Page 44 of Curse of the Midnight Dragon (The Moonlight Dragon #2)

Amaya

I walked as closely to Celestina as safely possible without touching her while strolling along the edge of the plateau. The cold spring breeze teased her considerably shorter hair. It’d been three weeks since our return to the village. Celestina moved silently. Occasionally, she’d pick up a sparkly stone and slip it into a pouch hanging from a loop on her leggings. She rarely talked, but she didn’t appear unhappy. But she seemed to be listening for something, waiting.

She liked to cook. She’d make huge batches of delicious stew to deliver to families in the village, especially providing to families with young hatchlings. She’d even occasionally watch the youngsters to give the parents a break.

“She wants a family of her own,” my mother had said more than once. I think she may have been right. But when it came to accepting the attention of any of the males in the village, she always politely declined. She wouldn’t even speak with them.

Having her cut loose from Trace had nearly started a civil war in the village as the unattached males fought to win her favor. I stepped in and busted a few heads. Anther helped. So did Trace, even though he’d never let Celestina see it.

I still hadn’t handed Cullen’s book over to Gregory. I’d read it from the first page to the last several times. I didn’t need it anymore. But Cullen’s scent still clung to it. And keeping it close to me brought me nearly the same sense of calm that his voice had.

After connecting with him that one time, I’d continued to keep that pathway locked down. Sure, there were times I was tempted to reach out to him just so I could—

That kind of thinking would lead me to danger. I didn’t want to end up like Celestina—in love with someone I couldn’t have.

You already love your stupidly handsome prince, a voice ( my voice) whispered. And dammit, my inner voice wasn’t wrong.

“Why are you growling?” Celestina asked, startling me out of my tumbling thoughts.

“No good reason,” I said. I never talked with her about Cullen or vampires or about anything that might remind her of the life she was clearly missing. “Ask my family. I growl all the time. Usually at them. But only because they deserve it.”

“I hope you’re not growling at something I did.” She was so delicate in how she spoke. Her voice was like a soft, cozy blanket. It made me want to lean in closer to her. To rub the side of my face against hers. It’s a dragon thing .

“Just growling at my own mind,” I admitted, while not rubbing my body parts against hers. “It’s a terror inside here, you know.” I tapped my temple.

“You’re too hard on yourself.” She pressed her cheek against mine.

I froze. This was the first time she’d done anything that would suggest she was one of us.

I knew she wasn’t totally averse to touch. I’d watched her with her vampires and had seen how she’d lean into them, how she’d accept comfort from them.

The clan could provide that for her if she could learn to trust us.

But her touching me could be disastrous. I pulled away before our magics exploded.

“We’d better not tempt fate,” I said with a smile. “I haven’t made anything explode in three weeks. I think that must be a record.”

“We should figure out how to control it.”

“We should,” I agreed. “But not today. The weather’s too nice. And I’m feeling too happy. Look at those fluffy white clouds. That one over there looks like a decapitated head.”

“Have you heard news about the conflict between Earst and the Fein?” she asked without looking at me a little while later. The sun had reached its zenith in the time that we’d walked. Its rays felt warm on my face despite the cold wind whipping across the plateau.

“We’re an insular society here. The affairs of the continent don’t concern us.” Even as I said it, I knew my words would wound her. She ached for news of her beloved.

She bit her lip and looked at me. “Should it be that way?”

“With your return to us, there are many who say we can now retake our position of power on the continent. It’s what had been promised to us through the ages. The moonlight dragon would lead us to a future of prosperity and safety. And if that is the case, I suppose it would be wise to start keeping an eye on the other kingdoms.”

“I don’t feel qualified to lead anyone.”

“Not yet, perhaps.” I picked up our pace. “That’s why we’re going to see Gregory.”

Every time I went to visit Gregory, I had the book tucked into my waistband with the intention of handing it over to him. And every time we left, it would still be tucked into my waistband.

I’d been teaching the other dragons how to do things that I’d learned in the book, like how to pull clothes and other items—such as weapons—to themselves when they shifted from dragon to human. Many of the dragons, mostly the males, scoffed.

“Why should I cover up all this handsomeness?” one of Anther’s friends had demanded, waggling his cock at me like a dog would wag its tail.

Anther had punched him before I could do it.

The book held other important pieces of lost knowledge, like the names of past dragon leaders and recipes for healing serums that sped the restoration of our spent magic. When the council demanded to know where I was learning about these things, I’d lied and told them that it must be my ancient memories waking up, an explanation that seemed to satisfy almost everyone except for my mother.

Juniper watched me with an expression that made me wonder if she had somehow guessed the truth. That she knew how, like Celestina, I’d fallen for the enemy, and I’d let a vampire feed from me. Hell, I’d let him do much more than simply feed. Maybe my healer mother could smell that on my skin. Despite how vigorously I scrubbed every time I bathed, I could still smell his spicy musk, could still feel the imprint of his hands on my thighs.

“You’re growling again.” Celestina gently nudged me with her elbow. “You need to tell your mind to give yourself a break.”

What I really needed was to open my connection with Cullen and let him use his wicked powers of seduction to relieve this tension that kept building within me. My longing for him had become a constant ache between my legs ever since I’d started denying myself his company — even when I was sleeping. Stupid, sexy prince . I should have stabbed him in the nuts the first time we’d met.

“Such a vicious dragon, you are, my beautiful menace.” The familiar voice slipped into my mind like someone falling on to a comfortable sofa. “ I’ve sorely missed your threats, although I must admit picturing you stabbing me down there does have me wanting to lock myself in my library and hide.”

I hadn’t meant to share that thought with Cullen. But broadcasting my vicious thoughts into his mind seemed to come as naturally as breathing. And hearing his voice made my shoulders relax. A smile crept its way to my lips. I should have slammed the barrier back down, but honestly, I didn’t want to.

“Have you beaten back Queen Beatrice from your border?” I asked as a way of justifying why I kept the pathway with Cullen open. I was doing this for Celestina’s sake, not my own.

His frustration pulsed through me like a molten wave of lava. “ Don’t worry about us .”

“I’m not worried. Celestina is.”

“How is my brother’s princess faring?” He seemed a little too eager to know. And while he didn’t deserve my answer, I gave him the truth—for Celestina’s sake.

“She isn’t trying to run back to Soren, if that’s what you’re asking. And she’s protected and well cared for.”

“But is she happy?”

“Of course she isn’t!” Whoops. I guess I should have lied . Another blast of unhappy emotion hit me almost like a punch. “ Would you rather I told you that her feelings for your brother were so shallow that she could walk away from him and not suffer for it?”

“I’d rather know that you were suffering for leaving me.”

“What’s going on?” Celestina demanded when I jerked for a second time after being hit by another wave of strong emotions. “Are you ill?”

“I accidentally opened my connection with that stupid Prince Cullen. And he’s being overly dramatic like always.”

“You have a connection with—? You can talk to him? You’re talking to him now ?” She grabbed my arm and squeezed it so tightly that I worried some of my bones might be cracked. “How are they? How is Soren?”

“Goodie. Now I have an overly dramatic vampire and an overly dramatic dragon asking endless questions. No, I’m not pining for you.” I lied as I removed Celestina’s hand from my arm before she accidentally blasted a hole in our universe. “ I hope I don’t damage your ego too much by telling you that.”

“I’ll take to my bed and stare at the ceiling for months.”

I laughed aloud.

“What?” Celestina demanded.

“Prince Cullen is a—” I shook my head. “ Is Soren safe?”

“He’s throwing himself into harm’s way, leading the fight at the front lines against Queen Beatrice’s undead army. It’ll be a miracle if he survives. I fear he doesn’t wish to survive it.”

“Soren is too busy handling Queen Beatrice’s attacks to be missing you or anyone. Cullen says he’s bravely leading his warriors,” I told Celestina.

“That’s not what I said,” Cullen corrected.

We arrived at Ivy and Gregory’s cottage. It was time to push Cullen out of my mind and out of my life. For. Good. I would hand Cullen’s book to Gregory like I should have done weeks ago. And forget the prince existed.

“Is there anything else you’d like to know before I close the connection?” I asked Celestina.

Tears floated in her eyes. She opened and closed her mouth several times. “Can you have Cullen tell Soren that I love him? That I miss him so badly that I ache…here?” She touched her hand to the center of her chest. “My heart has been ripped apart. I-I don’t know how I’m going to live without him, but I cannot lay down and die, because my life and Soren’s are linked. I live for him. Can Cullen tell Soren that?”

Eww, no.

“I’m wounded that you’re not wanting to lay down and die for missing me, Darkness,” Cullen complained. I felt a bubble of laughter in my belly that I knew wasn’t mine.

“That’s enough.” I slammed the connection closed.

“He’ll tell Soren that you miss him.” I rubbed at my aching arm from where Celestina had squeezed it. I’d need to shift to my dragon form to get rid of the bruise that had already bloomed into a pinkish-purple color. “And Soren misses you just as keenly. Now, a piece of advice. It’ll be easier for both of you if you just stop it. Stop thinking about him. Stop missing him. Move on.”

Before she could respond, I raised my hand and knocked on Gregory’s door.

Celestina

If only I could stop loving…

The door in front of us swung open. Gregory greeted us with a smile that was nearly as large as he was. He gathered Amaya and me into his wide chest at the same time.

“My two favorite dragonlings,” he boomed. “Ivy! Put the tea on. Amaya has brought Celestina around for a visit.”

He pulled us inside, not letting go until he had the door shut behind us. Did he think I would run away if he let go of me before closing the door? Probably. My cheeks tinged red as I realized that I never made the effort to visit anyone in the village without Amaya or Gwen at my side. No matter how welcoming many in the clan acted, I felt like an outsider who would never know how to fit in with the village’s various groups of tightly knit friends.

And none of them seemed to truly understand why I hadn’t forgiven Trace and accepted him as my mate. In the eyes of the elder members of the village, our joining was inevitable. He’d dedicated his life to watching out for me, so I’d become his by default. I was thankful that neither Amaya nor Gwen felt like they needed to pressure me to accept him.

Gwen, in fact, seemed determined to keep Trace as far away from me as possible. After hearing how he’d threatened to cut out my tongue, she’d had a long talk with him. Afterwards, she’d told me that I wouldn’t have to worry about him bothering me ever again. And he hadn’t.

Gregory clapped his meaty hands together. “What part of dragon lore should I teach the two of you this lovely afternoon?” His eyes, the shade of wild violet flowers, glittered with pleasure.

Amaya cleared her throat nervously. I snapped my head in her direction. She lifted her sweater and withdrew a small, leatherbound book tucked in the waistband of her leggings. The scent of it immediately caught my attention.

I snatched the book from her and pressed the book to my nose, inhaling deeply.

It smelled spicy and smoky and exactly like Reinheart Palace.

Soren .

I rubbed the leather cover against my cheek when what I really wanted to do was strip down and rub it against my entire body. I wanted that scent all over me. I wanted to bathe in it, drown in it.

Gregory laughed. “I see you’re a book lover, Celestina.”

“I should have given you this book sooner, but…”

I could barely pay attention to whatever Amay was saying as I grew drunk on the scent that reminded me of the one place where I belonged. Where I felt loved.

Soren . He was my home.

Amaya twisted the book from my hands. “As I was saying, I retrieved this book from the Fein capital.”

I cried out and tried to take it back from her. The dragon in me rose up in a way that I’d never experienced before and growled at Amaya. The teeth that snapped at her hand were as sharp as knives. I bit her hard enough that I broke the skin, and she started to bleed.

Gregory’s eyebrows shot into his hairline. “Interesting.”

Amaya shook her hand. It changed from human skin to dragon skin, her fingers to talons, then back to fingers with her human skin now completely unmarred. “Keeping this book will only hurt, Moonglow,” she said as she slammed the book into Gregory’s hands. After a stunned silence, she softly added, “I know.”

No. No. No . I needed to get my hands on that book. It was a connection to Soren that I could hold. I couldn’t let that go. I wrestled with Amaya. Her teeth grew to deadly points as she snapped at me. “We. Need. To. Let. It. Go. Moonglow.”

Gregory whistled as he read the title.

“Is this real?” he asked.

“It is.” Amaya bit me as I continued to fight her. I needed to smell that book again. “Dammit, we’re going to have to get my mother to bandage you up. And she’s going to tattle on me for harming you. My father won’t be pleased.”

Her words drained the fight out of me. I didn’t want her family to lock her in her room for weeks to punish her for something that had been my fault. Not again.

I’d lived with the clan long enough to realize that they all lived in fear of Amaya and the powers her midnight dragon possessed. That she possessed. She was her dragon, and her dragon was her. Just two forms of the same soul. I still had trouble wrapping my mind around that concept since I still didn’t feel like I could possibly be a dragon.

I hugged my arm, squeezing my hand over the torn skin. “I’m fine.”

Ivy emerged from the kitchen with a tea tray that she hastily set down. “Amaya,” she sighed. “Go fetch your mother.”

“It’s just a scratch,” I said, even though the bites did look deep. I squeezed my arm harder, willing the bleeding to stop on its own. “I’d rather not bother Juniper about this.” I didn’t want Amaya to be punished. I’d bitten her first. And I’d fought her for the book.

Ivy peered at my bloody arm for a long moment before saying, “Let me get some rags. I suppose we can bind it up ourselves. But if it starts to look red and puffy, you’ll have to promise me to go to Juniper for her salve.”

“I’ll bring some of that stinky stuff over to you in the morning,” Amaya promised. She was standing so her back was to both Gregory and Ivy as she mouthed “thank you” to me.

Once my arm had been taken care of, and we were all seated in the comfortable chairs around the fire and sipping tea, Amaya explained how she’d found the book in Prince Cullen’s private library and had stolen it.

Gregory hadn’t touched his tea, or the large piece of cheese-berry cake Ivy had placed in front of him. He kept turning the pages of the book while shaking his head as he skimmed the passages. “This changes…” he kept muttering and “Do you know what this means…?” and “Ground shattering…”

“I’m sorry I kept the book for so long. I wanted—” Amaya glanced at me and blushed, which I found interesting. Almost as interesting as the wound Cullen had had on his neck the night of the ball that had made him blush when Gray had asked him about it. “I wanted time to absorb…well, everything.”

“Of course. Of course,” Gregory said, still immersed in what he was finding on the pages. “This was written by a midnight dragon. Of course you would want to learn all you could from it.”

“Is this book where you learned how to pull clothes into your shift?” Ivy asked as she refilled my teacup. Today’s blend was a mix of mint and dried cherries and exactly the calming flavor I needed.

“Page 102,” Amaya answered. “And you’ll see on page 108, Draco Falco talks about how midnight dragons can hold on to the dragon’s third shape—air.”

“The dragon history described in the beginning of this book seems to be radically different from the stories we’d been taught.” Gregory sat back and shook his head again. “If this is true—”

“It must be,” Amaya said. “That was why the vampires wanted to keep it from us. They didn’t want us to know that the dragons once ruled the entire continent.”

Ivy gasped.

I had to bite my tongue to keep myself from explaining that the vampires had stolen the histories of all the kingdoms because they wanted to guard their own secret—that they’d once been hunted and enslaved so their blood could be harvested. But that wasn’t my secret to share.

“This.” Gregory’s voice trembled as he held the book. “I know the clan often discounts your worth and often complains how you’re too impulsive. But this. This is the find of a lifetime. Thank you, Amaya. This book has the potential to change everything for us.”

“I’m glad I snatched it then,” she said as if his praise meant nothing. But tears glittered in her eyes as she said it.

“And you, Celestina.” Gregory finally set the book aside and picked up his teacup. “You shifted forms today.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“You did. In that fit of anger, you called up your dragon’s teeth when you bit Amaya.”

I blushed at the reminder.

“She also breathed fire in the Fein court when her prince angered her,” Amaya added. “The binding spell had one hell of a kickback when it snapped back into place, though.”

“Even more interesting.” Gregory sat forward. “Maybe if we evoke enough strong emotions from you, we will completely break Queen Frieda’s bonds.”

“It’s worth a try,” Ivy said.

I cringed at the thought. Strong angry emotions made my stomach hurt. I’d been raised to remain level-headed, calm. As I’d gotten older, those lessons had served me well considering how my life had depended on never upsetting Queen Beatrice.

“Just be sure you’re somewhere fireproof when you do it,” Amaya said. “She destroyed a royal throne room when she lost her temper at the Fein palace.”

“If we push, push, push, I bet the binding will eventually break,” Ivy said. “Don’t look so worried dear. This is wonderful news that we should immediately bring to the council.”

Is it? To me, it sounded like torture.

“The binding spell didn’t break when Trace was attacking me,” I pointed out.

“That was Trace, dear,” Ivy said gently. “Anyone would understand why you couldn’t bring yourself to harm him.”

Because we are fated for each other . Those are the words she’d left unsaid.

Gregory rubbed his bearded chin. “It’s worth trying to see how far we can push it.”

Maybe…maybe I didn’t want to lose control like I had in the throne room again. Maybe I was fine with who I was. A powerless human.

Amaya tapped the arm of the chair next to my hand. “I won’t let anyone harm you.”

“No one knows more about managing anger issues than our Amaya,” Ivy said with a laugh.

And that was how it had started. The council loved the idea. They hoped to use my anger to break the binding spell. A few days after we’d talked about it with Gregory and Ivy, the Council had me meet with them in a lovely parlor in Amaya’s family’s manor house to discuss the matter.

I tried to tell them that this wasn’t a good idea. My magic rarely came to me when I needed it. And the kickback from the one time I’d conjured fire had harmed me. But none of the councilors listened. I was their moonlight dragon (a gift from the ancients), which meant they felt empowered to make decisions on my behalf without bothering to care about what I wanted.

Trace stood at the center of the room with his arms crossed, watching me in a way that made a shiver of fear work its way down my back.

“When she embraces her dragon, things will be different,” I overheard Amaya’s father say to Trace as he slapped his hand on Trace’s shoulder after they’d decided to start my “anger sessions” first thing the next morning.

Saying things like that in front of me was enough to make me want to breathe fire. But I didn’t feel the fire erupting from my throat like it had when I confronted Soren. And even then, I hadn’t been close to transforming into this moonlight dragon that was supposedly hidden beneath my human skin.

The next morning Amaya stayed by my side as the Council led me out to the field that the dragons used as a landing pad.

“I don’t want to do this,” I told them.

“Gregory thinks this will cure you,” Drix said.

“It’ll hurt only for a short while,” Anther said.

“If it works,” I grumbled.

I had flashbacks of Trace dragging me up to that bedroom and tying me to the bed while threatening to cut out my tongue. My magic hadn’t come to rescue me then. And the terror that came with that memory was enough to cause me to tremble all over again. These dragons were brutal. I didn’t dare try to imagine what they had planned to do with me in the name of breaking my binding spell.

Nearly the entire clan had gathered on the field. Gregory stood at the front of the crowd with his arms crossed over his broad chest. Ivy matched his stance. Both looked worried.

Amaya hugged herself. “I don’t think this is going to work.”

“I don’t think it will, either.”

Drix spun me around to face him. He tied my hands together with a rough rope and then hammered the long end of the rope into the ground with a wooden stake. A lizard ran up and blinked at me several times before scurrying away.

“I never thought we’d see those lizards again,” Ivy said. “They vanished nearly the same time you did, Celestina.”

“Your Gregory ate them to extinction,” Anther teased.

Gregory rubbed his belly. “Maybe I’ll do it again.”

Everyone laughed.

Except for me.

And Amaya.

“Pain isn’t what triggered me in the past. It’s anger,” I reminded them.

“Oh, you’ll be angry about this,” Drix said as he pulled a long, curved dagger from a leather sheath. I hoped he realized that whatever horror he planned to inflict on me with that knife, I wouldn’t be able to heal myself unless I managed to transform into a dragon. Which seemed like a long shot at this point.

“Make sure she’s secure,” Drix said to his son.

Anther tugged at the rope. It didn’t budge.

If he couldn’t move it with his dragon-enhanced strength, I certainly wouldn’t be able to.

Drix showed me the knife. I wanted to be brave in front of Amaya. She was always so fierce and tough. But I wasn’t. I’d never been like her.

“Amaya, dear, come closer.” Drix waved to his daughter. “I need your assistance.”

Amaya frowned as she closed the distance between us.

“Good,” her father said. “Stand right there.” He moved Amaya so she was standing directly in front of me. He stood off to the side with that huge dagger. “Perfect. Now we’re ready to start.”

He lifted the dagger. With a movement that was faster than my human eyesight could track, he sliced open Amaya’s throat. Hot blood splattered my face and sweater.

“No!” I screamed! How could he do that? He’d raised her as his own blood. She was just as important to the future of the clan as I was. She was half of the gift from the ancients. And he’d tossed her life away? Because they thought my bound magic was somehow better, purer than Amaya’s? “No! You’re all monsters!” I growled as Amaya’s body crumpled. “I’ll never help you! You can all rot in this place for all I care!”

I thrashed, trying to free myself. I needed to get my hands on Amaya. I needed to use what magic I had available to force her to turn. If I could get her to change to air or to her midnight dragon, she could heal herself before drawing her last breath. I had to save her. I had to get her away from these horrid dragons. The rough rope dug into my wrists. But just as Anther had demonstrated, the rope held firm. And they’d positioned Amaya inches out of my reach.

I growled my frustration. Why wouldn’t my magic come now? Why couldn’t I slip out of these ropes like I had on the ship?

The ember of my flame stirred in my chest. If I could summon my fire, I could burn the ropes. There was no time to waste. Blood puddled around her head. A head that showed no life.

The clan stood in a circle around us, watching.

“Help her!” I screamed. “Let me touch her! Let me save her!”

Juniper moved toward me, but Anther grabbed his mother’s shoulders and held her back. Gwen also tried to rush to our aid. She nearly made it to me, but Trace wrapped his hands around her middle, lifting her off the ground and pulling her back to the edge of the circle.

“Celestina has to do it,” Drix spat . “She has to pull the dragon from inside herself if she’s to save her midnight dragon.”

Gregory pinched his lips together and hummed. Ivy shifted from foot to foot.

Despair flooded my chest, drowning the small flame that had tried to ignite there. Tears spilled on to my cheeks as I fell to my knees. “Amaya,” I rasped, while pulling on the impossible rope, unable to get to her. “Don’t die on me. Please. Don’t. Die.”

A spark stirred in my chest. It wasn’t dragon fire, but it was something. I reached out my hand. It was glowing.

My magic .

It had answered me. For Amaya’s sake, a spark of my magic had broken through the binding holding it back. I prayed it would be enough. I focused on my hand as I reached for Amaya. I knew the ropes wouldn’t let me touch her. But perhaps my power could reach her when my hands could not. My hand glowed brighter. And that spark in my chest burned.

I could do this.

I could save her.

Suddenly, it all stopped.

Pain lanced through my middle. I screamed. It felt like a sword had slashed me open, spilling my insides onto the ground. Was I destined to die with Amaya? Were our lives linked like Soren’s life had been linked to mine? Pain ripped through me.

Was this—?

Was this my dragon ?

It felt as if a horde of invisible creatures were biting me. And then, before I could even draw another breath, everything went black.