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Shedding his blood only increased her
desperation. Sandalwood clogged her nose, his blood dripping and smearing
liquid fire on her body, with that annoyingly delicate mouth driving her
insane.

Gleaming, his silvered eyes mocked her.
Make me
, he’d said.

She fisted both hands in his hair and
wrapped a length around her forearms, another, drawing him inexorably closer.

His bond radiated shadows through her
mind but she wasn’t afraid. It was like dusk spreading gently across the sky,
darkness rolling over the drowsy setting sun like a whispering blanket,
blissful shade from the merciless heat of day. His dragon loomed, a dark whale
beneath the surface of the sea, a vague massive shadow beneath the waters, but
nothing she could see clearly.

Working his tongue deeper, he spoke
through his bond.
:Shine for me,
brightheart.:

Shine. Of course. Now she knew what he
wanted.

Closing her eyes, she hovered as the
White Dragon in a midnight sky. White wings outstretched, she let love fill
her. The reluctant love she’d felt for Rhaekhar, the barbarian Khul who
conquered her army and her heart; the doomed love she’d felt for Gregar, the
Shadowed Blood whose most secret heart’s desire was to kill her even while he
made love to her; the long-denied love she’d felt for her nine Blood, all those
years of forcing them to remain boys in her mind despite their dedication and
loyalty to her.

And yes, the love she felt for this
tortured soul, this Black Dragon who haunted her dreams and smelled of
sandalwood and desert.

She glowed, filling the night sky with
rainbowed moonlight, and the he crashed into her embrace.

Mykal surged into her, his body urgent.
:Black longs to swallow the Light, to snuff
it out in its shadowed embrace.:

She wrapped him tight in her arms, his
hair falling about her like a curtain.
:And
Light shines all the brighter in the darkest hour.:

Breathing raggedly, he drove into her,
hammering her into the tile, blood and oil and sandalwood smoldering with her
roses until she thought she’d never smell anything but him.

 
:My heart beats for you.:

Dragons spiraled higher in her mind,
white and black whirling together in a dizzying dance of wings and grace that
made her heart hurt. So beautiful.
:And
my heart—:

“No,” he growled, slamming his hand over
her mouth. “Don’t say it. Don’t bind yourself to me like that.”

She sank her teeth into his hand. His
breath hissed out but he didn’t release her.
:It’s too late, my savage Black. I already carry your bond and your
blood, and you carry mine. We are bound as surely as I’m bound to my Blood.:

His body shook against her, fighting his
release and his own desperate need to hear her say those words.

She licked his palm, turning his
restraint into a caress. Brighter than the sun but lacking its heat, the White
Dragon blazed in her mind. The Black gripped her in his talons, and she knew
her Light caused him pain. Her talons might not damage him, but her light sent
shards deep into his body. They hovered, the air thin and high, and then they
began the spiraling plummet to the earth.

:Release
me,:
she whispered, licking the tears of blood from his dragon face.
:Save yourself this pain.:

:Never.:

As the dragons in her mind tumbled
toward the Silver Lake, pleasure wound higher in her body and she dragged Mykal
with her. Tangled dragons plunged into the Silver Lake, and she came so hard
light exploded behind her eyes. Waters crested within her, a crashing flood
that surged through his bond. He screamed out his release, the dragon riding
him so hard she swore shadowed wings hovered above them.

Burying his face in her neck, he clung
to her, shaking. “I have a purpose,” he whispered, his voice broken. “I don’t
want to die. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I won’t let you die, and you’re not
going to lose me.”

He groaned and gripped her tighter.
“Shadow waits for me. I can never escape Him.”

She fisted her hand in his hair and
jerked his face back so she could stare in his eyes. “I won’t let Him have
you.”

His eyes flared wide with pain, his
breath hitching in his throat on a gurgle that sounded as though he was
drowning. She barely got him rolled off her before he went limp, his body
shivering and twitching with pain.

“What is it? What can I do to help you?”

“Don’t leave me,” he whispered, his
voice ragged. “This happened when you cursed us not to harm your people. Your
water poisons me.”

“I won’t leave,” she promised. “Why
would you take my water through the bond if it hurts you?”

“I’ll drink every drop you’ll give me
and hope you can somehow wash me clean.”

Blood leaked from the corner of his
eyes, just as the Black Dragon had suffered in the White’s blazing embrace.
Leaning down, she licked those bloody tears away. He shuddered, his hands
convulsing, reaching for her.

A foot stomped on his forearm, trapping
his hand.

“Forgive me,
na’lanna
,” Dharman said, his voice grim. “I think those might
accidentally cause too much damage to your body. You have no dragon living
inside you.”

She stretched over to see Mykal’s hand
and sucked in her breath. Long, vicious blades extended from his fingers, and
his skin gleamed with obsidian scales. Sal pinned his other hand, similarly
enclawed.

Those long silver claws sent a shiver of
dread through her. The vicious points reminded her of needles. Her skin felt
clammy, her heart raced, and she wanted to flee, hide, which was totally unlike
herself. Years ago, she hadn’t been able to let Alea pierce her ears because of
this unreasonable fear.

Her own nails had extended when she
carried the White Dragon. That hadn’t been revolting, so why were his?
Troubled, she fought her irrational reaction. She refused to break her promise.
It wasn’t the sign of his dragon that bothered her. The scales didn’t make her
stomach churn. He’d been a dragon in her dreams; she’d even seen these claws on
his human hand before and protected herself without hesitation.

What was different now?

“You never liked my needle.” Mykal's
voice was faint. His eyes flickered, rolling back in his head, his breathing
shallow, and his skin burned with fever. “At least your water didn’t leave
scars this time.”

Ice water flooded her entire body,
freezing her skin on her face tight enough she felt like she would shatter. Her
scalp crawled, and her heart tried to explode out of her chest. She jerked her
eyes to his left hand trapped beneath Sal's foot. No ring on his pinky, but the
unmistakable traces remained: a blackened mark banded his finger, betraying the
presence of a ring worn recently and long.

Dharman hissed beneath his breath and
shifted closer so he could pin the dragon-clawed hand and hold her against his
thigh at the same time.

:What
is it?:
He demanded.
:Why
are you so afraid?:

Standing in a small chapel in Dalden
Bay, she'd fought chains around her neck and soldiers pinning her arms. She'd
watched in horror as a man exhibited a vicious needled silver cap on his
finger, light-colored eyes flashing like blades. Through Our Blessed Lady,
she'd Seen his Shadows and had fought back by spitting waters from the Silver
Lake into his face. She’d learned later from his peasants that he’d worn those
acid marks on his face until the day he supposedly died in the uprising on his
caffe estate.

:He’s
Stephan. He took me to Theo in chains.:

With murderous fury, Dharman whipped out
his
rahke
and struck at the Keldari’s
throat.

CHAPTER

TWENTY
ONE

:STOP.:

Her bond thundered the order and no
matter how loudly his instincts demanded that he eliminate this threat, he
couldn’t not obey her. Digging the tip of the
rahke
into the man’s throat, he paused, waiting for her next order,
but he made sure she clearly felt his rage through the bond.

:I
know.:
Shaking, she turned her cheek against his thigh.
Her fingers dug into him. A shudder wracked her body and she peeked at the
incoherent, mumbling Keldari.
:I can’t
believe it’s him. That I…:

The man had betrayed and tried to poison
and kill her numerous times. Stephan, Duke of Pella, one of her worst enemies
ever.
And she loves him.

Her reluctant love banked the smoldering
rage boiling in Dharman's stomach. After her years with Khul while he stood
guard only as Blood, he held too much sympathy in his heart to condemn a
warrior who had loved her from afar with no hope of ever holding her in his
arms.

Cold trickled down his thigh and shadows
flickered about her shoulders.

:Gregar,:
she whispered.

Dharman listened intently to her bond,
hoping to overhear whatever the Shadowed Blood said to her.

:Did
I not try to kill you?:
Gregar stroked icy shadows down her
cheek and neck to his mark on her shoulder.
:I
had to wait until my death before I could give you this lovely mark without
slaughtering you. Why is this man any different?:

:I
knew him before. He tried to kill me for years, plotting, lying, cheating… He's
so evil, I can't even begin to count the number of lives he must have taken.:

:While
I was
Kae'Had-Mangus
,
most honored Right Hand of Vulkar, the Death Rider with the most kills on the
entire Plains. I killed you for years every time I closed my eyes,
na’lanna
. Your sweet love saved me, and you can save
him, too.:

:What
if I don’t want to save him?:

Dharman felt the sadness welling in her
heart like a cold, lonely rain. No matter her words, she would regret not
helping this man who moved her heart despite her hatred and fear. Regardless of
what horrors he'd committed in his past life, the Keldari already lived in her
heart.

He didn’t make the mistake of removing
the
rahke
. If she said to kill the
Keldari, he would without hesitation. It would certainly be easier to eliminate
this man than work out a way for her to have him and still keep her safe. Easy,
but not her heart's desire, which untangled the knots of pride and jealousy binding
his heart.

Much as Rhaekhar must have swallowed his
pride to give her Gregar.
In the face of her love, though, he
would never make any other choice.

“Would Stephan have been stunned at the
sight of your bath? Did he smell of sandalwood when you knew him before? Did he
walk as the dragon in your dreams? Nay, the dragon was Keldari, this Keldari
whose scent calls to your heart. He's not the same man as the Duke of Pella.
He's been changed, both by Shadow and by the Dream of you. We would all be dead
this day without his assistance.”

He gave a pointed look to Sal, who
sighed disgustedly. The red-haired Blood was loath to help this man in any way.
Dharman didn’t miss that the other Blood trod on his competition’s hair. “Has
he ever told you an untruth?”

Frowning, she mulled through every Dream
and moment she’d spent with the Keldari. “I don’t think so.”

“Shadow lies,” Dharman said. “If Mykal
did not lie, then he could not wholly be a tool of Shadow. Who, then, sent you
his Dream? What purpose has brought him to you?”

“Lady,” she breathed, turning her face
up to stare at him. “He knew my water would hurt him, but he held his bond open
and took everything I gave him.”

“If I had fallen to Shadow and committed
unspeakable crimes, would you turn away from me?”

Her face firmed with determination. “You
know I will never let you go.”

Smiling, Dharman straightened and
sheathed his
rahke
. “Allow us to
carry him to your bed,
na’lanna
.”

Grumbling, Sal helped him carry the
Keldari into the other room. The man muttered and moaned beneath his breath,
his skin hot as though he burned from the inside out. The bites she’d placed on
his flesh pulsed with light, mixing oddly with the dark shining scales etched
in his forearms and biceps, and silver claws glistened in his fingers.

“I need him to bring those back inside
before I’ll allow him to sleep beside you,” Dharman said. “He might hurt you
and not even know it.”

She climbed onto the bed and stretched
out beside the man, wincing at the heat rolling off him. “Mykal, I need you to make
your talons go away.”

“Can’t,” he groaned. “Without the ring.”

Dharman felt the flash of memory through
their bond: a twisted iron band that had reminded her of a venomous spider
crouched on his hand.

She shivered. “You were the dragon
earlier and transformed.”