Rion (22 page)

“What about other countries beyond Chivalri?” Marisa asked.

“There are more rumors of rebel groups—but nothing solid.” Lex paused. “Let’s get you some food and a place to sleep, and
tomorrow I’ll get you brought up-to-date.”

“Sounds good.” Rion spoke quietly. “Have you any word of my parents? The last I heard was they were in the palace when the
Unari invaded Chivalri.”

“If they’re alive, it’s likely your father’s been enslaved by Cavus Prime.”

“Cavus Prime?”

“The Unari leader.” Lex spat into the bushes. “We’ve heard unsubstantiated reports that Cavus keeps our strongest warriors,
including your father, right next to the Tyrannizer. It’s said Cavus enjoys watching the torture of our best leaders and warriors.”

Rion scowled. “Our first task is to find the machine that broadcasts pain.”

“Then what?”

“We’ll mount a mission to shut down the Tyrannizer.”

Lex shook his head. “Sir, I’m afraid you don’t fully understand.”

“Explain.”

“No Honorian can pass through the great walls the Unari have built around the city—not without giving up their freedom.”

“Are the Unari planning to annihilate us, then colonize Honor with their people?” Rion asked.

Lex shook his head. “We don’t think so. The city no longer has living accommodations, except for the palace. Dragons work
as beasts of burden, building high walls, but no one knows their purpose.”

“What else can you tell me?” Rion prodded.

“After the Unari capture our people, they don’t give them food or water until they dragonshape. After we take dragon form,
they force us to work. The more a dragonshaper resists, the worse the pain grows. The Tyrannizer is so debilitating—even our
strongest warriors succumb to Unari orders. Also, the closer one gets to the machine, the worse the pain and the more difficult
it is to disobey orders.”

“But if dragonshaping is so painful, why do they stay in dragon form?” Marisa asked, an ominous shiver making her cold.

“When dragons are starved for platinum, we don’t have the energy to humanshape.”

Rion stilled. His eyes darkened, and his voice threaded with steel. “We have to destroy the Tyrannizer.”

Babies are cuddles and kisses on toes, the sweet scent of dragon’s breath, and a kiss on the nose.

—L
ADY
G
UINEVERE

A
fter a meager meal, Lex showed Marisa and Rion to their quarters in Winhaven. The royal home had been looted of furnishings,
and a fire had destroyed most of the main building, but one of the guest wings had survived partially intact. Here the resistance,
such as it was, had made its headquarters. She and Rion would sleep in the same room. The sensual awareness that had dogged
her ever since he’d carried her through the forest rose on a gentle ripple of heat.

Rion had been silent since Marisa and he had left the others in the dining area. Apparently Erik was off on a foraging mission
with several of the rebels and not expected back until dawn.

Standing at the bedroom window, Rion gazed past a shredded curtain toward the capital, his potent male presence dominating
the room. “When I was here last, the city’s lights brightened the sky for miles. Now it’s so dark, it’s as if we’ve regressed
to another age.”

“But the knowledge to rebuild is still here,” Marisa said softly.

She ached for him. Yearning to give him comfort, she joined him by the window and placed her hand on his arm.

He stood stiff and tense, his head high, his eyes alert. She suspected his thoughts were gloomy and began to run her fingers
lightly up and down the sculpted ridges of his forearm. Retaking this world from the Unari might be an impossible task. And
although they were now stuck on this world, with no means to depart, every time she breathed in, her lungs filled with the
delicious scent of his male musk and her thoughts turned to being with him again.

Now was not the time to feel any attraction. He had to bring his people together, and she would cause strife. But that future
seemed impossibly far away. And Rion was here right now. Totally within her reach.

He turned from the window. His voice was low and filled with gravel. “How’s your head?”

The throbbing in her head matched the beat of her heart. “The medic who looked at me after our meal said you did a good job.
There’s no sign of infection.”

“Good.” Rion walked her to the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room besides a broken table someone had propped in
the corner. “You should rest. Tomorrow, I’ll talk with Erik, and Lex will show us a secret passage to the city walls.”

“You should rest, too.” She patted the bed next to her, but he remained on his feet, every muscle rigid.

She didn’t have to ask what was wrong. She knew. Conditions here weren’t just bad, they were terrible. Tomorrow he would see
Erik, but he might also have his worst fears about his parents confirmed.

Wrapping her arms around him, she said, “We’ll find a way. The Unari didn’t take this planet in a day. You can’t take it back
overnight, either. Your people need you. And if you wear yourself ragged—”

“You didn’t feel that pain… it’s like your bones have been dipped in acid. We’ll have to take out the Tyrannizer before you
can dragonshape and use your abilities. And before that, you must feed on platinum.”

She twined her fingers into his hair and rested her cheek against his chest. “You’ve found your cousin. We’ll find the machine,
too. We’ll destroy it. Maybe we can do it from a distance, blow it up or something.”

“While you were with the medic, Lex told me that he believes the Tyrannizer is kept running by the torture of Honorian dragonshapers.”

She leaned back to look into his face. Moonlight filtered through the window and reflected in the hard blackness of his eyes.
“You’ll find a way to save them.”

“If Cavus Prime keeps our best warriors near the Tyrannizer”—he held his head high, but his voice choked—“if we have to knock
it out from a distance, we’ll have to sacrifice our best people…”

Oh, God. Lex believed Shepherd Jaqard, Rion’s father, was kept near the Tyrannizer. If Rion could take out the Tyrannizer
only from a distance, he might have to sacrifice his own father.

She tried to be optimistic. “Maybe I can use my telepathic skills to urge the dragonshapers near the Tyrannizer to break the
Unari hold and fly away. I’d only have to link for a minute or two…”

“No.” His tone was harsh. Firm. Sure. “We have to find another way.”

Talking about it was stressing him out. And she knew only one way to distract him.

She slipped her hands under his shirt, up his warm chest, and onto his broad shoulders. Beneath her palms, his flesh was smooth,
firm, muscular.

He hissed in a breath, and then, as if all that pent-up emotion sparked, his eyes glowed with the promise of raw sensuality.
He brought his lips to hers and poured molten heat straight into her.

He tasted of coffee and sweet cream, and as his tongue slipped into her mouth and danced with her own, she melted against
him. He clutched her shoulders, not roughly, not with finesse, but with hot need. They fell backward against the wall, and
he eagerly began to remove her clothing. She did the same as they shared an urgency to give and take pleasure. An urgency
to banish the Unari for a few hours. At least here, at this moment, they had the freedom to do as they wished.

And she wished for release from painful truths and an uncertain future. It meant shoving aside the past and her distrust,
forgetting about the future, and living right now. Right here. Taking what this moment offered. Taking what Rion offered.

And he offered a lot. He was a giving lover. Sensual. Erotic.

Living in the present meant kissing him and touching him and breathing in his masculine scent. She focused on the taste of
his tongue against her lips, sipped his fire, breathed in his eager murmurs that tingled like the electricity in the air before
a summer storm—until the very air around them crackled with heat.

His kiss was hypnotic, calling to her, pulling her into him, until she couldn’t think of anything but him. Or his kiss. Or
his hard flesh against her softness.

She shimmied out of her clothing, yanked off his. Naked, she pressed herself against his male heat.

Her blood simmered, and she breathed in huge gasps. Drawing him against her, she arched her back, enjoyed his chest hairs
tickling her breasts until her nipples hardened to tight nubs.

He dipped his hands between them, skimmed his fingers up her waist until his hands cupped her breasts. His thumbs twirled
around her areolas, and he used the pads of his fingertips to draw maddeningly exquisite circles that had her standing on
her tippy toes to get more. More pressure. More friction. More Rion.

He obliged, tweaking her nipples, and the zing of pleasure burned straight to her core. A soft moan tore from her throat.

She clutched his shoulders, moving her hips in an urgent shimmy. She didn’t require more kisses. She didn’t require more caresses.
Already moist and ready, she felt fire roar through her core.

“Take me.” She parted her thighs. She was hot. So hot.

He grabbed her buttocks and lifted her. She straddled him, took him straight inside, until he filled her while she brimmed
with delicious desire.

He was pure molten heat. And the wild passion in his eyes matched the frenzied thrusts of his hips. The taking was savage,
reckless, and natural.

He ravaged her mouth. She was ready, slick, tensed to explode. Hunger and a fierce possessive yearning lent her strength to
ride him, hold on tight, and take what he offered.

Like a cleansing wildfire, the flames burned so hot she exploded in a streak of molten gold with slashes of scalding scarlet.
For long seconds the pleasure took her outside herself to a heavenly place where there was only Rion.

When she finally found the strength to slide down his body and place weight back into her limbs, she opened her eyes and realized
that someone was pounding on the door.

Outside the closed door, Lex’s voice rose to a frantic shout. “Rion. There’s an emergency with the babies. We need everyone’s
help.”

“Just a minute.” Rion scooped up their clothes.

“Hurry.”

Quickly they sorted out their clothing in the darkness and dressed. Marisa was certain that Lex would know what they’d been
doing, but at the panic in his tone she didn’t waste time straightening her hair, barely pulling down her top, and tucking
it into her slacks.

When Rion opened the door, she was still breathing heavily. Lex was already down the hall, running with a flashlight aimed
toward steps that spiraled downward. Rion grabbed her hand, and together they sprinted after him. As they raced through the
hall in the darkness, she could hear the squeals of baby dragons, and dread poured through her.

Back on Earth, Rion had theorized that their intimacy had caused her to inadvertently send out telepathic waves of passion,
thereby upsetting the adult dragons. She now feared his theory might have been right.

“Rion,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t have been so careless. I didn’t even think about how my telepathy might affect the baby
dragons.”

“Why would you? You couldn’t have caused permanent damage.”

“We don’t know that.” Fear drilled her as they ran down the stairs after Lex.

Lex held open a set of thick wooden doors, and bright lights made her blink several times. With the basement underground,
the rebels didn’t have to worry about the Unari spotting the lights. This giant underground cavern must have extended beneath
all of Winhaven. Although cribs and playthings lined one wall, most of the room was empty of furnishings, large enough for
the young dragons to fly.

The purple dragon babies were racing along the floor in frantic circles as if intoxicated. Some of them were too tiny to escape
their cribs. Others took their first clumsy steps and flapped their wings, while toddlers ran and toppled, hopped and skidded,
attempted to fly and failed.

The oldest dragons had managed flight. Most struggled to stay level, and a few crashed into walls. Others barely avoided colliding
into one another. The eldest children flew near the ceiling in uncoordinated circles.

They were all snorting, shrilling, and flapping so loudly, Marisa could barely hear herself think. Two babies flew into each
other and flopped to the ground. Neither appeared hurt, but this was her fault. And she couldn’t calm so many of them in human
form. She had to dragonshape.

Marisa had only to think and her body morphed.

“Marisa—no!” Rion shouted at her to stop.

His warning was too late. Her sight sharpened and her mass grew, until her head reached halfway to the ceiling. With babies
everywhere, she didn’t dare take a step.

Thank God, she wasn’t in pain. But she didn’t question her good fortune. Marisa sent out a greeting of happy calm.
Hello.

She received back a cacophony of excited answers, the children’s delighted thoughts flying at her.