Redeemed by Rubies (A Dance with Destiny Book 6) (41 page)

I have wanted to do this since the day we first met. Tell me, Little Fire. Could you handle thus, daily?

She gasped for air when he finally released her. “Wha— Ni… Nilakanta?”

The man smiled again. “I love the feel of you… trembling within my arms.”

“B-but… how are you here? And… how did you come to be like… like…
that
?”

“Ahh, tiny Guardian, have I not oft promised you thus? Have I not warned you concerning the secret desires of Dragons?”

She tried to chuckle, but it hurt too badly. Nilakanta scooped her up in his arms and sat down upon the fallen statue of the creature he had just felled.

“Take heart, little one,” he whispered. “I am here now. No other creature can harm you.”

“I’m no longer worried about
me
, Brother. My Dragon now holds me. But you… you better watch your back. I know not where Ahriman and Shamsiel are hiding.”

“I do.” Nilakanta smiled before kissing her again.

His touch was perfect—strong and demanding.

I always wondered if it would be like this with you
, she thought.

“I know you have.” He moved down to lightly kiss her neck. “Were we but given the chance, I would keep you this delightfully dizzy… always.”

Jenevier blushed.

“Imagine making love to a man who knows your every thought, can read your every desire.”

Her tummy twisted when she felt his lips part into a devilish smile just before he kissed her neck again. She gasped.

“Ahh, Little Fire… the joy I could gift you.”

He chuckled against her skin when he heard her heartbeat suddenly race.

“I knew you were beautiful,” she whispered. “Magical and enchanting in every way, but… damn…”

Nilakanta smiled softly, then kissed the tip of her nose. “Yes, well, I am… Dragon.”

She closed her eyes as she smiled. “Yes…
my
Dragon.”

“As you are mine, Little Fire.”

She gazed into his deep gold eyes. “I should hate you… waiting until it’s already too late to show me this greatest of all magics.”

“Ahh, but you couldn’t have handled it any sooner.” He twirled one of her curls around his finger. “Imagine all the trouble we would have caused… all the summonses you would have missed. Do not think I didn’t contemplate it upon
many
occasions—keeping you always within my lair… touching you… caressing you… loving you so deeply that we shared the same space.”

When Jenevier let escape a tiny moan, Nilakanta buried his nose back against her neck.

“I could not come unto you like this, Little Fire, because we
both
know the outcome of such a thing. I remained your Dragon… and only longed to be your lover.”

Jenevier smiled. “Gratitude for sparing me the temptation, Brother. I could never have resisted you.”

“Of course you couldn’t, Little Fire.” He sweetly kissed her neck, then whispered, “Because I am Dragon.”

She giggled then, but the pain caused her breath to catch.

“Dammit… I can’t believe that disgusting Kappa got me.”

“Shhh…
I’ve
got you now, Kagi Naga.”

“Yeah.” She furrowed her brow. “But… how did you come to be here? And how do you know where those two bloody Angels are?”

“I know where they are because I watched as they were dragged away.”

“…Dragged… away?”

Nilakanta nodded. “Seems Father decided to pass judgment upon them. Shamsiel was delivered unto Uriel, while Jophiel was given charge over Ahriman.” He chuckled softly. “You should have heard that soul-eater’s miserable screams.”

“Why? What did the Archs do to them?”

“I cannot name the layer to which either was taken. But know this, Little Fire… neither one of those worthless Seraphs will ever again see the light of day.
Or
any other creature, as far as that goes.”

“Tell me.” She squeezed his arm. “I wish to know.”

“And so you shall.” Nilakanta gently played with her curls as he continued. “Uriel drug Shamsiel deep within a mountain… ran Prisalyn spikes through his body, pinning him to the granite wall while Michael drove massive nails through the forever-damned Angel’s outstretched wings.”

“And Ahriman?”

“His punishment was the same.” Nilakanta smiled then. “Yet, Jophiel took his own sweet time about it. Where Uriel pinned his condemned prisoner quickly… Jophiel relished in the torture he gifted the soul-eater.”

Jenevier smiled with only one corner of her mouth. “Yeah… sounds like Jophiel.”

“Yes.” Nilakanta chuckled. “He is a twisted little Arch, to be sure. Gabriel had long since finished nailing Ahriman’s wings back, while Jophiel was still slowly twisting and sliding those Prisalyn spikes through every part of the soul-eater’s body.”

“As it should be,” she whispered.

“Yes. As it should be.”

“And what of Apollyon? Was Tenshi able to keep him restrained?” Tears filled her eyes. “When I saw that devil’s beautiful mask fall away… when I saw the hideous creature Vindicus became… I feared for my precious son.”

“You saw the truth of him, yes.” Nilakanta softly kissed her forehead. “Tenshi’s unleashed power destroyed Apollyon’s enchanting façade.”

“Yes,” she softly whispered. “I was witness to that wonder.” She grabbed onto Nilakanta’s tunic. “Tell me, Brother. What did that demon-Angel do to my child?”

He smiled softly. “Your fears were in vain, Milady. Tenshi… Tenshi is… magnificent.”

Jenevier smiled and crinkled up her nose. “A Dragon… heaping such praise upon an Angel?”

“And he is the only creature I ever will. That sapphire son of yours not only restrained the Prince of Hell, he dragged Apollyon to the pits himself.”

Jenevier gasped.

Nilakanta nodded his head. “Your Tenshi cast that fallen Arch into the flames. Father removed Apollyon’s dominion over that dark realm, and then Raphael chained his old partner in eternal torment.”

Jenevier swallowed hard. “If those are the sentences carried out for
those
Angels…” she barely whispered. “…I wonder what end awaits
me
.”

Nilakanta kissed her again, then gently slipped the treasure-laden chain from about her neck.

“This is required of you, little one,” he said. “These rare trinkets should no longer remain among the living… or the dead. No creature should have access to such power. Father wishes them returned.”

“He… He sent you here for my talismans?”

“In part.” Nilakanta slipped the Dragon scale he had gifted her, off the chain. “
This
one will go on with you—the piece of me you coughed up when our melding was undone. This is a literal piece of my soul, Kagi Naga. I wish it to remain with you always.”

He then held up the sapphire Dragon scale and blew his hot breath upon it. Jenevier gasped as she watched it slowly begin to melt, forming a ring of purest sapphires encircled about with flying silver Dragons. Nilakanta slipped it onto the thumb of her right hand, then kissed it.

“Wherever you go… there will I go as well.”

Jenevier bit her bottom lip and tried to blink back her tears.

“I will treasure it always.” She tried again to take another deep breath. “Do me a favor, Dragon.”

“Anything, Little Fire.”

“Entreat Father on my behalf concerning Ardune and Hunter.”

Nilakanta glanced up at the two warriors—half frozen in grief, the evidence of which now marked their cheeks—and back down to his beloved Guardian.

“I know not why they are in Sheol,” she rasped. “But those two amazing men carry more honor than most I have known. Were it not for their might… I fear you would have shown up too late, Brother. You would have had to remove that necklace from my cold, motionless statue.”

Nilakanta wiped the tears from her face and kissed her cheek. “Father knows all that transpired here, Little Fire. He heeded your prayers, yet turned not a blind eye—as you had asked. He wished you success in your crucible, Kagi Naga. Now…” He gently tucked her curls back behind her ear. “Is there any other treasure you wish never to part with?”

Jenevier drew in a ragged breath and nodded. “If Father will allow it… I would like to keep the blood ruby Varick gifted me, and Finnean’s warrior shield.”

Nilakanta smiled. “As it should be.”

He held up the caged blood ruby, and then the Celtic medallion. Blowing his magical breath upon each yielded an ornate ring in their likeness.

Nilakanta gently kissed her forehead before slipping the large, intricate ruby ring onto her left pointer finger.

Jenevier looked down at it. “Why is there a cross-shaped cage over the stone?” She slowly lifted her other hand. “The same holds true with the ring Michael gifted me. A black cross is set atop Vashti’s glowing red.”

“The cross is a symbol of great sacrifice… spanning across all layers, throughout all time. These rare powers you were gifted, they came at great expense and sacrifice, Little Fire. Sometimes from you… sometimes from the gifter. These crosses symbolize such.” He smiled softly. “Nothing is ever free, Naga, is it?”

“No,” she whispered. “Every curse has a blessing…”

“And every blessing has a curse. As it should be.” He slid the large shield-shaped ring adorned with a golden cross onto her finger. “Finnean knew this truth as well.”

Jenevier could no longer contain her bitter tears. She wrapped her arms around her beloved Dragon’s now human neck, and squeezed him as he tenderly kissed the side of her head.

He held her like that a few moments—Jenevier upon his lap, her broken body pressed firmly against his shattering heart. Nilakanta quaked inside—a desolate, helpless feeling… unlike any he had ever known.

Again, she heard the faint sound of an arrow being loosed. Nilakanta roared half a heartbeat before Jenevier felt the searing pain in her shoulder blade. In but a blink, her Dragon was gone. She waited helplessly in the sand, propped up against the Kappa’s stone form… trying desperately to catch her next pained breath.

When a sparkling, ethereal creature slammed into the ground in front of her, Jenevier couldn’t fully grasp what was happening.

Then, Nilakanta landed atop the felled Guardian with a sickening thud, and jerked Valencia up upon her unsteady, trembling legs.

“Wha… How…” Jenevier mumbled as Nilakanta tore the bow from the other woman’s hands. “How… How did you come to be here?”

Valencia didn’t speak, only jerked free… then glared at the ferociously powerful Dragon-man before her.

Nilakanta raised a single eyebrow as he took a step toward her. “The lady’s asking you a question, she-Guardian.” He smiled with only one corner of his mouth. “Best answer her… unless you’d like to go another round with
me
, that is. Ahh… it would be my pleasure.” He mockingly bowed.

Valencia growled under her breath, before spitting bright red blood out upon the sand. She flinched as she reached up and lightly touched her busted lip, then opened and closed her mouth to ensure that her jaw wasn’t actually broken.

She slowly turned to face Jenevier. “How do you
think
I got here, you infuriating little fool?” She hastily wiped at her bloodstained chin. “You locked me inside a decrepit old man! When his body finally gave out, I woke up in
this
place.” She waved her hands, signifying the whole of that darkened realm.

Nilakanta snatched Valencia by her long silver hair, roughly jerking her back against him as he pressed his lethal sapphire claws to her iridescent throat.

“Mind your tone,
Guardian
,” he coolly warned.

Valencia laughed—a twisted, maddening kind of sound.

“When I heard Ahriman had lured you here, I couldn’t believe my luck. I
knew
Father would never allow you to enter Arcadia. I just
knew
it!” She hardened her glare. “You belong here in Sheol with the rest of us, Death Angel. I was simply ensuring you awaited your punishment… frozen in stone.”

“As will you, she-Guardian,” Nilakanta hissed.

Jenevier watched, numbly detached, as her beautiful Dragon-man ripped that hated Guardian into tiny, sparkling pieces of marble.

Since her statue could not easily be removed, the arena cleaners simply kicked Valencia’s broken bits off to the side.

Jenevier only came back to reality when Nilakanta slowly pulled the arrow from her back.

Her pitiful cries brought Ardune to his knees, tears flooding down his dark cheeks.

Nilakanta held her, gently stroking her curls. “Shhh, little one. The time is at hand.” He kissed her forehead. “Are you finished, Little Fire?”

“Almost,” she barely rasped. “But there is one last thing.”

Nilakanta watched as Jenevier raised a trembling hand, reaching for her left bicep.

“I want you to have this,” she said, coughing up a bit of blood. “I
gift
this to you, Brother.”