Dragon Storm (Dawn of the Dragon Queen Book 2) (7 page)

I wish to see this storm for myself.
Her answer reverberated in his mind.

Gabriel’s heart fell to the pit of his stomach as they neared the hurricane. It roared like a thousand steam trains, wind and debris flattening everything in its path like a heavy curtain of darkness and destruction falling across the landscape.

What is that?
Safina asked, the echo of her fear rattling in his skull.

“Cuba’s death knell,” Gabriel answered flatly.

I have never seen anything so frightening.

Strong words coming from a dragon with talons the size of butcher knives. Gabriel clutched her scales as a wave of sadness and despair washed over him. They were Safina’s emotions. In his mind he heard her crying, and deep in his soul, he felt her heartbreak.

Safina’s wings strained as the approaching storm gained momentum.

Earth Mother is angry. I can hear the screams of her victims.

“Safi,” Gabriel cried as the wind whipped his hair across his face. “We must go.”

With a heavy groan, she made a slow turn. Once the wind was behind them, Gabriel felt the hurricane’s angry sting across his back. His heart broke for the people of Cuba.

* * *

Fiona’s mind raced as she hurried down the street to Josef’s home. Mrs. Jenkens had said she’d been asleep for over a day, but her head was still foggy from her dream, making Fiona feel as if she’d been sleeping for ages. There was only one sleep powerful enough to make her feel that way—one induced by the dragon song. Josef claimed to have no other magical powers besides speaking to the elements and healing minor wounds. Who’d taught him the dragon song? Fiona’s heart ached when she realized it could have been none other than Graechen, the friend Fiona once trusted.

Despite the weakness in her limbs, anger fueled Fiona’s movements as she climbed the steps to Josef’s front porch two at a time. She was not surprised to find him sitting in his rocking chair, staring vacantly at the clear sky. Was he searching the skies for Safina and Gabriel, or did he already know the young lovers were out of reach? Fiona suspected the latter.

“Josef!” she boomed as she stormed up the last step. “Why did you sing the dragon song?”

There was weariness in his eyes more profound than ever before, a look that spoke of a man whose days were numbered. “You needed rest,” he answered, his voice devoid of inflection.

Had circumstances been different, Fiona would have taken pity on the old man, but it was
she
who’d lost her daughter, her only family, and the only reason she’d not taken her own life so many years ago. Josef had four grandsons, four reasons to live.

She crossed the distance between them, jabbing his bony chest. “You lie. You were helping them escape.” He knew Safina and Gabriel weren’t coming back, which was why he’d sung to her, to keep her from ever finding them.

He shrugged, his dull mahogany eyes sharpening to two fine points. “You threatened to harm my grandson. You would have done the same for your child.”

She tossed her hands in the air, angry hot tears threatening the backs of her eyes. “And now my child is so far away, I cannot feel where she has fled!”

Fiona still had a hard time grasping what had happened. Her sweet daughter had flown from her bosom, left Fiona alone to wallow in her loneliness and despair, and all for a mortal boy? How was Fiona to bear it, and how could Josef be so indifferent to her suffering?

Fiona clenched her fists as she steeled her resolve. Perhaps Josef had bought them time, but she would fly to every edge of the earth until she found her child. They could not hide from her forever. Fiona would start looking for them soon, but first, Josef had to make good on his word.

She scowled at him, imagining her eyes to be twin coals burning holes through his skull. “I need you to break the bond now.”

He stood slowly, relying on a cane for support. Odd, but Fiona did not remember him being so feeble. “Where is your mate?”

“He isn’t far.” She placed a hand over her chest. “I can feel him.”

Josef solemnly nodded. “I will break the bond after he arrives.”

“No,” she growled, “not after he arrives. I don’t want him to find me.”

Josef heaved a weary sigh. “I need him here to break the bond.”

“No, Josef!” Fiona grabbed the old man’s shoulders, shaking him as if he were no more than a leaf tossed about in the wind. “He can’t be here.”

Josef’s eyes widened as he shrank back. “How am I to break the bond? I don’t even know what he looks like. I cannot perform the spell if I can’t conjure his image.”

Fiona looked deeply into his eyes, willing him to see the demons that haunted her soul. “Look into my mind, Josef.” She conjured up the image of Duncan’s pale eyes and seductive smile.

Josef blinked once and then went still, stiffening beneath her touch. His eyes, once brilliant and bright, glazed over as if he were in a dream and then they closed altogether. “Safina has his eyes,” he whispered.

Fiona swallowed hard. “Do you have a clear enough picture?”

“Sí.” He trembled, and his eyes shot open. “But I don’t know if it will work.”

She dug her fingers into his bony shoulders. “You must try.”

He frowned, the lines around his eyes and drawn mouth looking like tributaries on a map. “
Mi reina
, the severance of souls is a dark magic. There may be dire consequences.”

She released him, pulling back her shoulders as storm clouds swirled in her vision. “You’ve already told me this, Josef.” Her voice was an ominous rumble as she channeled the she-dragon within her. “I will not ask you to break the bond again.”

S
afina pumped her wings with all her might, putting as much distance as possible between her and Gabriel, and the storm. She had to reach Galveston before the hurricane did.

The change happened in a blink—so fast she’d no time to prepare herself. One moment she was a magnificent dragon soaring through the clouds, and the next she was back in human form, and she and Gabriel were falling through the sky.

She flapped her arms and closed her eyes, willing herself to shift, but nothing happened. How could this be?

“Safi!” Gabriel hollered. “What are you doing?”

“I can’t change back,” she screamed.

She watched with horror as her mate, tumbling beneath her, fell toward certain death.

“Gabriel!” she cried, reaching out to him. “Oh, Almighty Mother, help us!”

The blue unforgiving sea stretched beneath them, ready to crush them when they landed. Gabriel grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms as she continued to scream. He shut his eyes and grimaced, no doubt preparing for the finality of their fates. Just as they were about to hit, the sea rose like a spout, catching the two of them. The spout fell, Gabriel and Safina tumbling with it.

Safina lost contact with Gabriel when she went under. She swallowed salt water as she pushed herself to the surface with all her might. Gasping for air, she flailed until strong arms wrapped around her waist.

“Safi, are you okay?” Gabriel soothed.

She spun around, sobbing into his neck as she held him tight. “I think so. I’m just in shock. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, mi amor.” He cupped her face in his hands, searching her eyes. “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” She envisioned the shift in her mind—the burning in her lungs, the stretching of skin, and the grinding of bones—but no matter how hard she tried, nothing happened. “I can’t shift back into dragon form.” She ran her tongue over the roof of her mouth. She was parched, and the bitter water only increased her thirst. “How are we not dead?”

He grasped her shoulders as his mouth twitched in the slightest of grins. “I summoned a water spout to catch us.”

Safi arched back, eyeing him with amazement. “I didn’t think your magic was that strong.”

He shrugged. “Neither did I.”

Safina frowned. Something wasn’t right between them. As she gaped at Gabriel, realization struck her. She placed a hand over his heart, feeling only the sting of the cold water and his hard chest beneath.

“Gabriel, I can no longer feel your heart beating as if it were my own.” She grabbed his hand and placed it on her chest. “Can you feel mine?”

His eyes widened as he breathed in through a hiss. “No.”

She pursed her lips together and closed her eyes, trying to summon that other thread that bound her to her mother, but she could not sense the dragon queen. Her eyes shot open, and she trembled. “The thread that tethered me to my mother was thin, but I could still feel her. Now I feel nothing.

Gabriel’s face was a mask of stone, all except his eyes, which darkened with thunderous intensity. “The severance of souls.”

Safina gasped, remembering her mother talking about severing the bond with her mate. “The magic spell?”

He slowly nodded. “Papi must have performed it on your mother and father.”

“What does that mean?” she asked, though she feared she already knew.

His mouth was set in a grim line. “It means the spell worked.”

“They took away my powers?” Her hand flew to her throat as the realization set in. She was a mortal girl with no magical ability and no means of protecting herself. For years she’d resented her immortal curse, and now she did not know how she could live without it. “But now we’re not bonded,” she cried. “We’re not immortal.”

Gabriel tenderly stroked her face. “Don’t worry. We will find my papi and make him fix it.”

Despite Gabriel’s reassuring tone, Safina could not help the panic which made her limbs shake and teeth chatter. “Gabriel, we’re in the middle of the ocean, and a storm is coming.”

“I can get us back.” Resolve set in the hard planes of his face before he turned his back to her and patted his shoulder. “Hold on to me.”

She obeyed, amazed when another waterspout swept them up and pushed them forward. Safina held tight to Gabriel, worried by their slow pace. At the rate they traveled, it would take days to reach Galveston. She did not know if Gabriel’s magic would last, or if they could survive that long stranded at sea with no food or water. And then there was the tempest. What if it overpowered them before they reached safety?

She closed her eyes tight, sending up silent prayers to the earth goddess and Almighty Mother to guide them safely to shore. And then, somewhere in the recesses of her mind, there was a flicker. Like a lone beacon in the darkness, she felt the soul of another. She willed that beacon to shine brighter. The image she saw in her mind made her heart shudder. It was a man. Tall, with broad shoulders, ruddy cheeks, and tousled, dark hair. But it was his eyes which took her breath away, bluer than the summer sky.

Her eyes flew open as she stifled a scream.

Oh, great goddess, help her; she was bound to her father.

* * *

Duncan wandered the streets of Houston, dazed and barely aware of his surroundings, oblivious to people who jostled him on their way home from work. It was evening. He’d missed the train to Galveston, though it made no difference. The light that he had followed relentlessly throughout time had been snuffed out, like an explosion in reverse, sucking the air from his lungs.

He could no longer feel the tether to his mate, the bond so strong that it had created an insatiable yearning in his heart. For him, it was the end of the world. Where had Fiona gone?

His ankle still throbbed from when he’d been pushed off a sidewalk. What an odd sensation after not having felt pain for so long. Such minor cuts and sprains had always healed within seconds. He stopped in an alcove, resting his weary head and trying to clear his mind.

His heart, which had once beat as if for half a man, pounded like a drum in his ears, though the rhythm was erratic and painful, as if beating against a casing of shattered glass.

He tried to summon the lost thread that had bound them together. Nothing. Not even the smallest trace of his amber-eyed lass. He balled his hands by his sides, doing his best to hold back tears as he tried again.

And then it happened, the faintest trace of another heartbeat. He covered his ears with his hands, shutting out the world around him, focusing all of his energy on that distant pulse. He saw her, a beautiful and frightened girl with pale blue eyes screaming for help as she splashed in the open sea, her flame-colored hair cascading down her back in sodden waves.

Safina!

What was she doing in the middle of the ocean? Had Fiona abandoned her, or worse, had his mate been killed? Why couldn’t Safina transform into a dragon and fly away?

Duncan raced for the train station as he formulated a plan. He would go to Galveston and commandeer a boat. He forced himself not to think of Fiona’s fate, though he feared his true love had indeed perished. He only hoped he reached his child in time.

* * *

“I cannot feel him. Oh, Duncan!” Fiona fell to the floor and sobbed. Josef’s spell had worked. For the first time in five hundred years, she was free. So why did it feel as if her heart had been shattered, along with their bond? She sat up, tears streaming down her face as she placed a hand on her chest. That insatiable yearning for her mate was no more, replaced by a cold, hard loneliness that left her feeling more desperate than before. “He is lost to me now, but it was what I wanted, right?”

“Sí, mi reina.” Josef bowed his head. “This is what you wanted.”

Though her vision was blurred from the stinging tears, there was no mistaking the look of guilt in Josef’s drawn mouth and hooded eyes.

She stood slowly, legs shaky, the hollow ache in her chest making her hunch over. Straightening her shoulders, she forced herself to stand tall. She was a dragon queen, a powerful shifter, and had survived five centuries of heartbreak. She could withstand thousands more.

And now she was free of her cursed bond and could search for her child. She closed her eyes, willing herself to call upon that thin thread that tethered her to Safina, but she was met with nothing but the dull sound of her weary heart.

Her eyes shot open, narrowing at the old man. “The cord that tethered me to her was stretched thin, but now I don’t even feel it.” Her voice turned shrill as she clasped a hand to her throat. “It is as if it has snapped.” Panic robbed her mind of reason. “Josef, I cannot feel Safina at all.”