Page 27 of Dragon Lord
“Gather the greenest branches.”He’d seen the humans crown the stones with green.“The gods might like that.”
She hurried to the edge of the clearing and brought Draknart an armload of branches from the evergreen bushes.While he twisted them into large wreaths that he laid atop the tall boulders, she went back for more.
The night wore on as they decorated the stone circle.From time to time, Draknart drew back to inspect their handiwork.Their offeringmightjust work.Of course, now they would have to wait another day.
“How will you convince Belinus to lift the curse?What will you give him in exchange?”Einin asked.
Draknart huffed.The plan he’d thought perfect just days before now seemed ill-conceived.Yet it was the only plan he had, his first real chance at restoration in a century.
“He is fond of beautiful maidens.”
“But—” Einin paled for a moment.Then all the blood rushed back into her face, and her cheeks turned an angry red.She flung her arms wide as she shouted, “You brought me for him!”
He ducked his head.“Aye.”
“You—” Her voice broke, not on fear, but on fury.
Draknart felt her disappointment as sharply as if he’d been stabbed in the snout.Was that a sheen of tears in her eyes?She was rapidly blinking.Then she squared her shoulders, and he knew she was about to shout at him again.
“You will live in a palace,” he headed her off, then fell silent at the strange tone of his voice that sounded very much like begging, which could not be as dragons never begged.He cleared his throat.“You will lack for nothing.You will know neither hunger nor disease.Death will not touch you in Fae Land.”
She swore like a goatherd, sparks flashing in her eyes.She backed away from him, gripping her sword.
By the gods, Draknart loved her.Her fire was the truest and most beautiful thing he’d seen in centuries.If she stabbed him in the heart right now, it’d be almost worth it just to have met her.
“Have you ever asked me if I want to live forever?”she shouted with rage.She threw her sword at him, missed, then picked up a stone from the ground and hurled it.
Draknart felt as heavy as if he’d eaten the faerie circle’s boulders for breakfast.He didn’t duck.He let the missile hit him.He deserved that for not being honest from the beginning.He did.
“Fine.”Einin spun on her heel and marched away from him.“I choose to go to Belinus.I will serve the god, and I will live in Fae Land forever.”
No!The fire inside Draknart roared.Her declaration was a broadsword slicing through his chest.
His muscles coiled.He raked the ground with his talons as he stalked after her.He hated the tone of disgust in her voice.He wanted to cradle her face in his human palms, just before his lips descended on hers.He wanted her lean, strong body.He wanted her fiery spirit and her sharp tongue.He wanted her courageous heart.He wanted Einin.All of her.Everything.
He would bring a different maiden for Belinus, come twilight.He could bring as many as a dozen, pick all the comeliest lasses from the village across the lake.
Aye.The god would have to settle for another virgin.Because the thought of Belinus touching Einin filled Draknart with a murderous rage.Belinus wouldnottake her soft lips.The god wouldnothear her sigh in passion.Einin wouldnotsquirm in pleasure under anyone but Draknart.She would not spar with anyone else.And if she traveled the world, she’d be flying withhim.
She stomped toward the deer path that led back to the lake.No doubt, she was thinking about living in Fae Land.She was probably planning how to best seduce Belinus.Not that it would take much.No more than a look.Her amber eyes…
Molten fury exploded through Draknart.
He surged forward.
“You will not give yourself to the god!”he roared.The birds in the trees took flight with a mad storm of flapping wings.“Einin of Downwood, I claim you by my dragon’s right.”
She whirled around, squared her shoulders, and roared back at him, “I am a woman free and wild.I’m not yours to claim!”
Chapter9
“IchooseFae Land!”Einin shouted at the beast who’d broken her heart into a hundred useless pieces.
She’d been so lonely for so long that she’d begun thinking that traveling the world with Draknart might not be so bad.They would fly in the clouds, hunt together and camp together, see wondrous sights like the faerie circle.
For the briefest time, she’d dared to hope that the life she’d always dreamed of but never thought she’d have was possible.Yet all along, he had different plans.To him, she was nothing but a pawn, a bargaining chip, a gift he had the right to give away—an object without a will of her own.
Shewould choose the path of her own life, she and no other.She was willing to fight to the death for that right.“You cannot take me one day, give me away the next, then take me back again.”She glared at him with all the fury and heartbreak she felt.“I will not be taken nor given!”
