Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
The haunted look on Merrill’s face was one Katla would never forget, no matter how long she lived. She wished she could take back the question, but she had already given voice to the words.
“ A dragon mating is never done lightly.” Merrill’s voice was soft, low with a thread of anguish. “ Once a pair is mated, they are bound. Body and soul. Through life and death. When one dies, the other is taken.”
When he said bound, he meant bound . Her thoughts immediately wondered if she had taken a dragon’s mate from someone. And she knew what the answer was. It nearly ripped her in two. That meant she hadn’t killed one dragon. She had killed two. The world tilted. Her knees wobbled, threatening to drop her to the ground.
As she was spiraling, Merrill’s voice pulled her back to the present. “ Finding a mate isna always easy. On Earth , our dragons remained in clans, based on color. We didna mix. No ’ like the dragons do here. It was always debated and considered, but there was so much pushback on it that it never happened. And there were many who never found mates because of it.”
Katla wanted to know if Merrill had someone in his life. She suspected she was about to find out.
“ Dragon Kings are difficult to kill. On our world, only another Dragon King can kill a King , be they already crowned or ones the magic has tapped for the position. The Pinks are the smallest of the dragons, and the ones the humans singled out to hunt.”
She tried to hide her wince as she thought about all the Pinks she had lured into the bramble forest.
“ Their numbers diminished quickly. Their King rallied his clan and fought back, but it did little good. Then the real war erupted. We were divided at first, and it was during that initial skirmish that the King of Pinks was slain by another King . The other two Kings …perished when we chose different sides for a short time.”
“ Why didn’t the Kings go with their families?”
Merrill’s lips compressed into a thin line as he sighed. “ It is a King’s duty to safeguard Earth . We all wanted to go with our clans, but we couldna leave.”
“ You have now.”
“ No ’ all of us. Those who are mated remained behind to guard Earth .”
Katla licked her lips as she glanced at him. “ What of the rest of you? Will you stay on Zora ?”
“ I doona know.”
She had been afraid that would be his answer. “ The mates on Earth aren’t dragons, are they?”
“ They are no’. Those Kings found their spouses in humans, Druids , Fae , and others with magic.”
“ Humans ?” she repeated.
Merrill looked at her. “ That surprises you?”
“ It does, considering you keep yourselves secret on your world.”
“ I suppose it is surprising. Every mate at Dreagan earned the right to stand beside us. They carry our secret, just as we do.”
Katla turned her face into the collar of her coat when a gust of wind zipped past her. Her nose was frozen, and one side of it was clogged, making it difficult to breathe. It had been so long since she’d felt a change of weather. “ Since there are no dragons on Earth , does that mean you’ll remain Kings forever?”
“ Possibly .”
“ That makes you nearly immortal. And if the mates are bound to the Kings , then they’re immortal, too.”
Merrill brushed a lock of hair from his face. “ In theory. But you need to remember, the dragons here doona need Kings . Eurwen and Brandr , who are half dragon and half Fae , rule over them. If the current Kings are killed, there willna be anyone to replace us.”
“ The Kings aren’t fighting each other, so that isn’t an issue.”
“ No ’ quite. The Star People can take a King’s life.”
If Katla believed Merrill , she had Star magic. Which meant she might be able to kill him. She was horrified and took a step away from him.
He raised a brow in question. “ What is it?”
“ You knew I might be able to hurt you, and you still pushed me to lose control of my magic?”
Merrill dipped his head. “ Guilty .”
“ Why would you do that?” she demanded angrily.
“ I knew you wouldna harm me.”
“ I don’t want to take that chance.” Then it hit her. “ Why would you dare go up against Villette and Miena if they can kill you?”
“ Because they must be stopped. And I wasna alone. Dragons can kill hellhounds. And yet, Kora is Derek’s mate. Lotti is a Star Person and mated to Alasdair .”
Katla drew in a deep breath. “ You’re unbelievable.”
“ How so?”
“ Those are mated couples.”
Merrill halted. She went two steps past him before realizing he had stopped. She paused and whirled to face him, her hands clenched as anger sizzled through her.
His dark blue eyes were steady as they met hers. “ Say what you’re holding back.”
With those words, the dam burst. “ How dare you put your life in my hands, knowing I might be able to kill you? You know what I’ve done and what I’m desperately trying to make up for. You know the uncontrollable rage within me. Why would you do that to me?”
“ As I said, I knew you wouldna harm me.”
She was a riot of emotions. Her magic whipped through her, demanding to be released. She curled her hands into fists in her pockets, trying to keep it contained. “ And if I had? Do you know what that would’ve done to me? Look at me now! I barely have control of my magic.”
“ You’re aware of your magic and emotions. You’re deciding when to unleash your power. You did it last night, and you’re doing it now.”
“ Don’t tempt me to prove you wrong,” she bit out. Yet he spoke the truth. She had recognized her emotions a heartbeat before her magic welled. His instruction had given her the capacity to use that single beat to decide whether to release her power or not.
Merrill stepped toward her, his gaze piercing as he held hers. “ You see yourself as tainted, corrupted. Unworthy , even. That isna what I see when I look at you.”
Her anger vanished like smoke, leaving her waiting with bated breath for him to finish. “ What do you see?”
“ An exquisitely beautiful Druid . A woman with untapped power, who has yet to comprehend her full potential.”
He thought her exquisitely beautiful? No one had ever said such words to her. She couldn’t catch her breath. Her stomach fluttered as she found herself leaning toward him. Her eyes dropped to his mouth. Just then, she saw something beyond his shoulder. She searched for it again, her eyes scanning the area behind him as she moved up beside him.
“ What is it?” he whispered.
“ I saw something. I’m sure of it.”
He turned around to look with her. “ I believe you. Can you describe it?”
“ It was fleeting.” Katla sighed and sniffed as she shook her head. “ It was probably a bird.”
“ Probably .”
But his voice held doubt. Merrill had been on edge all day but was even more uneasy now. So was she. Could she have seen the entity? She wished she could be sure, but she had been too engrossed in thoughts of kisses to know what flashed out of the corner of her eye.
They turned together in silence and continued walking. His head moved from side to side as he scanned the area around them. Even looking back every few steps. Katla was jumpy, too. No matter how hard they looked, neither saw anything again. That should have reassured them, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on Merrill .
In two hours, they reached the edge of the forest. Katla had thought that would ease some of Merrill’s tension, but it didn’t. Instead of continuing south, he suddenly turned them west toward the mountains.
“ I doona want us out in the open at dusk,” he explained when she looked at him. “ We’ll find shelter.”
Katla had to admit she wouldn’t mind getting out of the weather. It didn’t seem to matter how far they walked, the cold clung to her. She could no longer feel her toes. She kept thinking about the hot bath she’d soaked in the previous night. It had eased her tight muscles. Right now, she’d love its warming properties.
Merrill’s strides lengthened as he ate up the ground. She fought to stay with him. A couple of times, he realized he had gotten ahead and slowed. His impatience to reach the mountains also consumed her. Every movement she saw out of the corner of her eye made her jump. Most were falling leaves. A few were birds. Others , she wasn’t sure about. Those might just be her imagination playing tricks on her. She couldn’t be sure.
“ There ,” he murmured when they reached the mountains.
Katla looked up but didn’t see where he was pointing to in time. All she saw was a wall of rock rising above her. There wasn’t time to get a good look at it as she concentrated on following Merrill up the incline. He moved with an agility that startled her. And there was no way for her to keep up.
He went ahead and then stopped and turned to survey their surroundings until she reached him. He stared into the distance behind her for a heartbeat, then scurried up the mountainside to repeat the process a second time. When she caught up with him next, he led her into the opening of a cave.
The wind stopped battering her the moment she stepped inside. Only then did she grasp the complete absence of light. There was a flare of it as a fire erupted about ten feet from her. Merrill stood next to it, motioning her forward. She eagerly went to the waiting warmth, holding her hands to the flames.
“ I’m glad to be out of the weather,” she told him.
Merrill glanced at her before returning his gaze to the entrance. “ I’m going to have a look around.”
“ So , if it is the entity, it can attack you without me to help? Is that smart?”
He blew out a breath.
“ You said it can’t go through walls. If there’s an attack, it has to come straight at us.”
Merrill twisted his lips. “ If it does come, we’ll have nowhere to go.”
“ Neither will it.”
“ A quick look,” he said before striding out.
Katla watched him leave before sinking onto the cold stone ground. She smothered a yawn and propped her feet out toward the flames. She curled her toes inside her boots, trying to get some feeling back in them, but even that small movement hurt. She was settling back against the wall when Merrill returned.
“ I didna see anything,” he said.
He hadn’t returned empty-handed, though. Merrill had a skinned ritbit in hand. He placed it over the fire to cook and added some seasoning before sitting beside her.
“ What do you call that animal?” he asked.
“ A ritbit.”
“ We call them rabbits.”
She yawned again.
“ Here ,” he said, scooting closer as he patted his shoulder.
Katla leaned her head against him and closed her eyes. It felt good to lean against him. His warmth enveloped her. Her thoughts were drifting, jumping from one thing to another, when she suddenly sensed the tension in him. She had been so eager to touch him again that she hadn’t paid attention before.
She lifted her head and asked, “ What aren’t you telling me?”
“ I can no’ shake the sense we’re being followed.”
“ By humans?”
He turned his face to the flames. “ I didna find tracks.”
“ Entity or Villette ?”
“ Could be either.”
Katla considered both options. “ If this invisible foe attacks whenever it comes upon a dragon, my guess is its Villette .”
Merrill’s lips twisted as he lifted a shoulder in a shrug. “ What would keep her from attacking? Nothing . And that’s the problem. Neither option makes sense.”
“ Then maybe it’s neither. It could be something else. If it hasn’t hurt us. Maybe it doesn’t mean any harm.”
“ Maybe ,” he replied unconvincingly.