Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
Magnus caught her up in his arms before she tumbled to the ground.
Cradling her like the precious gift that she was, he turned to ensure that his brother hadn’t shapeshifted back into his natural state and frightened her.
Talon hadn’t. The dragon remained in the form of a mighty stallion.
The only hint of dragon traits was the tendrils of smoke curling up from the massive horse’s nostrils.
“We must get her to the fortress. Immediately.”
“Passage through the portal can be a dangerous thing.” Talon stomped while uneasily shifting from side to side. “She dropped like a rock. The Veil must have drained her.”
“I fear there may be more to this than the portal weakening her.” Tipping his nose higher in the air and slowly turning, Magnus took in the scents of their surroundings. Even in the steady, bone-chilling drizzle, he detected them—the stench of Kcirred's underlings. Evil lurked nearby. “Smell them?”
“Aye,” Talon said with a low, rumbling growl.
“I had hoped I was mistaken.” He shifted back to his dragon form.
“Come. We shall make better time and be safer among the clouds.” He crouched as low as he could.
“As long as she doesn’t awaken, she will remain unaware of dragonkind until ye are prepared to reveal all to her. ”
A raging protectiveness burned through Magnus.
He breathed in the enticing, floral scent that clung to the abundance of her tresses piled high upon her head and tightened his arms around her.
Mine pounded through his veins with every beat of his heart.
“We must ease her into this world. Lest we lose her before we even have her.”
Talon snorted. “So far, our attempt at easing has been poor. Swooning is not a promising sign.” He stretched out his wing, creating a stepping path of sorts up to his back. “Once we get to the fortress, at least we will know her safe from Kcirred and his ilk.”
Not wishing to lose precious time debating tactics, Magnus climbed onto the dragon’s back with Lyla in his arms and settled in place, locking the heels of his boots into the thick scales on either side of his brother’s broad shoulders. “Make haste. Her pallor strikes fear deep within me.”
“Hold fast, brother. I’ve thought to my Talia and alerted her. She awaits us in yer chambers with a cup of tears for healing the lady.”
Magnus wasn’t certain how they would get this rare woman to drink the tears whilst in her current state, but he’d sort that problem when the time came.
For the moment, he allowed himself to soak in the comfort of holding her close, wrapping her in his cloak to shield her as much as possible from the frigid air among the clouds.
Her skin gleamed with the milky whiteness of pearls freshly pulled from the sea.
Drenched by the rains, vicious shuddering shook her against his chest. She needed a stoked fire and a hearty dram to bring the blood back to her cheeks.
“Faster, Talon,” he thought to his brother. “Make haste, I beg ye.”
Talon shot across the skies, stretching out his great, broad wings to volley them through the clouds.
Kindred Fortress soon appeared in the distance, but the sight of it didn’t ease Magnus.
Nothing would ease him until he saw this lady safe and well.
Powerful emotions churned within him, creating an almost painful reaction to this wondrous being shivering in his embrace.
She had to be the one. The other two possibilities the Weavers had ushered through the portal and introduced to him had not affected him this way.
Not even close. The certainty hit him hard and fast that they must do whatever it took to convince Lyla Ibrams that the Thirteenth Realm was where she belonged.
But surely if the mate bond made him burn to protect her and keep her at his side, it would make her feel the same about him.
He prayed it would, since she held the power of choice.
She had to choose him willingly and choose to leave her world behind.
Talon gracefully landed on the widest rooftop of the center tower and immediately growled in his native tongue, “Oothfos alwed marin.”
“Camerae meae,” Magnus echoed, willing his magic to combine with his brother’s, transporting them to his chambers.
Within the blink of an eye, they found themselves in the center of his private solar.
Throwing a leg over Talon’s great neck, he vaulted to the floor, landing solidly without jostling the lady in his arms. “Out of my way!” he bellowed, charging into the bedchamber.
“Stoke the fires! Turn back the bed. Our lady is as cold as the ice mountains of the northernmost regions.”
“The tears, my chief.” Talia, Talon’s devoted mate for several Thirteenth Realm hectrooms held up the jeweled goblet as she hurried along beside him.
“Albionna, my maid, a selkie loyal to yerself and dragonkind, has agreed to serve this fine lady since she can easily assume the human form that would make the prophesied healer most comfortable. I shall oversee everything whilst in the form of a small feline.”
While Magnus appreciated Talia’s sacrifice of her maid and also her offer to watch over Lyla as what he assumed was a wee moggy, he’d worry about those details later.
What mattered now was getting this fragile twenty-first century woman warmed and well on her way to viewing the Thirteenth Realm in a way that wouldn’t make her swoon.
Besides, she had accepted Talon easily enough as a lizard.
He had no doubt she would accept Talia as a cat.
The true chore would be introducing her to dragonkind without causing her to demand an immediate return to her original plane of existence.
“Thank ye,” he said offhandedly, wishing his brother’s mate would be on her way.
He went down on one knee in front of the hearth and supported Lyla in the curve of his arm while peeling away her garment that had become stiff with icy shards as they flew through the clouds.
“As always, Talia, yer generosity and thoughtfulness serve as an example to all, but I shall stay at my lady’s side as long as she allows it. ”
A slightly smaller Scandinavian blue dragon than her mate, Talia bowed her mighty head. “Of course, my chief, but bear in mind that the lady will, at times, need assistance with tasks she might not wish ye to attend to. Tasks with which she will prefer another female’s help.”
Teeth clenched to keep from growling at his brother’s chosen one, Magnus thought to Talon, “It is time for yer Talia to leave, brother.” Nothing mattered but seeing to Lyla's comfort, and for now, that task belonged to Magnus alone.
“Talia.” From the doorway of the bedchamber, Talon cleared his throat and motioned for his mate to come away.
“Note the color of the air around Magnus. Unrest and worry fill my brother. He will let us know what he needs for the lady once he sees to her himself. Set the tears aside and leave Albionna to help if needed, ye ken?”
Talia snorted, clearly displeased.
Magnus didn’t care. The fragile woman in his arms was his only concern.
“Rest easy, my lady,” he whispered as he brushed a kiss across the cold smoothness of her pale forehead.
“Ye are safe here and ever will be.” He cast aside her icy white cloak, then removed her equally frozen slippers.
By the mighty Draig’s beard, flying her here might have been faster, but would riding across the land not have been a better choice to keep her from freezing?
How could he have been so thoughtless? “I was a damned fool,” he told her, willing her to hear him even though her eyes remained closed. “I swear it will not happen again.
“A warmed blanket, my chief.” Albionna tucked it around the entirely too still lady, then hurried to fill a copper pan with red, glowing embers from the hearth. “I shall soon have the bed as toasty as can be.”
“I shall warm the bed and her as well.” He might not be able to breathe fire as his dragon kindred did, but his body gave off the heat of an inferno.
His soul’s connection to that of a dragon’s had turned his blood to the molten liquid that sometimes spewed from the realm’s southernmost regions.
One of the women the Weavers had mistakenly brought to him had feared him for that very reason, swearing his flesh burned hot from some fever that would surely infect her.
He eased the shivering Lyla down into the bed, then shed his armor with a spell.
“Aufero.” Climbing in beside her, he curled her into his arms and pressed his heated flesh against her, almost groaning at the ecstasy that the feel of her cool skin evoked.
Lore a’mighty, what he wouldn’t give to keep this woman in his bed forever—and what he wouldn’t give to have her choose to share the gift of her passion with him.
She nuzzled her face to his throat and tucked herself tighter against his chest, seeking his warmth like a cold, orphaned hatchling adopted by a caring mother.
He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth, willing his cock to stand down and behave.
Now was not the time for such things. Sadly, his stubborn manparts didn’t listen.
He wanted this woman with a ferocity like no other.
It had to be the mate bond burning him to complete their union.
As ruler of the Thirteenth Realm, he also led this plane’s Defenders of the Highland Veil.
Many a tale had been told about the strength of the fated mate yearning.
He had scoffed at it. From now on, he would scoff at it no more. The yearning was fierce.
“I shall be in the alcove, weaving her wardrobe,” Albionna whispered as she added another blanket across the foot of the bed. “Summon me if aught is needed.”
The selkie maid hurried away without waiting for his dismissal, and he was glad. His mate would need a maid who knew what needed to be done and did it without waiting for instructions.