Page 29 of Mikhail
“He said the jewels belonged to his family but that Elizabeth believed they were rightfully the Crown’s. He said his ancestor was robbed of them, and he showed me a letter between his family and yours stating that the jewels were part of a treaty betweenyou.”
Belishaw steepled his fingers. “Yes, that was all true. He and I were the two mediators between our families, and it was I who gave him the jewels. And they did indeed once belong to the royal family. You see, when Henry VIII was a young king, he came to my clan and offered many rare jewels to us in exchange for our aid. We agreed, happy to support him in exchange for such a hoard. But what you saw in the auction house was only a portion of what we were given. Some of the rarer pieces we gave to the Barinovs in our treaty. And some we regret having givenup.”
“Which ones?” she asked. She knew the entire Cheapside collection byheart.
“The most important one was a fist-sized ruby called the Dragon Heart. It’s a very rare and dangerousstone.”
“Dangerous? I examined it thoroughly. It’s only aruby.”
Belishaw smiled a little. “It is far more than that. The stone has been passed down in my family for generations.” He paused, staring into the fire again. “Sometimes, when I was in the presence of the stone, I could hear it whisper. Objects that house magic have a voice. It doesn’t speak in words but more in flashes of images. It’s hard to explain. Only those who can sense magic would feel it. Thankfully most humans have long since lost their sixth sense when it comes tomagic.”
Piper glanced at Mikhail, who still slept, and she couldn’t believe she was sitting in a Cornwall mansion, talking about dragons and magicalrubies.
“Why do you think it’s dangerous?” she asked. She hadn’t noticed anything other than the purity of the gemstone and its stunningsize.
“It’s just a hunch, more than anything. My family was happy to trade it to the Barinovs because we didn’t know the extent of its powers. England isn’t like Russia. When our dragon clans fight, it’s often deadly. You won’t see us burning down the city, but entire family lines can be wiped out in a matter of weeks when clans go to war. The Barinovs have only one family whom they see as a threat—the Drakors. We believed sending the Dragon Heart Stone with Mikhail back to the Fire Hills would be safer than keeping it here in England. But the treasure never arrived. That’s why I agreed to help Mikhail. He’s lived in exile for five hundred years. Far too long. Now that he has the Cheapside hoard, he can finally go home.” There was a hint of melancholy in Belishaw’s eyes as he said this. It was clear the bonds of friendship between dragons randeep.
She scowled. “His brothers wouldn’t let him come home?” If they were that level of cruel, she didn’t want them anywhere nearMikhail.
Belishaw shook his head. “It was their father’s order to exile Mikhail, and he died more than twenty years ago, but Mikhail felt honor bound to continue his search. His brothers are eager for him to come homeregardless.”
“Oh, that’s good. I didn’t want them to come here if they were the sort who would banish their own brother.” A wave of protectiveness for Mikhail had grown inside her the moment she’d found him unconscious on the beach. She knew her face was red enough that Belishaw could see because he laughed. He leaned back in his chair, seemingly morerelaxed.
“You’re protective of him. That’s a goodsign.”
“Why?” sheasked.
“Because he feels the same toward you. It’s good for two people to be protective of eachother.”
There was something in the way he said it that made her sense he wasn’t telling her everything, but she doubted he would admitit.
She focused back on Mikhail. The worried, restless look on his face seemed to have faded a bit. “When will his brothersarrive?”
“Rurik, Mikhail’s youngest brother, is in Russia. He is staying put to protect their landholdings there. The Drakors give them trouble from time to time, and he cannot leave their boundaries unguarded. The eldest, Grigori, and his mate are in America. They should arrive in a fewdays.”
“So dragons mate with other dragons?” She felt silly for asking, but now she couldn’t help but be curious. She had been kissing a dragon, after all. She wanted to know if humans and dragon shifters were…compatible. Belishaw had mentioned something about mating humans, but she’d been so worried about Mikhail that she hadn’t been focusing on much of what the other man hadsaid.
God, I’m an awful person. He almost died today, and I’m wondering whether we can have sex when he’sbetter.
Belishaw’s dark eyes sparkled like fractured topaz. “We do mate with dragonesses. But they do not like to mate with us. It is why we are slowly dying out as arace.”
“Why don’t dragonesses like to mate male dragons? That doesn’t exactly mesh with how evolutionworks.”
His lips twitched. “Because we are creatures of magic, not evolution. We are too dominant for the females of our kind. Our bed play is a little rough, and we like to…” He hesitated. “Be in control. Dragonesses do as well, and it makes sex less satisfying for the female dragons as well as themales.”
Wow. That put some serious mental images in Piper’s head. She couldn’t forget how Mikhail had so easily tied her wrists and held her against the bedpost. The memory made her thighs clench. She became even more aware of lying on her half-naked dragon shifter on thecouch.
“But you do…sleep withhumans?”
A slow smile spread on Belishaw’s lips. “We do indeed. And we quite enjoy it.” He rose from his chair by the fire and pulled out his cell phone. He started to walk toward the kitchen. “Which reminds me, I owe your friend Jodie Harkness acall.”
Piper cleared her throat. “Does she know about…what youare?”
Belishaw paused in the doorway, his face half in shadow. “No. If things become more serious, I will tell her. But it’s safer not to for now.” He disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Piper alone withMikhail.
Once more she focused on his face, on the beautiful shape of his lips and the marble-cut features that would make angels weep. A dragon. Who would have imagined? There was a part of her that still couldn’t believe it. Maybe her wild attraction to him came from the fact that he was a dragon? Maybe they were irresistible to humans? She wanted to think that his hold over her was something as simple as that, but deep down she knew it wasn’t a simple fascination or some magical sway he held. No, it was something deeper, something purer that she could not name but onlyfeel.
Tonight he’d gone over the cliffs, and the beast inside him had triedto—
