Page 91 of Total Eclipse of the Moon
She reached out to touch a familiar face of a Tibetan Mountain dragon, but her fingers slipped through the illusion. She whispered, "I only heal them when they get little injuries. Sometimes, I’m pretty sure they’d heal without me. I don’t fight things to keep them from going extinct."
"They're going to die out," Cora said. "There’s no one else to save them. To save their environment. To fix the side effects of human destruction when it injures them. When you are gone, there’s a high chance that the destructive madness of humans who are decimating their natural environment will inadvertently kill them off. The question is, whose life is worth more? Is it a lycan who protects humans from themselves and nonhumans? Is it you who is the guardian of an entire species that has no other to watch out for them?"
She shrugged.
Cora continued, "The problem here is that humans messed with the order of things. The English messed it up when they forced you to cast that curse. Do the fates want that curse fixed or did they like how it played out? I can’t answer that."
"That sounds like you're saying maybe I should reverse the curse?"
Cora said, "I’m not sure lifting it is the right thing. It’s time we accept it happened as an awful event that was way out of your control. Part of it worked out for the better of the world and part of it didn’t. So what if you played a big part in messing up those lycan brothers’ lives? Someone threatened your child and that asswipe of a husband of yours. Did that weakling husband of yours try to protect Samuel? Had that been you and someone threatened me…okay, I probably wouldn’t have touched that scroll in a zillion years, but I’m hundreds of years older than you. I know who I am and how to use my skills. You were too new to magic. I would’ve gotten even with the queen for asking something so ridiculous of me. But you were alone, isolated from your people—even me at that time since your dad made you fear me—and you didn’t understand how powerful you are. You had no chance to realize you had skills that could let you say no and free the ones you loved another way. You need to step back and try to figure out what the fates want. Not rush in with your panties in a wad over some lycan with a bubble ass and magical dick."
"It is magical," she said in a dreamy voice.
Cora broke into a grin and whispered, "Everyone deserves at least once with a magical dick."
"Is Antonio magical?"
Cora glanced at the doorway where they both sensed he hovered. "He'd like me to think so. I had my moment with him and moved on."
"I don’t think either of you are as moved on as you want me to believe." Madeline sat straighter in the chair. "I’m not going to take another decade to stand around fires and teacups trying to scry the fates’ motivation."
"You’ve lost everything that you care for deeply in this world and this seems like the right move for you."
"Don’t patronize me."
She threw up her arms with a snort. "You’re the one who decided your life is forfeit. That’s ridiculous. There are other forces that are at play here. What about your dragons?"
"Someone else will inherit the powers."
"Will they?" Cora scrunched up her lips and twitched them. "There’s a being born once every few hundred years with the ability. That’s why every bloody one of those scaled, winged reptiles will come as fast as they can when you call."
"They're not reptiles."
"I don't know what the hell they are, but you’re they’re only chance. I did some research a few years ago on this when I realized you were storing dragon stones in your bag."
"What kind of research? Where?" A wave of weakness had her grabbing the table when the world wobbled. She lowered herself back into the chair.
"I spoke to a water dragon, one of the dragons kings. He'd only speak to me because he was also worried about you. He didn't know how to make you realize you're critical to their survival."
"I’m not running away this time, I—"
"You’re special. You have an important place in the order of magic. A place that no one else can step into. What do those lycans have if they’re not bound to the king? A loose promise to work with angels to continue saving humans? Humans don’t deserve protectors, not for all the damage they’ve done to our world."
"I know there’s no one else to help the dragons, not right now, but they survived without me. They can survive until the next one."
"That’s the thing, Madeline. They can’t. The amount of pollution and that their natural environment is disappearing are factors that will kill them off. It's up to you to help them by doing more than healing wounds. We’re leaving." Cora pulled her up and began dragging her toward the exit.
"She doesn’t want to go." Antonio stepped in front of them at the kitchen’s exit and crossed his arms.
Cora stilled. A scary expression settled on her face, one that had Madeline cringing. "Are you going to stop me?" She released Madeline and stalked toward the vampire.
Antonio rasped out, "She says she wants to stay."
"I didn’t realize what was in your chest could be this noble. That lycan did something to you. Something good. It’s kind of hot. But what would it take,vampiro, for you to turn around and leave us witches to work this out?" Cora leaned into his space until her lips were almost on his.
He whispered, "Admit you still have feelings for me.Besame,bruja." Kiss me, witch.
She flipped pink streaked hair over a shoulder, gripped the back of his head and crashed her lips into his. He melted into her as much as she did him while she plundered his lips. They both pulled away, chests heaving.
