Kiss of Darkness (The Dragon Legion Novellas) (6 page)

“That you fulfill my expectations?” Petra demanded. She played with the sparks again. “It must mean more than that.”

“Yes and no. It means that you’re the woman who can bear my son.”

Petra blinked, but he held her gaze unflinchingly. “And this happens to you
Pyr
all the time?”

“It happens only once for each
Pyr
, so is an opportunity not to be missed.” He caught her hand in his, seeming bemused by the array of sparks that lit at the point of contact. Their golden light made him look vital and powerful, a man who might be more than he seemed to be. “I couldn’t have asked for a more alluring lady to light the flame.” He bent over her hand and kissed her fingertips gently, sweetly. “But I won’t lie to you about what it means.”

Petra’s mouth went dry as she watched his firm lips touch her skin, that dizzying glow burning so bright that it seemed he’d mark her forever with his kiss.

“And afterward?”

“We are warriors. We fight.”

“You’ll leave,” she whispered and he nodded once. He might return, though, and this sensation was one Petra wanted to explore.

Damien glanced up, his gaze knowing. “What other expectations do you have of the
Pyr
?” he murmured, his breath fanning her skin.

“So you can fulfill them?”

“Of course!”

“Loyalty.” Petra bit her lip when he nodded. “Power. Protection.” He nodded after each and she studied him, wondering. “Immortality?”

“Longevity,” he corrected, which was a relief to her. “We’re said to age more quickly once the firestorm is satisfied.”

“The ability to solve riddles,” Petra added.

He grinned. “I hope to solve yours.”

“It’ll take more than one night.”

He chuckled at that, not so worried about his independence as she’d expected.

“A passionate nature,” Petra whispered.

Damien traced one finger down her cheek, leaving a sizzling path in its wake. “You can verify that yourself.” He cupped her chin in his hand, then bent to kiss her. It was a sweet seductive kiss, one that heated with every passing moment. Petra found herself opening her mouth to him, her need growing in the golden heat of this firestorm. When Damien’s strong fingers slid into her hair, drawing her closer, she caught her breath and stepped back, not quite ready to surrender to him.

“Keen senses?” she asked, her voice husky. She liked that he let her go, but then he had that confidence. He knew she’d surrender to him, and the patience of a dragon meant he’d wait.

A little while. Petra had a hard time catching her breath as he studied her. Could he read her thoughts? Had he already guessed her truth?

“Keener than those of men.” he admitted.

“Prove it.”

He straightened, listening and looking. “The men in the tavern are talking about your beauty and your songs.”

“Of course they are!” Petra scoffed, showing some confidence of her own. “They all talk about me, all the time.”

“Someone named Dmitri is insisting that you’ll be his wife, but another man, one with a deeper voice, is laughing at him, saying you’ve declined him three times.” He arched a brow and Petra couldn’t argue with what he’d heard.

“How long have you been here?”

“We just arrived moments ago.” Damien smiled at her. “Do you think you really could have overlooked me, and this?” He touched her mouth with one fingertip, making the light flare brilliantly between them.

It was a point she couldn’t argue. She turned and kissed his fingertip, then grazed his skin with her teeth. His gaze brightened. “I can’t be persuaded to have a child as easily as that, whether you’re
Pyr
or not,” she said, folding her arms across her chest to face him down. “You’ll have to seduce me.”

He laughed. “But that’s exactly what I intend to do.”

Petra could believe it. This was a man who had seduced a hundred women, even without those disorienting sparks on his side, and left not a one of them with regrets. “First, show me what you are,” she challenged.

Damien didn’t try to deny her request or pretend he didn’t understand. He smiled and stepped away from her, casting one glance toward the noisy tavern before he looked back at her. “You shouldn’t watch,” he cautioned. “There are stories of people losing their sanity.”

“I have a good hold on mine,” Petra replied, and arched a brow. “I think you’re stalling.” She didn’t think that, not at all, but she really liked how he grinned when she challenged him, as if he wasn’t used to anyone provoking him.

“Protect yourself,” he said, suddenly serious. “I need to know that you will.”

Petra nodded, chastened by his concern.

As she watched, a pale blue glow appeared around Damien’s body, its radiance increasing with every passing moment. She saw Damien throw out his arms, then she felt a surge of power that was achingly familiar to her. She closed her eyes, following his advice, and she felt the force of a transformation wash over her.

When she looked again, Damien had become a dark green dragon with gleaming scales. Each scale looked to be dipped in gold and his dark wings stretched high overhead. His talons shone gold and his teeth were numerous and sharp. He was both beautiful and terrifying, but there was something in his golden eyes that reminded her of the confident warrior. He breathed a plume of fire toward the stars, as if overjoyed at his own abilities, then turned a glittering look upon her.

He was so beautiful that he should be overjoyed.

And she was just as thrilled to be in his company. Damien didn’t know it yet, but they were two of a kind.

When he offered one claw to her, Petra saw the firestorm’s spark leap from the end of his talon, arc through the air toward her. She closed her eyes as it struck her right in the heart, as burning a wound as one from Cupid’s own arrow. She took the step between them and put her hand in his claw before she dared him again.

“Take me for a ride,” she urged, then turned and pointed. “I want to be seduced on the top of that peak.”

She wanted to be surrounded by earth and stone when this union was made.

Damien smiled, showing all his sharp dragon teeth. He inclined his head slightly even as his wings rose higher behind him. “Your wish is my command,” he said in that same wondrously low voice. Then he caught her close, holding her with all the care due to a precious gem, beat his wings and carried her into the night.

It was perfect, every dream come true. As the wind rippled her hair and the distant peak drew nearer, Petra knew she’d finally met her match. This was the man who could win her heart forever. This was the man who would remain by her side for all time. This was the man who would be unafraid of all she was.

He believed their union would be fleeting but Petra knew better. The child would forge a bond between them, one that would encourage his return.

She would be his, for all time.

Starting on this night.

* * *

Damien opened his eyes to find Petra in his arms, and the darkfire fading around them. She tasted like wine and sunlight again, a combination so seductive that he remembered every spark of their firestorm. He didn’t want to stop what they’d started, but wanted to explore the passion between them once again.

He was startled to realize that they stood in the shadows of the underworld, not in the on the peak of a mountain with the stars shining above. He was re-living the satisfaction of the firestorm and wanted to do it all again. The ripe curve of her belly was between them, a telling reminder that the firestorm had been consummated. Damien wondered whether she’d experienced the same vivid recollection that he had, but then noticed an amazing thing.

Petra was changing color. She’d been pale when he’d seen her at the gates, as pale and ethereal as a ghost. But now, he watched a flush of color suffuse her cheeks, spreading from her reddened lips to make her look as rosy as she had when she was alive. Her eyes became the rich dark brown he remembered, her hair looked thick and dark and lustrous. Her lips were red and her skin was warm. She caught her breath in obvious surprise, shook off his embrace, then backed away.

“What have you done?” she demanded, her fingertips rising to her lips.

“Proved you wrong, I think. You look alive again.”

Petra’s hands touched her cheeks, then ran over her body. It was clear she didn’t believe what she saw or felt. “You can’t do this. It’s not possible.”

“I have done it.” Damien winked at her. “Maybe you’ll have to write a new song about it.” He reached for her hand. “Let’s go.”

“It’s a trick,” Petra said, snatching her hand away from him. “Terrible things happen to the dead who try to leave the underworld. You’re trying to convince me to make a mistake.”

“I’m trying to save you.”

“It’s too late for that!”

“Then let me save my son!”

“You can’t,” Petra began and then she suddenly fell silent. Her face paled as if she’d had a shock. She turned away from him so abruptly that Damien knew she was trying to hide something.

“What’s going on? What happened?”

“Nothing.”

She was lying and he knew it. “Something happened,” Damien began to argue, and Petra suddenly spun to confront him.

“Why did you leave me?”

“You know why.”

“I can guess why.” She folded her arms across her chest and challenge lit her eyes. “I want you to tell me.”

“Because of what you are, what you can do.”

“You’re afraid of me,” Petra asserted.

Damien took a deep breath, knowing that he had to be completely honest with her to win her agreement. Petra had always been perceptive. “Yes. But I think it’s smart to be afraid of someone who can kill you.”

“I’m not afraid of you and you can kill me,” she countered immediately. “Does that make me stupid?”

“It’s not the same thing...”

“It’s exactly the same thing,” Petra corrected. She leaned closer, tapping her finger on his chest. The darkfire sparked at the point of contact, sending a burst of heat through his veins that made him want to silence her with a kiss. “The difference is that I trust you and you don’t trust me.”

Damien didn’t know what to say to that, because it was true.

“Wait a minute,” he said, snapping his fingers. “You saved me from Cerberus. You didn’t have to do that.”

Petra arched a brow. “No, but I’ve just wanted to tell you what I think of you for a long, long time.”

“I’m thinking it won’t be complimentary.”

“Are other women complimentary when you abandon them, pregnant with your child?”

“You’re the only one. There’s only one firestorm. And it wasn’t like that.”

Petra’s lips tightened. “I beg your pardon, but it was exactly like that. I was there. You left too quickly for me to explain exactly how I felt about your choice.”

“What about your choice?” he demanded in exasperation.

“I did what I had to do.”

“So did I!”

Petra snorted her skepticism.

Damien swore under his breath, then pointed back toward the world they’d left behind. “You turned everyone in that village to stone while I was gone!”

Petra was unrepentant. “And you never asked me why.”

“Could there possibly be a reason to justify that?”

“Obviously, I thought there was.” Her eyes were shining in brilliant and alluring challenge. If anything, her reaction told Damien that he’d been right to leave her.

Even if she was right that he’d never asked why. The darkfire skipped between them, almost daring him to ask a question.

To take a chance.

He heard his voice rise in his own defense. “Well, you’re wrong.” He jabbed his thumb into his chest. “My kind are charged with defending humans, as one of the treasures of the earth. Turning people to pillars of stone is a violation of that sacred duty.”

“Even if it’s only for a day?”

Damien blinked. “One day?”

Petra nodded, obviously enjoying his discomfiture.

Only one day. That meant it was temporary, not permanent. Damien surveyed her, wondering what else he didn’t know. “You never told me that.”

“You never asked,” she replied archly.

“I was surprised. Who wouldn’t be?” he demanded. “You never told me what you were!”

“I thought you knew. I thought you’d guessed.” She leaned closer, challenging him again. “Aren’t dragons supposed to see more clearly than normal men?”

“But I’d never heard of an Earthdaughter.”

“So, your lack of education was my fault?”

“You don’t understand...”

“I do understand, and that’s the problem. I could have imagined you might be surprised.” She scoffed at him. “But I never expected you to be afraid. You’re a
dragon
, for the love of Zeus!”