The Witch Thief (Harlequin Nocturne) (25 page)

Chapter 26

I
t had been two weeks since Amma ran out of the Collector’s club chasing after Joarr. She’d stayed in the human world. She had nowhere else to go, and after losing Joarr, she’d been lost and morose. She tried to think of their son, but that depressed her even more.

Her son, who would never know his father. If she chose, he would never even have to know his father was a dragon. He’d grow up like her…exactly like her, feeling deserted and disconnected. Of course, he would be three-quarters dragon versus her half. He would be much more likely to exhibit dragon powers from the beginning of life.

Half. She was half-dragon. She still hadn’t processed that.

She spent another day trying to come to grips with everything, trying to figure out her next step. Female dragons lived somewhere, together, she assumed. But she had no female dragon family, unless her father had other daughters.

More sisters… She didn’t need more sisters that didn’t see her as their equal.

She needed a family. Her son needed a family.

What was she doing, hiding here in the human world from the life he deserved?

She headed to the nearest portal.

* * *

Joarr sat on a rock, staring out over the mountains that surrounded the dragons’ realm. He’d done it; he’d pushed the Ormar too far. He’d returned and told them everything except that Amma was pregnant. That information he would hide from them, protect with his life.

But he’d told them that he’d destroyed the chalice. He’d told them why, too, even though he’d known it wouldn’t matter, that they wouldn’t listen. They claimed it wasn’t his place to make the decision, that even if his story was true, the Ormar should have been presented with the chalice and made the decision.

They didn’t care that destroying the chalice had been the only way to save Amma.

She was only a female—to them. To Joarr, she was everything.

The Ormar had taken all of his treasure, his house and his cavern. But that had been a tiny sting, compared to losing Amma, walking away from her.

He’d had no choice. He’d known what would happen when the Ormar heard his tale, known he would wind up here destined to be a wyrm. He didn’t want Amma to see that, didn’t want his son to know his father as that.

And he didn’t want the Ormar to know he had a son.

They might have cursed him to this fate, but he wouldn’t let them take his child.

The sun fell in the sky. Streaks of red and blue blended into purple.

So, so beautiful. The perfect place to live his life as an uncaring, mindless monster.

He closed his eyes, thought of Amma one last time, imagined her scent and the feel of her magic, and then, he shifted.

* * *

Amma stepped through the portal and into the bar in the dragons’ realm. The garm behind the bar glanced at her.

She twisted her wrist. She’d used the bracelet she’d got from the dark elf while at this same portal with Joarr to pay her passage. She missed it; it had been her one memento of their time together. Well, not her only one… She touched her stomach.

When she looked up, the garm was still watching her. He pulled a piece of paper out from under the bar and handed it to her.

It was a flyer, a warning really. A part of the dragon realm had been declared off-limits. A dragon had been exiled for breaking Ormar law. The word
wyrm
was written in four-inch-high letters across the bottom.

She crumpled the paper in her hands. “Is he…?” She couldn’t say it, couldn’t think of Joarr like Fafnir had been.

The garm opened his mouth, but Amma held up her hand, cutting him off.

Joarr was not a wyrm. The dragons could take everything from him and Joarr would still not turn into a wyrm. There was more to him than his possessions, much more. Besides, the dragons couldn’t take everything from him. They couldn’t take her love.

She strode out the door.

Outside she found a motorcycle. She didn’t bother looking for a key or the owner. Using her magic, she jumped the engine and headed to where the flyer said not to go.

* * *

The sun was rising and the scenery was stunning, but it hardly registered with Amma. Wind tore at her hair as she clung to the motorcycle with her hands and thighs. She had to use her magic to stay in control of the thing. She’d never driven one before; it was exhilarating and terrifying…adding to the adrenaline already pumping through her.

The road curved sharply to the right. Two ancient marble pillars shot up from the ground on each side of it—markers to warn her she was entering the forbidden area. She zoomed through them, their massive height dwarfing her.

The road turned a few more times. Then she was there—the cave of the forgotten, the cave of the wyrm.

But Joarr was neither and she was here to make sure he remembered that.

She got off the bike. Gravel crunched under her feet as she approached the cave. The area around it was different from the grassy meadows sprinkled with wildflowers she’d driven through. Things here were barren…torched. Even the rocks that formed the cave opening were blackened with soot.

She touched her palm to a boulder; it came back black.

“Joarr,” she called, forcing her voice to be normal and controlled, even though she wanted to rush in and pull him out or just run herself. Everything about this place screamed “run.”

There was a shuffling noise, then a snort and fire lapped out toward her. She didn’t shy away; she stepped into it instead. Its warmth greeted her, wrapped around her like a hug.

That was when she knew she’d been right, knew everything was going to be okay.

Stronger, she called again.

“Leave,” Joarr’s voice said, in her head. “You can’t be here. They’ll find out—” He cut his own thoughts off as if he was afraid someone might be listening, which perhaps they were.

Amma looked around, back over her shoulder at the barren landscape. Joarr was the only dragon she’d ever met. Now that she knew she was one, she couldn’t help but be curious about the others—but not about her father. She’d given up that hunt. That was her past, behind her. Now she was looking to the future and her new family, with Joarr.

She turned back to the cave and took a step inside. “I’m here and I’m not leaving. You owe me.”

“What? I owe you nothing. I gave you what you wanted, the pick of my treasure.”

She forced a dry laugh from her lips. “Hardly.”

There was movement, the sound of a dragon shuffling through a tight space.

She held her breath, afraid of what she would see. Joarr couldn’t be a wyrm…she knew that… Still, she couldn’t stop the frisson of fear that shot through her.

The form moved closer; she held back, waiting, her eyes closed. When she could feel the heat of his body, she opened them.

Sunlight caught on silver scales, reflected back at her, blinded her. Tears of relief, not pain, streamed down her cheeks.

She laughed again, this time for real. She stepped forward. “You gave me our child, but it was under false pretenses. You cheated me—you were holding out on me, hiding something even more valuable. Our deal was that I’d have pick of all your treasure.”

Joarr leaned forward, his blue eyes glowing in his face. “You mean you don’t want our son? You don’t claim him?”

Amma lowered her chin and met his gaze. “I mean I want to name something else.”

“But…” He growled, fire flickered from his lips. “If you deny him…” More fire, hotter. It lapped out toward her, danced over her skin, made her hair crackle.

Amma stood strong, embraced the heat.

“What? What did I hide from you?” he asked.

She smiled. “Your heart. I want your heart, Joarr. It’s mine and I won’t give it up.” She held out her hand.

Steam rolled from his nostrils; he shook his head. “I told you, I have nothing. Dragons who lose their treasure are destined to this…life alone as a wyrm. Leave and take our son, save him from this…from me.” He turned.

Magic shot from Amma’s palm, smashed into his back.

He rotated back.

She held both hands up, let the anger she felt for what the dragons had done to her and Joarr show. “Nothing? You have nothing? What am I? What is your son? You told me once dragons don’t value things just because they have monetary worth. Was that a lie? Do we have no value at all?”

“No, but…I don’t have…”

The crack she’d given her anger to show him how irrational he was being boomed open. “And since when did you believe dragons’ legends? You didn’t believe in the legend of the chalice—and you were right. Why do you choose to believe in this one? Is it because you don’t value me and your son?”

“NO!” Joarr roared. Fire exploded out of his throat and magic out of his body. It hit Amma like a wave; she staggered under the weight of it, fell against the cave’s wall.

“Amma?” Joarr, in his human form, scooped her into his arms. “I do value you and our son, more than anything.”

She placed a hand on his chest. “Enough to leave with me? Enough to forget what you’ve lost?”

He shook his head.

Her heart stilled.

He leaned down and brushed his lips over hers. “You were right. I haven’t lost a thing—not if I have you and our son.”

He kissed her and carried her out of the cave. The sun was still warm. Amma luxuriated in it. That and the surety that she and Joarr were going to have what dragons had never had before…a happy ending.

* * * * *

ISBN: 9781459227545

Copyright © 2012 by Lori Devoti

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