Chapter 8
Wynn watched Azh stomp across the room, only to spin around and stomp back.
In the dingy light she could see the shimmer of invisible wings tucked against his back and sense the tail whipping from side to side.
He was still in human form but his inner dragon was venting its annoyance as they continued to come up with more questions than answers.
Wynn was equally annoyed.
If he was right and she did have dragon magic inside her, then why wasn’t it helping her?
As far as she was concerned it’d done nothing but cause her trouble.
And if it was somehow related to the creepy green sludge, then it only made her more desperate to discover how and when she’d absorbed the stupid stuff.
“I just want it to go away.”
Azh abruptly halted at her muttered complaint, turning to face her. “Maybe I can help.” With cautious steps he moved to stand directly in front of her, lifting his hand as he held her wary gaze. “May I?”
She stiffened. “What are you going to do?”
“I want to try and identify the magic.”
“How?”
“I need to peer into your mind.”
Wynn hesitated. “The last time someone peered into my mind they ended up trapped by the evil magic.”
“I’m not going to enter your thoughts,” he assured her. “I’m concentrating on the dragon magic. It’s possible I can determine how you managed to absorb it.”
Wynn remained tense, but she gave a slow nod of her head. “Go ahead.”
His fingers traced the line of her jaw before brushing down her throat and lingering over the racing beat of her heart.
Wynn hissed as the heat from his fingers spread through her, warming places that had no business being warm.
At least not when she was trying to figure out why her life had turned into a shitshow.
The gray eyes swirled with a smoky concern. “Am I hurting you?”
“No. Just...” She cleared the lump from her throat. “Just hurry.”
His nostrils flared as if he’d caught the scent of her arousal. “Some things shouldn’t be rushed,” he murmured in soft tones.
“Argh.” She glared at him. “Are you going to look for the magic or not?”
“Hold still.”
Wynn shivered as his presence scoured through her. The blazing heat of his power was gloriously addictive. Like bathing in the summer rays of the sun.
“There,” he at last announced in fiercely satisfied tones. “I found it.”
Wynn was genuinely surprised. She knew that she imagined the magic as separate strands of power, but she didn’t realize someone else could actually see them.
“Seriously?” She went from surprised to shocked as the magic began to flow out of her, the threads of shimmering color spreading through the shadowed room. “What’s happening?”
“Dazzling,” Azh rasped, turning to study the delicate filaments that swirled together, forming a complicated pattern before unraveling and forming a new pattern.
“The red strand.” Wynn pointed toward the thickest strand that pulsed with a crimson glow. “That’s the magic I can’t control. Is it dragon?”
He edged toward the magic. “I don’t recognize it.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Yes.”
Wynn flinched. There hadn’t been a second of hesitation. “Great.”
“There’s something about it...”
Azh stretched out his arm and Wynn sucked in a sharp breath. “What are you doing?”
“Trying to release it.”
“Stop,” she commanded, fear darting through her. Not for herself but for the aggravating male who seemed to think he was impervious to danger. “You don’t know what it’s going to do.”
He glanced back, his expression somber. “Do you want to get rid of it or not?”
Wynn hesitated before giving a reluctant nod of her head. “Fine. But...be careful.”
Bracing herself, Wynn watched as Azh allowed his fingers to graze against the crimson strand.
She somehow expected to feel the light touch.
As if he were reaching inside her to stroke the magic.
Instead, the swirling spiderweb of colors seemed to be separate from her.
A good thing, as the crimson strand abruptly sizzled with power.
“Azh. Watch out!” she rasped, watching in horror as the blast of glowing magic headed directly toward the male.
Azh lifted his hand, flames dancing around him in a protective barrier. Wynn could see the sudden shimmer of a bluish silver coating his skin. It looked almost like scales. Impressive. But was it enough?
The mysterious power washed over him like a tidal wave, but it didn’t look like it was attempting to penetrate the flames. In fact, it swept past him and disappeared in a puff of smoke.
It wasn’t until Wynn heard something hit the floor that she realized that the magic had pierced Azh’s shield.
With a frown, her gaze dropped to the heavy book that had appeared from seemingly nowhere.
It looked like the same book that Azh had been showing her earlier.
She assumed he must have kept it hidden beneath a weave of illusion.
“What’s happening?” she demanded.
“I don’t know.” He allowed the flames to vanish as he glanced down. He made a choked sound of surprise. “Wait. Look. It broke the seal.”
Wynn cautiously moved forward. The book had opened when it hit the nasty carpet, revealing the pages covered with elaborate illustrations.
“What seal?”
Azh squatted down, touching the picture of a dragon in flight with reverent care. “This part of the book has always been protected by Gabriela’s magic. I’ve never been able to see what was on the pages.”
“Then the magic is dragon,” Wynn breathed, not sure whether to be glad she’d discovered the truth or terrified it was inside her.
Azh continued to study the book. “It’s more than that. Only Gabriela or her magic could have broken through that seal.”
“I thought she was dead?”
“She is. But the power you absorbed must belong to her.” He glanced over his shoulder, his eyes a misty shade of gray. “That’s why you feel so familiar. I’ve spent centuries searching for every scrap of information that survived the journey to this world.”
Wynn flinched at the sharp burst of anger that exploded in the center of her heart.
It shouldn’t matter that his intense obsession had nothing to do with her and everything to do with some stupid magic from a female who’d died eons ago.
It wasn’t like she wanted him chasing after her, right?
Once she’d gotten rid of the curse, then she was returning to her normal life and Azh could.
..well, go back to his damned lair where he belonged.
“Great.” She sniffed, tilting her chin to a defensive angle. “Then you can get her out of me and the two of you can disappear back into hibernation where I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.”
The smoky eyes swirled with an emotion she couldn’t read. “Are you jealous, Wynn?”
Yes. Yes, she definitely was. And it was pissing her off.
“I’m confused, exhausted, and angry,” she hedged. “I want to be done with this. Can you get rid of it or not?”
He studied her for a long moment before returning his attention to the book. Then, with a wave of his hand, he lifted the illustrations from the page, allowing the image to coalesce in the middle of the room. Like a 3D model floating in midair.
Wynn dismissed her embarrassing stab of jealousy, stepping forward to watch the image of massive dragons soaring through an impossibly blue sky. She blinked in surprise as they swooped over towering mountains, realizing that there were two suns on the horizon.
“This must be an image of Kazak,” Azh said, slowly walking around the edge of the illusion.
“Your homeland?”
“Yes.” He sent her a quick glance. “If the statue came from there it would explain why I don’t fully recognize the magic.”
Wynn refused to contemplate the implications of having an alien magic inside her. Instead she concentrated on the dragons as they soared past the mountains and over a brilliant blue ocean.
“It looks like paradise.”
“Our ancient histories claim it was a land of plenty where creatures lived in peace,” Azh agreed.
Wynn snorted. She was willing to admit the landscape was enchanting, but she’d studied enough history to understand that there were always winners and losers in any society, and that those who succeeded were often the ones climbing on the backs of the less fortunate.
“Histories are written by those in power,” she reminded him. “They rarely notice the creatures who don’t have plenty or the ones being brutalized by those who claim it’s in the name of peace.”
Something that might be approval flared through Azh’s eyes, as if he were pleased she’d bothered to read a book. Wynn clenched her teeth. She should be annoyed by the condescending ass. Instead a warm satisfaction settled in the center of her soul.
“You won’t get any argument from me,” he assured her. “The stories were written by dragons who were looking back to long-ago days. Their nostalgia no doubt added a rosy glow.”
Wynn sniffed, determinedly kept her attention locked on the illusion as one of the largest dragons arrowed downward, landing on a sandy beach. Her heart missed a beat as she realized it was the silver dragon. The one that Azh claimed was Gabriela.
The massive creature barely touched the white sand before it was surrounded by a thick cloud of smoke.
Seconds later, the mist cleared to reveal the creature’s human form.
She was tall and muscular with long silver hair and eyes that smoldered with crimson flames.
Wynn couldn’t see any clothing, but her skin shimmered with the lustrous beauty of a pearl as if she were coated in a thin layer of scales.
There was also a silver crown perched on top of her head.
“Gabriela,” Azh whispered in awe.
Wynn sternly ignored her prick of annoyance at Azh’s obvious obsession with the dead queen.
Or at least she tried to, even when the jerk stepped closer to the illusion to watch as Gabriela crossed the beach and climbed a wide staircase that she created out of layers of mist. Up and up she went, clouds beginning to form in the blue sky to surround her.