Dragonborn (The Jade Lee Romantic Fantasies, Book 1) (45 page)

"No!" Natiya screamed, the action doing a great deal to separate her mind from the Queen's, which was stunned and nearly unconscious. She scrambled to her feet, running forward—but not to the dragons. She hadn't enough physical strength to prevent what was about to happen there. No, she ran to Rashad, who was now fighting a losing battle with Kiril, because his mind was similarly overwhelmed by the Copper's lust. Thank Amia the Queen had been stunned from the impact with the ground; otherwise, Natiya would be equally impaired.

"Stop!" Natiya shrieked, speaking to everyone at once, it was all going too fast, and in the wrong ways. "Kiril, stop!"

She hadn't meant to single him out, and yet he was the one person she knew would listen. Except he didn't. He took the moment when Rashad was slow and uncoordinated—surely struggling with his Copper's emotions—to finish the battle. Though cut in half a dozen places, Kiril slammed away the approaching guards to spin around behind Rashad, hauling them both back against a boulder while he held his sword to the Emperor's neck. Then, and only then, did he take the time to glare at Natiya through the fringe of his sweat-soaked hair.

"What?" he snapped.

And that was when everything froze into a tableau of shock. Kiril held Rashad hostage, his sword at the Emperor's throat. The soldiers hovered nearby, waiting for their opportunity. And the dragons... Natiya shifted her attention to them.

The Copper had not completed his intent, but seemed to wait, his glittering eyes focused not on the Queen but on Rashad. What was going on? What was happening in this silent war between dragon and Emperor?

Natiya slowly walked forward, stepping gingerly in front of the Emperor. "What is happening, Rashad? Why do you fight your own dragon?" she asked.

The Emperor turned his furious glare on her, his teeth grinding even as he spat his answer. "You see what he is going to do. He is going to kill her."

Natiya turned her head, only now processing how close the two dragons were. The Copper needed only extend his head just the tiniest bit for the Emperor and him to touch.

"You see?" Rashad snapped. "He will kill her."

True, the Copper was still poised, his body ready to force an act that would, if not outright kill the much smaller Queen, certainly injure her severely. Certainly he would not accomplish any reproductive goals; this would be more an act of violence than biology. The Queen was beginning to come back to herself. Her struggles were feeble, but growing stronger, though she had little maneuvering room.

Natiya frowned, trying to understand what she was seeing. She even ordered the Queen to remain still, to gather her strength and wait until Natiya better understood the situation. The Copper was poised, ready to harm the Queen, and yet, he had stopped. His head was turned away from the Queen to stare directly at Rashad.

"What does the Copper want, Rashad?" Natiya asked. She took another step toward the Emperor. "He knows, doesn't he? He knows that it is time for you to move on. And he is willing to kill the Queen to prevent your success. He is willing to do anything to destroy your plans."

Rashad didn't answer. His face had become a stubborn mask of anger. Kiril, on the other hand, received the news with a gaping jaw. His gaze darted between her, the Emperor and the Copper.

"Yes," Natiya continued, "the Copper knows it is time for you to complete the process." She let her voice drop to a more compassionate level. She knew exactly how frightening the prospect was: to give up everything and become something completely different. Something completely foreign. But it was what had been started the moment both she and Rashad had picked up their dragon eggs and begun the incubation process. "The blending is only supposed to be temporary," she said. "It is time to complete the switch."

"Natiya ..." Kiril began, a low throb of warning in his voice. But his next words were cut off by Rashad's bellow.

"No!" the Emperor screamed, erupting in a fierce struggle to escape Kiril's restraint. But Natiya's dragon-hunter was strong, even if his arms dripped blood, and he held fast. There was nowhere for Rashad to go, and bit by slow bit the Copper extended his head, angling his forehead to touch Rashad's.

Still the Emperor fought. "I won't! And he can't force me!"

Natiya had reached the Emperor's side, though she stayed opposite the Copper. "No one can force you, Rashad, but think a moment. What has being human gotten you? Your people despise you, kept in check only by an army you don't trust. The bordering countries are allying against you, and even your mind is not your own." Instinctively Natiya shuddered. It was difficult enough to share mental space with the Queen, and they had formed an alliance of sorts. Cooperation, not domination. How terrible would it be to exist in a constant mental war, every day, every night? Constantly having to exert massive force of will to keep the dragon under control? She couldn't imagine it, and yet the struggle had become so fierce that the Copper was willing to kill his own Queen just to find a means of escape.

"This is not the life you wanted, Rashad. This is not the way to get what you need."

The Emperor's eyes turned tragic. He gasped out her name, whispering his words even as he fought tears. "You love me, Natiya, I know you do. I have felt it. In our dreams."

She hesitated, wondering what to say. He was correct. She did feel a kind of love for the Emperor, a sympathy and compassion that encompassed the boy Rashad and extended to the torn and tortured Dag Racho. But was it love?

Her gaze passed beyond the Emperor to Kiril. He was the man who had challenged her at every turn. He was the one who'd once vowed to kill her, and who even now remained with sword at the ready if she relinquished control to the Queen. And yet, he was the one she turned to when she looked for truth. And for love.

No, she didn't love Rashad. Certainly not the way he wanted. Her heart belonged to Kiril.

She saw the realization hit both men at once. She watched Kiril's eyes widen with wonder, while, trapped in his arms, Rashad crumpled, screaming out in his soul's agony.

"No!" he cried, and Natiya started at the sound. "No!" he said again, only this time fury was replacing his pain. "I gave you everything, forgave you everything. You cannot want him!"

She looked at the Emperor's frenzied expression, his desperate struggles, and she finally understood the truth. "You have been at war in your mind so long, all your emotions are confused. You don't love me. You love the dream of a Queen and a dragon army. You think you can threaten, manipulate or force love—from me, from your people—but it doesn't work that way. Everything has gone wrong, Rashad, because you would not finish what you started."

"No!" he screamed again... just as the Copper struck.

She wouldn't have believed it possible if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. The Copper released a narrow jet of fire, pinpointed on its target. The blast engulfed Rashad and Kiril, and left her virtually untouched.

This time it was Natiya who screamed, Natiya who tried to rush forward. "Kiril!"

But it was too late. Rashad was a smoking, blistered and charred mass; though somehow he was still breathing, his every inhalation a wheezing and continuous silent scream. But Kiril? She didn't see him. Where was—

There! Alive. Bald and blistered, but alive. And much better off than Rashad. Natiya wept with relief even as she dropped to her knees beside him and the Emperor. She tried to speak, but her throat closed around the words. The shock and horror still rippled through her mind, clouding her emotions and silencing her. Even the Queen was dumbfounded. And the surrounding soldiers. So Natiya simply sat there, reaching for and finding Kiril's hand while the two of them looked at the Emperor.

As they did nothing, the Copper moved. He rolled off the Queen, extending his head so that his forehead connected with the Emperor's once more. And at last Natiya understood.

"There is no other choice," she said softly. "Not if you want to live, Rashad. You must switch bodies with the Copper. Otherwise—"

"No, Natiya!" Kiril snapped, his voice tight with pain or fear. "Let him die!" He began to struggle to his feet, but he was pinned under the Emperor's body. "You can't let him become a dragon. Think what damage—"

"He's not evil," Natiya interrupted. "He doesn't want to hurt people, do you, Rashad? And even if he did"—her gaze lifted to indicate the score of dragons one by one landing in the trees, on the ground around them—"they wouldn't let him. That's not what this is about."

She heard Kiril gasp in horror as the stately creatures surrounded them, landing haphazardly here and there, all eyes trained on the Emperor and the Copper. But she didn't have time to soothe his fears; and, in truth, she thought he was beginning to understand. It was Rashad who needed help, and it was to him she spoke.

"This is about moving on. About not being stuck or afraid."

She saw anger flash in the Emperor's eyes at her comment, but there was little time for more, for the Copper pressed his head to Rashad's. The wyrm's glittering brown eyes closed, and Natiya knew he simply waited. Rashad had to willingly choose to complete the process—to take dragon form—and Natiya marveled at the length of time it seemed to take for the Emperor to make the decision. Especially since his other choice was death.

"You will be in control of your own mind again," she urged. "No more fighting someone else's thoughts, no more hiding even within your own mind. You can be who you are without fear, without anger or dissension. Surely that is better than dying. Release your fears and become whole again."

Whether because of her words or his pain, Rashad finally made his decision. She watched his eyes close, and his breath eased out with a final bitter wheeze. And then the magic began.

Natiya saw the transfer more than felt it. The Queen's sight gave her a view of the power, growing and pulsing around both man and creature. And it was in that first enveloping of energy that Rashad's human body healed. But then the power tightened. It drew together, growing smaller, harder and much, much brighter. She was seeing their souls, or so she guessed, and she marveled at how completely the spirit saturated one's every cell. But both lights were tightening, drawing into themselves, pulling together at that one point where the foreheads touched.

It began slowly, the shrinking barely measurable. But then it grew stronger and faster, the power bright enough that she saw it with her human eyes as well as the dragon's. Then, with a crash she felt more than saw, the two lights seemed to explode against one another. The power was so strong it knocked her to the ground, blinding both her human and dragon sight. She heard Kiril grunt with pain, while behind her the soldiers toppled, their weapons dropping with a loud clatter onto the ground.

And when her vision cleared, she saw the man she'd once called Dag Racho blink shimmering copper eyes. He was the Copper now, in human form. Twisting quickly, she saw the dragon roll to the ground, clearly stunned, his darker, more humanlike eyes blinking in dazed confusion.

Natiya struggled to her feet, intending to say something to Rashad, though she didn't know what. Meanwhile, Kiril sighed as the Emperor's body at last rolled off of him, and Kiril began awkwardly gaining his feet.

The now-human Copper seemed to be adjusting to his new body quickly, stretching and moving with more and more control. Rashad, on the other hand, moved weakly and in a chaotic fashion, one moment twitching his wing, the next moment twisting his head while shifting his tail. It would be a difficult road for Rashad, learning the basics all over again.

Natiya turned back to the Copper, seeing a focused purpose in the way he practiced his balance, shifting his human weight from one foot to the other. He was even rolling his shoulders, learning the finer differences of arm and spine.

He was smart, she suddenly realized. Smarter, surely, than she initially gave him credit for. He had a hundred years of experience, plus whatever knowledge was shared among dragons. And he had an agenda. He had to. Everything about this incident indicated a plan. He'd awaited an opportunity—which she and Kiril had provided. All so he could take human form.

But why?

She shifted, turning her attention back to Rashad. Would he know? And would he tell?

She stepped forward, gently resting her hand on the dragon's neck. He smiled at her, or at least she wanted to believe he did: he bared his teeth. She directed her question to the Queen, whom she hoped would ask Rashad.

Why does the Copper want to be human ? What are his plans?

The Queen acknowledged the questions, and Natiya knew the Queen had turned to ask Rashad; she could see the energy shift. Rashad was able to turn his dragon head toward the smaller dragon beside him.

But that was all he could do, because a sword suddenly sprouted from the vulnerable soft flesh beneath his jaw. Natiya barely registered the movement out of the corner of her eye, and then she saw that Kiril's sword was embedded straight through the lower flesh and up into Rashad's brain. He shuddered, his massive body twitching the tiniest bit before his head crashed to the ground. Dead.

Natiya spun around, unbelieving and angry. But one look at Kiril and she saw it hadn't been him who'd thrown the sword. He was as stunned as she, though mixed emotions warred in his expression. It had been the Copper—in Rashad's old body—who had delivered the fatal blow. How he had managed to coordinate himself enough to throw the blade so well was beyond her, but he had. And now he was stumbling, trying to regain his balance after so powerful a throw.