She lost her footing in the slipperiness of the wet pine needles and went tumbling, but it gave her hope. She was tumblingdownthe hill. That was a plus. At least she hoped it was a plus. She also hoped she’d find some sort of safe haven before that hungry-sounding animal found her. Pushing back onto her feet, she took off in that direction again. Yes. She was definitely runningdownan incline. But for the life of her, she hadn’t remembered Mairwen passing a forest of any kind on the way to her spa. The land around the roadway had beencompletely open and cleared of trees. Surely she hadn’t come out on the opposite side of the mountain. She hadn’t walked that far through the rooms of Mairwen’s place.
Then another sound made its way to her over the increased howling of the wind. Well, it was more of afeelingthan a sound. A rhythmic thumping that grew steadily stronger, shaking the ground with a deep thudding. Galloping. Yes! That’s what it was. Galloping. She’d been to the races at Churchill Downs, and that thumping was definitely a gallop. “Please be tame enough so I can try to ride you,” she said as she risked halting and turned to face that direction, standing ready to jump in front of whatever was coming at her. It was the only chance she had to escape the owner of that roar.
As the source of the rhythmic pounding thundered into view, her jaw dropped. The largest man she had ever seen in her life, a muscular giant clad in the dark, leathery armor of a medieval warrior or some sort of Viking warlord was riding toward her on a monstrous horse so black that the sheen of its coat shimmered an inky blue. The man’s shoulder-length hair was an eerie silvery-white and pulled back from his forebodingly handsome face.
Her heart pounded so hard, she couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move a muscle. Was this duo a pair of demons or avenging angels that had traveled from another dimension?
She closed her eyes tightly, smacked her cheeks with her open hands, then opened her eyes to see if she had rid herself of the illusion. She hadn’t. She must’ve hit her head and not realized it. He was still there, getting closer by the minute, and for some strange reason, deep in her soul, more instinctively than anything she’d ever felt before, shewantedhim to reach her. “I have lost my mind,” she whispered.
Before his beast fully halted, he leapt from the saddle and went down on one knee in front of her with his silvery headbowed. “Lady Lyla…Lyla,” he said, in the same voice she had heard in her mind and her dreams for the past few days—the voice no one else ever heard. He looked up at her, his eyes the unnerving color of liquid mercury aglow with an unearthly golden light. He held out his hand, reaching for her. “Allow me to carry ye to shelter, my lady.”
She still couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, and wasn’t even sure that her heart still pounded against her rib cage. Maybe she was dead. Maybe the ledge had squished her, and she just didn’t know it. Then everything went away, disappearing in blessed darkness and the safety of silence.
Chapter
Six
Magnus caught her up in his arms before she tumbled to the ground. Cradling her like the precious gift that she was, he turned to ensure that his brother hadn’t shapeshifted back into his natural state and frightened her. Talon hadn’t. The dragon remained in the form of a mighty stallion. The only hint of dragon traits was the tendrils of smoke curling up from the massive horse’s nostrils. “We must get her to the fortress. Immediately.”
“Passage through the portal can be a dangerous thing.” Talon stomped while uneasily shifting from side to side. “She dropped like a rock. The Veil must have drained her.”
“I fear there may be more to this than the portal weakening her.” Tipping his nose higher in the air and slowly turning, Magnus took in the scents of their surroundings. Even in the steady, bone-chilling drizzle, he detected them—the stench of Kcirred's underlings. Evil lurked nearby. “Smell them?”
“Aye,” Talon said with a low, rumbling growl. “I had hoped I was mistaken.” He shifted back to his dragon form. “Come. We shall make better time and be safer among the clouds.” He crouched as low as he could. “As long as she doesn’t awaken,she will remain unaware of dragonkind until ye are prepared to reveal all to her.”
A raging protectiveness burned through Magnus. He breathed in the enticing, floral scent that clung to the abundance of her tresses piled high upon her head and tightened his arms around her.Minepounded through his veins with every beat of his heart. “We must ease her into this world. Lest we lose her before we even have her.”
Talon snorted. “So far, our attempt ateasinghas been poor. Swooning is not a promising sign.” He stretched out his wing, creating a stepping path of sorts up to his back. “Once we get to the fortress, at least we will know her safe from Kcirred and his ilk.”
Not wishing to lose precious time debating tactics, Magnus climbed onto the dragon’s back with Lyla in his arms and settled in place, locking the heels of his boots into the thick scales on either side of his brother’s broad shoulders. “Make haste. Her pallor strikes fear deep within me.”
“Hold fast, brother. I’ve thought to my Talia and alerted her. She awaits us in yer chambers with a cup of tears for healing the lady.”
Magnus wasn’t certain how they would get this rare woman to drink the tears whilst in her current state, but he’d sort that problem when the time came. For the moment, he allowed himself to soak in the comfort of holding her close, wrapping her in his cloak to shield her as much as possible from the frigid air among the clouds.
Her skin gleamed with the milky whiteness of pearls freshly pulled from the sea. Drenched by the rains, vicious shuddering shook her against his chest. She needed a stoked fire and a hearty dram to bring the blood back to her cheeks. “Faster, Talon,”he thought to his brother. “Make haste, I beg ye.”
Talon shot across the skies, stretching out his great, broad wings to volley them through the clouds.
Kindred Fortress soon appeared in the distance, but the sight of it didn’t ease Magnus. Nothing would ease him until he saw this lady safe and well. Powerful emotions churned within him, creating an almost painful reaction to this wondrous being shivering in his embrace. She had to be the one. The other two possibilities the Weavers had ushered through the portal and introduced to him had not affected him this way. Not even close. The certainty hit him hard and fast that they must do whatever it took to convince Lyla Ibrams that the Thirteenth Realm was where she belonged. But surely if the mate bond made him burn to protect her and keep her at his side, it would make her feel the same about him. He prayed it would, since she held the power of choice. She had to choose him willingly and choose to leave her world behind.
Talon gracefully landed on the widest rooftop of the center tower and immediately growled in his native tongue, “Oothfos alwed marin.”
“Camerae meae,” Magnus echoed, willing his magic to combine with his brother’s, transporting them to his chambers. Within the blink of an eye, they found themselves in the center of his private solar. Throwing a leg over Talon’s great neck, he vaulted to the floor, landing solidly without jostling the lady in his arms. “Out of my way!” he bellowed, charging into the bedchamber. “Stoke the fires! Turn back the bed. Our lady is as cold as the ice mountains of the northernmost regions.”
“The tears, my chief.” Talia, Talon’s devoted mate for several Thirteenth Realm hectrooms held up the jeweled goblet as she hurried along beside him. “Albionna, my maid, a selkie loyal to yerself and dragonkind, has agreed to serve this fine lady since she can easily assume the human form that would make theprophesied healer most comfortable. I shall oversee everything whilst in the form of a small feline.”
While Magnus appreciated Talia’s sacrifice of her maid and also her offer to watch over Lyla as what he assumed was a wee moggy, he’d worry about those details later. What mattered now was getting this fragile twenty-first century woman warmed and well on her way to viewing the Thirteenth Realm in a way that wouldn’t make her swoon. Besides, she had accepted Talon easily enough as a lizard. He had no doubt she would accept Talia as a cat. The true chore would be introducing her to dragonkind without causing her to demand an immediate return to her original plane of existence.
“Thank ye,” he said offhandedly, wishing his brother’s mate would be on her way. He went down on one knee in front of the hearth and supported Lyla in the curve of his arm while peeling away her garment that had become stiff with icy shards as they flew through the clouds. “As always, Talia, yer generosity and thoughtfulness serve as an example to all, but I shall stay at my lady’s side as long as she allows it.”
A slightly smaller Scandinavian blue dragon than her mate, Talia bowed her mighty head. “Of course, my chief, but bear in mind that the lady will, at times, need assistance with tasks she might not wish ye to attend to. Tasks with which she will prefer another female’s help.”
Teeth clenched to keep from growling at his brother’s chosen one, Magnus thought to Talon, “It is time for yer Talia to leave, brother.”Nothing mattered but seeing to Lyla's comfort, and for now, that task belonged to Magnus alone.
“Talia.” From the doorway of the bedchamber, Talon cleared his throat and motioned for his mate to come away. “Note the color of the air around Magnus. Unrest and worry fill my brother. He will let us know what he needs for the lady once hesees to her himself. Set the tears aside and leave Albionna to help if needed, ye ken?”
Talia snorted, clearly displeased.
