Breath of Fire (28 page)

I did as he said and was almost knocked forward by the ferocity of emotions that came from the Drakán behind us. Waves of hate and despair. Anger and hope. And there it was—envy. Power rushed across my skin, and my dragon responded to it. She loved that others feared her. That they lusted after her mate. She was a selfish, greedy creature, as all dragons were, but the power that now ran in her blood did not lie. She was stronger. She was dominant.

My human self was more reserved. My conscience prickled at what I’d forced my clan to do. Something still didn’t feel right about the whole situation. It was hard to keep my dragon wants and my human common sense separated, especially when faced with so many other Drakán.

I didn’t look at him as I answered.
“I’ll accept that I can’t run from you once you stop trying to manipulate me and my feelings. I will not cower before you and let you make my decisions, mate or no. If our clans continue to fight the change of being united, the Destroyer will win, and you’ll have played right into his hands. If this plan of yours doesn’t work, and your greed to become king destroys our people, I swear to the gods I will kill you or die trying.”

I didn’t make threats idly. I meant every word of it.

“I will protect you and our people, Rena. I promise you. I can feel you pulling away from me, fighting against the hold we have on one another. Leaving me will not help you on your quest to find out more about your powers.”

“Maybe not. But I need to do it anyway. You cloud my mind, and I don’t trust you since you tricked me into handing you my clan on a silver platter. Getting as far away from you as possible is the best thing I can do for myself.”

“I’ve never been to America. I’ll enjoy coming after you.”

I fought the urge to growl and release my inner fire. Talking with Julian never got me anywhere except naked, and that wasn’t an option right now.
“I think we need to get this over with. My brother is seriously thinking of running you through with a sword. And I promise, he’s very good at it.”

“Yes, I know. I saw him fight in the Macedonian Wars. I am better.”

Erik had barely spoken a word to me since his arrival. In his eyes, I’d betrayed him and our clan by becoming mated to Julian. It didn’t matter that the choice had been taken out of my hands. Julian was our sworn enemy, just as the other clans were, and I was forcing them to rely on him for protection. Erik’s eyes had blazed with an intense hatred I’d never witnessed before. And it was directed at me.

Calista hadn’t even bothered to show up, which considering her disdain for the law and our clan since she’d left her position as Enforcer, I wasn’t all that surprised. I wondered if Julian would punish her for disobeying and then quickly pushed the thought from my mind. We had bigger things to worry about.

The rest of my clan avoided my gaze completely. All except Cal. He’d met my eyes with something resembling respect and understanding, and he’d given me a nod of encouragement before his father had pushed him out of my line of sight.

Panic began to set in as Eunice took her place behind the altar, and I gripped Julian’s arm involuntarily. Things were starting to seem much too similar to a human wedding ceremony. And I was human enough to hold some stock in the ritual. I didn’t want to be married. Julian grabbed me around the waist and held me tightly against him. It had crossed my mind briefly to start running and never stop.

Eunice had informed me that the scrolls had said it was the female Drakán’s choice as to who performed the mating ceremony and read the sacred words. It was usually someone close to her—a father or brother. Emptiness and despair filled me when she’d told me this. I had no one who would be proud to stand in for me at a moment like this. Alasdair was gone, and from the looks Erik had given me he wouldn’t have agreed if I’d asked. I’d been alone my entire life, and after this was over I’d be that way again.

I hadn’t known what to tell Eunice when she asked me who I’d chosen to read the scrolls. I thought of Julian and who he would have chosen if he’d been in my position. Eunice had been delighted when I’d asked her to take on the role.

Eunice pulled an ancient piece of parchment from a cylindrical tube made of ivory. It had been protected by magic over the centuries and was still in beautiful condition, the edges gilded with gold leaf and the penmanship in itself a work of art.

“My brothers, my Drakán,” she began. Her voice echoed through the silence of the ballroom. “This is a night of great triumph for our people. It is a night that unites us all with the spirits of our ancestors, for the mating fire hasn’t been witnessed since the time of the old lands. The gods have deemed Julian of the Belgae and Rena Drake, daughter of Alasdair of the Americas, worthy of each other—in spirit, mind and body.

“And in keeping with the traditions of our homeland, a
stipis
will be offered to the Archos Julian, lifemate to Rena. What most valued gift shall be given to your mate this night?” Eunice asked me formally.

Eunice had told me that a
stipis
was a gift to your lifemate of the most precious possession you owned. The choice hadn’t been difficult for me. It was something I carried with me always, and I found it odd that my dragon didn’t seem to mind parting with such a valuable treasure.

My gift lay on the altar and was hidden under a piece of black velvet. I pulled the cloth aside and precious metal gleamed in the light. It was a torq, and two kinds of gold were melded together and shaped like the sun. A yellow diamond the size of a quail egg was perched in the center. The sun was attached to a chain woven of gold and linked with rubies.

“It is the only thing I have of my mother,” I said clearly, so the entire room could hear. I turned the torq over. Latin was inscribed across the back. “
Amori, ferocia, venerato,
” I said aloud.
“Love, courage and respect. I give this to you freely, lifemate.”

I picked it up, the gold cool between my fingers, and I placed it around Julian’s neck. I made sure the chain lay over his collar so it didn’t touch bare skin. He turned the sun over in his hands and studied it for a moment. His eyes met mine and the shock on his face was apparent.

“Who was your mother, Rena?”
Julian sounded angry, and the rims around his eyes were beginning to turn red.

I looked at the torq again, trying to see what Julian did, but there was nothing there but precious metal and gems.
“I don’t know who she was. Alasdair has never spoken her name. I know she was royalty and killed shortly after my birth when the Ottoman Turks invaded Egypt. This torq was in my blankets when Calista came to take me away to live with the Drakán. Why? What’s wrong?”

He studied me closely, weighing my words for truth.

“Nothing,”
he finally said. And then aloud he said, “I accept this gift of my lifemate with deepest gratitude.”

“Now it is your turn for the
stipis
,” Eunice said to Julian.

He nodded and pulled the cloth from his gift. Ancient parchment scrolls, much like the one Eunice read from, sat on the altar. I knew what they were without opening them. Tears came to my eyes, and I brought my hand up to cover my mouth.

I heard the gasps of some of the Ancients in my own clan. Julian had given me back our archives that had been stolen from my grandfather Niklos. These scrolls were the reason so many of my clan were dead. And Julian’s message couldn’t have been any clearer to those watching. The feud between all of the clans was over. For now.

“These belong to you.” Julian bowed low before me with great respect.

“Thank you.”
I didn’t have the voice to speak it aloud.

Julian took my hand and we stepped toward each other. I wanted to be alone with him, to show my appreciation for what he’d given me. To touch him the way my body had craved for the last few days. The conflict of emotions inside me was overwhelming. I was at war with myself. And though I could love Julian at this particular moment in time, I could also hate him for doing this to me.

He leaned down and kissed me softly on the lips. He absorbed all my anger—my hate—my sorrow. It was suddenly all gone, and there was only him. The blue mating fire started small and danced between our mouths. The crowd gasped and surged forward to see the fire they’d only heard of in legends. Until that moment many had thought this was a scheme Julian and I had come up with to take power over all the clans. This was the proof they needed to see that we truly were lifemates. And that we could lead them to victory.

I pulled back before things got out of control and my clothes burned away. But Julian’s eyes still held the passion of the flame, and I knew mine did as well.

“May your union be blessed and fruitful,” Eunice said over the swell of voices. Everyone in the room repeated the sentiment. Eunice leaned down and picked up a squirming goat. She placed it on the altar, and held it by the scruff of the neck. “You shared flesh and blood with each other, and now you are bonded for life. One of you cannot live without the other. Bonding is a great sacrifice, and we will make another one here today in honor of it.”

Her hand transformed into razor-sharp talons, and she sliced the goat’s neck with a quick slash across its throat. Blood poured across her hand and spilled onto the altar in a fiery wash of color. The coppery scent brought my hunger swiftly, and I could tell by the surge of bodies in the room they felt the same desire. Eunice dipped her finger in the blood and drew a line across my forehead. Then onto Julian’s.

Two large chairs were brought out—both of them dark and heavy with ornate scrollwork across the backs. A plush red cushion sat in each chair, and Julian and I took a seat.

Growls rose up from around us, and the tension in the room was high. The hunger was difficult to resist, especially among the youngest of our kind. I’d always relied on my abilities as Enforcer to control my beast. Others weren’t so lucky. There would be a fight for the carcass as soon as the way was clear.

Five Drakán—their different colors signifying they’d been chosen from each clan—came and surrounded us. I grasped the arms of the chair as two of them bent down and lifted it high above them. The three others did the same with Julian. The crowd roared with a resounding cheer.

“What the hell is going on?”
I asked mind to mind. There was no way he could have heard me over the noise otherwise. The crowd surged behind us and up the massive curved stairs as the Drakán carried us to the second floor, and then up the next flight of stairs to the third, fourth and fifth floors. The sound of gnashing teeth and snapping bones echoed from the hall below and over the celebration as the newlings attacked what was left of the goat.

“The scrolls say it is tradition for there to be witnesses to the consummation to ensure the mating fire flames true.”

“Like hell,”
I growled.
“I don’t need witnesses. Besides, they already got to see the mating fire. They’ll have to be happy with that.”

“And I was so looking forward to putting on a show.”

“Very funny. I don’t suppose I can get these guys to take me to my own room. It’s not a good idea for us to stay together. The temptation is too great, and the pull between us is too strong.”

“So you keep saying, but I don’t believe we have a choice in this matter. I’m sure we can find an extra blanket and pillow for you. The floor is probably quite comfortable.”

He smirked at my predicament. I growled again, and this time smoke curled from my nostril.

We finally arrived at the top floor of the castle, where only mine and Julian’s suite of rooms was located. The five Drakán lowered the chairs to the ground, and I stood slowly and faced the bedroom door, more scared than I cared to admit. Every time I made love to Julian I lost a little more of myself to him.

The door stood open, and all I could see was miles of bed dressed in black satin. The crowd of people behind us was eerily silent as everyone waited to see what I would do.

Julian’s hand pushed gently against my lower back, and I went willingly into the room. It had been too long since he’d touched me, and my dragon rolled through me with joy and desire. He closed the door behind us and shut out the curious eyes of our people. We were completely alone, and I wouldn’t be sleeping on the floor tonight.

“Why did you ask me about my mother?” I asked once we had privacy. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know, but I was trying to stall what was about to happen. I just wasn’t ready yet, and I’d take all the damned time I needed.

Julian unbuttoned his jacket and slid it off his broad shoulders. He threw it over a black brocade chair and then untied the bow at his neck. He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his white dress shirt and untucked it from his pants. The ritual of undressing so casually in front of me seemed much too intimate.

“It’s not important.” He sat in a chair and stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing his ankles.

“Oh, I think it is. For a moment, after you saw the torq, you looked at me as if you hated me. I don’t call that nothing.”

“I thought it seemed familiar. It was nothing, Rena.”

He was lying to me. Maybe not lying, exactly, but he was evading the truth. Which I’d always thought was the same thing.

“Did you know my mother?” I asked.

The possibility overwhelmed me. I’d always wanted to know more about her. My dragon nudged against me, trying to make me forget about my mother and focus on how much she wanted Julian.