Taken by the Dragon King (6 page)

My squeal makes him chuckle as I leap forward. His strong hands stop my descent a heartbeat later and I’m breathing heavily in his arms. “It’s not far.”

Asher’s anxiety gets worse the closer we get to our destination. I wonder how he’ll react if his stash is gone. If human fairy tales are any indication, that dragon temper of his will get the better of him and he’ll flip out. But it’s more than that. This is the only connection he has left to his old life.

Chapter Ten

“I’ll have you out of the cold in a moment,” Asher assures me. “It’s right up ahead.”

There is nothing but a huge slope of fallen stones against a cliff where he’s pointing, exactly the same as the piles of rocks that surround us in every direction. Ash isn’t saying anything, but he’s visibly worried.

“There must have been many rock slides over the past few eons. I suppose that’s not all that surprising, really,” he grumbles, staring up at the tops of the rock columns. “Here.”

We’re at least a hundred feet from the canyon wall, kept at bay by the remnants of the mountains that have broken free over the years. “You’re sure?”

“Yes,” he replies, his brow furrowed. “The entrance was buried about ten feet down when I first came here. It’s probably closer to fifty now.”

“So… what do we do? Start digging?”

Asher shakes his head no. “Of course not.”

“Were you able to walk through ten feet of gravel back then?”

“I used a portal after I cleared all the way to the cave opening, but decided to rebury it later. I’ve only gone in this way a few times after I found it, mainly to check on the cloaking enchantment.”

“Well, that’s still more or less intact,” I say, sensing the ancient, unraveling spell beneath my feet as I follow Asher up the slope.

“The remaining concealment is from a solid gold totem. There were a few other layers of protection that haven’t survived.” Asher runs his fingers over the rock wall, pulling free loose chunks of rock and letting them skid away. “This cliff isn’t as stable as I’d like, but hopefully it will hold.”

I follow his gaze up the cliff face, wiping my brow. Asher glances at me with concern like he has a hundred times since we started walking.

“We need to climb back down,” he says, wrapping his arm around my waist.

“For what?”

“To keep you at a safe distance from the falling stones when I Shake the Earth.”

“Shake the Earth? I’ve never heard of that spell.”

“I don’t perform spells, Lindy,” he laughs.

“How
does
your magic work?” I ask, my feet slipping out from under me.

Asher catches me before I fall, pulling me into his arms as the rocks beneath up start sliding. I can feel his heartbeat against my palm as he swiftly strides us down to solid ground. “It’s not magic,”

“So what is it?”

“Power,” he breathes deeply, his broad chest expanding as his dark eyes lock with mine, making me shudder.

“Oh.” I always thought those were the same thing, but ever since I’ve come into physical contact with Asher’s body, I’m not sure what type of energy radiates off him, let alone how he controls it.

“Stay here, little witch,” he says, brushing his lips across mine.

I nod and watch him approach the rockslide, a palpable confidence broadening his shoulders. Literally. His body is larger now like he gets when he shifts, but he doesn’t assume that strange posture. Instead he crouches to one knee, curling his hand into a fist and lowering it against the desert floor as he closes his eyes.

I sense the disturbance energetically before I feel the tremor rolling through the ground under my feet. The stones around me start to clatter against each other, getting louder as the rockslide begins to shift.

A low growl rumbles through Asher’s human body in his Dragon voice. The quaking gets more intense, the ground shaking so violently that it should be hard to stand upon, but I’m oddly surefooted. A line of large boulders below us starts to fall away, creating a channel for more rock to escape. I watch in wonder as the huge slope of loose stones slides over the ridge, crashing loudly on the canyon floor. If there are any campers out here, they probably heard that. I hope they don’t investigate.

Asher rises, grinning triumphantly. For a moment, I flash on the expression he wore in the dream world whenever he heard a basilisk, but his eyes are clear and bright now. A narrow slit in the mountainside is visible now, but only because I can see through the enchantment, it would be invisible to most magical eyes, and certainly to humans.

“I wasn’t sure that would work,” Ash confesses.

“You mean without groping me first?” I tease him.

“Something like that, yeah.”

I step forward until I’m beside him. “So what do you think charged you up?” I ask, an unpleasant uncertainty building in my gut. I want it to be me. I want to be the one to fix him.

“Desperation,” he whispers, interlocking his fingers with mine. “I needed to get you out of the elements.” Blushing, I drop my chin, my stomach fluttering. That still counts as me. “Let’s go.”

Asher takes a ragged breath once we pass the threshold into the cavern, his spine straightening dramatically as his steps halt. I look to my left, searching for the source of the power protecting this place from outsiders. It’s a small artifact, gleaming beautifully in the light that illuminates the chamber.

“It needs to be realigned, maybe recharged in a sunstone circle,” I say stopping down to inspect it. It’s gorgeously carved with symbols I’ve never seen before. “I think I’ll be able to, but it’s holding steady and I’d rather do some research first.”

Asher won’t look at it. “Let’s make sure there’s something to protect before you go through the trouble.”

“Ash...” I can’t find the words to reassure him.

Suddenly the walls around us shake in a low groan, making my heart race. Asher rushes over to me, wrapping his arm protectively across my chest as we spin towards the sound of cracking and popping, stone grating across stone. Rocks start tumbling around the entrance, each sending a shadow that breaks the light filtering through. Ash’s eyes widen and he takes a single hasty step forward, but it’s too late, we’ll never make it through the onslaught.

Eventually there’s just a tiny sliver of moonlight trickling in from the top of the slit and a new rockslide has covered our escape. We’ll be able to dig our way out if we have to, but it will be grueling and I doubt he’ll let me help.

The only sound in the darkened chamber is our heavy breathing. A familiar sensation of cool stone is against my back, the warmth of Asher’s body pressed to my chest, his fingers skimming across my jawline.

His eyes flash crimson, just like they did in my dreams, but never as intense and fiery. I lean into his hand as I lick my lips in anticipation, my spine arching. Asher’s mouth finds mine in the dark like it has so many times before. Growling, his forked tongue parts my lips and slips between them as I gasp, my arms wrapping around his shoulders.

“You are the only thing that makes sense,” he murmurs between kisses. “I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you.”

Tears prick my eyes and I run my fingers into his hair. “Well, I’m not going anywhere,” I whisper, kissing his temple as he holds me closer, inhaling deeply.

“I’m not sure I want to know if it’s still here, Lindy.” Asher says quietly, resting his forehead against mine.

This is not a greedy dragon worrying about his sparkly treasure pile. He needs me to encourage him, but I don’t know what to say. He’s not trapped in the sky anymore, but it’s far from over and I have no idea what to do next, let alone where we’ll end up. If he hadn’t wanted to come here, I’d be at a total loss. I didn’t think this far ahead, all I cared about was finding him.

“You have to know, Ash,” I say, squeezing his hand. “You’ll go crazy if you don’t.”

Nodding, he rests his hand on the small of my back and pulls me away from the wall, dipping me down for another kiss. Now his head is high again and his back is straight, but for a moment I got to see that confused boy that found me alone in those tunnels so long ago.

“It’s not far.” He blows upward, his breath igniting a torch on the wall. It flares, crumbling and falling from its ancient perch. Asher stares blankly at the light disappearing into a pile of red embers on the stone floor.

“At least I’m charged up enough to do this,” I say, trying to be cheerful as I hold out my hand. “Light.”

The rush of performing the simple spell makes me smile excitedly. The orb of magical brightness gets larger, hovering over my palm and illuminating Asher’s gorgeous face. He grins with me, stepping closer as I toss the ball of light into the air above our heads.

“You’ve been trying to do that for years,” he says, staring up at my creation and taking my hand.

“And now I can.” I stand up on my tip toes and kiss his cheek. “Because of you.”

We walk through the cavern in silence. Being in the dark with him is comforting in a way, but unnerving. This is the first time we’ve actually been together inside a cave. Magic can really mess with your head.

A wave of ancient power barrages my senses when we round a corner. Asher’s pace quickens but he doesn’t let my hand go, breathing faster and heavier as we approach the end of the tunnel.

“I can feel it,” I say.

“So can I. We just stepped through another enchantment,” he explains. “I didn’t think it would still be strong enough to keep it hidden, at least not from me.”

“How many layers of protection did you keep up?”

“At least a dozen,” he laughs.

I will the orb of light to go ahead of us, stopping it at the threshold. By the time we catch up to it, I can already see the shimmering, golden haze from its reflection off whatever treasures are in there.

Dropping my hand, Ash steps into the room tentatively as I stay in the doorway, unsure of the proper protocol for gaining permission to enter a dragon’s lair. At first my eyes are locked onto him, the tension in his shoulders, the shakiness in his hands as he bends down to retrieve a coin from the giant mound of wealth before him. But then I notice that this is just one of many mounds and I send my Light further into the massive chamber.

It’s jaw dropping. The cavern is gigantic, one of the largest I’ve ever seen. Hell, Ash might even be able to fly a tiny circle in here, it’s that huge. Nearly every square foot of the floor is covered with piles of gold, silver, and jewels. Coins, nuggets, jewelry, statues, even the odd solid gold dinner plate or silver bar.

I guess the legends were true. Not just the myths about Dragons and their lust for all things valuable and gleaming, but about the prosperity of the world before the First Great War. This is just one Dragon’s hoard. For Asher to have accumulated such a massive amount of wealth, there must have been quite a lot of it laying around unguarded.

He strides over to a mound near the back of the room, dropping down to one knee and plunging his arm inside up to his shoulder. When his hand emerges, it’s holding an ornate silver box. Ash slides his fingers across the carvings on the lid, but doesn’t open it, just stares down in hesitation. Eventually I can’t take waiting for a formal invitation anymore and approach him, carefully keeping my distance in case he’s angry or suddenly shifts.

“I took this from my mother,” he says softly. “Really, it was a gift. She left it out, sparkling in the sun to tempt me.”

“How old were you?”

“Ten. That’s about when it starts.”

“What?”

“The yearning. The stealing, though we had two different words for that. It’s not really like burglary, it’s more like a hunt. Most of this was lost, some from the hoards of fallen dragons, or long dead monarchs.”

“Asher, I don’t wonder about you being a thief.”

“But this box…” His eyes are closed as he flips open the lid. “It was made in my time. Commissioned by my father while he was courting my mother. I think they used to love each other back then. They certainly didn’t when she let me have this.”

He finally looks inside and his breath catches in his throat. I step up behind him and look over his shoulder. It’s a small painting. I recognize Ash right away even though he’s so little. The woman standing behind him with coal black eyes and a warm smile is probably his mother, and the little girl at his side must be his sister.

With a shaky breath, Ash slams the lid shut and lets the box drop to ground, landing on a pile of gold nuggets with a clink that echoes through the cavern. “They’re all gone,” he whispers. “Just…
gone
. Everyone. And I can’t shake the feeling that I should be gone, too. I know I should. My bones should be dust now, long forgotten, just like theirs. Another dragon heir, a grandson or granddaughter I never would have met should be sitting on the throne, ruling this new world. Not me. It’s not supposed to be me. Not now.”