Page 62 of Caress of Fire
“You can’t do that.” She shook her head. “You always say you will protect me, take care of me. But that isn’t what love is about. It’s a partnership. You need to tell me what happens to you. Maybe I can help, maybe I can’t, but I sure can listen.”
Fedryc stared at her for a long time, then his features softened and the corner of his mouth lifted. “How lost would I be without you?” When his arms closed around her waist, she didn’t resist the pull of his body. Two beautiful silver eyes looked down at her, full of feelings she hadn’t seen in them before.
Only not for her.
“Tell me.” It wasn’t an order, more like a suggestion, and she kept her voice low and soft.
“Nyra is gone.” Fedryc let the words out like he had been punched in the stomach. “She’s in heat and a male found her.”
Marielle blinked and, from behind them, she heard the sound of metal objects clattering to the floor. Dr. Ylco had heard, too, and it came as a shock to him as well.
Fedryc glanced over her head to the doctor with an annoyed scowl, then back at her. Sadness and something else was painted on his handsome features. Something a lot like jealousy.
“So Nyra found a lover?” This was a lot of information, and Marielle wasn’t sure what she should say or do. “She’s out with him now? But she’s coming back soon, right?”
“I think she will.” Fedryc shook his head. “I’m not sure he will allow her to leave. The dragon was a feral.”
Marielle blinked and her mouth became dry. “A feral?” She shook her head. “A wild dragon, you mean? How is that possible? I thought for a dragon to be born, a Draekon had to be born—linked to it as well.”
Fedryc lifted his brows and nodded. He looked just as confused as she was.
“That is what everyone thinks. Rumors of feral dragons have always abounded in the remote regions of Dagmar; tales of dragons who refused the gift of sentience and kept to the wild, away from our world.” He passed a hand through his thick black hair, his eyes vague and unfocused. “I always took the stories for exactly that. Stories. But I know what I saw. That beast was larger than Nyra, more powerful, and when he stared at me, he didn’t know who I was.WhatI was. He didn’t understand the bond. I don’t know how, but a dragon was born on Earth without a Draekon, and it took to the wild.”
Marielle stared at Fedryc as the importance of what he had just revealed sank in. This was an entirely new level of threat. “Nyra left you for this feral dragon?”
Pain crossed Fedryc’s face and he looked down at the floor. Confusion reigned in Marielle’s mind as she processed the information. Nyra and Fedryc had a symbiotic relationship; one couldn’t live without the other. They drew on each other’s life-force, what Fedryc calledvitalem. They were the closest beings she’d ever seen, sharing each other’s thoughts with a single touch. The dragoness, in all her wild, tempestuous personality, loved Fedryc just as he loved her.
“Nyra will come back.” Marielle spoke with all the conviction she didn’t have. “She can never be far from you for long.”
“She found a mate.” Fedryc shook his head, pain, anger and confusion clear on his face. “That it’s a feral beast changes everything. Dragons are like Draekons, they mate for life. And since I found my Draekarra, so did she find her mate.”
He swallowed, then ran a hand through his dark hair again. He left Marielle’s side to walk over to the small bed where Rela lay, fast asleep. Marielle watched him, a lump in her throat.
“Without a dragon, Aalstad is vulnerable to anyone who would wish us harm,” Fedryc stated coldly as he stared at Rela, then looked up to Dr. Ylco, whose face had turned ashen. “I was told she’d woken up.”
“She did. And she spoke at length with the Lady Marielle.” Dr. Ylco glanced at Marielle, then looked back at Fedryc. “But after a while, I had to put her back under. She’s still very fragile.”
“What information did she give you?” This time, it was the High Lord who spoke, turning to Marielle with his calm, assessing gray eyes.
“She knows where Ignio Marula was holding Devan.” Marielle’s hands went to her chest and she crumpled the front of her dress in her fists. “And she knows he doesn’t have long.”
Fedryc nodded, then glanced at Rela once more before turning to her. “It will be a trap.” He lifted his brows. “Going without Nyra will only reveal our weakness to the Knat-Kanassis.”
“Then my brother will die.” The world faded away as Marielle looked at him. She didn’t need to beg, didn’t need to scream and cry. He knew she couldn’t live with knowing Devan had died when he could have been saved.
“Aalstad doesn’t stand alone in her fight.” Fedryc turned a cold stare toward Dr. Ylco. “And as long as our allies don’t know the reason for Nyra’s absence then we stand a chance. Do you understand?”
“Of course, my Lord.” Dr. Ylco inclined his head in deference, and when he looked back up, his eyes gleamed with resolve. “We will all stand with you for Aalstad, and against the order.”
Fedryc held the doctor’s gaze for a long time, then nodded. He turned to Marielle and placed both hands on her shoulders.
“I will need someone who knows the capital for this.” His eyes were dark and filled with anger. “You will come with me, but you cannot leave my side.”
“I will spend the rest of my life right there.” She never looked away from his face. “I don’t want to go anywhere else.”
“Good.” Fedryc held her close and, despite his attempt at humor, she felt every bit of the desperate resolve in his words. “Because I’ll never let you go.”
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