Page 44 of Defy Me

"Oh heck to the no. I'll break it." She grabbed the dagger from where it had fallen to the ground beside him and held it to her wrist.

She couldn't. Jett could not let his beautiful mate sacrifice herself to try to save him. He knew what she was. He'd knows for a while, but hadn't wanted to admit it. The White Witch and the First Dragon would not give him a mate only to take her away. "No. Brothers. Kill."

But he was no child of the White Witch. It seemed she too had used him as a pawn in her war. His body shook and his muscles and bones reshaped themselves into the form of a cursed demon dragon. Soon he wouldn't care if he was a weapon or a slave. "Go. Now."

Yvaine shook her head and sliced into her arm. "I freely give to you my life's blood so that your curse may be broken forever."

The screeches and the scraping of claws of the demon dragons filled the caves, echoing off the rocks. Black shadow filled Jett's mind and the last thing he heard was the scream of a unicorn.

Tea Time with the Goddess

Dragons of every color flew over head. Fire and ice blew through the air, the trees slapped batstriches, the demon dragons around, and rays of sunlight caught the beasts in mid-air turning them to puffs of smoke.

She needed to hurry and find Jett, tell him that she could break the curse. She didn't see him anywhere. "Jett. Where are you? Jett."

Yvaine?His voice was nothing more than a weak whisper in her head.Thank the First Dragon.

Where are you?He didn't reply.Jett. Tell me where you are. Whatever is wrong, I can help.

The battle raging around her faded slightly, like someone had turned down the volume on the television and put a sheer curtain in front of it. Yvaine spun in a circle trying to figure who or what had cut her off from Jett. She reached inside to see if maybe she'd done it herself by slipping into the veil, but that part of her magic wasn't there.

"Come sit by me Yvaine. Let's have a cup of tea. I find that always soothes me in times of trouble."

The innkeeper woman from the gasthaus in Germany was sitting at a little cafe table in the middle of the field where the battle was raging. She wore a flowing white dress and had little white flowers in her hair. Or maybe they were snowflakes. She poured herself a cup of tea from a fancy looking silver teapot into a very large white mug. "Sugar, dear?"

This doesn't exactly seem like the right time for a cuppa.Yvaine jerked her chin toward the sky to indicate the dragons and batstriches, the fire and ice, the full on battle going on around their heads.

"Oh, there's always time for tea." She plopped two sugar cubes into the cup and held it out for Yvaine to take. "It's herbal. You'll like it. Nimbus clouds and mint."

Yvaine didn't know what else to do, so she tried to take the the mug from the woman. Hard to do when your hands were hooves. Whoa. Again? But this didn't look like Sìthean,the otherworld. Cait had said that was the only time she would take her true form. The mysterious curtain must be part of the veil between the worlds. Maybe. It wasn't like the one at the abbey or when she slipped through it to transport herself out of danger.

The innkeeper blew on her cup and took a sip. She tipped her head at Yvaine, studying her. She wasn't surprised in the least by Yvaine's long white mane, pure white hide, or the frickin' horn sticking out of the middle of her forehead.

Had she also known the night Yvaine had gone to their inn? Probably. Okay, so the woman wasn't a mere innkeeper.What do you want from me?

The woman looked up and the sky and squinted. "You know where I think I went wrong?"

By having tea on a battlefield?Also when she magically kidnapped people and brought them to said tea. Yvaine needed to figure out how to get away from the crazy lady and back to finding Jett. There had been something wrong with him a few minutes ago. She was sure of it, but the memory kept slipping out of place and she couldn't get a grasp on what had been happening before she found herself standing in this field.

"I've made a lot of mistakes. I'll be the first to admit it. People don't think I can do that, being a goddess and all, but I do. I screw things up all the time, you know."

I see.Why was a goddess telling her about what a screw up she was. Yvaine sniffed at her mug of tea. Probably better not to drink it.

"But somewhere along the way, I made him think that sacrifice equaled love. I don't know where I went wrong. But he's not the only one. Generations later and it's happening all over again. I didn't teach him he had inherent worth. Maybe I couldn't though. I guess that's something one has to learn for themselves." The woman stared into her teacup lost in thought. She seemed sad and Yvaine almost felt sorry for her. She must have lost someone she loved.

Someone who had sacrificed themselves for love. Who thought that's all their life was worth.

A weird pain built up in Yvaine's chest.Who are we talking about?

The woman sucked in a long breath and sighed, then looked over her like there hadn't even been a long lull in the conversation. "Like look at my poor little Fallyn for example."

Who is Fallyn? The one you lost?Yvaine felt like she was never getting any answers and this entire conversation was not getting her back to Jett. She needed to do that. She just couldn't remember why.

"I finally talk Kur into letting the dragons have daughters again and out she pops. She's beautiful, and sassy, and strong. A mind like a trap that one. Then I go and give her the gift of dragoness sight so she can see all the mates to come and be friends with them all and her head explodes.

What? Her head exploded?Holy crap. That was kind of a pretty bad mistake.

"For being a unicorn you take things awfully literally, Yvaine. Fallyn's head is intact, but she's had it rough that one."

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