Fire The Blood: Dragon Mage Series Book III (17 page)

"You offer me a
promise, Knight of the Light," Asha said, her voice reaching everyone in
the room and touching all of them with the power of a true seer.  All sound and
movement stopped.  "You seek to right a wrong done to the dragon seer
line, and we honor that promise.  I will offer you one as well: a true telling
and a promise in one.  Your quest will be long, and many will mark it with
you.  Some will fall.  You will see darkness you little comprehend, but should
you stay true, should you be successful in your quest for justice," Asha's
eyes heated until everyone was holding their breath because they knew at last
that they were in the presence of a true seer who held the future in her
words.  "You will find what you most desire.  You will find your true
mate, as will every dragon knight who walks the path of light.  Your sacrifices
will not be in vain."

Asha staggered back into
her mate’s welcoming arms as the power that had plowed her over suddenly
receded.  Aarion looked as shell shocked as she felt, but he was not the only
one.  Many of the knights at his back looked shook by her proclamation.  Lux,
the biggest and brash of them all, fell to one knee.  His head bent as if in prayer. 
Asha felt her emotions swell in her throat at the sight.

 "He said you had
not the power of your mother!"  Rendal looked completely flummoxed.
"He said your mage blood had diluted the power."

"Look around you, idiot,"
Braedon said harshly.  "Every dragon mage mating has resulted in more
power not less, and Lady Melisande expects twins even now: the first children
born of dragons in two hundred years."  That brought even more reactions
to the crowds.  Most had not heard the lady was expecting until this moment,
let alone twins.  "Graedon is a power-hungry mad man, and you sucked down
his lies like he was doling out dragon gold.  Your greed for a female and your
jealousy of Kinkaid has blinded you, making you, in my opinion, nearly as
dangerous."

Rendal's face went white;
his eyes were drawn to Lady Riva seemingly without his volition.  He looked
away quickly when Furee growled.  His face flashed red and then reddened
further as he looked around at the crowd, most of whom were looking at him with
both anger and censure.  Then he fell back in his chair and his eyes shut
down.  He had nothing more to say, but Asha sighed, knowing they had not dealt
with the odious man for the last time.

I could just kill him now
and be done with it,
Braedon offered, but Asha shook her head.

Things will happen as
they are meant.

He sighed beside her then
pulled her up so that she rested again on her own two feet, though he kept his
arms around her waist so that she was pressed into his chest, face to face. 
What
happens now, oh wise and all knowing one?

Asha couldn't stop the
smile at his words, but she lost it quickly as she thought of what was to
come. 
Now the dragons change everything about their people, chaos reigns,
and the chaff rises alongside the wheat to be dealt with.
  She sighed. 
There
will be chaos and power struggles here, and we will be needed.  The dragons
will need our help, as will your huntsmen left behind in the forest among the
humans.  I am afraid peace is not in our near future.

He could feel her need to
be elsewhere and her agitation. 
Theron?

She looked him in the eye
and pushed back the hair that had fallen there.  He could feel the satisfaction
in the move, and her worry for her brother.
  His road is a long one.  
Her
eyes went distant for a moment then closed, a feeling like hope replacing the
worry.  Then they opened, and went to Clare who was completely and suspiciously
over her earlier hysterics.
 He walks it alone.
Then she smiled.
 For
now.

She was back in her bed
at Forsaken, though her mind was far to the south in Seatown. 

"It seems I just
joined you in this bed but yesterday and found you thrashing about.  You were
sleeping in my tunic then, too."  Braedon's voice took her out of her head
and into the now, as he always managed to do. 

She smiled.  "It's
comfy, and it smells like you."  Then she stifled a yawn even as she eyed
the bounty he displayed. "It was not yesterday, but close."  He had
stripped down to nothing but his gleaming bronzed skin and thought nothing of
his display.  "Perhaps you should wear something to bed, fire mage.  You
never know who will show up."

"I do not care if a
many-headed dog shows up again.  It will have to kill me to get me out of this
bed anytime soon."  He said then groaned when he fell face first into the
soft mattress beside her.  "You can say one thing for the dragons,"
he muttered into the mattress.  "They know how to make soft beds." 
Then he turned on his side and eyed Asha.  "And even softer women."

She shook her head at the
sexy smile he sent her way.  He folded his hand beneath his head and propped
himself up on his elbow to regard her from a different angle.  "How is
Clare?”

“Brilliant.  If she had
not turned sympathy her way, things would have gone very different.”

“I don’t think I want to
know.”

Asha grimaced, “Let’s
just say that Graedon is a very persuasive victim, and leave it at that.”

“What I meant was: how is
she doing physically?  It could not have been easy for her today.”

Asha pulled the blanket
to her neck as she thought about it.  “Like her sisters, Clare is stronger than
she looked.  Riva took care of the physical bruises; time will have to take
care of the rest.”

There was a short silence
and then Braedon leaned toward her, his eyes firing as he looked her over.  “It
just occurred to me that with all the mutated creatures, insane megalomaniacs,
and the dragon political shenanigans, we have not had a second to
ourselves."  His look turned ironic.  "In bed or otherwise."

She raised a brow at his
tone.  "Are you regretting you are mated to a dragon seer/fire mage
hybrid?"

He smirked.  "If I
were, I would want less alone time, not more."  He looked her up and down,
his smile turning lazy.  "I do have a question for you though, oh great
powerful dragon seer."

She moved closer, drawn
to touch him, her hands finding the hot skin of his chest and resting there. 
"Ask."

"Is there even the
smallest chance that we will be able to sleep an entire night, or should we
ready for battle now and be done with it?"

She tucked her smile into
the space between his shoulder and neck.  "Let's find out."  Then she
felt him curl his arms around her and pull her against all that hard, hot
skin.  Falling back on the bed, he took her with him until she was cuddled up
close and warm in his arms.

"I will say this,”
Asha said, turning serious even as her eyes closed in exhaustion, her arm
banding across his slim waist.  "I no longer fear the visions, not when I
have my own fire mage/huntsman to bring me back and keep me warm."

His sleepy words sent her
to her dreams like a lullaby.  "Whatever may come, lady dragon, that will
never change."

<<<<>>>>
 

Look
for Furee and Riva’s story

The
next book in The Dragon Mage Series

Coming
2015.

The
Dragon Mage Series

The
Dragon’s Mage

Web
of Bones

Fire
the Blood

The
Keeping Her Series

Keeping
Her

Loving
Her

Claiming
Her

Craving
Her (Coming 2015)

The
Distant Worlds Series

The
Journey’s End

Salvage
Rights

Stand-alone

At
One’s Pleasure

Beatrice
and Douglas