“They are waiting for us outside our father’s lair,” Lucyan said. “Along with thetreasure.”
“The treasure?” Tariana sounded as stunned as Lucyan felt. “What were you doing at Father’slair?”
“And how were you able to get the treasure from him?” Drystan demanded. “I was there myself not that long ago, trying to reason with him. He did not recognize me at all, and nearly tore me topieces.”
Lucyan gave them a smug smile. “That’s because you don’t know how to let others do your dirty work foryou.”
Inside, over mugs of hot mead, Lucyan told Drystan, Tariana, Shadley, Catriona, and Taldren all about how they’d followed a group of warlocks to the Black Mountains, then watched as they incapacitated their father using the brass bracelets the oracle imposter had told them about. Lucyan had retrieved their father from the crevice he’d fallen in while Alistair and Dareena took care of the warlocks, and they had agreed to remain behind while Lucyan flew back to Dragon’s Keep forhelp.
“Is Father all right?” Tariana asked in a worried voice. Drystan felt a pang of sympathy for her—she knew better than anyone else how terrible their father was, and yet, as his eldest child, she shared a bond with him that none of their other siblingshad.
“His body will heal,” Lucyan said. “His mind is another matter entirely. Dareena is using the warlock bracelets to keep him subdued while they wait forus.”
“If the warlocks have truly been using mirrors to spy on us,” Shadley said, “then they will have learned of this development. We must retrieve the treasure, and our friends, before they send someone else out to take it again. They will know all three of you can shift now, and will adjust their plansaccordingly.”
“Agreed,” Drystan said, rising from his chair. “Enough sitting around. Let usgo.”
Since Drystanand Tariana had already been preparing to march on Elvenhame, it did not take long to gather a squadron of Dragon Force soldiers. Tariana ordered them to take some of the war wagons and head for the base of the mountain—Taldren, who had been briefed on the location, would leadthem.
In the meantime, Drystan took flight with Lucyan and Catriona, while Tariana flew in the opposite direction. She would stop by Solara’s encampment to brief the others on what was happening, then go to meet Ryolas and Basilla at the border. Lucyan had told them how the royal elven siblings had helped Dareena and Alistair escape, and Drystan was more than happy to offer them refuge, especially after everything Ryolas had done for them. He strongly suspected that if he had refused, Tariana would have ripped his balls off and fed them to the dogs—she’d been hardly able to contain herself when Lucyan had informed her that her beloved was on his wayhere.
Drystan understood how she felt. His entire body hummed with excitement as he approached the Black Mountains. Even the thrill of soaring through the air with his siblings was not as exhilarating as the thought of being reunited with Dareena. It had been less than two weeks since she’d been taken, and yet somehow it felt like months, perhaps even years, since he’d last seen her. Would she still taste and feel the same when he embraced her again? Or had being exposed to elven magic changedher?
Slow down,Lucyan warned as Dareena and Alistair came into view. They were sitting at the base of the mountains next to a prone form Drystan assumed was their father.If we get too close, the bracelets will force us to changeback.
Right. A chill went through Drystan at the thought of shifting back into human form while he was thousands of feet up in the sky. The three of them slowed, then gradually came in for a landing a good five hundred yards away. Dareena and Alistair jumped to their feet at the sight of them, and Drystan shifted back, eager to have his beloved in his armsagain.
“Drystan!” Dareena cried, running toward him. He met her halfway and caught her in his arms, swinging her around. “Oh, I’ve missed you soterribly!”
“Not as much as I’ve missed you,” Drystan said roughly as he pulled her against him. He kissed her hard, one hand in her hair while the other clung to her shapely waist. He was naked as the day he was born, his cock growing hard as her curves pressed against him, but he couldn’t bring himself to care that the others were watching. He was just thrilled to have his mateback.
“If we were alone,” he panted against her lips, “I would tear your clothes off and take you right here in thegrass.”
“Unfortunately, you arenotalone, and I would prefer if you refrained for now,” Catriona said in an acid voice. She threw a set of clothes at Drystan—they’d each packed a bag and carried it around their necks as they flew—and he caught them with one hand while he continued to kiss Dareena. “You might want to put those on before the others gethere.”
“That won’t be for a few hours,” Drystan pointed out, more to heckle Catriona than anything else. But he released Dareena and pulled on his clothes while his siblings dressed aswell.
“Thank you for the clothes, brother,” Alistair said, clapping Drystan on the back. “I was getting a bit itchy, sitting nude in thegrass.”
Drystan laughed as he embraced his youngest brother. “Itchiness is the least you’ve had to endure,” he said. “I nearly lost my mind when I received your arm in a boxtoday.”
Alistair looked horrified. “I’d forgotten all about Arolas’s promise to send it on. That must have been terrible foryou!”
Drystan snorted. “Typical of you to worry about howIwould feel,” he said, shaking his head. “You are the one who had a limb severed and was forced to live with that horrible spell for so long. I can’t imagine how traumatic the experiencewas.”
“It was awful,” Alistair admitted, “but having Dareena with me made it bearable.” He put an arm around their mate and kissed the top of her forehead. “Without her power as the Dragon’s Gift, I might not have survived. Did you know she’s learned to heal, and fight, with her elvenmagic?”
“I heard,” Drystan said, grinning down at Dareena. “You’ve become quite formidable, haven’tyou?”
“Not as formidable as my three dragons,” Dareena said,smiling.
Catriona glanced over Dareena’s shoulder, back to where their father was lying. “We should cover him up,” she said, pulling a cloak out of her bag. “It seems undignified to leave him there likethat.”
The mood of their party sobered instantly. The three of them approached their father’s prone form, and as they got closer, a tightness squeezed inside Drystan’s chest. Unpleasant tingles spread across his skin, and he could only imagine this was the influence of those horriblebracelets.
“It seems cruel to subject him to these,” Alistair said softly as Catriona draped the cloak across their father. “And yet, if we do not, he will simply shift back and try to kill usall.”
Drystan sighed. “Perhaps we should do some research and see if anything can be done about his mental state,” he said. “Has anyone ever heard of dragon sickness beingcured?”
