Fire The Blood: Dragon Mage Series Book III (3 page)

"Asha."  Then
he smiled.

Asha jackknifed and
struggled against the blankets that held her down.  A voice and a warmth came
out of the darkness, unsettling her further so that she shoved herself back and
off the bed in a jumble, crab walking to slam her back against the wall.

"Asha, it's
Braedon.  You are not in danger.  Asha."

Finally, the voice
penetrated, and she blinked her vision clear until a blurry face went suddenly
sharp as her normal vision returned.  "Fire mage?" she asked her
voice shaky.

"Yes.  Are you
well?"

She laughed at the words
he meant to be soothing and banal.  When she could not laugh anymore, she
cried.  At one point she felt herself picked up and returned to the bed,
cradled for the second time that day against a naked fire mage.  When she had
finally settled, his heat soothing her all along her length and her head
resting on his heart where she could feel the strong thump of his life beating
time in the dark, he spoke.  Asha was just drifting off into exhaustion when
she heard him whisper.

"Is it necessary to
hold everything in until you burst,
every
time?"

Though she did not
answer, she thought about the question as she drifted off.  It was a better
focus, he was a better focus than the other things running like razors through
her head.  This time, even as she slept deep in the arms of a fire mage, the
warmth could not reach all her cold places.

He heard the creak of the
door and listened to the skitter of paws across the floor.  He could feel the
warmth of the sun against his back and the softness of Asha curled into his
chest.  Braedon opened his eyes and found his sword sitting propped against the
bed behind him by touch.  He pulled it slowly across the soft bundle in his
arms and prepared to fire up.  At least he could be sure the lady would not be
hurt; being a fire mage herself, she was impervious to fire.  He would make
sure that whatever was coming after them would not get near her.

Braedon heard more
skittering and some twittering that had his brow furrowing in confusion.  It
sounded like the furtive sounds of rabbits, but how could that be?  The
agitated whisper from the doorway answered his question.

"Rhune, you little
cretin, this isn't Melly's room anymore.  We can't hide in there!  Get out
before you wake up Lady Asha."

Hearing a small eep,
Braedon looked down and saw that Lady Asha was already awake.  Her eyes as
alert as his own when she had been peacefully slumbering only seconds ago.  She
relaxed marginally at the voice, just as he did.  Braedon could have enjoyed
the morning sun in her hair a whole lot more if the children would go away. 
Then it occurred to him how the two of them naked in her bed might be
construed; by the widening of her eyes, she must have had the same thought.  At
least they were fully covered when he caught movement and looked up to see a
long-haired rabbit balancing on the headboard above them.  Wide eyes twinkling
with an intelligence no rabbit could match he looked them over curiously.

Asha raised her own eyes
and gurgled a bit at the large hare watching them.  Then young Clare of the
titan hair and pretty green eyes stepped into the room on tiptoes and gasped at
what she found.

"Rhune!"  She
looked down at the bed and her eyes widened noticeably.  Caught barely covered
clutching the lady dragon, Braedon felt Asha choke beside him.  He looked down
to see she was actually struggling not to laugh.  He took in the horror on
Clare's face and the amazed, wide-eyed bunny stare above them and realized that
it was an interesting predicament, especially when Rhune transformed into his
boy self and goggled at them.

"Can I hold your
sword?"

Braedon blinked at the
boy while Asha, unable to contain herself, laughed at the innocent question
from the young mage.

"Rhune!" his
sister snapped.  "You are such a twit."

The boy puffed up in
affronted pride and nearly tumbled on top of them from his precarious perch. 
"Don't call me a twit! You're the one who wanted to hide from the
big
bad council
."

Braedon felt all the
humor leave the air as both he and Asha understood what they were saying.
"The Dragon Council is here?"  he asked, his voice rough from sleep.

"Only two of
them," Rhune said, as if that were insignificant.  "Clare thinks they
are here to take her to be claimed, but I heard they just wanted to see Lady
Asha."

"Then why,"
Braedon asked, narrowing his eyes at the child, "would you hide in her
room?"

He rolled his eyes. 
"Because Eben said no.  When Eben says no, it's no."

"Why?" Asha
asked, and then cleared her own rough throat.  "Why, would he say
no?"

"Because on account
of who they sent."  The child went on blithely, bouncing his heels loudly
against their headboard while he spoke.  "Melly showed up this morning
with the General and warned them that if Lord Rento..."

"Rendal," Clare
muttered, interrupting him.  Her hands were still on the door, and her eyes darted
from them to the hallway beyond her with occasional worried glances.

Rhune glared her way at
the interruption.  "If Lord Ren
dal
shows up, he is not to see Lady
Asha.  They should keep him out of her hair on account of the fact that if they
did speak, the lady would run."  His wide, guileless eyes landed on Asha
again.  "You don't like Lord Rendal either?"

She blinked and then
cleared her throat, shuffling her naked front a little closer to his chest,
which felt a little too good under the circumstances.  "I have never met
him."

"Well, don't
bother," Rhune said waving his hand dismissively.  "He's boring.  All
he does is stare at the girls and drool."  He turned taunting eyes to his
sister.  "He
really
likes Clare."

Clare gasped.  "He
does not!" she said, heatedly abandoning her post at the open door and
coming closer to the bed, her hands going to her hips.  "Stop saying
that!"  She turned shaking her head, her words earnest.  "He stares
at everyone, but he likes Riva best, not me."

As enlightening as this
all was, Braedon needed to get out of this bed and fast, especially if there
was a council member in Forsaken who was going to make Asha run, and liked his
sister
best
.  Asha must have had similar thoughts because she spoke
first.  "Would you both mind waiting in the hall a minute while we dress? 
After that, you are welcome to hide in here for as long as you want."

As Rhune jumped off the
headboard in a flying leap to the mattress, the door was pushed all the way
open. They all turned to see a strange golden haired dragon in the hallway. 
Rhune was still bouncing when a dragon who could only be Lord Rendal understood
what he was seeing: a mage in bed with the last of the dragon seer line. 

"What is the meaning
of this?" he roared.

Braedon could not miss
the way his amber eyes took in everything that could be seen of Lady Asha before
he turned scorching eyes his way.  They bled to dragon gold as Braedon
watched.  If he could have killed him with a look, he would have done it. 
Braedon relaxed back, careful to keep the lady covered while showing his
complete lack of deference for the situation.  Clare, he noted, was quick to
back herself out of the line of fire and into the far corner.

"That's what I would
like to know."  The dark voice came from the hallway behind the dragon,
and Braedon raised a brow as a very angry Eben Kinkaid stepped out of the
shadows, leaking his power all over everyone.  From the weight and heat of it,
the dragon executioner was greatly irked.

Braedon really wished he
had some pants.  Kinkaid’s eyes might be glued with intent on the council lord
but that could change at any moment.  Then he heard a female gasp come from
behind the large angry male, and Lady Morgan stepped into the light.  The same
green eyes as her sister, but without the red hair.  She shared her dark brown
locks with her brother Rhune.  With one major difference, even with her hair
swept back in a braid you could see the dragon shimmer her mating had given
her. 

"What in the world?" 
She looked at the children, Rhune still on the bed following his head first
flip off the headboard, then to Clare hovering in the corner.  Finally, Lady
Morgan turned to join her mate glaring at the council lord who was sputtering
some rubbish about dragon lines.  When more dragons joined her in the doorway
along with his sister and Lady Melisande, Asha actually grabbed the blanket and
pulled it over her head.  If only he could make them disappear so easily.

"Can everyone leave
so that the lady can at least dress?"  No one could hear him over the
bluster of the council lord.

"… not even…. taken
advantage of by some human under your care…"  The last they all heard well
enough though.  "Clearly I was right to come here and check on the lady. 
She is obviously not safe in your care, Lord Kinkaid, and I will be taking her
with me."

The silence roared after
that as everything seemed to stop.  Braedon felt his own fire building in the
tips of his fingers, the start of a full-out flame, but it was Lord Kinkaid who
blanketed the room with his ire.  His power was such that even the council lord
appeared to choke off whatever he was going to say next.  All eyes went to the
furious dragon who contained an avalanche of fury behind those gold dragon
eyes.

"Are you challenging
me?"  Had it been Braedon who was being addressed, the tone alone, even
without the weight of centuries behind, would have gotten the right response. 
Lord Rendal sputtered but raised his arrogant chin and tried to stare down
Kinkaid.  "When the safety and wellbeing of the last female child of the
dragon seer line is at stake, I am."

Braedon was so intent on
watching the council lord's coming evisceration that he missed the blankets
moving beside him on the bed.  Lady Asha, covered in nothing but that luscious
hair and his tunic, stood to her full height before the council lord and, well,
growled
.  "Call me a child again, dragon, and I will show you what
a female of the seer line is truly capable of."

"Enough of this
ridiculous dragon drama," Morgan finally said.  She motioned to her sister
with a wide sweeping arm for the dragons.  "Melly, if you please, your
wind is so much more effective than mine."

With a nod, Lady
Melisande stepped forward and to the side.  Wind began to play through her long
red hair and skirts first.  Her grass green eyes glowed and flashed mage green
as she raised her hands and sent a tsunami of wind through the room, catching
those she wished to catch and sweeping around the others.  With a flick of her
wrist, she sent the dragons careening out the door and into the hall, including
their esteemed guest.   More than one dragon roared his displeasure, but the
door stayed closed.  Morgan turned to take everyone else in.  "Clare and
Rhune, what are you doing in here?"

"Hiding," Rhune
said with a guilty look toward his oldest sister.

"And you thought
bothering our guest in her room was a good way of doing that?"

"It was my
fault," Clare said softly from the corner, garnering every eye.  "I
did not want the council lord to find me."

Morgan opened her mouth
and then snapped it closed.  "We can discuss it somewhere else; for now,
you and Rhune wait until we clear the hallway and then head for your own
rooms.  I assure you, no one will be going there."  Lady Melisande
collected both children and went to listen at the door.

Morgan turned her eyes to
Lady Asha, who was still noticeably fuming.  "On behalf of the entire
household, I apologize, Lady Asha.  I assure you, it will not happen
again."

With lips firmed in
displeasure, Asha acknowledged the apology with a nod.  Then Morgan turned to
Braedon.  "My Lord Huntsman, please put on some pants before you join us
in the war room. I have no doubt that my mate will be looking for you when he
finishes with that dragon."

Braedon sighed and gave
her his own nod.  That was what he had been afraid of.

"I, too, will be
coming to the war room as soon as I am dressed.  I have a few things to say to
anyone
who presumes to have a say in whom I invite to my bed." Lady Asha flounced
off to the high dungeon, unaware in her agitation that her eyes were glowing
with the heart of a flame.

"Whoa!" Rhune
whispered.  "She has the eyes of a Phoenix!"

But it was Melisande who
spoke aloud what they were all thinking.  "This is going to be
interesting."

***

The war room was packed.  Lord
Rendal had not come alone; he had three of the dragon knights as his escort. 
They were three knights that Braedon had never met before, distinguished by
their black leathers, numerous deadly weapons, and lack of clan signs.  The
three men all nodded respectfully to both Kinkaid and General Solan Fire-Eater.

The taller one with the
screaming red hair and black eyes shrugged his massive shoulders at the brow
his commander raised.  "He asked us to wait here.  We will wait
here."

Solan grunted and then looked
to his mate, who was bringing in a tray of something or other in the human
way.  He snorted at the disgusted grumble Kinkaid gave when he saw that she was
followed by Morgan carrying a tea service.  Morgan shot him a withering look
and then served her tea with a forced smile.  In any other situation, Braedon
might have laughed, but a farce like this had the makings of major trouble.  He
had not forgotten Melisande's warning that Asha would run if she talked to the
Council Lord. 

Braedon had no idea where
Prince Ladon was, but before he could ask, the Council Lord realized he was in
the room.  He locked his angry dragon eyes upon him.

"You."

"Me," he said
nonchalantly, resting back in the cushions of the couch with one arm wide
across the back while the other held his teacup.  He had to wince at the sound
his pants made when he settled.  Even dressed in borrowed leathers was better
than being naked, but he would have preferred his burnt huntsman gear to these
leather pants that needed wear to break them in.  He heard their creak with
every movement, and it put him at a disadvantage in a house full of hyper-aware
dragons.  "I don't think I know you, sir." 

He hoped the implied,
“and I don't care to,” was apparent in his tone.  He may not have already met
the dragon council member, but he knew he was the one who had replaced Lord
Graedon on the Council for the House of Earth.  He had heard nothing from
Prince Ladon that had impressed him, and the Prince’s sneaking around this
morning did not garner trust.  Even without all of that though, Braedon would
not have trusted the man.  Rhune was right; he was circumspect about it, but
every time one of the females crossed his path, his eyes lingered just a tad
bit too long.  And Clare said he liked Riva best?  No, he did not like the
glittery, golden, smarmy eyed council lord at all.