Page 51 of Dance with the Dragon Duke

Dark squinted at her. “You’re not acting like yourself.”

Sora snarled deep in her throat, displaying her sharp dragon teeth, looking more like the sister he remembered. “I have been spending too much time with Rain of House Night. The Seelie favor the hugs and the kisses. They are disgusting.”

“I like the change,” he insisted.

Her lips quirked, then her expression turned thoughtful. “Our father truly is dead, you know. I removed his head from his shoulders myself, and he isn’t ever coming back. He won’t be able to capture you and hold you against your will ever again. He won’t ever be able to take anyone from you.”

“I know that,” Dark rumbled.

“I’m not certain you do.”

A shiver went scatting over his skin like thousands of spider legs skittering across his body all at once. He rubbed at his arms to calm the sensation. Perhaps she had a point. The damage their father had done went deep, but the ghost of the tyrant wasn’t what haunted him now.

Dark worked his raw throat. “I’m in love.”

Her golden brows lifted toward her hairline. “Truly?”

A flicker of a smile died on his lips. “Truly.”

She peeked around him at the door by the hearth where he’d come through. “Why didn’t you bring them with you, this person you love so? Is it the Seelie duchess Rain wrote to me about?”

“She’s resting . . . She’s dying.” The words were acid in his mouth. The weight on his chest doubled, threatening to bowl him over.

Sora’s face fell. Masha let out a sympathetic squawk from her fur rug.

“And you are hoping we could be of help, yes?” Sora stirred honey into her tea, clinking the small spoon against the ceramic.

“Tomorrow. That’s her lovely name.” Dark fingered the rim of his cup, resting his elbows on the tabletop. “She tried to become a witch, like you, to escape her fate. But she’s only partially fae, and her soul has been weakened by a magical malady. Her nearest immortal relative is a grandmother.”

Sora exhaled slowly. “Finding a familiar willing to give up the promise of power that makes that bargain attractive will be very, very difficult. How much time does she have?”

“I worry there isn’t time to go searching properly, and my mate is kind. She wouldn’t approve of me forcing someone to make the bargain,” Dark said, “though the thought has entered my mind.”

As had begging his fairies to save her. But he knew his girls well. Fairies had much in common with dragons. They understood beautiful things and valued what was precious and what made them stronger. They would not take on such a massive responsibility to help his mate and weaken themselves, and because they would not, he could grow to hate them.

When Tomorrow was gone—the thought made his stomach drop—his girls were all he’d have. Though some of them wereolder than him in years, they were still children by fairy standards. He didn’t want to hate them.

But what if he had no other choice but to ask them? It felt like he had two mountains on his back now. He raised his cup to busy his hands. It seemed inevitable that he’d have to beg the fairies. It seemed inevitable that they would say no, Tomorrow would die, and he’d have no one. Just his sorrow and the trouble that clung to him.

Sora lifted her tea, letting the steam curl around her pale face. She drank a sip. “My little brother who still carries around the burden of the dead lost while under his command would not approve of forcing another into such service, I think. Darko, you wouldn’t be able to live with yourself. Sometimes I worry you’re barely living with yourself now. Do not mistake me,” she added hurriedly when his hands clenched around his teacup. “I don’t think this is a weakness on your part, as some dragons would. I believe your desire to stop the suffering of others makes you a beautiful person.”

Taken aback, Dark set his tea down so hard it splashed over the rim of his cup. He had the strangest urge to hug his sister. Certain she’d bite him, he refrained from doing so.

“Ack,” Sora said, frowning. “Would you just listen to me carrying on mawkishly. Rain’s terrible influence again. She’s like a tiny little disease, dangerously contagious. I’ll never let her near me with her hugs ever again.”

Despite the heat of her words, the hearth sighed contentedly behind him, giving away her deeper feelings.

Dark’s next thought put him on edge. His feet shuffled against the floorboards, and his tail swiped at the air.

“I want to become her familiar instead,” he said gruffly.

Masha squawked again, this time a warning cry.

“Oh, brother,” Sora said forlornly, “you don’t want to do that.”

“I can save her life. She’s my mate, and I love her. I’ll do this for her—for us both.”

“Brother, I’m not certain you can become a familiar. Your mother wasn’t Unseelie. The completion of the bargain requires strong blood magic. My mother was a goddess, and I’m not certain even I could.”

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