Master of Dragons (7 page)

Her face expressionless, she inclined her head. “Thank you, sir.”

Kel had the distinct feeling she wasn't convinced. He cleared his throat. “In the meantime, my liege, may I have your permission to help Nineva search for the sword?”

“Of course.” Arthur nodded shortly. “I'll see if I can't enlist Llyr's help with that. His resources should shorten the hunt considerably.”

Nineva stirred as if about to protest, but evidently thought better of it. Kel decided he'd better get her out of harm's way before her control broke. He gave the council a bow. “Then with your permission, I'll get Nineva settled in. We'll start our search in the morning.”

“Go. And feed her, will you?” Arthur flicked a look over Nineva's face. “She's looking a little pale.”

“I'll do that.” Kel took her elbow and steered her for the door. She went with the air of a woman making a grateful escape.

As they left the council chambers, he considered and discarded a dozen lectures on how best to deal with Arthur Pendragon and his infamous temper. Though, all things considered, his friend had been rather restrained.

Kel flashed a glance at Nineva's delicate profile as they started down the corridor. She looked so exhausted, he thought better of the lecture. “Arthur's right—you do look pale. Any preferences in the food department?”

“Not really.” Then she cast him a cautious look. “What do you have in mind?”

“How about lasagna? You look like you could use the carbs.” Watching her blond brows arch, he grinned. “What, you were expecting barbecued virgin?”

“Of course not,” she said, a little too quickly.

“Good, because I swore off barbecuing virgins centuries ago. They give me hairballs.”

Instead of the laughter he'd expected, Nineva looked away.

“What's wrong?” Abruptly remembering Grim's prediction, he cursed. “You think I'm actually going to breathe fire on you.”

“Your own book seems to think so.”

“For once, Grim is dead wrong. There's no way in hell I'd ever do anything like that.”

“Even to save us from the Dark Ones?”

“Even for that. First off, we don't do human sacrifices—that's their nasty little game. But even if we did, I wouldn't have a damned thing to do with it. I wouldn't use fire on my worst enemy, much less on you.”

“Grim said…”

“Grim's not sure exactly what's going to happen—you heard him. Seeing the future is a dicey thing at the best of times. People have free will, and they may not choose the route a particular vision suggests.”

She didn't answer, but her gaze was so bleak, so miserable, that he reached out and caught her chin. Her skin felt deliciously soft and warm under his fingers, but the fear in his eyes made him ache. He hated the thought of being feared by any woman, especially this delicate fairy princess. “How could you think I'd hurt you?”

“I don't think you're going to have a choice.”

“There's always a choice.” Bending his head, he took that soft, trembling mouth.

He'd intended the kiss as a gesture of comfort more than seduction, a reassurance that he wasn't the menacing monster she apparently thought.

He wasn't expecting the desire that lanced through him.

Her lips were just as sweetly arousing, tasting of mint toothpaste and magic, tempting him into pulling her close. Her full breasts pillowed against his chest, teasing him with the promise of how they'd fill his hands. Unable to resist, he tunneled his fingers through the pale blond silk of her hair, enjoying the cool sensuality of it. The thought that she feared him made him feel sick at heart.

Determined to reassure her, he deepened the kiss.

 

Kel's lips moved
over hers, hot and skilled. His tongue slipped inside her mouth in a slow, suggestive thrust that tasted of magic and dark, wild things. He seemed to surround her with his broad-shouldered strength, his arms powerful around her back, her waist.

It had been a long, long time since she'd been kissed. Even then, it had never felt anything like this. Despite her instinctive wariness of this not-quite-man and his intentions, despite her fear of Grim's predictions and her own dreams, something about him made her feel safe. Warm.

Alive.

By the time he lifted his head, hers was spinning. Nineva leaned against him and concentrated on breathing. “I didn't know dragons kissed.”

His wicked mouth tilted upward at the corners. “Dragons do all kinds of things.”

“And very well, too.”

His sensual smile widened. “Why, thank you, ma'am.”

She was seriously considering pulling his head down for another demonstration of his talents when he reluctantly let her go and stepped back. “But we'd better get you fed.”

Nineva licked her lips, tasting him. His ruby gaze darkened as it followed the path of her tongue. “If you insist.”

Kel opened his mouth as if to say something else, then shook his head. “You're a very bad girl, Nineva.”

She gave him a slow, teasing smile of her own. Maybe she had a talent for this game after all. “I can be.”

His eyes dropped to the rise of her breasts beneath the snug T-shirt before he dragged them away. She watched him swallow.

Yes, she could seduce him. Dragon or not, he felt a man's desire. Despite her lingering fear, she knew that the sooner she got him into bed, the better. Arthur meant to meet with Llyr the next day, which meant she'd have a whole new threat to deal with. She needed to strengthen Semira, and Semira seemed to believe that making love to Kel would do it.

Following Kel toward the exit, she frowned as a new thought occurred to her. What would this magical exchange do to him? Would it weaken him? If Semira was going to draw on his power, that did seem logical. And if so, didn't Nineva have a responsibility to warn him?

But what if he refused? Semira would be screwed, and Nineva could find herself going up against Llyr without the goddess's backing.

If she didn't tell him, and Semira fed on him while they made love, he'd be justifiably furious. Even aside from the moral question of whether she had the right to do such a thing, she needed his help to make the prophecy come true. She couldn't afford to anger him.

The thought of him angry reminded Nineva vividly of the dream. She shoved the knee-jerk fear away. She had to stop the Dark Ones from invading. Period. Nothing else mattered.

Somehow she had to tell him in such a way that he'd agree to help Semira.

Somehow.

 

Nineva was still
wrestling with the problem when they reached a majestic hill on the outskirts of Avalon. A six-hundred-foot cliff of pale white stone formed one face, while trees and flowers bloomed along the terraced slopes of the remaining sides, warmed and fed by magic despite the winter cold.

The rough rock of the cliff smoothed as it neared the bottom, blending with the stone and glass of the human-style residence built into the base of the hill. A still lake curled around it, casting dancing reflections of the night sky. Trees surrounded the outer banks of the lake like ruffles on a woman's skirt. The cool air smelled of magic and roses.

“Home sweet home.”

Nineva blinked at the elegant, imposing serenity of the scene. “You
live
here?”

Kel gave her a crooked smile. “I need a lot of room.”

Looking closer, she realized the upper section of the cliff was dominated by the mouth of a huge cave, obviously an entrance for Kel's dragon form.

“It can be tough for me to find a place to land,” Kel explained, as he led her along a cobblestone walkway that wound around the lake. “This solved the problem.”

“It's beautiful.” The sense of enchantment around the moonlit hillside was almost strong enough to taste. She breathed in deeply, entranced. “And there's so much magic here.” Smiling, she traced a forefinger through the air, watching sparks trail her hand like fireflies. “You could almost get drunk on it.”

“I can see how you'd feel that way, after living your entire life on Mortal Earth.” He grimaced. “I always feel a little suffocated there. There's no magic at all. You have to haul it in from the Mageverse.”

Ahead of them, the house's double doors swung silently open. Nineva followed Kel inside, eager to see what he'd done with the rest of the place.

She wasn't disappointed. Just beyond the entrance lay a sprawling great room with smooth, curving walls that arched up to meet overhead. It was like standing in the middle of a huge, pale egg. The floor was covered with a thick, colorful rug depicting a dragon flying against a dazzling blue sky. Here and there stood couches and chairs in bright colors and flowing shapes. A fireplace dominated the center of the room, set in a stone column that swelled at the top and base, as if it had grown from the very stone. At the other end of the room, majestic chairs upholstered in red surrounded a massive oak dining table.

Nineva turned in a slow circle, taking in the curving ceiling two stories overhead and the window that took up most of the outer wall. “Wow. This is…”

“A bit over the top.”

She turned to find Kel watching her with a dry smile. “Actually, I was going to say impressive.”

He headed across the room toward an arched doorway just beyond the dining table. “I spent the past fifteen hundred years trapped in a sword. I'm determined to surround myself with as much elbow room as I can possibly get.”

Interested, Nineva strolled after him, studying the bronze statues that stood in niches cut in the walls. Not surprisingly, they depicted dragons and knights on horseback. “Did you say you were trapped in a sword? Like Semira?” That was one hell of a coincidence.

“Yeah. My uncle got pissed at me for befriending Gawain, one of Arthur's knights.” He led the way into a spacious kitchen with thoroughly modern appliances that wouldn't have looked out of place in a restaurant. “To punish me—and get me out of the way—he turned me into a sword. Took us centuries to figure out how to free me.”

She winced, remembering the loneliness she'd seen in Semira's mind. If it had been that bad for a goddess…“How did you stay sane?”

Kel's expression turned brooding. “I shared Gawain's consciousness, perceived the world through his senses. Even drew on his life force. I'd have starved otherwise.” He paused in mid-step, frowning. “You know, that brings up an interesting point. How has Semira managed to survive for so long?”

Nineva cleared her throat. “Traditionally, she's relied on her Avatars to help sustain her magic. Royal princesses born with her Mark.”

He looked up as he collected supplies from the fridge. “Like you?”

“Like me. Thing is, it's been centuries since an Avatar has been born. She's gotten pretty weak. Just before we lost contact, she told me she needs me to help recharge her.”

Kel bent to rummage in a cabinet for a couple of bowls. “How are you supposed to do that?”

“By having sex with you.”

Kel almost dropped
the bowls. “What?”

Nineva related her conversation with the goddess in blunt, matter-of-fact terms at odds with the blush that rode her high cheekbones. “She said you're very powerful. Apparently, my making love with you is supposed to channel some of that magic to her.”

“So she just ordered you to have sex with me?” He frowned, not happy with this turn of events at all. Yeah, he'd be more than happy to get his hands on Nineva's pretty little body, but only if it was her idea as much as his.

“It wasn't an order.”

Kel slapped an onion on the cutting board and started slicing it with long, violent strokes of his knife. “Sounds like one to me.”

“I'm her Avatar, Kel. It's my duty to help power her in any way I have to. Including sex with you.”

“Well, that's flattering,” he muttered.

A delicate hand came to rest on his forearm. Her cool touch stilled him. “It's not exactly a hardship,” she said softly. Opalescent eyes shimmered up at him from that heart-shaped face. “I don't know about you, but I enjoyed our kiss.”

“I did, too.” His voice sounded hoarse to his own ears. His jeans were getting distinctly uncomfortable. He cleared his throat and sighed.
What the hell.
“How much magic is she going to need?”

A smile of surprised delight spread over her face, as if she hadn't expected his surrender. Which only went to prove how seriously she underestimated herself. “You'll consider it?”

He shrugged. “It'd be hypocritical of me not to.”

Nineva's pale brows lifted in question.

Kel walked across the kitchen and dropped a handful of lasagna noodles into the boiling water. “Sex and blood sustain Magekind vampires. When I was trapped in the sword, Gawain's Majae partners kept both of us alive.” He put the spoon aside and turned to her. “Thing is, Gawain didn't need much blood, and the sex didn't weaken his partners. But this goddess of yours isn't a vampire, and I'd like to know how much magic she's going to take.”

Her face went so still, Kel knew she was considering lying. Then she blew out a breath. “I don't know. She didn't tell me.”

“Is there any way to find out?”

“I'm…afraid not. I've lost contact with her. But I don't think it will hurt you.”

He moved to the sink to drain the noodles. “No?”

“According to the prophecy, you play a major role in defeating the Dark Ones.”

He growled a curse. “Another fricking prophecy. Which one is this?”

Nineva recited it for him as he started assembling the meal. Her lovely face was expressionless with control, and her voice never wavered. When she finished, he said nothing for several minutes as he slid the lasagna into the oven and uncorked a bottle of red wine.

“Hell of a prophecy,” Kel said at last, pouring the wine into two glasses. “Especially the part about your burning in my fire and being ‘shattered and reborn.'”

“Sounds a lot like Grim's prediction, doesn't it?”

“Which doesn't make it true.”

Nineva shrugged and accepted one of the glasses from him. “It came directly from the goddess. You have to assume she knows what she's talking about.”

“How do you know you're this Last Avatar?”

She took a sip of the wine. “Dad counted. There were twenty before me.”

Hard to argue with that. Kel grimaced as he led the way into the living room while the meal cooked. “So you grew up with this thing hanging over your head?”

“Pretty much.”

“No wonder you blasted me the first time you saw me.”

Nineva shot him a look as they settled onto the couch together. “I didn't realize you were the dragon warrior. I'd seen your human face in dreams, but I had no idea who you were.”

He gave her a deliberately flirtatious smile. “What kind of dreams?”

Her face went expressionless again. “Visions about the prophecy.”

That one stark sentence told him enough to have him wincing. “About ‘burning in my fire'?”

“Yes.”

Staring into her haunted eyes, he cursed. “I said it before, and I'll say it again—I'm not going to hurt you, I don't care what Grim or your goddess or your visions say.” Kel reached for her hand and cradled it in his own. Her fingers felt cool and fragile in his. “I don't hurt women. And I'm sure as hell not going to hurt you.”

Hope leaped in her eyes before she veiled them with her lids. “It doesn't matter. Stopping the Dark Ones and freeing Semira is the only thing that counts.”

Anger stung him. “I'm not lying.”

“You also can't control everything that happens.”

He didn't intend to say it, but the words burst from him anyway, carried on a wave of frustration. “Don't you get tired of being a martyr?”

Nineva smiled bitterly. “Hell, yes.”

She's afraid,
he realized suddenly.
She was raised to trust no one and nothing, not even the ally her prophecy predicts
. Looking into those wide opalescent eyes, he had to taste her again. Had to reassure both of them there was another way.

There had to be.

Her mouth opened for him, warm and sweet and flavored gently with wine. Yet she stiffened slightly as he slid his arms around her. Kel could almost feel her armoring herself against him even as she prepared to yield.

Like hell.

By Cachamwri, making love to him was not going to be one more thing she endured. He was going to make her love every second of it as much as he did.

Gently, using every bit of skill he'd learned from centuries of watching Gawain in action, he cupped her chin and drew her close. She felt so delicate against him, so tiny.

His iron fairy.

Kel swirled his tongue into her mouth to taste and stroke. Drawing his fingers through the moonlight tumble of her hair, he savored its cool silken texture, breathed the scent of her magic. He followed one smooth lock down to the rise of a lush breast and cupped her through her cotton T-shirt. She filled his hand so deliciously, he moaned into her mouth.

No, this wasn't going to be a sacrifice for either of them.

 

Nineva gasped against
Kel's mouth as his fingers delicately plucked and stroked her nipple. If it felt that good through layers of bra and T-shirt, she couldn't wait for him to touch bare skin.

He's a dragon,
she thought, trying to hold on to some vestige of control.

Her body didn't seem to care. It was too busy going up in flames under those skillful fingers.

He swirled his tongue around hers in a deliciously erotic duel, teasing her with the promise of what else he could do with it. Overwhelmed, her head spinning, she tore her mouth away to gasp for breath.

Kel seized the opportunity to explore the line of her jaw with his lips, stringing delicately biting kisses up to one pointed ear. He paused to bite the delicate lobe, then tease it with his tongue until she squirmed.

While she was focused on that wicked mouth, one hand traveled down her ribs and up under her shirt. A flick of his fingers opened the front clasp of her bra.

The feeling of that big, warm palm covering her made her shudder with blind delight.

She hadn't expected this. How could she? He made her previous partners seem like clumsy boys or drunken louts. And maybe they had been.

It was for damn sure Kel was neither.

When he finally drew back, his eyes were hot and his cheeks were flushed. “I'm not going to take you on the couch.”

She swallowed with an effort. “No?”

“No. There's a bed upstairs.” His voice dropped to a deliciously sexy growl. “A big bed.”

Nineva's mouth felt as dry as a sock. “Sounds good.”

He rolled to his feet and loomed for a moment, tall and powerful. Before she could even think of standing herself, he bent and picked her up as if she weighed no more than a doll.

Instinctively, she grabbed for his powerful shoulders as he turned and started across the cavernous living room for a set of broad spiral stairs. “I can walk!”

“Yeah, but I don't intend to let you.” He flashed her a wicked grin. “This is a lot more sexy.”

Not to mention overwhelming. Disconcerted, she stared at his aggressively male profile as he carried her up the stairs two at a time. He made her feel small and delicate and female.

But that was an illusion, Nineva told herself staunchly. She took care of herself, and she liked it that way. She was the Avatar, and she followed the path that had been laid out for her.

Alone.

Making love with Kel wasn't going to change that. She couldn't afford to forget the roles they were destined to play. She wouldn't be able to endure what was to come if she let herself get sucked into whatever romantic fairy tale he was trying to spin.

He reached the top of the stairs and strode down a broad, carpeted hallway. Double doors flew wide at their approach, and he swept her inside.

The bed that occupied the center of the room looked almost big enough to accommodate Kel's dragon form. He carried her toward it like a medieval conqueror from a romance novel.

Nineva half expected him to toss her onto it, then follow her down. Instead, he stopped at the foot of the massive canopied bed and swooped in for another kiss.

She found herself drowning in the intoxicating delight of his mouth. He tasted of magic and smelled of starlit nights. His shoulders felt solid and warm under her hands. Still kissing her, he carried her around to the side of the bed.

Kel only drew his head back when he lowered her to the mattress. Breathless, she watched him straighten and look down at her, a sensual smile of anticipation on his starkly handsome face.

“Ummm,” she said. “I think I smell dinner burning.”

He grinned and gestured, sending a spell shooting downstairs like a star. “Not anymore.” Surveying her, he added wickedly, “But something's definitely hot.”

Between one blink and the next, Kel was naked. Nineva caught her breath at the sight of him looming over her. His body was beautifully sculpted with muscle, from broad shoulders angling down to narrow hips and long, powerful legs. His eyes seemed to flame like rubies catching the light.

For a long, humming moment, he gazed at her, all that silken hair tumbling around his shoulders. Taking in that amazing body framed by his cobalt mane, she realized she'd never seen anything so intensely masculine in her entire life. Her gaze dropped to his cock, thrusting from a thick blue ruff. It was long, deliciously broad, with a fat crown and a slight upward curve.

He looked just the way he had in that erotic dream.

Before that thought could chill her, he tilted his head to one side, his smile lazy and white. “You seem to have the advantage of me.”

Nineva gave him a long, slow blink. “Kel,
nobody
has the advantage of you.”

He chuckled, the sound richly male. “I'm flattered, darling, but I was referring to the frustrating fact that you're still dressed.” His eyes suddenly took on a hot male glitter as his voice dropped to a growl. “If you don't get rid of those clothes, I'm afraid I'm going to have to start ripping them off.”

Her instant's fear vanished, wiped away by the pure hot promise in his eyes. For a wicked moment, Nineva considered letting him strip her. Instead, she lay back on the bed, deliberately arched her back, and slowly dissolved the spell that maintained her jeans and T-shirt.

As her clothes vanished, Kel's eyes widened. His cock jerked upward, hardening still more, giving Nineva a heady sense of power. She'd never felt so sexy in her life. “This any better?” she purred.

Kel's smile faded as the lust in his eyes intensified. “Perfect.” His gaze fixed on her, he crawled onto the bed and straddled her on hands and knees, not quite touching her.

Feeling breathless, she looked up at him. And waited. He only watched her, hot-eyed, letting her anticipation build. Her nipples hardened as her mouth went dry. His gaze flicked to the hardening points, and one corner of his mouth kicked up.

“Are you going to do something, or just stare?”

He sat back on his heels, his cock jutting. “What do you want me to do?”

“You could touch me.”

He grinned, taunting. “I could.”

“Or you could just tease me until I get bored and go elsewhere.” She started to swing her legs off the bed.

Ruby eyes flared. Quick as a snake, he grabbed her ankles and flipped her onto her back again. Slowly, deliberately, he lifted her legs in the air and spread them wide. “You're not going
anywhere
.”

Braced on her elbows, she licked her lips. “Apparently not.”

But though she expected him to pounce, he didn't. Instead he rose to his knees and looked down at her, his exotic eyes tracking from her face down to the full mounds of her breasts, down her abdomen to the softly furred delta between her thighs. There was something deliciously arrogant in his pose, like a barbarian conqueror surveying a captive. It should have pissed her off.

Perversely, it kicked her desire even higher. She could feel herself getting wet.

I shouldn't be doing this.
The thought slid through her mind, a knee-jerk protest from her inner good little girl. Being as much her mother's daughter as her father's princess, she usually listened to that voice.

It felt good to ignore it for once.

“That's a sly look. What are you thinking?”

She tried out a Jezebel smile. That felt good, too. “Take a wild guess.”

“That sounded like a challenge.” Kel sank down onto his heels, then lowered himself over her, covering her. She caught her breath in anticipation. He flashed her a conqueror's grin as he lowered his head. “I love challenges.”

He kissed her as their bodies came together, his cock settling against her belly, his chest brushing her nipples, his hips pressing between her thighs. The sensation of all that warm male strength made her moan in delight. He deepened the kiss, nibbling her mouth, suckling at her tongue, thrusting his own deep in wet, hot exploration. His hair fell around them in a dark blue curtain, cool on her skin.