“Of course it was a curse,” Hunter said, still rubbing his forehead. “What are you all doing sitting here? Why aren’t any of you trying to put my beautiful house back together? What? Oh, thank you.” He took the offered bottle of water from one of the shadow dragons.
The others had gathered at the sound of their master’s voice, taking up a position in a semicircle behind him. Archer counted twenty-two dragons. He wondered if it would be enough. It had to be. He couldn’t risk Thaisa’s welfare.
“We’re playing twenty questions,” Miles explained, taking another bottle of water. “Thaisa is leading the production, but I’d be grateful if she could hurry it up, because I think my head is going to explode.”
“Sorry, I’ll try to make this as quick as I can. Archer needs to go to bed.”
“Mate,” he said in a long-suffering voice. “You do not say things like that in front of other dragons.”
She giggled, kissed his forehead, then leaned back against him, her breast pressed into him in a manner that guaranteed walking would be painful. “Back to Miles.”
“Ugh. Why me?” he asked.
“Because you were the key to it all. I just couldn’t get over the fact that neither of you were trying to eliminate Hunter. How could you not want your most hated enemy dead? Ergo, he wasn’t the enemy. And if he wasn’t, it meant he couldn’t be responsible for attacks on the storm dragons. Since I know Archer isn’t the sort of man who would attack anyone unless he was defending himself or those he loves, that meant the whole thing was bunkum.”
Hunter made a face at Archer. “She’s smart.”
“Yes. And she’s mine, so you can stop kidnapping her away from me.”
Thaisa stiffened in outrage as Hunter grinned at them. He was missing two teeth. “I figured you’d have my head after I saw you all but claim her in T and G.”
Archer grunted a noncommittal reply.
“So then, I started wondering why you guys were making this big show of being mortal enemies,” Thaisa continued.
“And?” Archer prompted when she stopped.
She shot him an odd look. “I couldn’t figure out why you were doing it. Until I deciphered the leaf.”
“The leaf,” he said, nodding to himself. “I should have known you wouldn’t miss anything on it.”
“That is my job,” she said with gentle chastisement.
“I don’t understand,” Ioan said, glancing from Archer to Thaisa. “Was there something on the manuscript that you didn’t mention?”
“No,” she said, and he could feel the sadness in her. “It’s all there. The sun, the twin constellations who were off balance and needed to be brought together…and the moon.”
Bree smiled and clapped her hands. “You got there in the end! I’m so pleased. She had to have a few hints,” she told her sister, who was sitting next to her.
“You’re not supposed to do that,” Sasha replied.
“I know, but sometimes you gotta break the rules.”
“True dat,” Sasha said.
“Separate, Hunter and you were unbalanced. Dangers on your own, but not a force to be reckoned with. But by joining together—the hunter, the archer, both bound by the sun—you became what you couldn’t be on your own: the first dragon hunters, able to wipe out demonic threats from the world.”
“That is the result of the Raisa Medallion? It has made them dragon hunters? That’s all it does?” Ioan asked, looking unimpressed.
“It has made them a whole lot more powerful, yes,” Thaisa answered.
Sasha tipped her head at Archer. “Did you tell her about the moon?”
He was surprised she knew about that. “Who exactly are you?” he asked instead of answering her question.
She grinned. “You know the Court of Divine Blood?”
He nodded.
“I run it.”
That explains much, Archer mused to himself.
“Go right ahead and assume I don’t know what she’s talking about, because I don’t,” Thaisa whispered into his ear.
He answered just as softly, “She runs what mortals think of as heaven.”
Thaisa’s eyes widened but she said nothing. She shot Sasha and Bree several startled glances, however.
“What is there to tell about the moon?” Ioan asked, looking mildly confused. “It has nothing to do with the medallion, surely.”
“Actually, it does.” Thaisa gave Archer a smile he felt down to the depths of his soul. “The sun is the mother—their mother, Raisa. The moon is the father.”
“The blue dragon who went ouroboros and was cursed? The one who created the Raisa Medallion?” one of Hunter’s tribe asked, looking perplexed.
“It didn’t occur to me until I finished deciphering the leaf that no one ever mentioned the father after the medallion was created. It seemed odd, and odder still was the fact that I found no mention of his name. I still don’t know what it is,” Thaisa told Archer.
“It is Xavier.”
Archer froze at the voice that came from behind him, but only for the time it took his heart to beat once. Then he was up, Thaisa pushed behind him, his sword in hand, and pointed at the shadow that detached itself from the inky night, strolling forward.
“Great. He would pick now. Couldn’t have waited until we’d gotten patched up,” Hunter grumbled, but got to his feet, looking around for a weapon.
“I take it’s that Daddy?” Thaisa asked, peering around Archer’s arm.
“Yes. Stay back.”
Ioan slid to the side, clearly looking for a weapon but having to content himself with a tree branch.
“So you did it,” the man said, looking from Archer to Hunter. He had their same high cheekbones, the same glossy black hair, the same chin, but his eyes were cold, impersonal, completely black and devoid of any color. They were the eyes of a snake considering its dinner. “You fools. Do you really think you can defeat me? I am the original dragon hunter.”
“Welp, showtime, I think,” Bree said, standing up and dusting off her miniskirt. She handed her oversized bag to her sister.
“Come back for my birthday,” Sasha said, getting to her feet as well. “I’m going to have a chocolate fountain with sexy men holding strawberries. We get to lick the chocolate off their fingers.”
“Oooh, I’m so there,” Bree said, then marched over to stand next to Archer.
“Right, now I have no idea what’s going on,” Thaisa said to him. “What is Bree doing?”
“I don’t even have a sword,” Hunter complained, stumbling forward. “How’m I supposed to be heroic without an élan vital?”
“Oh, I found one on the drive,” Sasha said, pulling the black sword out of Bree’s bag, just as if she were Mary Poppins.
“That is impossible,” Thaisa said, pressing herself into Archer’s side. “Someone please clue me in to how she did that.”
Sasha shrugged. “Smoke and mirrors?”
“You ready?” Bree asked Archer. He looked at her for a few minutes, understanding at last why she had chosen Thaisa to help.
“Are you sure?” he asked politely.
“Yup.” She gave him one of her brilliant grins and patted his cheek. “Make me proud, Archer Dragon.”
He bowed. Her form shimmered, glowing like the light of the sun was within her; then her form compacted down to a little ball of golden light that bobbed along his sword until it settled in the empty socket. Thaisa gasped just as the runes along the sword lit up, glowing with the grace of the sun and moon.
“Sorry, am I late?” A girl who looked remarkably like Bree burst into their midst, panting as she looked around at them all. “Sasha, you here to give your blessing?”
“It’s my job,” her sister said. “Clover, meet Hunter. He’ll be your dragon for the evening.”
“And many more, I hope,” Hunter said, giving the girl a bow.
“What is going on?” Thaisa asked in a whisper. “Why did Bree turn into a ball of light and plop herself onto your sword?”
&n
bsp; “Such pretty manners,” Clover said, giggling; then, with a glance at him and beyond, to where the sire stood, looking bored, she, too, became a ball of glowing light that settled onto Hunter’s sword.
“Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” Hunter said, limping forward to stand next to Archer.
Xavier applauded politely. “Is this little show over? I had expected better from you both.”
“Flower,” Archer said in warning.
“Yup,” she said, moving back to stand with Sasha and Ioan. “You go and take care of the big bad scary man.”
“Dragon hunter,” Xavier corrected, and with a considering look first at Archer and then Hunter, he said, “You think to challenge me? You have in the past, and you’ve failed. Are you so anxious to pay the price for that failure again?”
“No more dragons will die simply because you wish to wipe us from the earth,” Archer said, gripping his sword tightly. He prayed that Thaisa was correct in assuming that with the balance restored to Hunter and him, together they would be able to do what they could not do before.
“The medallion has been restored,” Hunter added. “The sun has returned balance to us.”
Xavier’s gaze slid behind Archer to rest briefly on Thaisa. “So I see. It matters not, however.” He lifted his sword. “I am not the fool you think me. Ioan?”
To Archer’s horror, a horror that would, he knew, remain with him for many centuries, Ioan grabbed Thaisa, swinging her over his shoulder as he shoved aside the nearest shadow dragons and ran for the sire.
Archer roared, the night air filled with the sound of his fury, his body elongating and shifting as he leaped after his tribesman, electricity skimming his body, gathering in his hands. He wanted to hurl it at Ioan, at the traitor who dared touch his mate, but Thaisa wasn’t yet fully a storm dragon. He couldn’t risk harming her.
Thaisa screamed and pounded on Ioan’s back, struggling for a few seconds before suddenly rising up, grabbing Ioan’s hair with both hands, and flinging herself to the side, off his shoulder, effectively throwing him off balance.
Hunter and his tribe lunged forward at the sire even as Archer threw himself on Ioan, slamming the power of the storm into the man, making his back arch as it racked his body. He screamed, twitching, his body contorting horribly, unable to handle the amount of electricity that was pouring into it. Only when he was dead did Archer leash his storm.
He pulled Thaisa to her feet, the warmth of her body against his reassuring him that she hadn’t been taken away from him. “Mate, are you hurt? Did he harm you?”
“No,” she said, once again surprising him when she shoved him toward Hunter and the other dragons, who had attacked Xavier. “Go help your brother! I’m fine!”
Archer threw himself at the sire, his sword swinging in the night air, the glow from the espirit making the runes shine brightly.
“This is not over,” the sire snarled, backing up and drawing symbols in the air. “What you have done here will be undone. I will see to it that you both right the wrong that you have done this night. I did not create the race of dragon hunters to be the saviors you imagine yourselves to be—you will be remade in my image, or you will be destroyed as will all your tribes.”
Hunter’s and Archer’s swords sang on either side of the sire, but the song was short-lived. He was gone, having retreated into the shadow world.
“Balance,” Thaisa said, moving over to Archer, her eyes alight with love and pride. He wanted to shout with joy. He wanted to embrace everyone there, right down to the last shadow dragon. He wanted to take his flower to bed and not leave until they had wrung themselves dry. “You have balance now, you and Hunter. It really does make you both more powerful. You scared your dad, you know.”
Archer was silent for a moment, thinking that over. “No. He does not fear us…but he hates what we have become. He hates the fact that rather than becoming forces of evil, our dragon selves master our darkness.”
Thaisa leaned into him, her touch as warm as the sun she represented. “I hope your mom knows what happened tonight.”
“She knows,” Archer told her, and kissed her until she couldn’t ask any more questions.
Chapter Seventeen
“STORM DRAGONS.”
Archer’s voice was deep and rich with the rough edges that I loved so much. But this time, there was also a sense of satisfaction as he stood next to me on the lawn of his house, the breeze from the ocean ruffling his silky hair. Just the sight of that hair had me wanting to do any number of things to him, all of which consisted of me applying my body parts to his.
“Before you stands Thaisa, who I name as mate.”
To the left of us, a table had been set with a laptop. I knew from examining the setup that Archer was streaming the binding ceremony to those storm dragons who were not local to us. In a semicircle before us, the forty-some-odd tribe members who had been able to reach us in time for the ceremony—men, women, and even a few children—stood silent.
I was very aware of Archer next to me. His dragon fire hummed in my blood, making me feel restless and itchy, like my clothing was a few sizes too small.
“From this day henceforth, she is known to be blood of my blood, a dragon of the storm tribe.”
I smoothed down the dress that I’d picked to wear for this ceremony, a black sheath cocktail dress reminiscent of the 1950s, with little crystal beads sewn onto it that made me think of the stars glittering in the night sky. I wished it was Archer touching me instead and wondered how long the ceremony was going to last. If I could just get him into the bedroom, I could peel off the navy blue heavy silk tunic that all the men wore. I badly wanted to get Archer out of that tunic, naked and ready to teach me about this scissor position that he evidently had enjoyed so much.
“To her, we pledge our protection, our honor, and our respect.”
A rustling was the only sound to be heard as all of the dragons present—Archer excepted—knelt and bowed their heads.
Tears pricked the backs of my eyes as I looked at him. His eyes glittered with a brilliant blue topaz light, but I didn’t need the rich eye color to tell me that he, too, was thinking about the after-ceremony celebrations. He’d been too busy after we returned home from Hunter’s now-destroyed base to do more than tumble into bed into an exhausted sleep, and since I knew his body had spent a tremendous amount of energy healing his hurts, I had been content to lie next to him, stroking his head and listening to his breathing as he slept.
“Mate?”
I stepped forward, lifting my voice to speak the formal acceptance of my new role. “Storm dragons, I name you kin, honored and respected in kind.”
The dragons rose, watching us silently.
I turned to Archer, asking softly, “Did I forget part of my lines? They look like they are waiting for something.”
“They are.” His hands were warm on my hips when he pulled me into an embrace, his eyes shimmering with heat and passion and love as his mouth claimed mine. I slid my hands up his chest to his shoulders, my fingers trailing fire up the thick muscles. His hold moved around to my butt, hoisting me up until I was off the ground, kissing him with every morsel of love I held.
A cheer broke out behind us, followed by laughter and several comments of a mildly ribald nature. Someone turned on the stereo, allowing music to waft over patio, pool, and lawn.
“That was a blatant show of possession,” I said, retrieving my tongue from where Archer had sucked it into his mouth. He let me slide down his body until I was standing again, but I made sure I wiggled against him in an invitation that would be impossible to mistake. “You know how I dislike it when you get all bossy on me.”
“I’m about to get very bossy on you,” he growled in my ear, then turned with an arm around me to greet each member of the storm dragons as they came up to be formally introduced to me.
It took almost an hour before we could escape upstairs, and a half hour after that, using a few sheets of paper to diagram the posi
tions, Archer and I managed the Galileo scissor move, as we decided it should be so named.
“Right, time for some explanations,” I said, lying on his naked body, our respective heart rates slowed to the point where I thought we might just survive.
He had his hands on my ass, giving both cheeks a little squeeze before saying, “I’m tired. You’ve worn me out with your lustful demands for multiple-scissoring. I will sleep now.”
“I like that! You’re the one who wanted to try the reverse scissor.” I thought for a moment of just how fulfilling that position had been, little quivers of remembered ecstasy making me feel like I was standing in the middle of Archer’s storm. “And you’re going to answer some questions that have been driving me nuts for the last day. About that deception that Hunter and Miles and you kept going on about the shadow dragons being responsible for the deaths…why, exactly, did you keep it going for so long?”
He opened his eyes for a moment, the clear frosted blue making me squirm with happiness. “We really were at war for many centuries. Hunter’s tribe attacked mine. We attacked his. It was our life.”
“What happened to make you guys stop actually fighting and just pretend?”
His eyes closed again, his face relaxed, without the lines of pain that had resulted from his injuries at Hunter’s. “After a few centuries, when my brother got his dark power under control, we assumed the deaths would stop. They did not. We knew someone else had to be attacking us, trying to eliminate both tribes.”
“Xavier.” I thought about that, thought about how a man could be so cruel to his own children. “It was he who abandoned you and Hunter after your mom died, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. He was cursed, the demon in him strong. That’s why he created dragon hunters—he wanted the dragon side to give power to the demon. But the result was the opposite: the dragon controlled the demon, a fact that clearly still enrages him.”
“Enter Edgar and that manuscript leaf. Speaking of Edgar, are you sure he’s not going to give us any more trouble?”
“Yes. I made it clear to your ex-employer that if he thought of revenging himself against your grandmother or you, I would finish the job.”
Day of the Dragon Page 24
