Kiss of Darkness (The Dragon Legion Novellas) (10 page)

He swallowed, knowing the prophecy had deceived him. There had never been a woman who had made him feel as powerful and alive as Petra, never a woman who surprised him and captivated as she had done.

He realized then that even though he’d left her, against every inclination of his heart, he’d still been turned to stone.

Damien gone on that mission with Drake and the others, the quest to oust one of their own kind. They’d followed a dark trail into the depths of the earth, the evil spell of the viper winding into their ears. Many had their hearts turned against their true intention. Many fell back, unable to continue. The trail had led those who could endure the viper’s chant to one of their own.

Cadmus.

And in the battle to defeat him, those who fought at Drake’s back had been enchanted.

Turned to stone.

And trapped for centuries.

The prophecy had come true, but not due to Petra’s powers. Damien was ashamed that he had assumed the worst of her on that day, that he hadn’t asked for an explanation or given her a chance. He’d acted foolishly and couldn’t blame Petra for her anger.

But according to that same prophecy, once each obstacle was confronted, their firestorm would have a chance of a future.

He had to find Petra and change her mind.

At the very least, he owed her an apology.

To his relief, he saw a woman’s silhouette ahead. She was standing on the periphery of the strange forest, her back turned to him. He shouted Petra’s name, but she didn’t seem to hear him. She didn’t turn around, even when he ran toward her. He called her name repeatedly as he ran closer, then touched her shoulder.

When the woman turned, Damien realized he’d made a mistake.

It wasn’t Petra.

This woman was hideously ugly, and an ancient crone, as well. Her face was lined and cracked, like an exposed rock. Her long dark hair turned to hundreds of small black snakes, their eyes bright and their tongues flicking. Bat wings stretched high behind her back and she bared her teeth, showing her fangs. Worse, blood ran from her eyes in a stream of red tears, sliding into the crevasses in her skin.

He tried to shift, again without success.

The monster lunged for Damien, her nails like yellowed talons. She screamed, and made a cry like a bird being strangled. Damien saw her forked tongue and smelled her foul breath as she fell against him. She was heavy and strong, intent upon attacking him.

Damien pulled his dagger and buried it in her chest without hesitation. She fell back with a cry, her blood flowing from the wound, then attacked again. Was she immortal? Or dead already? Damien feared the odds were in her favor, especially as he felt his own strength fading. He knew he was fighting for his life, and he was determined to win.

Being trapped in the underworld forever wasn’t the future he envisioned with Petra and his son.

The fight was vicious and seemed to last a lifetime.

Finally, the monster was motionless on the ground, lying in a pool of her own blood. Damien stood over her, watching for her to make another move, his heart racing. He was bleeding from a dozen wounds, exhausted and hungry. He stared down at the fallen creature until he felt someone’s presence behind him.

He spun, his dagger at the ready, only to find Petra behind him.

“For the love of Zeus,” she whispered, her horror clear as she looked at the corpse. “What have you done?”

Chapter Four

Petra couldn’t believe her eyes.

The creature at Damien’s feet was clearly dead.

He couldn’t possibly have made a worse choice. Petra rubbed her forehead, knowing that the chances of either of them escaping the underworld had just diminished to less than nothing.

Damien read her reaction well. “What was she?”

“One of the Erinyes,” Petra admitted, then gave Damien a look.

He had paled. “The Kindly Ones?”

The sight of him frightened her, for he looked more dead than she was. “They aren’t kindly and you know it. That’s just flattery, to keep them from doing their worst.”

Damien eyed the fallen creature and shuddered.

“You couldn’t have just scared her off, could you?” Petra asked, worry sharpening her tone. “You couldn’t have just injured her a little, instead of killing her outright?”

“She attacked me! I didn’t have time to think or consider. It was her or me.”

He was probably right about that.

Damien fixed Petra with a look, then frowned. “But everyone in the underworld is dead already, except me. How could I kill anyone here?”

“The Erinyes are half-divine.”

“So, anything is possible.” Damien winced before she could say more. He passed a hand over his forehead, swore, then sank to his knees beside the fallen monster. “Of course, the Erinyes have a connection with Hades.”

“They work for him, doing his will in tormenting the dead who don’t deserve to rest.” Petra glanced about them. “This must be Tartarus.”

“It doesn’t look any different from the rest.”

“No, but the Erinyes are said to guard its gates and punish its occupants for Hades.”

“Then where are the occupants?”

Petra heaved a sigh. “I think we should be glad to be unable to see them. Maybe we’re only half-dead now.”

“I feel half-dead,” he muttered, then surveyed the corpse again. Damien’s disgust with himself was clear—and a perfect echo of Petra’s own. “I had no idea what she was.”

“Stories,” Petra reminded him, unable to resist.

“I never had much opportunity to listen to stories, even when I was a boy.”

“Why not?”

His frown deepened. “My father was consumed with serving my mother’s will. She kept him drunk, hungry, and a slave to the pleasures of her bedchamber. She liked having a pet dragon.” He shook his head. “There were no stories in our home.”

“I’m sorry.”

He continued, his tone so matter-of-fact that she knew he was still pained by the memory. “My father said I should be sent to train as soon as my powers were noted. I was eleven years of age when I was sent to Delphi.”

Delphi. He’d gone to Delphi for that prophecy.

“My mother didn’t want me to go. She would have kept me back, just to have another dragon at the ready. My father defied her for the first time ever.”

“He must have won,” Petra said.

He met her gaze steadily. “She had been giving him a potion for years. It was from the east and intended to weaken him. He was a slave to pleasure with no thoughts of his own. His defiance over my fate surprised her and angered her. He roused himself, what was left of him, and commanded me to run. It was the only order he’d ever given me and I didn’t dare to disobey.”

“She didn’t kill him,” Petra asked.

Damien nodded. “I prefer to think that he let her win.”

Petra stared at the ground, realizing why Damien had been afraid to trust her with his survival. She considered him now, and feared that he too would be destroyed by a determination to save his son.

“Could you tell me the prophecy again?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I don’t have a dragon’s memory.” Their gazes locked and held for a hot moment, then Damien spoke softly, reciting the verse.

“A lost child mourned for many years

A mother who will shed no tears

A dragon warrior turned to stone

A woman abandoned, all alone.

Firestorm’s promise will fade to naught

Until stone and fire pay death’s cost.

After a
Pyr
sacrifice is made

Destiny’s promise can be claimed.

He looked at her hard. “There’s a promise in it, a chance if its conditions are fulfilled. At the time, I heard only the warning.”

“And you were sure that I’d be the one who turned you to stone.”

Damien looked embarrassed. “I didn’t even know that such a thing was possible. I was surprised, Petra, and reacted badly.” He stood up and came to her, taking her hand in his. She didn’t dare meet his gaze, not when he ran his thumb across her hand and bent his attention on her as he did now. He was trying to convince her of something and Petra knew his task was half won. “I didn’t tell you what happened to my company of warriors, or where I’ve been.”

His words surprised her into looking up, and then she was snared by the intensity of his gaze.

“We went to hunt a viper, which is what we call one of our kind turned bad. This one was enchanting men in his vicinity, turning their thoughts to wickedness. He was inciting war and hardship. He turned his spell on us.”

Petra caught her breath. “He turned you to stone.”

“To teeth, actually. Warriors defeated by him were turned to dragon teeth, used by him in attacking others. But when he died and his remains became part of the earth, the teeth turned to stone.”

“That would have taken a long time.”

“Centuries.” Damien’s lips tightened and his thumb stilled against her skin. “We were enchanted for almost two thousand years, Petra, until another
Pyr
guessed how to break the spell.”

“By planting the teeth, sowing them like seeds,” Petra guessed.

Damien looked up in surprise.

“It’s in a story,” she explained with a smile and he shook his head. “But two thousand years?”

He nodded. “I have seen the future. I thought this world lost to us.” He sighed. “We all thought ourselves adrift, until the darkfire was released.”

“Released from what?”

“It was trapped in a stone by some sorcery. Actually, there were said to be three darkfire crystals, according to the
Pyr
of future times, and one of them was broken, setting the force of darkfire loose in the world.” He frowned. “Everything can change when the darkfire burns.”

Was everything changing for her and Damien? Petra wanted that to be true so badly that she didn’t want to say it aloud.

“The darkfire brought you here, then.”

Damien nodded. “Our commander, Drake, took possession of one of the crystals. He thought it commanded him to do so. Once he had it, it began to flare intermittently. Whenever it did that, we were flung through space and time, cast down in a strange place until the crystal lit again. We lost men along the way, and it was only before we came here that Thaddeus suggested the crystal was taking us to our firestorms. Alexander was taken back to the village where he left Katina and his son.”

“What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. The crystal lit again, and Alexander ran from us, determined to be left behind.” He met her gaze steadily. “Then it came here. As soon as I saw the River Acheron, I knew the darkfire was giving me the chance to save our son.” He squeezed her hand slightly. “What if the darkfire is giving
us
a second chance?”

The baby kicked just as his father spoke. Petra would have turned away, but Damien was too observant to miss her reaction. He was leaning over her in a heartbeat, her elbow in his hand. “What is it?”

She had trusted him from that first night, and even though he had disappointed her, Petra realized she still did trust Damien. He wasn’t the only one who had made a mistake, after all.

She took his hand and placed it over her ripe belly. He was momentarily confused, then the baby kicked hard.

“He’s alive!” Damien said with such delight that tears rose to Petra’s eyes. “Has he been doing this all along?”

“No.” Petra shook her head. “No. The labor didn’t start, Damien, and he went still. He’d been kicking and kicking, but suddenly stopped.” Her breath caught. “I felt that he had turned to stone and I was afraid.”

Damien drew her into his arms and held her tightly against his chest. Petra was alarmed to realize that he wasn’t as warm as he had been. “That’s why you took the ferry, even when the sea was rough.”

“I had to go back to the Mothers.”

“Where?”

“The closest place to home for me.”

Damien pressed a kiss into her hair and Petra felt her tears begin to fall. “I was so wrong, Petra. Please forgive me for not trusting you as I should have done.” He framed her face in his hands and kissed her tears away.

“You’re not the only one who made a mistake,” Petra admitted quietly.

“I don’t understand. You’ve done nothing wrong...”

“I did. I invoked the Erinyes.”

Damien looked down at the corpse again. “Just now?” He leaned down, nearly touching his nose to hers, his determined gaze boring into her own. “Why did you do it?”

“You’re not condemning me?”

“Not until I give you a chance to explain.” His grin made her heart skip a beat. “Second chances only work if you learn from your mistakes.”

“It was after you left,” she admitted. “When I was on the ferry.”

“When you knew it was going to sink.”

“I was still angry. I thought everything was your fault.” She flicked a glance at Damien, surprised to find his expression thoughtful. “How could I know that carrying a child would make me want more?”