Soul of Smoke (29 page)

With a mental lunge, he shoved into her mind and grasped the whirling core of heat and power at her center, pulling it toward him, drawing it out through channels too unready, too weak for such a huge flow of magic.

She stumbled and cried out in pain, falling to her knees in front of Owain.

Rhys thrust an image into her mind. With a sharp cry of pain but no hesitation, she raised her hands and pointed her palms toward Owain. Rhys yanked on her fire with every ounce of strength he had left. Jets of flame shot from Kai’s fingers straight toward Owain’s face.

Flesh popped and hissed. Owain released Rhys’s throat and roared in agony. Rhys gulped an enormous breaths of sweet, cold air one after another.

Fire still flew from Kai’s hands. She was screaming. It was too much magic, too soon. She was burning.

Horrified, Rhys shoved his way into her mind once again.

Terror. Absolute, mindless panic. She fought, pushing him back, but he had to stop her before she killed herself. He pushed deeper, finally shutting off the flow of power. Kai collapsed.

Owain was roaring swiping his claws back and forth in blind agony, a bloody, melted mass where his right eye used to be. He lunged at Kai, who scrambled out of the way.

A red mist rising before his eyes, Rhys caught Owain’s back foot and hauled the white dragon away from Kai. Bone crunched between his jaws. Scales sheared from flesh. Blood ran over his tongue, and Rhys reveled in it. Vengeance. Justice. Hurt the one who hurt the ones you loved.

Rhys released Owain’s back leg just as a midnight-blue body slammed into the white dragon, knocking him away. Owain shoved the blue dragon off and pulled himself up, favoring his back left leg and slashing at the newcomer.

The red mist cleared, and recognition snapped Rhys back to the present. “
Evan?
”

“
Sorry
,
boyo!
We came as fast as we could!
”

Rhys was still taking great, heaving breaths, terrified of the pleasure he’d taken in hurting Owain. Above, a dozen new dragons had joined the fight.

The Invisible had arrived.

Owain backed away from Rhys and Evan, hissing a cloud of ice. Evan stopped.

A shadow passed overhead, and Morwenna landed between Rhys and Owain, as well. “
We outnumber you
,
Firelost
,” she hissed.

Owain exhaled more of his icy mist. Evan drew back. Touching it would have the same effect as plunging a hand into liquid nitrogen.

Owain’s white lips drew back over whiter teeth in an expression that was part grin, part snarl. He leaped into the air. “
Withdraw!
Kavar
,
leave him!
”

Around them, Owain’s dragons rose into the air. Kavar went last. As he took off, a bleeding Ashem collapsed to the ground.

“
We need to leave
,
too
”
.
Evan blinked coal-gray eyes at Rhys. “
He may have reinforcements in the area.
He could come back.
”

Rhys needed to be human, to go to Kai, touch her, make sure she was all right. He needed to hold her before the grief he’d held off during the battle crashed down, crushing him.

“
Griffith is dead
,” he said, unable to contain the words.

Evan went still. Morwenna let out a keening cry. “
Who killed him?
I’ll blast them to char and eat their bloody heart!
”

There was no time. He leaned into the weight of duty, using it to prop himself up. “
Vengeance will keep.
Get Griffith.
Protect Ffion.
Evan is right.
We need to gather what we can from the cave and leave.
”

Still keening, Morwenna lifted off. Evan followed, and Rhys could finally turn to face Kai. At some point, she’d taken shelter behind a cluster of small boulders.

She sat up, hugging herself. Tears streaked her face. Like the fall of an ax, she slammed a mental shield over her mind.

Rhys staggered.

“Don’t you
ever
force your way into my head again!” Tears threatened to strangle her voice as she pulled herself to her feet. “My mind belongs to
me
. I will not be violated by dragons anymore. Stay out, or I swear I will find a way to end this.”

Rhys felt as if the ground had dropped out from under him. “
Kai
—” A void gaped where her mind had been, an emptiness populated by nothing but a cold, howling wind.

“No! Ffion said it wouldn’t be like Kavar.” She hugged herself, her face gray, like she might be sick. “It was worse. Stay out.”

He started to change so he could look her in the eyes, make her see reason, when a shrill voice rent the air.

“Rhys!” Juli ran toward him, her eyes wide. “He’s losing too much blood. I think he’s dying. Help him.”

Beyond Juli, Ashem was on the ground, human. Blood pooled around him.

Griffith dead. Cadoc cursed. Ashem dying.

Sunder me.

Later, there would be time for grief; there would be time to make things up to Kai. Now, tired to his soul, he called the change, diminishing into his human body. He’d failed Griffith and Cadoc. At least he could help Ashem.

Chapter Thirty

To Save You

Wind whistled in Kai’s ears from her place on Tane’s
back, but it didn’t cool the scorched feeling that had settled deep into her
bones. Nor did it help the throbbing headache, or the burning pain in her
forearm, though that was mostly gone, now.

Dragons flew in a vee formation around them, making it obvious
where they had gotten the name for their military units. Tane was on the inside
of the vee, protected by the others because he carried Kai on his back. Now that
she was heartsworn, Kai could see through the veils the dragons pulled over
themselves. There was still a sort of shimmering in the air around them, but it
no longer hid what was inside.

Tane’s skin wasn’t like the others’, she observed numbly. It
was smooth instead of scaled, more like an amphibian than a reptile. He was
Mo’o—a dragon from the Pacific islands—and one of the reinforcements who had
saved them.

She glanced toward Rhys, who flew next to a sleek red female.
If Kai was right, that dragon would be Morwenna, the haughty-looking woman from
the camp. There was something possessive about the way she flew so close to
Rhys. Something intimate. Their movements didn’t have the strange synchrony that
Ffion and Griffith’s had, but they definitely knew each other well.

Rhys turned her way, and Kai was assaulted by the memory of him
forcing himself deep into her mind. For a minute, she thought she might throw up
all over Tane’s dappled skin. She hadn’t thought a mental invasion could get
worse than what Kavar had done.

Wrong.

She checked the shield over her mind, trying to ignore the
feeling of being alone in pitch darkness on the edge of a cliff. It had only
been hours since she’d heartsworn. This feeling would go away. It had to go
away. Because there was no way in hell she was letting Rhys back in.

They flew over pine-covered mountains and snowy wilderness,
tense and on edge. Ashem, who had insisted on flying himself, was doing his
best, but he struggled to keep up. Kai could see Juli clinging to his back, her
face buried against his sinuous neck. For someone who’d only known him a few
days, she was utterly undone by his injuries.

Heartswearing was kind of sick that way, Kai decided, shooting
another glance at Rhys. He stared straight ahead, sometimes turning toward
Morwenna, as if they were talking. Her heart wrenched, fear battling with idiot
longing. Things had been going well, but he had hurt her. In hurting her, he had
kept himself alive. Did that make what he had done less awful?

She couldn’t decide.

She laid against Tane’s neck, trying not to think of Rhys,
watching the Mo’o’s wings. They reminded her of lionfish fins, frills streaming
in the wind if his flight.

A town passed beneath them, breaking the monotony of forested
mountains. Eventually, the mountains sank into dry, brown, eastern Washington
with its scattering of towns and farms. A couple hours later, the land rose once
again into forested hills. They landed, according to Tane, about an hour outside
of Seattle, Tane setting down in a stretch of mountainous forest between two
towns like gentle rain. Several cars were parked in a lonely garage painted the
same grays and greens as the trees around them.

“What is this place?” Kai looked at Tane, who had become a
large, Polynesian-looking man with tattoos on his cheeks and a short,
gray-streaked black ponytail.

“We can’t just go flying into the city.” Tane smiled at her,
though it looked small on his broad, brown face, like he was more used to
laughter and giant grins. It didn’t even crinkle his tattoos. “We keep cars
here, become human and drive into town. Less mass hysteria.”

Kai wished she could return the smile. She wished she could
feel anything at all. But if she let the tsunami of her suppressed emotions
crash down on her, she would drown.

The dragons pulled four dark SUV’s out of the garage and onto
the narrow, gravel road that led away into the forest.

Kai followed Deryn and Evan to the closest one. In a rare
display of dragon strength, they yanked out the middle seats. Someone produced
blankets from the garage, and they laid them on the floor of the SUV before they
put Griffith’s wrapped body inside.

Ffion had spent the trip unconscious, cradled in the claws of
dragon who looked like it had escaped an ancient Chinese painting. Awake now,
she crawled in with Griffith. Weeping and clutching her stomach, she curled up
and put her head on Griffith’s chest.

Ashem came over, his face drawn, and pressed two fingers to her
forehead. “Sleep. We’ll get you both home.”

Ffion’s tear-filled eyes drifted closed.

Grief clawed at Kai, rending her heart. It wasn’t fair. Though
Griffith had been the largest of the dragons, he’d been the least frightening.
He’d been kind, and smiling, and so obviously in love with Ffion.

Hot tears dripped down Kai’s face, and she covered it with her
hands, remembering what Rhys had said that night he’d first held her hand.
It’s normal people—people who want nothing but peace
,
family
and happiness—who die because some idiot wanted some grand thing.

No one had deserved peace and happiness more than Griffith and
Ffion.

“Kai?” Evan was watching her from the driver’s side of another
SUV.

Kai wiped her eyes. “Yeah?”

“Ashem wants you to ride with me and Deryn.”

Kai nodded. She looked around for Juli, wanting to make sure
her friend would know where she’d gone.

Juli was hovering behind Ashem, watching him with worried eyes.
Ashem had one arm clamped over his quickly-bound abdomen and was pulling himself
into another car, pain written on his face. Juli looked up met Kai’s eyes, and
nodded, as if Kai’s concerns had been spoken aloud and Juli had heard them.

Maybe she had.

Kai climbed into the back of the SUV Evan indicated then leaned
against the seat. Deryn climbed into the passenger seat and slammed her door. As
soon as it was closed, her silent tears became audible weeping. Evan reached
over and wrapped her in a hug, kissing her hair. They held each other, and Kai
felt her own tears run hot down her face, leaving trails of salt across her
lips.

Griffith.
Gone. Just gone. As sudden and shocking as
the snap of a rubber band, leaving Ffion alone. Kai covered her face with her
hands, crying as quietly as she could so she didn’t intrude on the others’
grief.

The SUV rocked and the side door slammed shut. The seat dipped
beside her. Surprised, Kai took her hands from her eyes and jerked back. “Rhys.”
She’d thought she’d seen him get into a car with Morwenna.

His scent washed over her, at once strange and familiar. Evan
put the SUV in gear, and they followed the vehicle that held Ffion and Griffith
down the bumpy road.

Rhys didn’t look at her. Bruises ringed his neck, black and
purple already fading to yellow. His eyes were red, though his face held no
evidence of tears, only tight control.

“I’m sorry,” he murmured. His voice was barely audible above
the rumble of the SUV’s engine.

Kai didn’t respond, torn between the repulsing fear of being
invaded and the deep, unrelenting
need
to be close. Closeness won.
Tentatively, she reached out and touched his cheek. As if the touch broke some
invisible spell, Rhys crumpled. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried
his face in her stomach, shoulders heaving.

Kai froze. After a few long minutes, she stroked his hair. It
hurt so much, wanting to comfort and be comforted, but being so angry, so afraid
of letting him in. Still, with him close, something desperate inside her eased.
When he would have moved, she held onto him, and he laid his head in her lap.
They stayed like that for an hour or more, until his bruises faded into nothing
and skyscrapers peeked over the omnipresent trees. Then the city was all around
them, the buildings so tall Kai had to lean her head against her window and
crane her neck, and still she couldn’t see their tops. Rhys didn’t move until
Evan pulled up behind a pair of ritzy-looking towers and Evan parked the
SUV.

Rhys sat up, but his hand lingered on hers. “I’m sorry,” he
murmured again before letting her go. Then, “Kai... don’t say anything about our
heartswearing. Not yet.”

Before she could ask why, he climbed out and went to help the
others. Tane, Evan and a tall East Asian man carried Griffith’s body into the
building. Rhys scooped Ffion into his arms and followed them.

The sight broke her heart. Still, Kai couldn’t bring herself to
let him into her mind.

* * *

Blood clouded the water. Juli dipped the rag again and
wrung it out, watching the pink liquid stream back into the bowl.
Plink
,
plink.
The water rippled again when her tears hit the
surface. Tightening her jaw, she turned back to Ashem, who was seated on a plush
gray chair draped with towels.

The apartment was luxurious, all white walls and dark hardwood
floors and decidedly boring after days in a dragon’s lair. Though she’d been in
the cave just over a week, Juli felt a sharp ache for the hoard and tiny fires
and singing walls. After retrieving what they could, they’d destroyed it rather
than leaving anything behind for Owain. A home a thousand years in the making,
gone. Like Griffith. Juli thought she might drown in the guilt, and it wasn’t
even hers.

Firelight from the gas fireplace flickered across Ashem’s
bronze skin, warming the cool white and gray of the room and turning the
remaining blood to ugly black streaks and splotches. She’d sponged off the worst
of the mess, but it still covered at least half of his claw-marked body. Angry
red welts and lines of dark sutures ran parallel from his chest to his lower
abdomen, already almost healed. They’d had to use some kind of discreet dragon
back entrance to get him, Ffion and Griffith’s body into the building without
causing a scene.

At least Ashem would survive.

“
Thanks to you
,
aziz-am.
”

“
Shush.
”

She’d darted from tree to tree as he fought, staying as close
as possible without being seen, trying to slip into the mind of whichever dragon
he fought. Making them slow, distracting them. And Kavar...Juli flung the rag
back into the bowl, and blood-tinged water slopped over the edge onto the
mahogany table.

“We survived.” Ashem’s velvet voice startled her out of her
thoughts. She caught a flash of devastating grief. “
Most of us.
”

“You were lucky,” Juli snapped. “He would’ve
killed
you, you idiot! I don’t care if he’s your brother, you can’t—” She took a
shallow breath. She’d been inside Ashem’s head during the fight. He could have
killed Kavar so many times, but he hadn’t. Instead, Kavar had nearly killed him.
“You can’t—” Another shallow breath, then another, faster and faster until the
room spun and tilted.

Ashem’s mind surrounded her, steadying hers, and he rose and
put his arms around her. They realized simultaneously how well she fit
there.

Another surge of guilt from Ashem. “You would have made an
excellent doctor.”

Juli snorted, but calmed, timing her breathing to the measured
beat of his heart. “Clearly not. I panicked.”

“Only for a minute. You were perfect.” His fingers feathered
down her back. “
And I failed.
”

“I did a horrible job with the stitches. You’ll be covered in
scars.” She twined her arms around his neck and stroked the short, soft hair at
his nape. “
Stop it.
It’s not your fault.
”

He didn’t respond to her thought, only veiled his more in
shadow. “I can make a salve. You won’t notice the scars in a week.”

Juli snorted. “Scars are the least of our worries. Kai might
want some, though. The one on her arm will be bad.” She pushed him away. “You’re
getting blood all over me.”

“You were covered in it already.”

Juli drew away from him and looked down. This morning her shirt
had been cream and sky blue. Now it was mostly splotches of brown and bright
red, as were her arms. Even her hair had sticky spots in it. Perhaps Ashem
wasn’t the only reason they’d had to sneak in the back.

“I’ll clean up when I’m done with you.” She wet a new rag and
wrung it out. It was stained red already.

She threw her hands up in frustration. “This water is
disgusting.” Of all the ridiculous things, tears burned behind her eyes. Why on
earth should she cry? She hadn’t been hurt. They had lost Griffith, but it
wasn’t like Juli had known him well. Kai would live. Juli would live.
Ashem...

She moved to pick up the bowl, but he wrapped his hand around
her wrist. She glared over her shoulder.

He scowled. “You need rest.”

“Sit down.”

Ashem sat, but didn’t release her wrist. He wrestled the bowl
from her hand and yanked her onto his lap, letting out a muffled grunt of
pain.

“I beg your pardon! I hope that hurt!” She struggled into a
sitting position, and served him right if she elbowed him somewhere tender.
Served him right for being so stupid and so almost-dead after swearing her and
not even giving her a chance to know him—

“Damn it, woman! Don’t blame me. I still have to do my job. I
didn’t expect—”

Juli struggled again. “
You
didn’t expect? Ha! Let me
go! I don’t even care! Go ahead, go fight battles and die! I’m strong enough to
get on without you!”

But the image of Ffion curled next to Griffith’s body flashed
through Juli’s mind. She pressed her hand against her mouth and stifled a
sob.

He gripped the back of her neck with one hand, stilling her,
and leaned his forehead against hers. His mind opened. Anger. Guilt. Relief.
Desire. Fear. The fear was the strongest, swirling over everything else. A
knee-knocking kind of fear Juli had only felt once, after some drunken idiot had
driven her off the road and she’d wrapped her car around a tree. It was seeing
death and surviving.