Dragon's Curse (Harlequin Nocturne) (18 page)

When he claimed her lips it wasn’t with the gentleness of
passion. He was as hungry for her as she was for him, if not more so. She gladly
met his demanding kiss with her own. Drowning in the need swirling around them,
Ariel tightened her legs around him and curled her fingers in his hair.

A throaty growl was her only warning before he pushed her
against the wall of the workroom. She ignored the roughness against her back and
clung to him moaning, begging for more than a kiss.

Cam lowered his arms, hooking his hands beneath her as he
caressed his way along the sensitive flesh until his teasing touch found her
heat.

She gasped, melting into his touch. Their kiss broken, he
nuzzled the soft spot beneath her ear, drawing another moan from her lips.

His touch, his lips were driving her toward the edge, but it
wasn’t enough. Ariel drew in a ragged breath and grazed his scalp with her
fingernails. She still wanted more.

Ariel jumped at the jolt of wild desire within her as he sunk
his teeth into the tender skin where her neck met her shoulder. She closed her
eyes at the dizzying, near-frantic pace of her heartbeat while twisting hard
against him, trying to get closer, needing him to end this torment.

Suddenly, her mind filled with nothing but lust, she sensed the
beast within him. The powerful strength of the dragon, his own great need, was
laced with torment and longing. Her heart ached for what this beast thought he
could never have.

Tears stung behind her eyelids at her inability to comfort him.
She couldn’t give him what he sought—regardless of what the dragon wanted, the
man wanted no part of her heart.

Not knowing what else to do, she forced herself to relax in his
hold. Gently stroking the side of his face with a trembling hand, she whispered
hoarsely, “Cam, please, I need you.”

He released her shoulder and drew his lips back to hers as he
entered her. The hard length of his erection filled her. She met his thrusts,
knowing by the tensing of his shoulders and arms that he was as close to the
edge as she.

Ariel curled her arms tightly around his neck, tearing her
mouth from his to cry out as their shared climax left her shuddering against his
chest.

Breathing hard, Cam tilted his head to rest his forehead
against the wall. His arms trembled beneath her.

Ariel reluctantly unhooked her feet and let her legs slide down
the length of his body. But she kept her arms wrapped around his neck, fearing
her legs wouldn’t yet be able to hold her upright.

She wanted to ask him about his beast, but knew he wouldn’t
talk to her. No matter what passed between them physically, in the end, they
were still and always would be enemies.

It didn’t matter that neither of them had other choices. She
had to protect her brother. He had to protect his family.

Cam leaned away and gently stroked a finger along her cheek.
“We need to get back.”

Once they were both dressed, and after placing a gentle kiss on
her lips, he turned around. “He’s like a teenager in love for the first time,
Ariel. Leave him be. He’ll be fine.”

She blinked in shock at his rough dismissal of his beast’s
feelings. How could he be so callous?

“The subject is closed.”

She knew by the tone of his voice that she would only be
wasting her time and energy arguing with him. Ariel drew in a slow breath as she
picked up the pendant and put it back inside the pouch.

She frowned. If she could cause such physical havoc by simply
touching the stone dragon, what damage could Renalde cause? Her heart skipped
and her throat tightened at the thought of Cam’s death. “I can’t give this to
Renalde.”

Unsure if he was relieved or disappointed that she’d put the
dragon away, he answered, “You don’t have a choice.”

“What if he can do this, too? He could kill you without
warning.”

“True. But I don’t think it works that way.”

The reason the Learneds wanted Alexia’s pendant, was because it
turned into a living breathing dragon. What they didn’t realize was that it only
transformed for her. He and Braeden had put that to the test numerous
times—always with the same result.

Considering his beast’s unquenchable lust for Ariel, he
suspected that this extremely tactile magic worked only for Ariel, too. He would
test that theory and if it proved true, he’d gladly suggest she hand the pendant
over to the Learneds. At least then it’d be out of her hands—away from her
exotically magical touch.

“Is there anyone you could ask?”

“No.”

“Nobody?”

“Look, Ariel, outside of Brightworthe, no one else knows about
my ability to change into a dragon except you. I’d prefer to keep it that
way.”

“Your brothers and your aunt don’t know?”

“Thankfully, no. It’s not like I was born like this. It just
started happening one day.”

He felt her body tense as she gasped. “It just happened?
Without any warning?”

“Other than some odd dreams, intuition, and a birthmark that
started to burn, there wasn’t any warning.”

He watched the color drain from her face. “Odd dreams?”

Uncertain how to answer in a manner that wouldn’t frighten her,
Cam only nodded in response.

“Intuition?”

He knew exactly what she was wondering without having to delve
into her mind. Reaching out to offer a measure of his strength, he said, “Ariel,
it will be all right.”

She pushed his hand away and slid down the wall until she sat
on the floor. “No. It isn’t possible. I can’t do this.”

This wasn’t the time or the place to have this conversation.
But who else, besides him, could help her understand what would eventually
happen to her? Who else could explain that it was a gift, not a curse? “You
can’t do what, Ariel?”

“I can’t be like you. I’m a human. I’m not a…thing.”

Unable, unwilling to believe what he was hearing, Cam grabbed
the front of her sweatshirt and hauled her to her feet. “
Thing?
Is that what I am to you? A
thing?
A freak of nature?”

“No, no.” She shook her head. “That’s not what I meant. This
can’t be happening. It can’t be real. It’s just a dream, that’s all. It has to
be. If not, I don’t know what to do, how to stop it.”

“You can’t stop it.” He released her. “Don’t worry, you won’t
be alone.

“Won’t be alone?” Her bark of laughter bounced off the stone
walls. “Yes, I will. Once this is all over with, I’m going home.”

She’d be aghast to realize that he and his beast had just made
a decision on that score. “How about if we worry about this when it becomes
necessary?”

“That will be easier said than done.”

Since his mind had been spinning around all the possibilities,
he agreed. “True. But right now, I need you to relax. There’s someplace else we
need to be.”

“Relax?” She stared up at the ceiling. The flickering light
twinkled off her tears. “How?”

Cam quickly pulled her against him and lowered his lips to
hers. “Let me help.”

Her tears were salty against his tongue, but her kiss was the
sweetest thing he’d ever tasted. He wanted more than just her lips beneath his,
but for now it would have to do.

She relaxed against him, her fear and worry slipping away. He
reluctantly broke their kiss to ask, “Ready?”

At her nod, he escorted her out of the chamber, through the
corridor, pausing at the hidden door only long enough to switch her sweatshirt
and jeans for her dress. Then they exited the shed, heading back to the
castle.

Walking alongside Cam, Ariel held up the pendant to ask, “Are
you sure you want me to hang on to this?”

“I need to test a theory or two, but after that, yes, it’s
yours.”

She let the pendant dangle. With a soft, seductive laugh, she
briefly trailed a finger down the dragon’s back before letting it fall into her
palm.

Cam and his beast shivered in unison. “You just don’t know when
to give up, do you?”

“No, not when I know what the outcome will be.” She slipped the
chain over her head, letting the pendant disappear behind the front of her
dress. “There, I’ll save us both some embarrassment.”

From the fire suddenly teasing his back, warming his blood, and
making his dragon rumble once again with need, he feared embarrassment was the
least of their concerns.

“That’s her!” Danielle Drake screamed from a balcony.

She pointed a finger toward Ariel. “She’s the one who should
pay. Brightworthe’s death was her fault.”

From the gathering of people beneath the balcony, Cam knew this
had been planned. Determined to get rid of Ariel one way or another, Danielle
had craftily staged this show.

His aunt stared directly at him, stating loudly, “I demand that
thieving murderess be punished.”

Chapter 17

C
am groaned at his aunt’s strident
accusation. From the looks on the faces of those gathered, his aunt’s showdown
could turn ugly fast.

He couldn’t determine what the people of Mirabilus might do if
they believed Ariel was at fault for the death of one of their own.

The people of this isle were closemouthed out of necessity.
They didn’t want strangers—outsiders—nosing around any more than he or his
family did.

But more threatening was their closeness. Each and every one of
them heralded from tribes long thought extinct. And following the ways of their
ancestors, they were clannish when it came to protecting or defending their
own.

Ariel was not one of them. As the Drakes’ enemy, she was theirs
also. Worse, if they thought she threatened Braeden in any way, she’d be lucky
to get off this island alive.

Naturally, even though he had no idea the reasoning behind her
drastic decision, Danielle would do everything—and anything—in her power to make
certain that Ariel was seen as a threat. Once she made up her mind on something
it was almost impossible to reason with her.

Determined to protect Ariel, Cam draped his arm across Ariel’s
trembling shoulders. “Don’t engage her. Let me and Braeden deal with this.”

“I’m trembling with rage, not fear. I’m not afraid of her.”

That’s what worried him. “You should be. Ariel, no one here
will be shocked or surprised by any use of magic—good or bad. She could set you
on fire with the flick of a finger and none of these people would come to your
aid, or find fault with her action.”

She looked up at him, frowning. “I haven’t done anything to
them, why would all of them stand by idly while another person was killed?”

“Simple. You aren’t one of them.” He nodded toward his aunt.
“And because her word carries a lot of weight here.”

“More than you or your brother carry?”

“Depends.”

“On?”

“On whether Braeden sides with me or her.”

Ariel pulled away. “This isn’t your fight.”

Like hell it wasn’t. Did she really think that he was going to
stand by while she put herself in danger? Did she truly believe his beast would
allow another of its kind to be harmed? “I said, don’t—”

Before he could finish his command, she rushed forward to stand
beneath the balcony. “I’ve stolen nothing. And I was with your nephew when
Brightworthe was killed.”

Danielle leaned over the railing. “You may not have killed him
with your own hands, but you are still responsible.”

From the corner of her eye, Ariel saw the people closing ranks
around her. She gritted her teeth. Why hadn’t she expected that?

A flash of light was her only warning that something deadly was
headed straight toward her. Ariel ducked, cringing as a jagged blade whizzed
past her head.

At almost the same heartbeat, a ring of fire surrounded her.
Ariel closed her eyes against the heat of the dancing flames. She knew Danielle
Drake disliked her intensely. But since she’d missed with the blade, did the
woman hate her enough to actually burn her alive?

It took more than a few minutes for Ariel to calm her pulse
enough to breathe, and a few more to realize the fire wasn’t getting any closer
to her. She opened her eyes.

In fact, it seemed to act more as a protective ring than a
threat. She turned her attention back to Cam’s aunt. From the surprise on
Danielle’s face, the fiery protection was about the last thing she’d
expected.

Ariel knew that reasoning with the woman would prove useless.
But without knowing how to use any magical powers she might possess, if any,
words were the only thing she had to defend herself with, so she had to try.
“Ms. Drake, you’re upset. That’s understandable. Everyone here has suffered a
great loss. But I’ve taken nothing from you or your family and I did nothing to
harm anyone.”

“Oh, really?” Danielle reached behind her and held up the
grimoire. “Then what was this doing in your room?”

The crowd gasped as one before turning their hard stares on
Ariel.

“Enough!” Braeden pushed his way through the gathering. He
waved a hand toward the fire, dousing the flames, then did nothing more than
glance up at his aunt and hold out his hand. When the book ripped itself from
Danielle’s grasp to come to Braeden, he held it up, claiming, “I gave her this
book to study.”

Ariel tried not to show her surprise at his easy control of the
crowd and outright lie.

Cam joined Braeden. “We’ve all looked for a way to defeat the
Learneds. The answer might be in these pages.”

A man in the crowd stepped forward, asking, “Then why not let
one of us look for the answer?”

Cam shook his head. “Why don’t you come up here and read a page
or two. Then you’ll have your answer.”

The man boldly strode to the brothers. When he shot Ariel an
angry glare, Cam pushed her safely behind him.

Braeden handed the man the grimoire. “Go ahead. Pick a page.
Any page.”

With a grunt of disdain directed toward Ariel, the man opened
the book. He stared hard at the blank pages before him, then flipped to another
set of blank pages, then another and another, before saying, “It’s a trick.”

“Oh, really?” Alexia walked out of the castle to stand at her
husband’s side. “I entreat any, or all, of you to give it a shot. See for
yourself if it’s a trick, or if it’s more Mirabilus magic at work.”

Ariel watched in mute surprise as one by one about half the
crowd lined up to see for themselves. Visions of men and boys taking turns to
try pulling a sword from a boulder flitted through her mind. The problem with
that fanciful image was that she was not a young King Arthur.

And one by one the people of Mirabilus were disappointed to
discover nothing but blank pages in the grimoire.

After the last person flipped through the book, Alexia took it
from Braeden. “Ariel, come here.”

Startled by Alexia’s commanding tone, Ariel edged around Cam to
do as the woman bid.

“When I read the pages, I needed to have Braeden in the room.”
She handed the book off to Ariel, asking, “Do you need anyone present?”

Ariel shook her head. “No, not for the pages to appear.” She
separated the cover, letting the grimoire flip to the page it wanted. “They just
fill in by themselves.”

As it had done before, images and symbols painted themselves on
the page.

Alexia suggested, “Hold it up so they can see.”

With the open book held up over her head, Ariel took a step
back from the gasps rippling through the crowd.

“What does it say?” a woman from the back asked.

Ariel lowered the book. “I don’t know the history or lore of
Mirabilus, so it’s hard for me to decipher.”

She glanced at Cam. Even though his expression remained placid,
she could nearly feel his anger. He hesitated long enough to set her heart
racing. Finally, he stood beside her and said, “That’s why I’ve been
helping.”

Relief that he hadn’t decided to feed her to the wolves made
her sway. He slipped his arm behind her, whispering, “Not now.” Then turned back
to the gathering to explain, “Ariel turns the pages so they fill in and I try to
figure out what’s written.”

“Does that satisfy everyone?” Braeden’s voice boomed over the
crowd. “Are there any complaints? If so, voice them now.”

Other than some mutters and whispers, nobody stepped forward
with a challenge.

Braeden stated, “The existence of this grimoire is a threat to
all of us at Mirabilus. If the outside world knew it was real, we would be
hounded night and day. Thieves who merely suspect the grimoire exists already
haunt our land seeking to steal it from us. They have caused damage to our
island and brought death to our people.”

Ariel heard Alexia’s soft groan of dismay and wondered if
anything was wrong. She looked up at Cam, but he only said, “Later.”

Continuing, Braeden pulled his sword from the scabbard hanging
at his side. “Do you swear to keep this secret safe? To protect our lives and
the lives of our children?”

Everyone answered in the positive.

“Do you believe it is imperative this incident, and this
grimoire, remain sacred and hidden?”

Once again, they all agreed. Ariel suspected magic was in
play.

He lifted his sword, ordering, “Then so swear it.”

As one the crowd swore to protect the secret. Then, without
another word, they dispersed to either go back inside the castle or take their
leave.

When there was no one except her and the Drakes in the yard,
Ariel asked, “It’s just that easy? You order, they swear and nobody says a
word?”

Both men looked at her as if she’d lost her mind. Braeden
asked, “What else would you suggest doing?”

“I don’t know, but this doesn’t seem right.”

Cam added, “They won’t remember any of this ever happened.”

“So, you manipulate them whenever you see fit?” Somehow, that
felt…wrong to her. “Isn’t that the same as lying to them?”

“Had you listened to me, it wouldn’t have been necessary.” She
flinched at Cam’s harsh tone.

“Perhaps to you it does seem wrong.” Alexia touched her arm.
“But innocent people have died because rumors of that book’s existence reached
the general public.”

“How would anyone have known?”

Braeden drew Alexia to his side. “Because in a fit of spite, my
wife saw fit to write a paper about it.”

“Estranged wife.” Alexia corrected.

“True, you were strange at the time.”

Alexia rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you the clever fellow.”

“Always.” Braeden sighed. “What I am right now though is remiss
in my duties. I need to get back to work, so to speak. Not to mention deal with
Danielle.” He stared at Cam. “Meanwhile, you need to get her out of here.”

“Agreed.”

Braeden started to turn away, then stopped to ask, “Do you want
me to call the pilot?”

“No.” Cam looked down at Ariel. “I’ll deal with it myself.”

Ariel grasped his meaning. Her heart and stomach hit her feet.
Once Braeden and Alexia were out of earshot, she said, “You can’t possibly be
serious. Just because you can fly doesn’t mean I can.”

* * *

Aelthed swallowed his shock at what had just happened.
The idea that the elder Drake female would threaten or kill the one person who
could help the changeling decipher the grimoire and break the curse was
outlandish.

He’d been able to throw a ring of protection around the
changeling’s woman only because he’d been aware of the danger threatening her.
What if he hadn’t been aware?

The Drakes’, and his, enemy was the Learneds. They needed to
direct their energy into defeating Nathan and his spawn. It was a terrible waste
to focus their powers on one of their own.

He needed to find a way to communicate with the Drake woman.
She was telepathic, maybe she could hear him.

In the meantime, since he wasn’t certain he could levitate
himself across the ocean, he needed to make certain his cube was safely hidden
in the luggage that would be headed back to Dragon’s Lair.

He could deal with this Danielle Drake soon enough.

* * *

Cam lowered his arm from Ariel’s shoulder and stepped
away. “I told you not to engage her.”

“I was supposed to just stand there and say nothing in my
defense?”

“Since she was right, there was nothing to defend.”

“Nothing to defend?” She didn’t disagree with being
responsible. However, her participation hadn’t been direct, nor had it been
willing. As far as she was concerned, her defense had been justified.

“What part of this don’t you suddenly understand?” He swung
around to glare at her. “Have you forgotten that Brightworthe is dead because of
you? Granted, your hands didn’t deal the blow that killed him, but you did
something to push the Learneds to this extreme.”

“No, I didn’t forget anything.” How could she? Her guilty
conscience ate at her. Only the desperate need to gain Carl’s freedom and save
his life kept her walking straight through the guilt.

“I’m not shifting the blame to anyone else. But how could I
not
defend myself when she made it sound like I
killed Brightworthe with my own hands?”

“What difference would it have made? Neither Braeden, nor I
would have let anything happen to you. We would have gotten you off the island
before anyone could harm you.”

“So, I should just let the entire island think I’m a
murderess?”

“It’s not like they’re your family. Since you won’t be coming
back here, why would you care what they might think?”

She couldn’t refute anything he’d said, because it was true.
So, why did it sting? Ariel glanced at the castle, then she gazed out toward the
shoreline.

She hadn’t wanted to come back here to begin with. She
shouldn’t want to ever return. But the idea of never seeing this island again
felt like a loss. A loss of what?

Before she completely lost her mind, she agreed with him.
“You’re right. I don’t have any family here.” She couldn’t agree with the rest
of his comment though. “But I don’t want anyone—not even strangers—to think I’m
a murderess.”

“It would have hurt no one.”

“And correcting the assumption hurt no one, either.”

“No?”

“Not from what I could see, no.” But Ariel had the feeling she
was missing something. “Your brother seemed to have the crowd under complete
control.”

“If that was true, he wouldn’t have suggested getting you off
the island so fast.”

“Are you saying your magic doesn’t always work?”

“Of course not. But it didn’t do anything to sway
Danielle.”

“Nothing would change her opinion.”

“Your death would.”

Ariel shivered as Cam’s meaning sunk in. Warranted or not, now
Danielle Drake would be even more determined to hand out her own brand of
justice—this time without any warning.