CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Lukendevener
The next morning, we return to our routine of research in the library. Skye sits beside me in the reading room, nibbling on her lower lip as she skims through a book. When her hand pats at the table, groping for a treat, I nudge the little packet of the sweet-hot candies closer.
She slips one between her candy-pink lips, and I bite back a groan and toss several of the sweets into my mouth, crunching down so their flavor explodes across my tongue.
I now carry a stash of Skye’s favorite treat in my storage pocket.
If anyone questions my actions, I’ll protest I only do it to aid her research endeavors, but it’s a half-truth.
I like them as well. They remind me of her sweet and spicy taste.
I’ve been a researcher for centuries, yet never have I found it so hard to focus as now.
Her little sighs, her floral scent spiked with a touch of cinnamon, the brush of her soft skin as our fingers tangle when I hand her a book.
Everything about her is designed purely to torment me, to remind me of our encounter, of sinking into her soft curves and heat.
As I reach for another book, a ripple of magic shivers through the castle, setting the wisteria swaying. Someone approaches, a being of great magic.
Skye gives a soft gasp. “What was that?”
“Company.” I shove from the table and stride for the door, Skye at my side.
Princess Buttercup bolts from her favorite cat bed, hidden under low boughs of wisteria. She prances down the hallway in front of us, her bushy tail high. “Company? They totally need to meet me. I’m the best part!”
I snort in amusement, picturing our visitor’s face when confronted with the tiny feline.
Another wave of magic rolls over us as we reach the front door. When I throw it open, a strong wind blasts my hair back, and Skye makes a muffled squeak, clutching at her arms. Right, the cold. I stoke my fire magic higher and encapsulate her in a bubble of warm air.
The courtyard dims, cast into shade as a dragon eclipses the sun. Two more great wing beats gust wintry air over us, and Princess Buttercup runs over to Skye with a happy cry, “Hey, you’re warm! I didn’t know you had that kind of magic.”
“It’s not me,” Skye says. “Luke’s doing it.”
“I knew we kept him around for a reason.”
Then there’s no more time for banter, because an ice-blue dragon lands on the castle bailey with a thump that shakes the ground.
His wings point upward for several seconds, spread like sails as tall as a tower, before he accordions them onto his back.
A massive horned head swings in our direction, cocked to spear us with one vertical-pupilled eye. “Lukendevener. You summoned me?”
“You’re on Earth now, Jacenrevener. You need to shift.” I bare my fangs. “My message said as much.”
“It did.” He dips his head without offering any further explanation as to why he ignored my advice.
Yet I know. He wanted to make an entrance, to let everyone here see how powerful he is.
As one of the few ice dragons in Alarria, he’s always been somewhat of an outcast. It’s one of the things that drew us together.
My inability to shift fully might not have had a physical manifestation while the doors of Faerie were closed, but other dragons can sense it, can feel that something’s broken within me.
The only ones who’ve never cared are younglings, since their magic isn’t strong enough to detect the flaw. Adults find me difficult to be around.
The feline familiar prances up to him. “I’m Princess Buttercup!”
“She wants you to know her name is Princess Buttercup,” I growl, since he doesn’t carry one of my new translation crystals.
“Royalty.” Jacenrevener lowers his head to see her better. “I’m honored.”
“You should be.” Her nose extends forward so she can sniff at one of his talons, the claw as long as she is. If his great size daunts her, it doesn’t show. She appears as self-assured as always. “You don’t smell smoky.”
I answer for him. “That’s because he’s an ice dragon, whereas I’m a fire dragon.”
“Oh.” Skye’s eyes go wide as they bounce back and forth between the two of us. “Are you two going to battle it out all Game of Thrones style?”
“Of course not.” A frown pinches my brow. I have no idea what she refers to, but I didn’t call him here for a fight. “Jacenrevener is my friend.”
“Is that what we are?” His voice sounds cool and distant, but the twitch of his tail gives him away. He’s not as disinterested in my answer as he tries to appear, and I understand his reaction all too well. Centuries of being treated with cool disdain by the other dragons has made both of us wary.
I’m ready to change that. I thought I came to Earth for new research opportunities, but I now realize I also wanted a new start away from the dragons who think less of me.
If I’m going to have this new life, I need to be more open to people.
Skye’s shown me that. I’ll never match her inherent warmth and kindness, which are as boundless as the open sky, but I can be better.
“It is.” I give a firm nod. “You’re my friend.” There, I’ve said it. He can make of it what he will.
Instead of answering, Jacenrevener sends a pulse of magic barreling outward. It leaves him in his dual form. He has light skin and ice-blue eyes, his facial features as sharp as any fae’s. Silver horns spiral upward out of long hair the same blue as his wings and tail.
And his cocks hang free for all to see.
“Why are there two?” Princess Buttercup asks, looking as if she’s about to rear up and swat at his dangling appendages.
Skye makes a strangled sound, her knuckles jammed into her mouth.
“Am I not supposed to look like this?” Jacenrevener asks. With another pulse of magic, my friend does what I cannot. He shifts into his fae form, the horns, wings, tail, and claws disappearing, along with his upper cock. He looks fully human but for his fangs and pointed ears.
This is what I can never be. This is what I can never offer Skye.
The avid curiosity in her gaze as she takes in his fae form hits me like a punch to the gut.
My magic rises within me, my internal fire roaring higher as my body fights to shift, to become what she likes, to match the man she made love to so vigorously while we were inside the book.
Yet exactly as it has done for centuries, my power slams into a wall of broken mirror, getting caught in the cracks instead of being able to complete the shift.
My magic burns away, leaving behind the same weredragon form I started as. I have failed yet again.
I can never be what she wants.
“Take whichever form you like,” I snap, all of my frustration pouring out of me. “Only clothe yourself. Humans don’t go around naked.”
Jacenrevener reaches into his storage pocket and pulls out a set of clothes.
He yanks dark-blue velvet breeches over his hips and shrugs into a linen shirt topped by a brocade light-blue waistcoat and a long dark-blue frock coat embroidered with silver.
White hose and leather shoes complete the look.
“Fudging fudgesicles,” Skye whispers. “It’s just like Outlander!”
“What’s Outlander?” he asks, plopping a tricorn hat onto his head. I’d forgotten about those.
“A time-travel romance book and TV series,” she says.
“That clarified nothing.” My friend looks at me, cocking an eyebrow in query.
I don’t know what this Outlander is either, but if it’s made this much of an impression on her, I’ll add it to my secret reading list.
For now, I cut to the meat of the matter. “It means you’re three-hundred years out of date. You need new clothes.”
“You wanted me for my magic, and it works no matter what I wear.” He shrugs, his shoulders moving freely without wings. In fact, his entire body moves with a lightness I can barely remember from all those centuries ago.
“What are you here to do?” Skye asks.
“Is it chicken?” Princess Buttercup weaves around his legs, leaving a stripe of black and orange hair across his white hose. “Please tell me you can make chicken appear.”
The pretty witch chuckles and translates, and Jacenrevener laughs with her. “Sorry, little one. No chicken.”
“Humph.” The cat stops circling his legs and plonks down on a sun-warmed stone. One hind leg reaches for the sky, toes spread, and she starts to bathe herself.
“We should go before she starts licking her girl parts,” Skye says.
“You didn’t complain that time stinky guy licked your girl parts.” Princess Buttercup stares at her owner. “So why is it horrible if I take a bath?”
Skye makes a high sound, like a teakettle beginning to boil, and turns dark pink.
“What did she say?” Jacenrevener asks.
The little witch turns to me, shaking her head, cornflower eyes beseeching.
“Nothing,” I tell the other dragon, then lean over to whisper in her ear, “Who is this odoriferous male?” And what do I need to do to make sure he never touches a single hair on Skye’s head, let alone gets to bury his head between her sweet thighs?
“He…” Her voice catches, and she swallows and starts again. “He was just a date from a few years ago. He wore too much cologne and didn’t close his mouth when he chewed.”
“He wasn’t very nice to her,” the cat says. “I didn’t like him.”
Skye turns even redder, her face crumpling into a look of shame.
“No, none of that.” I tip up her chin. “His actions speak only of his own character and have no reflection on you.”
“Exactly.” Princess Buttercup rolls up to standing and trots over to strop across my shins. “That’s why I peed in his shoes.”
A chuckle rumbles out of me, the cat’s words catching me by surprise.
Skye lets out a startled giggle, her eyes going wide as she stares at me. “Do that again.”
“What?”
“Laugh,” she says.
“Yes, please do it again,” Jacenrevener says dryly. “Or perhaps you could introduce me to your lovely companion and tell me why you asked me to travel across two realms to be here?”
“Skye, this is Jacenrevener, an ice dragon.” I pivot and gesture toward the pretty little witch. “Jacenrevener, this is Skye, a book witch with unusual powers.”
“Ice dragon? What does that mean?”
“Ice dragon, snow dragon, water dragon, we’re called many things.
” He gives that casual shrug again, his smile careful not to show even the smallest flash of fang.
Here’s the true purpose of a dragon’s fae form.
While I cannot leave Ferndale Falls and its protection spell, Jacenrevener could easily travel the Earth, blending in with the humans.
“Instead of fire, we control water in all its forms.”
“And you’re here…?”
“It’s a surprise,” I cut in before he can answer, ushering her through the castle door. I give a little push against her lower back, tipping my head toward the other end of the hall. “Why don’t you return to your research, and I’ll find you in the library when the surprise is ready.”
“So it’s a surprise for me?”
“Of course.” I frown. Who else would it be for?
Her smile is the radiant sun emerging from behind clouds, warming my chest. “I love surprises.” With a happy wave at Jacenrevener and a “good to meet you,” she heads off down the hallway, Princess Buttercup trotting at her side.
“Nice trophies.” Jacenrevener tips his head toward the suits of armor, then turns to face me, a knowing look in his eyes. “Nicer woman.”
“Don’t you start,” I growl and stomp back outside. “Now come on. I want this to be ready for her as I promised.”
If I’m lucky, I’ll earn another of those sunshine smiles.