Page 1 of Taloned Heart

CHAPTER1

The salt air tangled in her hair as the clouds parted and a dragon soared overhead. Lore sucked in a deep lungful of salt, brine, and the scent of an open horizon before them. One last time.

Soon they would reach the ports of Umbra. Soon, they would face the reality of their decisions and that they were not yet finished with their quests.

But right now, she wanted to pretend that she stared out at the open ocean with nothing but her own adventurous nature to slake. Maybe they would sail until they hit a new land. They didn’t need to worry overly much about food, because Abraxas had proven to be very helpful on their journey. He’d dove into the oceans more times than she could count, only to return with a massive tuna in his mouth. He could feed the entire ship if he wanted to.

They had no fear of food or clean water. They could continue on until they all found a new source of discovery and excitement.

Except they couldn’t. If she’d been so capable of giving up their world, then she would have stayed on the dragon isle with her beloved and her children and never cast another thought toward Umbra.

“Are you ready?” The song-like voice interrupted her musing.

Allura stood behind her on the deck, her legs spread wide for balance as the ship moved with the waves. The siren never looked like a single hair was out of place or that the salt had abraded her skin. She was, as ever, beautiful.

Lore felt rather grubby in comparison. Her entire body was slick with salt, and no matter how hard she tried to keep her hair washed, it was always slightly stiff. She’d tried a hundred different ways to clean it, but the sea always won. Apparently, Allura knew something she did not.

“I’m ready for a bath,” she grumbled, refusing to turn and look at what was behind her. “I’m not ready to see my homeland again and the people within it. I fear what is waiting for us.”

Allura eyed the skyline behind her, and the siren nodded firmly. “As am I. I usually get some sort of reports from the sailors that stayed behind. They send me hawks to let me know what to expect when I get back. I am used to already having a list of other jobs waiting for us the moment we hit the shore.”

“And this time?”

The siren’s mouth twisted. “Nothing. Not a single hawk has found me. And they would send at least one out every day, no matter how long I’ve been gone. The hawks find the ship when we’re close enough to shore.”

That was troubling indeed. Lore’s brows furrowed and finally she turned. Her eyes found the skyline beyond and the shambles of the port that she could just barely see. Just a dark smudge where she knew people lived.

What waited for them there? Just how far had Margaret gone in all this madness?

Allura’s eyes narrowed upon her, and Lore could almost feel the other woman’s stare like a physical touch. “You’re afraid,” the siren whispered. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you afraid.”

It wasn’t that she feared Margaret, but Lore was desperately afraid of what she’d find waiting for her in Umbra. Her gut twisted at the thought, knowing without a doubt that some of it would horrify her.

Margaret had been left to her own devices for far too long. And that was Lore’s fault.

Opening her mouth, she turned toward Allura to explain herself. Thankfully, she was saved from having to voice her fears. A blast of wind struck both of them, sending them to their knees on the deck as they tried to stop themselves from being tossed overboard. More than one sailor had been thrust into the sea when Abraxas landed.

They’d had quite the argument convincing him that he wasn’t allowed to land on the deck any longer. He’d left a dent in Allura’s ship the first time and the siren had almost pulled his wings off in her anger.

Now, Abraxas had to land in the water beside the ship. He changed mid air. The blast of magic was the wind that they’d felt as he fell into the water nearby. The sailors all laughed, shoving at each other as they decided who would be the person to fish the dragon out of the sea.

She watched them with a small smile on her face. They were all so much more comfortable than they had been even a few weeks ago. Though they’d had to travel with each other for months, it had taken the mortals a very long time to be truly comfortable with her dragon.

Abraxas tried. Hard. He spent hours on end working beside them, each day making sure that he was pulling on ropes, forcing the boat to move as he wanted, sometimes even fully changing into his dragon form in the water and pushing the boat when the winds died down.

And finally, the others had cracked. They’d given up the fear of the dragon and saw him as a man.

Her heart thudded hard in her chest as a few sailors flung a ladder over the side of the ship. She knew what he’d look like long before his dark hair appeared over the side of the ship, but she never got tired of this part. He hauled himself up, water dripping down his sides and the white conjured shirt that he always wore. Hair slicked back, a knowing grin on his face, his eyes sought her out as his muscles flexed and he brought himself back onto the ship.

Abraxas shook out his hair, water spraying all over the sailors who surrounded him. They all groaned, shaking their heads at the “animal” in their midst. But he had eyes only for her. As always.

Allura let out a little tsking noise before shaking her head. “You two. You need to get yourselves together before you get to Umbra.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because you’re going to make people sick if they see you acting like this.”

Perhaps. And maybe their obsession with each other would wane as there were more things to do, people to fight, a kingdom to save. It had before. But she finally had him to herself, for the first time in what felt like ages. Lore intended to use that to her advantage for as long as possible.

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