Web Of Bones: Book II of the Dragon Mage Series (13 page)

Solan caught Melly in his arms, feeling the pain radiating from her and hearing her heart skip beats and struggle in her chest.
“Melly.” Her name breaking as he fell to his knees and pulled her closer in his arms. Solan soaked her with his heat, surrounding her in a blanket of dragon power. “Open your eyes.” He laid her on the ground and pushed the hair back from her face. Her skin was pale and cold as if in death. He placed his other hand on her heart and pressed more power through her. Listening to the stutter and skip of her heart beneath his hand and waiting for it to stop was the worst thing he could imagine. It made him do something that Solan Fire-Eater, Commander of the Dragon Knights, had never done before. He threw back his head and roared for help.

Before the cry was even echoing through the valley
, dragons were landing around him. The fire mage had been there from the beginning, but all he could do was watch from the tree line. He had said it himself; fire was not the power of healing, but of destruction.

Aarion came forward and placed his hand over Solan
’s on her heart. He closed his eyes and sent power through them both. Then he shook his head. “She is holding on to life by the smallest thread, but there is no earth magic here to combat.”

“
I can feel her.” Solan said, his head bowing, his voice a growl of absolute pain. “In death the blood mage seeks to take her. She is trying to hold on but he drags at her soul. He uses the mark to take her from me.”

Aarion fell back to sit on the dirt from his crouched position.
He looked from the Commander to the others, his eyes as shell shocked as the rest of them. He shook his head. Furee turned away, while Lux fisted his hands in helpless rage.

“
He cannot have her.” The absolute conviction radiated through the pain in his voice. He pulled her back off the ground and into his arms. Her head lulled over his arms as if she was already gone, and his voice grew in volume and strength until it echoed with purpose through the trees. “Melisande of the House of Fire and Water.” The wind picked up, and it was only then that they understood how still it had been in that cold valley. “You as my mate. He tries to take you from me, and I will face death itself to stay by your side.” He spoke and the wind whipped higher with each word. “But I know you, mate.” The last he whispered directly in her ear. “He has no idea what you are capable of, how strong, but I know.” He bit into his wrist savagely, more dragon than man; he ignored the pain and pressed his bleeding wrist to her lips. “By my blood I claim you.” He pulled back and kissed her hard, tasting the copper of his own blood, breathing his power down through her mouth until it filled up every empty inch of her. “By my breath and power I claim you.” He pulled her into his chest and held her against his heart. His face savage with a dragon’s iron will, he bowed his head over his dying mate. “By my love I claim you.”

The wind whipped the trees into a frenzy and the other dragons were hard pressed to keep their feet.
Solan noticed none of it. “Decide, Melly,” he whispered. His forehead resting on her hair, he closed his eyes while her heartbeat faltered. “Wherever you go, I follow.” Then, even softer: “Don’t let him win, little mage.”

One second she was growing cold in his arms, the next her back bowed while she sucked in great gusts of air.
Solan felt her body awaken, felt her win the fight and her soul return from wherever Lotare had tried to drag her.

The final mark clicked with the sharing of lives, so that she knew every moment of his long,
lonely, blood-soaked existence. Where duty and honor seemed to be all that kept him going. How much he needed her. How unworthy he felt of her—until he saw himself through her eyes. His strength, his fight for what was right. The way it felt when he touched her. It humbled him, and re-built him at the same time. He was hers.

They shared every struggle of her childhood, every fear, every insecurity and every strength she didn
’t see in herself. He saw the love she shared with her family. Everything she had overcome to get this far. He marveled at the love and light she shed so willingly on everyone around her. The terrible battle she had fought to stay with him. Finally, Melly saw herself through his eyes. “Solan,” she breathed, then burst into sobs, turning into arms that nearly crushed her. She was his.

The punishing wind died.
What was left was a warm breeze that danced in her dress where they knelt in each other’s arms and blew their hair about, blending strands of red and black together until they tangled hopelessly in Solan’s buckles.

With a shaky
voice, Melisande spoke through her tears with her face pressed against his neck. “You are a most formidable dragon, General Solan Fire-Eater.”

“
You just fought a blood mage for our souls, Lady Melisande.” His voice was husky with too much emotion. His face was in her hair, his hands clutching her close. He could not have stopped touching her right then if he tried. “I would say that makes you a most formidable dragon’s mate.”

Solan felt her lips tilt up against the skin of his neck
, felt the welling of satisfaction, even before she spoke. “It runs in the family.”

***

As if from exhaustion, three other dragons and a fire mage dropped to the ground around them. At the sound of them hitting the dirt, Melly looked up and took in their sprawled forms from the safety of her mate’s arms. Lux laughed again, and Melly was a little dismayed to note she could not tell the difference between his ‘I’m having fun killing’ laugh that had echoed through the fighting, and whatever he was laughing at now. Not one of them looked as if they had just gone through a war against hundreds of poison-wielding humans and a blood mage.

“
Did I miss the end of the battle?”

“
You missed one of them,” Solan said mildly, and she could practically hear him recalling that she had run after the blood mage on her own.

She cleared her throat.
“All those humans?”

“
Roasted,” Lux said robustly. “Not much of a battle though. More like a bug hunt.”

Melly shuddered at the thought, remembering all the screams, and the men she herself that blown back into the fire.

“Enough,” Solan said warningly, hard eyes on Lux. “Lux, do a flyover and make sure there are no more dangers here, and put out any fires that still smolder. Aarion, you and Furee get the supplies we left behind. Leave the wagon, but retrieve the lady’s things. Leave the rest for the scavengers. Then meet us at the hot springs cave just past Dracon. We will fly there today to rest, then return to Dracon tomorrow.” He stood Melly to her feet, but kept his hold on her. She wobbled a bit, but her legs held. “Fire mage, we go before the council tomorrow to address the future of mage-dragon relations. You may join us or not as you like.”

“
My name is Braedon of the Hunt.” The mage said, bowing his head at the invitation. “And I accept your invitation, with the understanding that I will get my sister out of Dracon, if I don’t like how it goes tomorrow.” He looked to Furee, whose eyes glinted hotter at every word Braedon spoke. “She is no dragon’s pet.”

“
Agreed.” Furee finally spoke, with steel resolve in his voice. If the council did not make changes, Furee would help the mage free his sister. The fire mage bowed his way and the pact was made.

Melly sighed at the reminder they still had battles to fight.
A council to face. And a dark dragon that would kill them before they had a chance to identify him for his perfidy.
Sigh. Is it weak to wish for the peace of my gardens, rather than another brush with death? Or game of politics?

If it
is, then I am just as weak,
Solan’s voice echoed in her head, but she was looking right at him and knew he didn’t speak aloud. Her eyes jumped to his in understanding. He was talking through their mate bond.
For I wish for nothing more than my own bed, and my mate upon it.
She smiled up at him, as he brushed the back of his fingers down her cheek softly.
But I could love you just as easily in your garden if that is where you find peace.
She laughed then, and the wind danced it with joy through the clearing making the dragons smile.

Before she could remind him her garden usually came with Rhune scampering about, the wind sent a flurry her way.
She tilted her head, and almost sighed her frustration aloud. “Someone comes,” she said, turning in a circle and pointing to the West. “There. Armed guards and a ...” She tilted her head again, confused by the information the wind was sending. “Leader?” She looked up at Solan with a shrug. “Future king? Someone of importance in the human world.”

“
Lovely,” Lux boomed, pulling his axe. “Fresh meat.”

Solan turned and motioned his men back.
Aarion and Furee melted into the cover of the forest. The fire mage had already disappeared into the trees. Lux stood at his back with the axe resting on his overly large shoulders.

And between them a very short wind mage
,
Melly sighed again.
Who wants nothing more than a few hours’ sleep in the arms of her mate before the next crisis.

I would not count too much on sleeping
, in any case,
her mate warned, a suggestive laugh in his voice and a warm brush of power down her backside that had her back shooting straight, and her eyes flying wide at the unexpected caress.
I will have you to myself in a place of dragon magic by nightfall, if I have to litter the ground with the would-be king’s blood to do it.

Melisande blew out a breath, feeling a tingle of desire warm her skin, even as the wind whispered.

“No,” she said aloud, with an inward grimace of her own. “You can’t kill him, and I’m afraid we won’t make Dracon this night.”

She did not have to have a mate bond to hear the cursing he was doing in his head.

They were humans, she could see that much—well-armed, three of them, and unlike most of the warriors they had faced so far, clean and presentable in matching armament. The leader was a question mark in her eyes. The wind said confusing things when he stepped onto the valley. He was not an enemy, nor was he exactly a friend, and from the stoic look on his face, he was also not happy to see dragons this side of Dracon. This was interesting, because she got the feeling he had been looking for them specifically.

From the rich cut of his
garments, he was clearly landed gentry. His raiment was all black, edged in gold thread, with a phoenix in burgundy and gold across his chest as the mark of his house. A big man, well over six feet tall. She had thought Braedon the tallest human she would meet. This one could very well have been a dragon by his height, which made him a few inches shorter than Solan. Broad shoulders, lean hips. Powerful muscles slid beneath his clothes. He was not like any gentry she had ever seen. He had the arrogance for sure, in the way he carried himself, that expected everyone to move out of his way, or be stepped on. But there was no fat on him, and while his clothes were fine, they were not ostentatious. Maybe it was just his travel garb that was understated. In that, though, he would still be different, as the few landed gentry she had seen coming through the villages looked like peacocks—flabby ones, blind to the suffering they passed.

This one resembled a hawk, with his razor
-sharp cheekbones and beak of a nose. His hair was cut short, dark brown, and burnished with a metallic gold shimmer. She blinked; those colors could not be real, so maybe he was a bit of a peacock after all. Not that she was going to say it to his face. He was not handsome, but he was fierce and, if she correctly read those black eyes that saw everything, dangerous.

“
You are the dragon called Solan?” he asked, his eyes never stopping their study of the dragons, mage, and field.

“
I am General Solan Fire-Eater, Commander of the Dragon Knights. And you are?”

“
I am Lord Theron Cadmus of Seatown.” He motioned behind him. “My warriors, the brothers, Archer and Cree, also of Seatown.”

Solan raised a brow at that, and Melly leaned around him to get a better look. Seatown was the rich landholding far to the South.
This man ruled most of the shoreline and lived on an Island right off the coast that few were allowed to visit. Very rarely did people from Seatown travel such a distance north. Most villagers would go their whole lives and never see someone reputed to have seen the Island, let alone lived there. Of course, it was said to be protected by sea serpents and monsters, so few ventured near. His men, dusky-skinned and dark, no doubt from living in the hot Southern coastal region, were tall and lithe—though they were not as tall as their Lord. But like their Lord, they exuded danger like a scent. From the look of them, Sea monsters were not the most lethal danger to be found in Seatown.

“
You are a long way from home,” Solan said, raising a brow.

“
As are you and yours. And you have left quite a mess in yonder field and forest.”

Solan shrugged.
“When we are attacked, we obliterate.”

My mate,
Melly thought,
is not a subtle dragon.

But effective
,
he answered back, his voice a warm caress in her thoughts. Then she could feel his unrest swelling.
There is something off about this one. Is the wind whispering any secrets?

Other than he is more that he seems?
She studied the man further as the wind danced through her hair.
Only that he has something to tell us we must hear.

Lord Theron looked at them
, his eyes narrowed, then he looked to the trees behind them. “Your men are getting restless while you quiz your wind mage. Perhaps you should tell your bowman to ease up before he makes a mistake he cannot walk away from.”

Now that is interesting
, Solan thought, loud enough for his mate to hear, but she was too busy listening to the wind to answer.

“
He will not make a mistake,” Melly said, stepping out from behind Solan, her head tilted and her eyes on Lord Theron. She ignored her mate’s growl, but welcomed the hot mantle of his power that fell over her. “You can see our bowman?”

His piercing black eyes
beamed like a laser on her face. “I can see many things.” He studied her while Solan’s power swelled in agitation all around them. “You are his mate?”

“
I am.” He seemed surprised by that. Thoughtful, as he looked her over carefully. “I did not think dragons accepted mates from outside their own kind.”

Not that they did not exist, but that they would not accept them.
Solan caught it too. His own eyes swirled silver with possibilities.

Lux boomed out the question they all wanted to ask.
From the biting tone of his loud voice, it was clear he did not care to be ignored. “What do you know of dragons and their mates, human?”

Lord Theron shifted his eyes behind Solan and acknowledged the giant for the first time with a lot of healthy white teeth.
“Let’s just say, once again, that I see many things.”

He would say nothing more, despite Lux
’s mighty glower. She knew it, so Melly decided to get to the real issue, before the challenging teeth baring between the two males turned deadly. She cleared her throat and made big eyes at her mate. She could feel his humor, though his face was devoid of any sign of it when he spoke.

“
My mate,” Solan brushed the words with careful emphasis, “tells me we should listen to what you have to say.”

That successfully distracted the Lord from his staring contest of manly pride with Lux.
Again he looked on the two of them with surprise. “And you listen to your mage mate’s counsel?”

“
I value her insight in all things.”

Melly smiled, feeling the heat of his power caress her cheek and smooth back her
wind-tangled hair. She looked down with a happy blush. When she looked up again, the Lord was once again examining her face for she knew not what.

“
You are content to be mated to a dragon, milady?” There was something about the question, and the lack of inflection in the words, that told Melly this was more important than it seemed.

“
I am very happy to be mated to a good and
honorable
man, Lord Theron,” she said with emphasis, feeling her way and knowing what she must say, even if she did not know why. “As is my sister, who is an earth mage and expecting twins.”

That got a reaction as every dragon
, including Solan, reacted to the information no one else—including the expectant parents—were privy to.

Melly?
Solan’s voice in her head was full of shock and awe, and not a little concern, that this information should go to strange humans.

I know
,
she thought back to him.
He needed to hear it. Look at him.

Solan did.
He looked staggered by the news. When he seemed able to catch his breath again, Lord Theron took a step closer to her, halting when Solan growled a warning. His eyes, his voice, everything shouted how important this question was. “And will the children be accepted by the dragons? As equals? Or will they be cast out to the human world as half breeds?”

He knows of the
council’s mage laws.
She looked at Solan, biting her lip.
It would be a mistake to try to mislead this man. But I fear his reaction to the truth.

Solan sent her a reassuring stroke of power.
Then it was his turn to study the Lord. “They will be accepted,” he finally answered. “We return home to make sure of it.”

Melly breathed a sigh of relief at his answer.
It was the truth and still managed to give little away of the problems they faced.

“
The males as well as the females?” Narrowed black eyes studied both of them, clearly suspicious. This time Melly knew the answer he needed.

“
I am a mage that was adopted into a dragon house when my sister was mated.” She spoke quietly but with conviction, and had Lord Theron’s unwavering attention from the first word. “My young brother and sister are both mage that were accepted into the same House of Fire and Water. The mates of my sister call us family regardless of our sex or parentage. They would be no less accepting of their own children.”

“
You believe that?”

“
I do.” She tilted her head again, the wind swirling around the clearing. “They would die to protect those children, and any other.”

He turned back to Solan.
“And you agree with this?”

“
I do. Children are a blessing of the Light. Regardless of who their parents are, I would cherish and protect them. Even if I had not sworn to defend the innocent as a Knight of the Light, this would be so.”

Lord Theron breathed deep.
He seemed to weigh their words and finally he spoke. “Then I have not come on a fool’s quest as I expected, and I do have information you must have before you return to Dracon and face your enemies there.”

Enemies.
Plural. What does he know that we do not?
Melly looked from Lord Theron to Solan. Her worried thoughts swirling in her head like an uncontrolled hurricane. The wind picked up in the clearing around them in response.

Breathe, little mage. Before we all find ourselves airborne
, wearing a tree as a hat.
She felt the caress of humor calm her thoughts and she sent her own power back in a tickling giggle of wind that flurried his hair, in a most unmanly way.

Lord Theron watched the play, and then killed the mood quickly.
“I will tell you as I was told,” he stated and went on before they could question his source. “The council meeting is a distraction. The laws pertaining to mages will be overturned, I cannot say when. But if the wind mage and the warrior who is her mate attend, many will die, and it will begin the long spiral that will end with the extinction of dragon and mage kind. That is one part,” he said. “The second is that you will know who your enemy is before you reach your home. He hides in the Earth, and it is his unwilling accomplice. Be careful, most especially of the dungeons. What you need to defeat him lays within its walls, so do not strike indiscriminately. But beware, your own destruction can be found there as well.”