Page 17 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)
T he power of the area pulsed through Kai’s body, forcing him to focus on his breath. A group of women approached; the one in the lead carried a carved wooden box.
He had expected the wardens to come dressed in flowing robes and cloaks.
They weren’t. They were all dressed as though they’d just come straight from their day jobs—farmer, librarian, shopkeeper, banker, tattooist, teacher, homemaker carrying an infant, and one he guessed was… a socialite?
Back home, in the tiger domain, a temple enclosed a place such as this, and the keepers dressed in full regalia for a journey ceremony. Especially for one of royalty.
This group embraced the sacred in the mundane. A different way of protecting.
The shortest woman, with a cloud of graying auburn hair, who held the intricate box spoke to Astred. “Princess Astred Arakkil, heir of the Aeleftherian throne and Oracle of the Mother, do you consent to this journey into the Nexus?”
Astred’s wide-eyed gaze flicked to Kai, her lips parted, pulse ticking in her throat.
Her dragon glinted in her eye as she held his gaze, growling, “I consent.”
Kai’s own dragon rumbled in his chest, rising to her bait.
He closed his eyes, controlling the inner beast to settle.
He’d witnessed two other ceremonies such as this and Astred didn’t need his dragon interfering. Since their encounter outside the bathroom the previous night, his dragon had kept Kai awake, urging him to knock on Astred’s door during the wee hours.
“Who will act as her guardian?” The warden’s straightforward gaze slid from Astred to each witness in the clearing.
“I will.” Kai stepped forward without a second thought.
She’d need the patient protection of his tiger. Silent and watchful, guarding her back. Just in case.
The older woman nodded her head, accepting this, then strode toward the center of the clearing. She set the box on the ground between clumps of long, wild grass. From it, she withdrew two etched silver cups, handing one to Astred, the other to Kai, murmuring instructions as she reached for a matching ornate decanter. “This potion is the reason for the three-day delay.” She poured it equally into the two cups. “It will soften the barrier between your body and your spirit, enabling the Nexus to absorb your essence for the duration of your journey. This potion will bring you into the right frequency, and your blood offering will allow it to know you.”
“Blood offering?” Astred grimaced at the bitter contents in her cup.
“It won’t require much. The tools you’ll need are already in place.” She nodded toward the river. Cups emptied, she returned them to the box, then took one of each of Astred’s and Kai’s hands. The rest of the wardens formed a circle. The two on either side of Charmaine laid a palm on her shoulder, closing the formation.
The potion churned in Kai’s gut as his head slowly lightened and his vision wavered.
Color surrounded every living being in the clearing and intensified, drifting with the breeze. A ring of gold light flowed back and forth between the wardens, who stood connected, eyes closed, while Astred blazed indigo.
Astred grasped his hand.
Oracle of the Mother.
He’d only ever seen fear in her eyes twice. The day that he’d asked for her heart and then at Regina’s sickbed.
Kai linked his fingers with Astred’s, holding firm.
His pulse ticked a little faster, even while his thoughts slowed as Charmaine’s voice intoned a prayer, then recited several more lines in one of the old languages before gently releasing their hands.
Kai’s dragon growled in protest against the herbal interference, while his tiger hunkered down, waiting, watchful.
Odson stood by Heidi, monitoring the ceremony.
The Wardens protected the Grove and the Nexus.
The Brandts were guardians of the entire region.
Just as Kai’s clan, Dùn Zhǎo—Shield Claw—were, in his home territory.
Charmaine led the way to the riverbank where a traditional birch-bark canoe floated in wait, folded robes draped over the benches.
“We’ll need to undress?” Astred turned to Charmaine.
“Your clothes may be damaged in the process.”
“The tree is going to eat us?”
Charmaine’s eyes crinkled in the corners. “Just for a little while. “
“Charming.” She turned to Kai, the corner of her lips lifting. “Swim?”
He lifted a brow when her gaze flicked up and down his body. His head felt like it was going to totter off his shoulders. “Sure.”
At the water’s edge, they stripped, leaving their clothing in two heaps.
Astred pulled her shirt up over her head, stepped out of her jeans and into the water.
She never bothered with underclothes.
Kai focused on his task, shed his clothes, following her into the chilled water where she waited, waist high.
With a final glance back at the witnesses on the bank behind them, Astred led the way across the outlet to the island, just large enough to support the solitary tree, which now, to his altered eye, glowed pure white.
Memories flickered through Kai’s mind as they swam, recalling his previous times alone with Astred, always where the water met the earth. The boundaries of two worlds.
Only this time, it wouldn’t result in the union of their bodies in passionate lovemaking.
This meeting of boundaries would unite their souls for a while in the astral sphere of a nexus.
The potion continued to hum through his body, though temporarily dulled by the chill of the river. The closer to the tree they swam, the more intense the roll of power surged through his limbs and drummed around his heart.
Focus became more difficult as the barriers of control—human control—slid away, giving way to instinct and pure intention.
Despite the mission, Kai’s buried thoughts and emotions homed in on Astred.
He’d never wanted anyone else the way he wanted her. Still. Even now, after the rejection.
Drawing a deep breath, shoving all of that aside, he pushed the last few feet through the river to the bank supporting the ancient tree, reminding himself that the potion and the nexus were going to brutally rip him wide open right along with Astred.
But he was too slow to shunt away the raw truth that even now, he’d never wanted her more.
Not because he saw her bathed in glittering sunlight with an ethereal indigo shine. But because it reminded him of their time together and how she’d made him feel, with everything stripped away, free and easy in their own little world.
Just the two of them and their truest selves. No councils, no community expectations, no cultural divides. Just Astred, and just Kai. Naked bodies and hearts at play.
When her guard was down, and he felt her love.
Their attraction had been instant. Love had followed, swift and intense. Neither had said so, not until the day he’d asked her—he shoved it aside again before the ache returned.
Standing on the bank next to Astred, Kai drew another breath as his thoughts slid again.
It was the potion and the power, pulling him in directions he didn’t want to go. Shoving his pain in his face as he stared at the craggy girth of the trunk, struggling against the next wave.
He was here, with Astred again, because Kolina had walked back into his life, dragging him through long buried memories and feelings.
This time, images of his mother steamrolled him, loosening the resentment from the depth of his gully of pain.
There hadn’t been time to process her return. He hadn’t wanted to.
He’d embarked on this journey for his sister Kymri, to correlate the bright-eyed infant he’d met in his youth with the fierce dragon shifter woman struggling to unite two divided societies that desperately needed unity and healing.
Just as he did.
The child in her belly gave her the strength to grasp both sides, straining against her efforts to draw them together.
She had the support of her mate, her closest friends, and their mother.
She needed more.
Kai’s gaze returned to Astred.
Kymri’s struggled mirrored Astred’s.
He realized then that although he had no idea what his role was in all of this, he could no longer deny that fate had selected him for a purpose.
Kai took Astred’s hand, guiding her toward the impressive, exposed roots, spotting the freshly knapped flint that Charmaine mentioned. He stepped into the alcove of the two largest roots, lowered himself so that he sat with his back to the trunk and invited to Astred to join him, settling between his knees.
“You’ve done this before?”
“I’ve witnessed similar journeys but not done it myself.” He reached for the flint, dragging the sharp edge along the base of his left thumb, turning his hand so that the beading blood dripped onto a section of root already stained from prior journeys.
He handed the flint to Astred, who did the same.
Within moments, their dragon magic accelerated the healing process, closing the superficial wound.
Astred drew a deep breath. Words Kai never thought he’d hear from her hissed through her teeth. “Kai, I haven’t been this scared since I was a child.”
He met her eyes, holding out his hand, palm up. “Me too, Red.”
She hesitated for just a moment, moving closer to nestle into the protection of his arms as they waited for the Nexus to accept their offering.
The potion had just about finished its circulation through his body as the tingling in his flesh, muscle and bone slowly merged with the surging power of the nexus.
When he was aligned, the sound of crackling signaled their acceptance. Bark, wood, sap, and energy slid across his back in gentle waves, drawing him into the trunk. Astred’s fingers tightened on him, and he locked his arms around her as they were slowly consumed by the silky fibers of the nexus.
The sunlight glittering off the river’s surface disappeared as the bark closed them off from the outside world and dropped them into the astral.