Touch of Ice (Dawn of Dragons Book 1)

by Mary Auclair

  Endora watched Wilmer’s face, taking in every detail of the features of the man she’d once cried entire nights for. She should feel something. Anything. She was as void of feelings for him as she would be for a pile of rocks. She didn’t even have it in her to hate him.

  Why did you come back? You must want something from me.

  He turned his gray-green eyes to her, startling her out of her strange trance. Heat flared in her cheeks and her hands screamed in agony. Slowly, Endora loosened the fingers she hadn’t realized she’d been clenching in tight fists. As he locked gazes with her, she realized she had been wrong. She wasn’t void of feelings. Her feelings were old and locked away, but the sadness, the rage were still there. Every tear she had shed was buried deep underneath her skin like flowing lava, intact and deadly, just waiting for a chance to escape to the surface and burn everything in its wake.

  “She was desperate.” Wilmer said, pursing his full lips. “Endora would never have signed the contract if it wasn’t for Tallie’s sickness.”

  She stared at his lips. At his mouth, heavy and lazy. It wasn’t sensual as she’d once thought. It was weak, like him.

  “The mating contract is binding and final,” Aldric answered, his tone dangerously close to a growl. “Endora Papineau is now my mate in the eyes of the law. Soon I will officially adopt her daughter as mine, too.”

  “You can’t claim my daughter as yours,” Wilmer countered, still keeping his voice low, as if laden with fear. “And you can’t claim my wife either.”

  Silence fell, wet and clinging, like a layer of tar blocking every sliver of light around the room. Her heart beat fast and hard, drowning the angry whispers of the castle. There it was, the secret that threatened to destroy the fragile happiness she’d built with Aldric. The secret she’d buried under ten years’ worth of absence. The secret that could destroy her, and Tallie with her.

  “Your wife?” Aldric’s voice was pure liquid nitrogen, freezing the life out of everything it touched. “What nonsense is that?”

  “Endora is my wife, and whatever contract she signed is invalid.”

  Endora’s breath came all at once and she found she was panting. The room was getting smaller and smaller until it felt like the walls were pushing against her ribs, preventing her from breathing. The men still ignored her, busy with each other, ignoring her presence altogether. She held on to consciousness, refusing to give in to the shroud of darkness that threatened to overcome her. The fight wasn’t over. She couldn’t stop what was to come, but that didn’t mean she would give up without trying.

  “Endora.” Wilmer turned, speaking directly to her for the first time. “Tell him that you’re my wife.”

  She stared at him. Wilmer: her first love, her first heartbreak. He still looked like he did over ten years ago, with his large gray-green eyes and pouting mouth. How could she ever have found him attractive? He was nothing but a boy. A boy playing at being a grown up. A boy who’d just pushed her life out of balance.

  “He’s telling the truth.” She said the words before she lost the courage. “Wilmer and I are married.”

  Aldric turned to her. The hurt on his face tore something inside her, something new and fragile that was only beginning to grow. The way his eyes shone, pure pale sky and pain, was almost enough to make her stay silent. Almost.

  “You lied to me.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. “When I asked if there were any more secrets you hadn’t shared. You lied.”

  “I’m sorry.” Her voice broke before she could say more. She wanted to say so much more, but tears stung her eyes and all she could do was choke on her regret.

  Aldric mouth curved down and he glared at her. Such power rippled from him, it was an almost tangible force around his body. For a long time, the silence stretched, then he shook his head once. “It matters not.” He turned his back to her and Endora almost drowned in her tears as they fell, quiet down her cheeks. “Endora is my Draekarra, and what the blood of a dragon united, none shall tear apart.”

  Endora’s eyes went from Wilmer, who stood in a self-righteous stance, his shoulders squared and his eyes enlarged with fright, to the taut line of Aldric’s jaw.

  “You will leave my lands,” Aldric said through clenched teeth, his voice laden with a chill that saturated the air. “You have until the sun sets tomorrow. Never come back to Katanie.”

  “I cannot leave without my family.” Wilmer shot a glance at Endora. Fear was etched on his features, from the twitch at the corner of his mouth to the constant bobbing motion of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.

  He’s going to kill you. Just leave.

  Aldric growled, a deep, guttural sound coming from the beast inside him. His eyes, pale and surreal, morphed into the beast’s, with fine vertical pupils, radiating the dragon’s jealous rage. The bones under his skin moved, became sharper, more animal. Dangerous.

  Endora watched, her eyes wide and her mind blank. Fear rose inside her, fear for the man she had once loved and who was the father of her daughter. No matter how much she’d suffered because of his rejection, she couldn’t allow Wilmer to come to harm. For Tallie’s sake.

  “Wilmer, stop.”

  She took a step toward him, intent on putting herself between Wilmer and Aldric, but Aldric moved fast. His hand closed around her wrist, preventing her from going any closer to her ex-lover than she already had. Her mind screamed danger as she took in the measure of Aldric’s wrath. She was mistaken when she treated him like a man. He wasn’t a man, he was a dragon’s twin soul, as powerful and as savage as the beast.

  Her lower lip trembled but she managed to speak. “Leave. There is nothing for you here.”

  “Dora.” Wilmer stared at her, ignoring Aldric. “You don’t have to stay here. I will take care of you. I will take care of both of you.”

  “Leave,” Aldric said, his voice a deep, guttural growl, unrecognizable. It wasn’t the voice of a man, it was the voice of a nightmare made flesh. Aldric was barely containing his rage, his free hand closing into a fist at his sides so hard that blood dripped down onto the stone floor, the metallic smell of it reaching her nostrils. A foreboding of the violence to come.

  “Endora is mine.” Wilmer turned to Aldric, spitting the words out.

  A flash of movement followed, too fast for her to make out, and a man’s scream filled the air.

  Wilmer was on his back, flat on the floor. Aldric was kneeling at his side, his hand closed around Wilmer’s throat, his eyes casting a pale light around the room, radiating with power and rage.

  Wilmer’s eyes grew large as he stared at Aldric. He thrashed and kicked, hitting the Draekon Lord with his fists and legs, but it was like striking a statue made of stone. Aldric didn’t even move. Soon, Wilmer stopped fighting and a gurgle escaped his lips as Aldric squeezed the life out of him.

  “No!” Endora yelled, throwing herself down on her knees, facing Aldric. “Aldric, stop!”

  Aldric snapped his head up, glaring at her with a fury that should have sent her cowering in a corner. But she couldn’t move. If Aldric killed Wilmer, more than just the man would die. Any hope for them would also perish.

  “Please don’t kill him.” Her voice shook with repressed sobs but she spoke anyway. “Please.”

  “You would ask me to spare the life of your lover?” Aldric’s shoulders trembled with rage, his face morphing into a fearful mask.

  “No.” Endora shook her head. “I would ask you to let the father of my child live.”

  Aldric’s eyes lingered on her face, and slowly his shoulders shed their frightful tension. He snapped attention back to Wilmer and let go of the man’s throat.

  Wilmer coughed and backed away from Aldric, his eyes wild with fear. He stared at Endora with a new expression on his face; something she’d never thought she’d see on his boyish features. Resolve. Cold, patient resolve.

  “Go, you fool,” she whispered. “Never come back.”

  Wilmer scrambled to his feet, then tur
ned and ran.

  His footsteps were still echoing inside the room when Endora turned to Aldric. She might have saved Wilmer’s life today, but she wouldn’t escape the reckoning to come.

  Silence stretched, devouring the oxygen in the room with every passing second, hungry and merciless. It rebounded around the vaulted ceiling of the throne room, pulling on the strings holding her lungs in place, moving her organs inside her ribcage.

  He needs to say something. Anything.

  Endora stared at Aldric’s back, his stiff shoulders still vibrating from the tension, his hands closed into fists at his sides. Fear gnawed at her, eating away at the corners of her mind as she stood a few paces behind him. Tension traveled down her limbs and frayed her nerves as she fought the impulse to run away from him. Run away from danger.

  She couldn’t. She knew this was a defining moment, a moment that once lost would never be found again. She had to explain herself to Aldric, but the alien man standing in front of her wasn’t Aldric. He was a stranger, dangerous and powerful.

  She finally understood that the man she’d tied her life to, tied Tallie’s life to, wasn’t just a man. Under the surface, he was as alien to her as Rhyl, a complex beast of passion and control. One to fear.

  Endora opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. What could she say? That she had lied? That she’d endangered the reputation of the most powerful Draekon Lord on the continent? That she would do it again in a heartbeat to save the one who mattered the most? She could say the words but she knew they wouldn’t ring true and that, somehow, lying now would be more damaging than anything that was said before.

  Please look at me. Just look at me.

  As if he had heard, he turned his head so she could see his profile. His mouth was shut tight and his eyes were still too shiny, too alien, but at least he acknowledged her.

  “Aldric?” Her voice finally came out in a strained whisper. “Please, say something.”

  He turned completely, facing her in all his terrifying glory. His pupils were still vertical and his irises glowed faintly, but his features weren’t distorted by rage anymore. Instead, an icy control froze anything she could hope to read in his face.

  “I’m sorry.” The words came out, true and full of need. Need for his forgiveness. “I had no other choice.”

  “Was that your plan all along?” He shook his head. His voice was devoid of warmth, devoid of any emotions. “Sign the contract, collect the payment, then have your husband show up to invalidate our agreement?”

  “No,” she said, her head swimming. “I know how this looks, but you have to trust me. I had no idea Wilmer would show up.”

  “Trust you?” For the first time, Aldric’s control slipped and anger flashed in his eyes as his pupils constricted even further. “How can I trust a word you say? So far, the only truth you gave me was about your daughter’s illness. As far as I know, that is where your truth ends.”

  “You would have rejected me.” She felt the sobs threatening to push to the surface but she held on. “I would never have been able to pay for Tallie’s treatments. I always had the intention of honoring the contract.”

  “Is that the justification for everything?” His words were harsh but she saw the doubt in his eyes. “Trick me for her sake, then return to your husband? You’re trying to tell me it was his idea to try and take you back?” He growled the last part as he took a fast step toward her, erasing the distance between them. His hands closed around her arms, pulling her to him. Gone was the illusion of icy control. Aldric’s face was torn with anger and a hurt so deep, she was scared to look at it too long for fear of what she would find.

  “Mark my words, Endora.” He bent his head, pinning her in place with the intensity of his stare. “You are my Draekarra. I will never let you go, and if you ever try to leave, Rhyl and I will tear the land apart to find you. You’re mine, and I will destroy anyone who ever tries to take you from me.”

  His mouth closed on hers as he pulled her against his body. Her head filled with his words, with the savage possession of his claim. A part of her rebelled, refused to allow the complete control Aldric demanded. If his kiss had been harsh and rough, she might have pushed him away, but it wasn’t. His mouth pressed on her with a heart-wrenching need, and she felt it at her core, the need he had for her. Never had a man expressed such desire for her acceptance. There was more under his claim, a truth she had only glimpsed until now.

  Aldric, in all his powerful Draekon Lord glory, was hers as much as she was his. He offered her everything in return, every bit of loyalty and passion she might feel, he would give back a thousand fold.

  She returned the kiss, tenderly and deeply, opening her mouth to him, accepting the taste of his tongue on hers, melting their lips together. Soon his hands moved around her back, then went up into the heavy mass of her hair to close around her neck. Still they kissed, offering and taking in equal measure as their bodies grew hungry for each other. Then, slowly, almost reluctantly, Aldric broke the kiss and rested his cheek on her forehead, his arms still locking her in his embrace. “I can never let you go.”

  Those simple words, said softly against her hair, gave her the courage to say what she had kept quiet for so long.

  “I never planned on leaving you.” She nestled her head in the crook of his shoulder. “I haven’t lived as a married woman since before Tallie was born. Wilmer abandoned us when I was seven months pregnant. This was the first time I’d seen him in over ten years.”

  Aldric pulled back and Endora looked up to face him. He blinked, and his eyes returned to their normal shape. “He abandoned his wife as she was about to give birth to his child?” He frowned, disgust clear on his face. “What kind of man does such a thing?”

  “Not a man.” Endora chuckled wryly. “He was always nothing but a boy, playing at being a grown up. Henriette and Alfonso warned me about him but I didn’t listen. I was young and I was in love with love.”

  “A fool.” Aldric bent and put a light kiss on her lips. “But it doesn’t matter now. The past belongs in the past.”

  “Yes.” She agreed wholeheartedly.

  A knock at the door had them turning their heads in tandem. Dalgo entered the room, a glum shadow across his face. Without waiting, without asking for permission or apologizing for interrupting them, he extended his hand to give Aldric a folded sheet of parchment. “You are summoned to a Mourning.”

  Aldric’s arms left Endora to take the parchment, and a somber expression spread on his face as his eyes ran over the paper.

  “Lord Emeril Fyr of Balka.” Aldric glanced at Dalgo, then looked back at the message. “At least we now know who the baby dragon belonged to. His only son passed during the night.”

  Just like that, the heat was leached from the room and the dark reality of what lurked in the shadows was brought back to her mind. She knew the death of a dragon meant the death of a Draekon, as both were linked through a complex exchange of life forces that she would never fully comprehend but readily accepted. Still, the news of the child’s death was a painful reminder that she was in danger, as well as Shari and Tallie. No human carrying a Delradon genetic compatibility was safe.

  “The Mourning begins tomorrow night.” Aldric folded the paper, then slid it inside his jacket. “We will have to fly all night and all day.”

  “You’re leaving?” Endora blinked with confusion.

  “We are. House Fyr of Balka is an old ally. You have to pay your respects as well.”

  “Oh.”

  She didn’t know what to say. She stared at Aldric as his mouth reduced to a thin, hard line. He wasn’t happy about it.

  “I can’t leave the children.” She shook her head in disbelief. “What if there’s another attack?”

  “This cannot be helped. As my Draekarra, you are required to attend. If you didn’t, it would be considered a great insult.”

  Endora let this sink in. She knew she had no choice. With the Knat-Kanassis reaching inside a High Lord’s
house, killing the only heir to a great family, the threat was looming heavier than ever. Steadying her courage, she nodded.

  “Do not worry.” Aldric smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “We will be gone for only a few days, and I will leave Dalgo here. The full force of my guards will ensure the children’s safety.”

  “I still don’t think we should leave them behind. Maybe they will understand if I stay behind.”

  “No.” There was no room for discussion in his tone. “If the Knat-Kanassis managed to kill the heir to Central America’s most powerful Draekon Lord, that can mean only one thing.”

  A chill skittered up her spine and Endora swallowed.

  “War is coming.”

  Chapter 17

  “You can’t go to the Mourning alone, not now.” Dalgo stepped aside as Aldric walked through the door. “You need a full guard, and if you won’t agree to that, then at least let me come with you.”

  “I won’t leave the children defenseless,” Aldric answered while walking, not pausing. “Shari and Tallie will be prime targets if there is an attack.”

  “So will you.”

  Aldric stopped in front of his personal rooms, his hand pressed on the door. He sighed. His old friend was right about the danger, as always, but he had no choice.

  “Attending the Mourning is not a matter of choice, and you know it. Emeril lost his only son, whose murdered dragonet was sent to my doorstep. I have to go, and Endora has to come with me. He was among the guests of honor at the Mating, and he will see it as a personal affront if she is not present.”

  Dalgo still frowned, not convinced by his argument.

  “This concerns her as much as it concerns me. She’s my Dragon Mate. This is her world now.” Aldric shook his head and he finally saw acceptance in his friend’s face. “I will fly Rhyl to Lord Emeril’s castle for the Mourning, then come back right after. Rhyl will be enough protection for both of us, besides, Emeril must have scoured House Fyr’s lands after the death of his son. The Knat-Kanassis have done what they came for. They won’t attack an assembly full of Lords and their dragons, not even if they have enough dragon-root to kill us all.”