The Princess's Dragon (40 page)

“You’ve got a point there; I’ll worry about how you know that later,” Derek admitted. “They stand between us and the only exit. I can try to hack through them, but I suspect there are more after your lethal infiltration earlier. Plus, Onian has no doubt gathered his surviving men to cut us down if we manage to leave the building.”

“This foolish mortal forgets who he is dealing with,” Tolmac replied. He

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motioned to Derek, and the Warlord came and took Sondra, lifting her in his arms. He backed away from the other man, who promptly burst into flames, hotter than any fire Derek had ever felt, but not burning either him or the princess.

The next thing Derek saw was a massive black dragon cramped and crouching in the close confines of the basement. Flames jumped from its hide and engulfed the zombies. They didn’t stop advancing, but the fire rapidly burned their bodies to ash. Then the dragon raised his head, slamming it into the wooden ceiling and ripping an opening even as he grabbed up both the unconscious Sondra and Derek and sheltered them from the falling debris.

Once the ceiling to the upper floors opened, Tolmac lifted his body and pulled him and the two of them from the basement. His flames ignited one of the wooden walls and burned an opening. Tolmac grabbed Derek and Sondra and smashed free of the manor house. Guards poured from around the front of the building and drew to a halt when they caught sight of the immense black dragon straightening itself out of the manor like an adult crawling out of a dollhouse. The dragon spread his wings, sucked in a breath, and torched the guards as he lifted Sondra and Derek up into the air A flurry of arrows chased them as they rose into the dawning sky, and Derek spotted the wounded prince shouting in rage and struggling with his healer as he watched the three of them escape. His guards and his priests of death proved useless as they moved farther away. The manor, still engulfed by the flames, collapsed on itself and burned to the ground behind them.

Derek glanced at the princess lying unconscious in the dragon’s other claw.

They were free and safe, and he had a dragon, of all creatures, to thank for it. He touched his side again, wondering just what happened to the wound that should have killed him. Then he settled back in the dragon’s claw, finding it surprisingly comfortable, like a heated chair, and he sought some rest, determined to demand answers for all of his questions from both the princess and their unusual ally. He tried not to dwell on Sondra’s friendship with this dragon, choosing to let it rest for now, along with his body.

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CHAPTER 24

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They arrived back in the meadow outside Ariva castle that centernight. In the darkness, the black dragon’s concealing magic allowed his fl ight to remain undetected by the guards on the curtain wall. Sondra had regained consciousness several hours earlier, but the rush of wind made verbal communication impossible and Tolmac refused to respond to any of the thoughts Sondra sent his way. He deposited the two humans gently in the meadow and lifted back into the sky without pausing.

“Tolmac! Wait!” Sondra shouted after him, heartache in her voice, but the black dragon didn’t pause and soon disappeared in the darkness of the night sky. Sondra collapsed, and Derek rushed over and lifted her into his arms. He noted the tears spilling from her eyes and rolling down her cheeks.

“Don’t cry, Sondra. We are home now. I will take you back to the castle and send for a healer at once. Before you know it, your pain will be gone.” But her tears weren’t because of her physical pain, and both of them knew it.

Derek didn’t confront her with the many questions he had, but what she’d just said sparked his curiosity. “Tolmac? Is that the black dragon’s name? Like the fire god Tolmac?”

“You’ve heard of the fire god, you know his name?” Sondra’s surprise shook her from her despair momentarily.

“Well, I can’t say I know much about him or any of the other elemental gods, but the people of Vanguard worship the entire pantheon of six. They call them the AllGods, and in the capital city there is a temple to each of them.

Tolmac has an eternally burning brazier in his temple, but I always found it curious that, unlike the other temples, there were no statues, paintings, or 240

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images of the fire god, and it seemed that of the AllGods, the least was known about him—almost as if he didn’t care to be worshipped at all. So, is there any connection between the fire god and your dragon friend?” Derek asked. When no answer came, he glanced down to discover that Sondra had fallen asleep, exhausted by her ordeal.

Two cycles later, Derek entered Sondra’s chambers. Liliana moved to the far end of the room, granting them privacy but remaining as a necessary chaperone.

“How are you feeling?” Derek asked.

“Much better, though the healers are growing tired of treating me,” Sondra replied. In fact, she looked much improved since last he saw her, when he had carried her through the gates, and the frantic guards summoned the healer and alerted the entire royal family that they’d returned.

“Who knew the entire profit from the ginacite mine would go to furnishing bandages to the youngest princess,” Derek teased, but no smile crossed his handsome face.

Sondra summoned up a wan smile, feeling the weight of unanswered questions between them.

“Thank you, Derek, for coming for me.” Sondra fought back the tears welling in her eyes.

“Thank you, Sondra, for saving me, though you have yet to tell me how you did it. I know I should have died, and I know that I awoke from a dream of pain to find myself lying in your lap with my wound gone as if it’d never been.” He raised a hand as she opened her mouth to respond. “I don’t need to know how you did it, Sondra. It makes no difference to me what you can do, what miracles you can perform. I am most moved that you cared enough to heal me.”

“Of course I do, Derek. Why would you ever think differently?” Sondra protested.

Derek dropped to one knee before her, where she sat on her lounge chair.

He pulled both of her hands into his. “I love you, Sondra. I don’t doubt the strength of my feelings for you, and if you asked me to, I would travel to the ends of the world to be at your side. I want to marry you; I want to make a family and a home with you. I want to spend the remainder of my days at your side, protecting you. I know what I want, Sondra. I need to know what you want.”

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Sondra felt the tears she couldn’t will away roll down her cheeks as she looked into his earnest expression. He knew. He could sense her withdrawal.

He must have known when he came in here, and yet he’d laid his heart before her anyway, sacrificing his pride on one last hope.

“I don’t want to hurt you, Derek.”

He bowed his head and released her hands, pulling himself to his feet. He turned away and headed for the door.

“You already have, Sondra.” He started to open the door.

“Derek, wait. Please,” Sondra called out. He paused and she stared at his unyielding back, the muscles beneath his uniform coat bunched and tight.

“Derek, when you unintentionally wounded me on that battlefield, you pleaded my forgiveness, and I offered it freely, knowing that you never meant to hurt me. Now that I have wounded you, I beg that you forgive me, knowing that I care deeply for you, and your pain saddens me.” Derek remained silent for a moment and Sondra held her breath, her tears still falling silently.

“I am sorry, Princess. I cannot grant you the forgiveness you seek. I guess I am just not as noble as you. After all I am a common man with common blood.

I am not a nobleman … or a god.” He left the room, closing the door softly behind him without a backward glance.

“Oh, Derek,” Sondra burst into sobs, and Liliana ran over to soothe her mistress. Sondra knew she’d done the right thing. She couldn’t cheat Derek when she didn’t love him. He deserved a woman who wanted only him, and seeing Tolmac again reminded her of what it was like to have a soul mate.

Derek deserved true love too, not just a wife who had to deny her love for another just to get through each day. Still, she cared about Derek more than he would ever realize and his pain hurt her and amplified her own.

Derek appointed General Heinrich as the next Warlord since General Josef, who was content to spend his free time with his lovely young wife, declined the honor. He completed the paperwork that very day, and by sundeath he set out to travel to his new lands and officially take on his title as Duke of Arivale.

If the king wondered, when they held their final meeting, why Derek never mentioned his previous request for Sondra’s hand in marriage, he possessed the sense not to ask. The forbidding, cold expression on the former Warlord’s face discouraged any personal conversation. Derek rode off without stopping

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to bid farewell to anyone else besides the king, and Sondra didn’t find out he’d left until he was well beyond her reach.

The king received a messenger from Halidor the following day. The man explained that the Priest King himself had sent him with an offer of a peace treaty and an official apology for his son’s unsanctioned attack. It seemed that in his son’s absence from the Royal Palace, the Priest King’s health had improved dramatically; especially after his loyal servant met an unfortunate accident, and a new one began taking care of him. Now Halidor extended an invitation to exchange diplomats and the Priest King hoped that they could come to a mutually lucrative trade agreement.

Though the messenger did not mention it, informants later told the new Warlord that Prince Onian survived the battle at the manor house and escaped from his father’s guards. His current location was unknown, but the informants suspected that it wouldn’t be long before he launched a new bid for power.

That same cycle, the king summoned Sondra to his throne room. She dressed for the formal occasion and made her way down to the public rooms, her limp nearly gone after the healer’s excellent work. When she entered the chamber and saw its occupants, she cried out in shock.

Before the dais, standing next to the old wizard from the Woods stood none other than Tolmac, wearing the same human form he’d taken when he’d come to her rescue. He appeared just as at ease and inscrutable as he had then, but when his eyes met hers, she saw the red glow within blaze for just a moment.

She slowly approached the dais and her father’s throne, bobbing a curtsy to the king and the queen, and acknowledging the presence of her two sisters and brother, all of who sat with curious anticipation. She shook with nerves and the shock of seeing Tolmac again when she’d resigned herself to a life without him. The butterflies fluttered in her stomach and warmth spread through her body.

Tolmac’s eyes never left her; he ignored all else in the room in favor of the female he loved, regardless of what form she took. When she stood before the dais beside the old wizard, the king spoke.

“My daughter, this stranger comes to us with an outrageous request. If he didn’t have the support of the Wizard, we would have ordered him summarily ejected from this throne room. Still, he claims he knows you so we have called you forth for an explanation.”

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Sondra looked over at Tolmac, hope rising in her heart.

“What is his request, Father?” she asked.

“He asks for your hand in marriage. Of all the arrogant nerve, as if you are some baker’s daughter to be married off to the first wanderer to come through the door. She is a princess, man, what makes you worthy of her?” The king addressed Tolmac, who followed the conversation impassively.

The old wizard broke into a smile, vastly amused by the entire proceedings, but he held his silence as well. Sondra rushed to Tolmac, throwing her arms around him, ignoring her family’s cries of surprise, outrage, and Elona’s “Way to go.”

He lifted his arms to enfold her and held her tight, even as the king signaled the guards. They moved in but the wizard raised his staff, and they fell back.

“Your Highness. I assure you that you can make no greater alliance through marriage than this.” The wizard addressed the king as Tolmac and Sondra held each other, oblivious to the events around them.

“What do you mean, Wizard? Who is this man? We demand an explanation,” the king roared.

“You really wish to marry me?” Sondra asked into Tolmac’s shoulder. He still smelled of woodsmoke, hot metal, and himself, and she wanted to sink into his embrace, her heart bursting with joy.

“Marriage is not something dragons do, but I am told it is the way of humans, so I will do whatever it takes to be by your side, Sondra. If this form does not please you, you can choose another one for me. I will stay human like this forever if that is your wish.” He held her slightly away from him and gazed into her eyes, his own blazing red.

“You would do that, for me? You would trade your dragon form to remain with me?” Sondra couldn’t believe it; she struggled to accept such a wondrous and remarkable sacrifice.

“You asked me once if dragons feel love. What you humans call love is nothing compared to what I feel for you, little one. I have already given myself to you. There is no greater sacrifice than that. I need you; I need to be with you in whatever way I must.”

Sondra lifted her hands to his face, cautiously touching his cheeks. “Why did you leave me, before?”

“I believed you belonged to someone else, that you played some game with my affections when you already had a lover amongst the humans. I wanted to

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despise you for it, but I could not. When Ul—when the wizard told me you had been taken, I had to come find you. When I saw you again, I knew I had been fooling myself and that I could never live without you. So I asked the wizard to help me approach your father and do whatever it was you humans do to join my life to yours. I didn’t know if you would choose me over your warrior human, but I had to try.”