I’m sure you would’ve tried the same thing.”
Placing the box on a nearby rock, I wiped my sweaty hands on my black, leather pants, and realized that soon my silver and black armor would be traded in for the gold and brown of Summer. All I needed was to get the scroll and go home, but first, I had to pay the price; the price to save my people. By offering my blood, I was willingly giving the dark sorcerer my power, and willingly making him stronger. It sickened me to know that after this he was going to have my power coursing through his veins. I felt violated even though this was my decision, and my choice to have my power taken.
Closing my eyes, I took a few deep breaths. Drake nudged me in the side and made a small whimpering sound. He hated that I had to do this. “I’m okay, Drake. It just pisses me off that when I do this the dark sorcerer will have won another round. I wanted to be different, to be the one he couldn’t get, but that’s not going to happen. Instead, I’m offering myself up on a golden platter. I just hate that whatever we do, he has a way to change it and make us look like the fools.”
Drake growled in response, and I could tell in his dragon eyes that he agreed and understood. I knew Drake was in there, but it still amazed me how a dragon, dangerous and lethal, could have love and understanding in its eyes.
“Okay, here I go.”
Not wanting to waste any more time, I pulled my spear out from the harness on my back. The spear point was sharp; a light scraping of the blade could drag deep down to the bone if too much pressure was applied. Carefully, I ran my palm over the sharp edge, instantly drawing a stream of blood. I placed my hand over the box and let the blood flow freely. It coated the outer edge and slowly ran down the sides of the wood. Nothing was happening.
“I wonder how much blood it needs,” I mumbled to myself and Drake.
I took the spear and sliced open my other hand, hoping the extra blood would get it going. The pool of blood surrounding the box had me shaky, and staggering to stay on my feet. Blood didn’t bother me, but the amount I was losing did. Drake hissed and began looking angry. He wanted me to stop, but I knew I had to keep going.
“Just … a … little … more,” I sputtered weakly.
My vision began to blur and I struggled to stay on my feet. My legs gave out from beneath me and I collapsed onto the ground. I clenched my hands into tight fists to stop the flow of blood. Falling on my back, I closed my eyes, feeling too weak to move. When I glanced up, Drake was staring at the box in awe. Was it working? I wondered. I sat up slowly, and I was amazed to see that the box was now glowing and lifting into the air. Getting shakily to my feet, I brought up my hands and lightly placed them on both sides of the floating box. The lid started to open, and a bright flash of light burst from the inside, momentarily blinding me.
When my vision cleared I saw the scroll, the one piece of paper that could help save my land. It was a thick, yellow piece of parchment rolled into a cylinder with a ribbon wrapped around it. My heart thundered desperately in my chest, and it was telling me to grab the scroll and run as fast as I could. I took it out of the box and slowly unrolled it, not wanting to jeopardize the paper in any way. There were so many ancient symbols and texts that it was confusing to read. I could make out some of it, but I knew there was only one person who could decipher the full meaning … Elvena. We needed to get to her quickly.
I put the scroll in my leather pouch that was secured to my armor belt. If I closed it in the box again I took the chance of it sealing and never getting it out. I didn’t want to do that. Drake was waiting patiently for me so I staggered over to him and climbed up on his back.
“I’m ready to go!” I called out to him.
Holding the box securely in my hand, I held onto Drake with the other. My palms ached, but the bleeding had finally stopped. Drake flew off the mountain and into the wind, heading straight down to the valley below where we left the horse. If I wasn’t so drained I’d find the flight exhilarating, but hopefully within the next hour I’d have my strength back. It took a lot of blood to open that damn box.
When Drake landed and I slid off his back, he immediately changed back. He was naked, but it didn’t stop him from scooping me into his arms. “Are you okay?” he asked, sounding worried, running his hands over my body.
“I am now,” I said, smiling weakly.
He laughed and kissed my lips before fetching the clothes he left by the horse. After his clothes were put on, he hastily took me in his arms again. “I was so worried about you up there,” he whispered in my ear while breathing me in. “I wasn’t going to be too happy if you’d let yourself bleed out. I was two seconds away from knocking you out.”
“You wouldn’t dare, and anyway, I’m fine now.” I pulled back and tucked the box under my arm. “Let’s go home.”
“Not so fast,” a cold, dark voice echoed behind us.
Drake and I both stiffened and turned around slowly to see a man standing casually behind us. At first glance he looked almost angelic, but it didn’t take long to know he was anything but that. His shoulder-length brown hair was shiny and straight, and the features of his face were sharp, but yet ethereal. How could someone so evil look the way he does? He was the epitome of a beautiful man, but the eyes … the eyes gave him away along with the black aura surrounding his body. His dark gaze was alight with extreme power, and it didn’t take long to recognize it as mine.
“Alasdair,” I whispered.
He closed his eyes and groaned. “Hmm, hearing my name cross your lips makes me think naughty things
, Princess. But look at you, and how you’ve changed. I think you two have been doing some naughty things, am I right?”
“What the …” Drake started and lunged, but my grip on his arm kept him in place.
The dark sorcerer waggled his finger at Drake. “You have nothing to worry about, dragon. I don’t want your princess. Although, I must say those Winter women definitely know how to fuck,” he said, looking at me and licking his lips. “I believe I’ve been that route once before with your friend, Breena, if I’m not mistaken. Right, Princess?”
Ignoring the last question, I got down to business. He was goading me and I wasn’t going to give in. “What do you want, sorcerer?” I asked vehemently, even though I already knew the answer.
His smile disappeared. “Don’t play dumb with me, Princess. Hand over the box,” he ordered.
Drake grabbed my arm. “Don’t,” he hissed in my ear.
Never taking my eyes off of the sorcerer, I whispered lightly so only he could hear me. “It’s okay. Trust me.” Slowly, I trudged over to the sorcerer and reluctantly handed over the box, making sure not to touch his hands. I didn’t want to touch pure evil.
“Well, that was easy.” He smiled, but then narrowed his eyes at me. “But an empty box is not what I want. I want the scroll.”
“How do you know it’s not in there?” I asked.
He stared at me blandly and held out his hand. “You wouldn’t have handed over the box so easily. Now give it to me!” His eyes shifted to Drake, who had started slowly moving away from me, preparing to do to something heroic no doubt, but the sorcerer caught onto it.
“And before you decide to do something stupid …” Instead of finishing his sentence, he caught us both off guard by grabbing me in a lightning fast move. He now had me trapped in his arms with a vial of something liquid and obviously lethal close to my lips. I struggled against his hold, but his grip tightened, keeping me caged against his body while he tormented me.
