Web Of Bones: Book II of the Dragon Mage Series (4 page)

“
Do not be surprised, General, if you see yourself in dragon miniature racing the clouds one of these days.” This close, she could see the swirl and twist of silver that was the only indication he gave of strong emotions. That and the press of powers and heat that surrounded her. “My brother is dragon-crazy right now.”

Solan had no idea what she was talking about, nor did he care at the moment.
He waited until the children had left the room and then pulled her closer, so that her soft hair brushed his chest with each move she made. “If you can be injured in your nightmares they are more than they seem.”

She swallowed hard
. Her free hand found his chest for support, and the feel of it there burned through the leather. “I think he is calling me there with some kind of blood magic.”

“
All the blood mages were killed, along with their followers.”

She very carefully did not look at either Eben or Ladon, but kept her tormented eyes on his.
“I think if he was really dead I would know it. Whatever he did to me, whatever I can’t remember ...” she shuddered out a breath. “I am bound to him.”

Solan felt the power in the air
ricochet, as the wind that thrashed the curtains suddenly seemed to react to the building pressure and ‘whoosh’ around them, twining her skirts with his legs and twisting her hair in his buckles and around his neck. He ignored it while he tried to get his own reaction under control. The fury beating at him from the two other males was eclipsed by his own rage that such a creature of goodness would be touched by such filth. She had closed her eyes, her face tensed as if waiting for a strike.

“
Then ...” he said. His voice was hard; he locked his emotions down, feeling as if a stone were lodged in his chest. “We hunt.”

The men had been going back and forth with plans to find and obliterate the blood
mage long enough for Morgan to return and start an entirely new discussion of who would and would not be leaving the safety of Forsaken.

Melisande watched from the balcony while they discussed it.
Her arms wrapped tight around her chest as she became more and more agitated.

Morgan joined the three males
, who were standing over the maps strewn about the table and started arguing plans as if Melly was superfluous to the discussion. She was ready to pitch the lot of them over the balcony.

“
It is my duty as Knight of the Light to find this evil and eviscerate it.” Unlike Ladon’s voice that rose in volume and deepened when he was angry, Solan’s lowered to gravel.

“
She is of House Fire and Water.” Ladon was nearly bellowing by this time. His eyes flashed dragon gold, his face hardening as if his change was right below his skin. “She is ours to protect, and I will not be left behind with the women again.”

“
Oh, really?” Morgan asked. Her furious eyes trained on Ladon. “That won’t be a problem, because I will be going along. She is my sister, after all.”

Ladon through up his hands in exasperation.
“Do not peck at me over this, little falcon. You will stay with Eben and look after your sister and the chicks.”

“
Melly can watch the children and will be safe enough in Forsaken Mountain, but this blood mage hunts her in her dreams where I cannot help.” She took a deep shuddering breath. It was clear the tears were close to the surface, but she raised her chin, her eyes shining. “I can help you find him. The wind will lead the way.”

Eben pulled her around and moved close enough to intimidate, towering over her as he was.
His voice was tender even as it bit the air with purpose. “I understand that you feel deeply about this, but we will see to your safety above all things.” He moved closer until he towered over his clearly unimpressed mate. “You are not alone anymore, Shameaa.” His eyes softened marginally. “Let us do this for you.”

“
My need to see my family safe is no less than yours.” She huffed out an exasperated breath. “I will not always stay where you want to put me.”

His eyes hardened, his lips thinned
, and from where Melly stood across the room she could feel the power build, pressing against her until it was nearly impossible to breathe.

“
Enough!” Melisande said , flipping out her hand and using the wind to send her voice directly to closed ears, so that each person heard it like a shout. Everyone stopped talking at once and turned to her. She called the wind back so that it swirled around her and built until she was hovering off the floor in a funnel. She lifted her arms, and wind whipped around the room, flipping the tapestries and map on the wall , sending the scrolls on the desk flying until they all flew at the standing dragons and bounced off their hard heads. Once she was sure she had their attention, she lowered her hands and floated to the floor. The wind died down in and instant and everything dropped to the marble floors.

The
dragons looked flummoxed. Morgan looked stunned.

“
This is my fight,” she said quietly, and immediately there was an uproar as everyone started to talk at once. She waved her hand and the wind rushed the noise away in a great ‘whoosh.’ They tried again, and she whooshed the sound away again. Three dragons started toward her, and she flicked her hand sending them crashing up against the wall where they were suspended for a moment then dropped back on their feet. They all looked moments away from the change. Morgan stood alone by the desk untouched, with her hands on her hips and her lips firmed. “Have you lost your mind?” she bit out, not bothering to check her mates behind her.

“
Just my temper.” Melly crossed her arms and glared right back. She then faced the dragons standing behind her sister. Their displeasure was like slap of heat on her face. “Will you listen now?”

“
By all means,” Eben said darkly. “What is it you wish to say?”

She looked at Morgan.
“You can’t go.”

“
What?!” Before she could sputter out any more, Melly flicked her fingers and the sound was carried away. Morgan gnashed her teeth. “Stop doing that!”

“
Then listen.” Her voice was just as soft, but this time there was a beseeching quality that had Morgan reluctantly nodding. “Remember when you told me that I had to go with the children and leave you to fight?” When Morgan reluctantly nodded, she went on.

“
You said you knew it was the route you were to take. You knew, and I trusted you. Well, now I’m the one who knows. You are not meant to take this journey for me.” She saw the agony in her sister’s eyes and relented enough to walk to her, taking her hand and squeezing it. She took a deep breath and went on. “You cannot take this journey with me, either.”

When she started to argue, Melly pressed her hand hard between hers.
“I know, Morgan. I know that I am to take this journey, and that I am to take this journey without you or your mates. None of you can leave Dracon or each other right now.”

“
Why?” Morgan huffed it out, raising her hands and dropping them to slap her hips. “Why do we have to stay and you go?”

“
I am wind-talked, Morgan.” She smiled just a little, even if it was self-depreciating. “I always know the right way.”

“
The last time you went somewhere without me you ended up at the mercy of a blood mage.”

That shot was a
bull’s-eye that Melly felt to her core. She dropped Morgan’s hands. “And I allowed the children to get captured with me.”

“
That’s not what I meant.” Morgan grabbed her arms when Melly wouldn’t look at her. “I am not blaming you; I’m trying to say we are better together. That’s all.”

Melly sucked in a breath, letting the doubt wash out of her
. She tilted her head and listened. She wanted to be sure before she dropped this bomb. Finally, she took her sister’s hands in both of hers. “You’re going to have a baby.”

It felt like every particle of air was sucked from the room
, and then Eben and Ladon were both suddenly standing with their mate.

“
You are sure?” Eben asked, his hands going around Morgan’s shoulders to pull her back into his arms. The shock on her face was almost comical. Ladon cleared his throat. “We are having a child?”

Melly smiled at them, laughing through the happy tears that fell from her eyes.
“Yes. I am sure. She is with child and it will breed dragon true.” She touched Ladon’s arm. “But if any of you go on this journey there will be danger to the child, and to Dracon.”

“
The wind tells you this?” Eben asked gruffly. “How is it possible?”

“
How long have you known?” Morgan placed a hand at her stomach, wonder in her eyes, and suspicion. “I have seen you when a vision takes you, and that did not happen today.”

“
I have known for a while that it would happen, and before you ask, I didn’t tell you because you weren’t actually pregnant until right now.”

Morgan sputtered
, then looked behind her to Ladon and Eben, then blushed to the roots of her hair. Both her mates chuckled, Ladon leaning forward to kiss her hard on the lips. He smiled rakishly. “I guess you were right earlier, little falcon; we were done.”

Morgan blushed redder
, if that was possible, then squealed when Eben suddenly spun her into his arms and lifted her high. She came down with a gasp, her arms going around his neck.

The look in his eyes as he looked up at his mate was so personal Melly moved away, even as she was unable to take her eyes off them.
She backed up against something hard and knew from the power wrapping around her that it was General Solan. She tried to step away but a hand found her hip and held her still. There was a rightness in his touch she could not explain.

Eben was studying his mate, his eyes blazing antique gold.
“I had many years to understand what was important, and to give up hope of ever finding it. You gave me my heart back when I was sure it had crumbled to dust through the lonely eons. You gave me a family when I thought to never have one.” He swallowed hard, his eyes blazing so much warmth that Melly felt it even so far away, and blanketed in Solan’s heat. “I never imagined you could give me more than you already had.” He dropped his forehead to hers, his eyes closing. “Thank you Shameaa. For making this old heart beat again.”

Ladon moved in behind her and wrapped his arms around both of them as Morgan looked into antique gold that had gone liquid with warmth.

Ladon chuckled, even as he buried his face in
Morgan’s brown hair. “Considering how old you are, Eben, I’m thinking that it will be a gold dragon like his father.”

Eben looked up and smiled a true smile
, his eyes catching both his mates. “I care not as long as he is ours.”

“
He?” Morgan sniffed narrowing her eyes at both of them. “You both assume it’s a boy.”

“
Yes.”

“
Of course.” Eben chuckled at her look of consternation. “Female dragons are extremely rare, Shameaa. It will most certainly be a male.”

Melly cleared her throat and had every eye in the place trained her way in a
heartbeat. And clearly, they did not care for her proximity to the other male, if their narrowed eyes were any indication. But they were easily distracted.

“
You know the sex, don’t you?” Morgan asked, pushing at Eben to place her back on her feet. He seemed disinclined and she was forced to glare up at him. He just shrugged his massive shoulders. She turned back to Melly with a huff, perched securely in Eben’s arms. “Well, don’t you?”

Melly thought for a long moment
, trying to think of a way to word her answer. If her sister’s mates knew what she knew, her sister would soon be cursing her for it. “I cannot say that you will have a boy or a girl.”

Solan raised a brow at her careful answer.
She was telling the truth and managing to keep secrets at the same time. He nearly asked her about it, but the other males had gone back to glaring his way, while alternately looking poleaxed and warmly regarding their mate. It was enough to make one dizzy. It did not, however, make him wish to move away from the little mage. He knew he should release her hip and step back, but he did not want to, and since she made no further effort to move away, he was content to stand with her under his hand all night.

“
This is thrilling, and wonderful,” Morgan said. “But it also makes it imperative we deal with the blood mage quickly and finally.”

“
You cannot go,” Melly said quickly before the arguments started again. “None of you.”

“
Then if we can’t go, who do you think is going to do it? Because there’s no way you are going up against a blood mage by yourself.”

The narrowed eyes of both men dared him to speak, but for the first time in longer than anyone could remember
, General Solan Fire-Eater smiled. “Me.”