Smitten (36 page)

“Those days are gone! I am ashamed of my own people, who let the humans rule them and hide behind the shifters like scared little lambs. We are dragons! They should be cowering beneath us!” He charged forward at Max only to turn at the last moment and crash into Saul instead. The younger dragon braced as best he could for the impact but his father was larger and stronger. Saul toppled to the ground.

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Max twisted to face Fafnir while Chloe screamed and raced for her husband. Saul struggled to get to his feet as he fended off Fafnir’s slashing attacks.

Then, in an instant, the crazed animosity in Fafnir’s face vanished, replaced by horrified agitation. The large dragon leapt backward away from his son, and stared at his own bloodied claws.

“What have I done?”

“Fafnir…?” Max edged closer, putting himself between his old friend and his new family.

Fafnir’s eyes darted from his blood-smeared talons to Max’s face, his features brimming over with anguish. “Belenos, while I am still myself — while I can speak these words to you — put me back to rest. Kill me.”

Max raised his claws, but like Saul, he couldn’t bring himself to use them. When it came to the moment of truth, he’d failed. “I can’t. Fafnir, I can’t,” he whispered.

“You must.”

“You’re my friend!” Max cried in anguish. He blinked his stinging eyes rapidly.

“Then I’ll do it! One of us has to put him to rest, Max!” Chloe called. “He’s suffered enough!”

“She is right,” Fafnir rumbled. “What little remains of the dragon Fafnir will soon be gone. What stands before you is a twisted shadow of the creature you both loved. Mahuika no longer holds the stone binding my spirit, but soon she will possess it again with her vile influence. You must release me.” His eyes darted to Saul, filled with sorrow. “Your cub is beautiful, my son. You put me to shame.”

“Father… I thought… we could do this, but we can’t. Forgive us.”

“I can’t kill you, my friend,” Max agreed mournfully.

“No one will have to do it,” Watatsumi announced from their rear.

They turned to see Ēostre and Watatsumi emerging from an open portal, singed, limping, and bloodied. Watatsumi grimaced with every step, but he held his head high, a gleaming, vibrant ruby in his clenched claw. The light shone from it in slow and rhythmic, radiant pulses. Beside the water dragon, Ēostre’s determined stride occasionally hitched. Max hurried to her.

“You’re hurt.”

“No more than you are,” she assured him.

“Chloe, we will need your sword,” Watatsumi called over. “Mahuika no longer draws breath, but time is short. If you have goodbyes, I would say them now.”

Fafnir hung back and refused to move. “No. No goodbyes. Do it now, I beg you.”

A deep sadness rose in Max’s heart. “I wish there were another way, my friend.”

“My time is long past. I have brought you nothing but pain and sorrow, and for that I can never apologize.”

Ēostre touched her cheek against her former mate’s face. “Part of me will always love you, Fafnir.”

“But our bond has ended and death has separated us.” He turned his eyes to Maximilian, cool, dead eyes that held a minute bit of warmth, a flicker of what belonged. “Thank you for keeping your oath to me. Protect her. Always.”

“Always,” Max agreed, choking on the word. “Always, my friend.”

Fafnir stepped back from them, folded his molting wings against his body, and proudly raised his chin. “I am ready, brave girl.”

Chloe drove the tip of Ascalon into the gem. It shattered, a hundred fragments skittering in every direction into the grass amidst particles of ruby dust. At the same time, the light dimmed from Fafnir’s eyes and his body slumped to the earth, motionless, gray, and hardening into stone.

“Father?” Saul whispered.

A warm breeze stirred through the pasture, several multicolored butterflies dancing on the swirling eddies. The delicate creatures took perch on Fafnir’s body for the span of a heartbeat until he crumbled away beneath their feather-light touch.

Only a pile of ashes remained.

Epilogue

They left the pasture defeated, numbed, and heartbroken.

“What about his ashes?” Chloe had gently asked.

Ēostre couldn’t answer. Max had taken over a week away from Washington to be at her side, and together they got through it with days of mutual tears and hugs. At first, she blamed herself for failing to observe something was amiss when she discovered his body, back when Fafnir had first died. Or maybe if they had acted sooner when he first came back, if they had suspected that someone else was controlling him, maybe they could have saved him from unnecessary suffering. Eventually, her regrets culminated to a deeper hatred for Mahuika, and she wished she could have killed the dragoness again.

Although Mahuika was certainly mixed up in the current events, she wasn’t at fault for such a treacherous act. It was Agnes. Agnes, who had already died. Agnes who, as far as Ēostre was concerned, would always be her enemy.

But how does one punish a witch who follows the eternal cycle of rebirth? Watatsumi and the rest of the Council had promised to locate the witch in her next adult form, swearing to make her pay, but confining her for a mere lifetime wouldn’t satisfy Ēostre. In fact, she nearly allowed her bitterness to consume her, until one night, she found Max alone in his private office and remembered he had been grieving, too. He needed her as much as she needed him. Their family needed them.

A month was a trifling time for a dragon to mourn, but she’d reached the end of the tears she was willing to shed for Fafnir. The true Fafnir, the real dragon with an uncorrupted soul, wouldn’t have wanted her to suffer for another century. Days after she emerged from her depression, Chloe surprised them with a lovely memorial. She’d secretly called Mahasti to return and gather the ashes, and the djinn had placed an immense but elegant urn in the hoard. The pair of them had waited until the right moment to present it.

Crafted from semi-opaque blown glass swirled through with reds and golds, the vase’s glossy surface shone from within as though it held a flame in its heart. An engraved obsidian plaque displayed an ancient Norse poem Saul had always said his father favored. It wasn’t his volcano, but Fafnir had loved his hoard as much, if not more than Rainier.

As the months passed, Ēostre watched her son’s wife swell with child, and when Chloe birthed their little boy, she joined them to welcome him into the world and assist with the expected complications. Astrid was overjoyed to have a baby brother and promised to be the best big sister any dragon could ever have.

Losing Fafnir for the second time had dealt a blow to the family, but as the year waned into cooler months, life resumed its natural rhythm. He was held in their hearts but not forgotten.

***

The late October sun warmed the air, creating a pleasant autumn afternoon for a picnic. It was perfect for entertaining family. Ēostre turned her face to the breeze and inhaled the fragrant flowers perfuming the rose garden before smiling at her company. While she missed Leiv’s landscaping, the skilled White House gardeners made it easy to appreciate their talents.

“You’re going to regret sitting on the ground when it’s time for us to get up,” Chloe teased her. “I know your baby marathon is only halfway over, but man are they big.”

“There are hot guys in suits I can call to put me back on my feet,” Ēostre reminded her.

Chloe stared.

“What?”

“I’ve been a terrible influence on you. I hope Max can find it in his heart to forgive me.”

“Forgive you for what, Chloe?” Max’s strong voice carried across the lawn.

“Whoops! Busted.” Both women giggled.

“Are you two creating trouble?”

“Who, us?” Ēostre gave him her most innocent smile and smoothed her hand down the skirt of her navy blue sundress. The light, airy fabric flattered her blossoming shape. “Do I look like a troublemaker to you?”

“No, you look radiant as always.” Max leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Chloe, little Brandt also looks well. How is he enjoying his first trip to DC?”

The infant bundled in Chloe’s lap yawned and blinked his eyes open, as if he knew he was the subject of discussion. The newborn gray was gone, and in its place, the bold golden amber of his father’s eyes peeked up at her from beneath sleepy lids.

“I thought some fresh, east coast air would be good for him. I was afraid to bring him out so early until Ēostre called with a few pleasant reminders.”

Dragon cubs typically wandered out of the hoard with their mothers from birth. It helped them to grow strong, and likewise, Brandt seemed to appreciate the time away from home. He could already lift his tiny head and support his own neck, unheard of for a human child that young. In some ways, her half-dragon children developed slowly, and in others, they excelled.

“He looks like Saul, right down to his ginger hair.” Max grinned after making the observation.

“He never told me he was a carrot-top as a baby. It’s kind of hysterical. When the doctor passed him to me, I was confused for an hour until Ēostre explained.”

They all shared a laugh, which fully awakened the baby. He smiled up at them and waved his tiny fists. Chloe hugged him against her and closed her eyes. Brandt was the miracle baby she and Saul didn’t expect to ever have after long years of trying to recreate the magic that gave them Astrid. Once again, she had a close brush with death, and she’d decided two little ones were enough. Human bodies weren’t made to deliver dragon-blooded infants.

Max kicked off his fine leather loafers and took a seat on the blanket with them. “So, am I interrupting work or pleasure?”

“Both,” Chloe replied, chuckling. “Ēostre invited me to lunch to discuss her plans for the charity.”

“I also wanted her thoughts on a few matters. Saul told me Chloe’s mother was…” As Ēostre’s voice trailed, her eyes cut to Chloe and studied the woman’s reaction. Her daughter-in-law smiled at her, unfazed.

“My mother was awful, and I ended up in the system once because of her.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, Chloe,” Max said after an awkward pause.

“Don’t be. It’s over, she’s gone, and I’ve spent all of Astrid’s life trying to be the mother I should have had. I don’t mind talking about it, especially if it helps Ēostre figure out what direction to take her program. A lot of people fall through the cracks out there.”

“I think grants to help with adoptions and changes to improve our foster system are noble goals. If anyone can do it, Ēostre can.”

Chloe’s grin brightened her face. “Damn straight she can. I’m proud of you guys. You’ve done so much for everyone already since getting here, Max.”

Something fluttered in her belly. Ēostre tuned out her two companions, held her breath, and waited to see if it was her food settling or something more. Another quivering wriggle confirmed her hunch, and with an excited squeak, she seized Max’s fingers and moved them to her belly. Two swift kicks bumped up against their palms, followed by a flurry of activity.

“Is that…?”

“Our babies,” she whispered.

“They recognize Max’s voice,” Chloe said. “It happened to me whenever Saul was around, both pregnancies.”

“They’re so active.” Marveling over the movement, Max leaned down and said, “Hello, my little ones,” directly to her belly.

“It’s like they’re dancing in here.” Ēostre laughed in delight and rubbed her enormous curve. Tracing slow circles always seemed to calm her babies down. Her fascinated husband assisted, and within seconds, all became peaceful in her tummy.

“I don’t envy you two at once,” Chloe said. “Astrid was a handful on her own.”

“Speaking of my favorite granddaughter, where
is
Astrid?” Max asked. “I’m surprised she’s stepped away from her brother for even an instant.”

“Visiting with Marcy. Last I heard, she was spending her time with the hippocampi herd.”

“Not with Javier?” Ēostre snagged a strawberry from the basket and nibbled on it. She’d been on a red food kick for over a week now. Strawberries, apples, bell pepper, ahi tuna, and every red meat available under the sun had been on her cravings list. The chefs called her obsession cute and strove to provide everything their pregnant first lady required.

Chloe shook her head and shrugged. “Nope. I don’t think there’s much love there. Saul and Teo are incredibly disappointed that the kids aren’t getting along the way they wanted. I had to remind them Astrid has the maturity of a woman, or at the very least, an older teen now. She’s nineteen and can speak her own mind.”

“We spoke at length about their plans for Javier and Astrid,” Max admitted. “I didn’t want them to make my mistakes, so they’ve decided not to press the matter or encourage it further.”

“Good. If it happens, let it happen naturally,” Ēostre said.

“Especially after she punched Javier in the nose yesterday and left him laying out on the sand,” Chloe commented cheerfully. “You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Ēostre?”

Ēostre choked on her strawberry and Max patted her back. “Absolutely not,” she wheezed before making a great effort to put on a neutral facial expression. “I might have told her to make her feelings clear, always, but I’m certain I made no mention of hitting. I think.”