The Dragon Legion Collection 9 (9 page)

“What do you mean?” Alexander’s voice was carefully neutral.

Katina swallowed. She didn’t wish Cetos dead, despite what he had done, but she did want to be with Alexander again. “Am I a widow, free to welcome you again, or not?”

Alexander flicked a hot look her way. “I didn’t kill him.” He was so sure that Katina knew it was true.

Her heart sank. She was still a married woman. “I won’t go back to him,” she said with resolve. “I’ll stay with you.”

Alexander grimaced. “You gave your word to him.”

“You invited me to go with you.”

“That was before...” He frowned and fell silent.

“He raised his hand against me.” Katina felt her lips set even as she folded her arms across her chest. If Alexander was going to be stubborn, she would be more so. “And if I tell him that I welcomed you, he’ll cast me out anyway. Do you mean to hold me to that marriage vow, even though he tried to hurt me?”

To her surprise, Alexander said nothing, although his scowl deepened.

“Don’t you love me anymore?” Katina demanded, needing to hear the truth.

“I have no right to love you,” Alexander said.

It wasn’t the answer she wanted, but it wasn’t the one she’d feared either. “You’d prefer that I went back to Cetos?” she asked, hearing the hurt in her voice. “You just came to seduce me, not to stay?”

“No,” he said with force. “Never that.”

“Then what?”

“I won’t make a promise to you that I might not be able to keep.”

Katina bit her lip and looked over the valley. It was possible that he was bothered by her marriage vow, but she sensed that there was something else, some ethical concern that made him wait. She loved that Alexander was a man of honor, but in this moment, she could wish that he weren’t quite so principled.

Of course, then she wouldn’t love him quite so much.

Then she remembered his earlier confession. “You don’t know if you’ll be able to stay,” she whispered.

Alexander bowed his head.

“You never could lie,” she said softly.

“Not to you.” He looked at her then, his heart in his eyes, and Katina realized she’d have to show him that she’d take every moment she could have with him, and savor it. She’d tried to send him away, fearing that Cetos would injure him, but now that they were away from Cetos, she couldn’t bear to be parted from Alexander.

And she knew now that he could defend himself against any man.

She recognized that his principles would stand between them, along with her marriage vows. As long as Cetos lived and Alexander was uncertain of his future, he wouldn’t touch her. He’d defend her and talk to her, but no more than that.

Katina wanted more. She had to find a way to solve this.

“When will you know about your future?” she asked.

“After I ask the Pythia.”

“We have to go to Delphi, then.”

He nodded.

“The flames, in the sanctuary,” she guessed. “When we first met. I saw them spark between the two of us. I thought it a sign.” Alexander nodded agreement. “It wasn’t a trick, was it? It didn’t have anything to do with the Pythia or the fumes in the temple.”

“It was the light of the firestorm,” Alexander admitted. “The firestorm burns when one of my kind meets his destined mate.”

Katina smiled with new hope. “Then we
were
destined to be together.”

Alexander shrugged and Katina sensed that, once again, he would protect her from some painful truth. “It’s not such a romantic idea as that. The destined mate is the woman who can bear the
Pyr
’s son. The flame burns until their match is made.”

Katina looked away, disappointed that the magic of their first encounter had only been about the conception of Lysander. “Did I have a choice?”

“There’s always a choice.”

Katina remembered the heat of the firestorm, the power of her desire and the connection she had felt with Alexander in that potent moment. She remembered the consuming attraction she’d felt for him and wasn’t sure she could have resisted him then, not for any price.

She stole a glance at him and acknowledged that hadn’t changed. She hadn’t been able to resist him on this day, even without the spark of this firestorm.

And she didn’t want to resist him now.

Suddenly, she realized the implication underlying his words.

“Bear his son,” she echoed. “That means Lysander...”

Alexander fixed her with a cool glance that reminded her of the dragon within. “Will be like me,” he confirmed with a calmness that seemed undeserved. “Understand, Katina, that if I hadn’t pledged to serve, then I would never have answered the summons.” His eyes darkened as he watched her, his voice softening. “But if I hadn’t pledged, then I wouldn’t have been in the sanctuary of the temple at Delphi the night you arrived there. I wouldn’t have missed that for all the world.”

There was a lump in Katina’s throat. “No matter how it ends?”

“No matter how it ends, I can’t regret having been with you.”

Katina reached out and took his hand in hers again. “I have no regrets, either.”

Their gazes locked and held for a long moment. That familiar heat rose between them, reminding her that they had never stopped with one mating. She saw the spark of desire brighten in Alexander’s eyes and dared to hope that he might soften in his resolve. She made to take a step closer, to encourage him with a kiss, but Alexander caught his breath sharply.

His entire body stiffened in alarm. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the valley and she saw that faint shimmer of blue around his body.

“What is it?”

“Terror,” he said softly. “Danger.” The blue shimmer brightened and Katina knew what was going to happen.

She tightened her grip on his hand, not wanting to be left behind. “Take me with you.”

His expression turned stubborn. “I won’t endanger you...”

“You said there’s always a choice,” Katina said firmly, interrupting him before he could say more. “I’ve made mine, Alexander. Take me with you.” She stretched up and touched her lips to his, tasting his surprise.

Then he smiled, his eyes glowing. She had a chance to smile back at him before he took a deep breath. She wasn’t alarmed to find her fingers locked around a dragon’s claw. Wings stretching high overhead, he tipped back his head and roared with savage power.

Then Alexander swept her into his embrace and leapt into the sky, his wings beating hard as the ground fell away. His every move was filled with urgency and she guessed that he feared they would arrive too late. She knew he wouldn’t drop her, but she held him tightly all the same. The wind whipped around them and the night air turned cold.

It was when she moved to lean against his chest that she saw the gap in his armor. One scale was missing from the mailed splendor of his chest, leaving a tiny increment of skin exposed.

Katina touched the spot with her fingertip and felt an involuntary shudder roll through Alexander’s body. She looked up to find his gaze locked upon her, his expression all the more intense when he was in this form. She smoothed the spot with her fingertips.

“Does it hurt?” she asked, thinking her words would be snatched away by the wind. To her surprise, Alexander heard her—but then, he had admitted to his sharper senses. He shook his head, so dismissive of the idea that she feared he suddenly had the power to hide the truth from her.

What did the missing scale mean?

* * *

Alexander had smelled
Slayer
.

Just one tantalizing whiff, as if someone had lifted the lid from a fine hot stew and let one tendril of its scent waft into the room. It was a tease and a temptation.

Again.

It made no sense, but the scent was unmistakable. Alexander knew to trust his nose over his mind—he’d made the mistake of ignoring the information from his senses once already since his return.

Worse, mingled with the scent of
Slayer
was that of human terror.

What had the darkfire crystal done? It was a source of unpredictability, a connection to chaos, but Alexander couldn’t guess how much power it truly had. Could it rouse dead
Slayers
? Could it cast all of the
Pyr
into times and places other than their own, or just Drake’s company of warriors? Could it change the future as well as the past? He wished he knew more of what opponent he faced before he lunged into battle.

“What do you sense?” Katina asked, and Alexander wasn’t surprised that she wanted to know the worst of it. She was clever and might be able to help him to figure out what had happened. He needed to use all the advantages that came his way.

“I smell
Slayer
,” he said tersely. “That’s one of my kind who has turned against humans.” He shook his head, knowing he had to tell her the rest. “I had a whiff of it earlier, when Cetos returned, but ignored it.”

“Why would you ignore danger?”

“Because it made no sense. There aren’t any
Slayers
...here.”

“Yet there is one all the same,” Katina said matter-of-factly, much to Alexander’s relief. “What do you know of them?”

He considered her question, trying to recall all he knew of them. He’d had precious little contact with
Slayers
in the future, by his own choice. Their scent repulsed him, and he had no interest in being tainted by their evil. “He’s revealing his scent at intervals, then disguising it again.”

“Like a taunt.”

“Exactly like a taunt!” She was right. All
Pyr
taunted each other before battle. He was glad to know what this
Slayer
wanted, if not why. He’d get a fight from Alexander if he was tormenting a human.

“How does he do that?” Katina asked. “I’d think a scent would be constant.”

“It should be. Only those
Slayers
who have drunk the Dragon’s Blood Elixir have such power,” Alexander explained. He knew of two surviving
Slayers
who had consumed that vile potion. Assuming that the darkfire crystal hadn’t roused the dead—an assumption he couldn’t rely upon—it must be Jorge or Chen cast into the past with him.

Or perhaps one of them had pursued him. Chen had released the darkfire in the first place. Was it under his command? Was that why so much was going wrong?

Katina was watching Alexander closely, waiting for him to tell her more. Alexander wasn’t sure how to easily explain the question of passing through time, so stuck with the essentials. “And I smell a human who is terrified.”

“You have to save him,” Katina said immediately. “Put me down anywhere and fight the
Slayer
. I’ll help as much as possible.” Her practicality made Alexander remember just how much he loved her.

Perhaps they could work together, as some of the modern
Pyr
worked with their mates. Alexander flew at his quickest speed, following the scent. It was to the south of them, toward Sparta, which wasn’t encouraging at all. That it was being unveiled just for him was an unavoidable conclusion—which made it a lure as well as a taunt.

Lysander was en route to Sparta!

He had time to feel a pang of fear before he saw the blaze of dragonfire on the ground.

“There!” Katina said and gripped his arms.

She’d seen the flame, but wouldn’t discern the detail as well as he did. Alexander could see the dragon battling a Spartan hoplite in full uniform. He saw the dragonfire reflected in the warrior’s greaves and chest plate.

The
Slayer
was brilliant yellow, a dragon the color of topaz tipped in gold. There was something serpentine about this one, for he was large and powerful, but sinuous and sleek, too.

The color of the scales was telling. Somehow, Jorge was here in his own time. That wasn’t the best news as Jorge was vicious, but at least he didn’t control any old dragon magic.

Chen would have been worse. Alexander had no understanding of magic, be it that of dragons or others, and Chen was a master at dragon magic.

There was no time to be relieved, though. The hoplite slashed at the
Slayer
with his sword, so much smaller than the dragon that the fight could have only one outcome. The hoplite was valiant, but doomed. Alexander saw that the hoplite defended someone smaller than himself.

A boy.

Alexander prayed it wasn’t the boy he feared it was. “A hoplite fights the
Slayer
,” he told Katina, then breathed deeply. “There’s a boy. There might be another. His scent is odd, if so. It’s mingled with that of the
Slayer
in a strange way.”

“Great Zeus, no,” Katina whispered. “Pelias was wearing his hoplite armor when he came for Lysander.”

Alexander inhaled again, only recognizing the half-forgotten scent of his mentor when she supplied the name. “All paths lead to the same place,” he muttered, hating that she was right.

He flew to the far side of the fight, staying low against the ground. He doubted that he could surprise the
Slayer
if Jorge had invited him, but it was worth a try.

“We’ll appear suddenly from the far side of that outcropping,” he advised Katina softly. He hoped he wasn’t overheard, but there was no other way to communicate with her. “I’ll be downwind and he might be surprised. If so, seize the moment. Take Lysander, then run and hide.”