With a Dragon's Heart Read online

  She smiled and nodded. “I do.”

  “But first we need to get back to the city. We’re hundreds of miles away. It will take weeks on foot, if not longer, and the human army will have made it through the Southern Pass by then. The fighting will have already started.”

  She reached out her hand and laid it on Dela’s forearm. Dela was shocked to feel her skin was ice cold. “There will be fighting, Dragonsayer. However much your heart wishes to avoid it, you have to face up to that. Peace needs bloodshed first.”

  Dela shook her head. “I don’t want to have to hurt anyone.”

  “You won’t have any choice. Do you think your king and queen will just let you take the city? They will fight for it before they allow you to sit on the throne.”

  “I don’t want to sit on the throne. I just want to allow free passage for the other races to come and live on the Eastern coast, if they so wish, and for the Elvish to be able to practice magic, and I want to put an end to the Choosing and the Passover. I don’t want anyone forced to leave their families if they don’t want to, and I won’t see them hung in the city square for being so frightened of what they’re asked to do that they’d rather run away and live the life of the wild men.”

  Though she was looking at a child, Dela saw wisdom in her face.

  “But those are all political things,” the Seer continued, “and people will fight for their politics. You must be prepared to fight back.”

  A voice came from the entrance of the cave. “We have to get there first.”

  Dela looked over her shoulder to see Vehel standing in the entrance, his chin lifted, his silver-blond hair swept away from his face.

  “Yes, this is true,” said the Seer. “Which is why you and I must work together today.”

  Vehel nodded. “I’m ready. I want to learn.”

  “You must eat first. Keep your strength up. You will need it.”

  Warsgra and Orergon appeared in the cave’s entrance, Warsgra yawning wide, and Orergon pushing his long black hair away from his face.

  The Seer gestured to where they’d eaten before they’d slept. The table was replenished again, foods piled high. Nests of finely spun sugar. Cookies spotted with chocolate chips. Jellies dusted with powdered sugar. These were indeed the dream foods of a young girl, and such luxury was foreign to Dela. She might have tasted one or two of these treats in her lifetime, but to see them all piled together like this was unheard of. She doubted even King and Queen Crowmere dined on such exquisite luxuries. Not that Dela was complaining, but where the treats came from was a mystery. After all, they were in the center of an island, in the middle of nowhere. It wasn’t as though there were market stalls down the road. Other foods had been provided, too—several different types of nuts, all varying in size, some smooth and shiny, other crumpled and warty in appearance. There were dried meats and fish as well, plus hunks of cheese and bread.

  “Did you do that?” Dela asked the Seer.

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “So there’s someone else here?”

  “No, only us.”

  Dela glanced at Vehel, and he mouthed ‘magic’ at her. She shared a secret smile with him, even though the Seer was supposed to know everything and would probably have seen him mouthing the word, too.

  Chapter 19

  Vehel

  With a stomach full of sugar, Vehel followed the Seer away from the others, toward the staircase which led into the top cave where they’d first laid eyes on her.

  “It’s best you’re not distracted while we practice,” the girl explained.

  He didn’t like leaving Dela, even if it was only to go to the upper level of whatever this place was.

  “The Dragonsayer will be fine.” It was as though she’d plucked the thought out of his head. “You don’t need to worry about her.”

  He nodded and kept going. Warsgra and Orergon would take care of Dela, he was sure, not that she needed taking care of. She was a grown woman and had shown them that she had the same strength as they did—if not physically, then certainly mentally. Perhaps there was another reason he didn’t like being taken away from her? Was it simply that he felt complete when he was in her presence?

  He mounted the carved stone steps, one by one, following the slight figure of the Seer. They left the warmth and light, and the greenery and tweeting of the birds far behind, and entered the cold darkness of the cavern. Above them was the highest point of the island, and the ornate wooden door they’d all entered through. It almost seemed unbelievable to think the island and the ocean, and even the mainland lay beyond those steps and that doorway. This was a world inside a world.

  They stepped into the cavern, and, just as before, the stairway that led down to Dela and the others vanished. A flicker of alarm sparked through him. If the Seer decided to trap them down there, how would they ever get out again?

  “I’m here to help you, Elvish prince.” She commanded his attention. “I do not wish any of you harm. What good would that do me?”

  “What good does helping us do you either?”

  “Xantearos is a part of me, and I am a part of Xantearos. I do not want to see my homeland at war. I want peace, just like you. But do not be fooled. That peace will come at a price. Blood will be shed, lives will be lost.”

  “Our lives?” he interrupted.

  But she did not answer.

  “Tell me about your magic,” she said instead. “Where do you fail?”

  He didn’t like the word ‘fail’, but he pushed it away, trying not to think of his father and brothers, but not succeeding.

  “My magic drains me. It’s as though I only have a certain amount inside of me, and when it’s used up, it takes time to replenish, and even when it does, it’s never quite as strong as it was before. That makes me wary of using it, in case something more important happens later where it’s needed, but I have nothing left to give.”

  She nodded. “Because of the Treaty, you weren’t taught how to use your ability correctly. You’re working on instinct, and sometimes instinct can be wrong.”

  “So, tell me what I need to do.”

  She held up a slender finger. “First, tell me how it feels when you do magic.”

  He frowned, trying to piece together how it felt in words. It wasn’t an easy thing to do, and he struggled for a moment before coming up with an explanation. “It’s as though I have a ball of light and energy swirling around in the center of my chest, and I can tap into that energy and send it out of me, and that’s when the magic happens.” He felt inept, stupid, and unworthy. Others would have a better explanation.

  “So you send the magic out of you?”

  He nodded. “Yes. That’s the only way I know how to make things happen.”

  “I believe this is where you’re going wrong. Your magic should always be a part of you, not of the regular world, that’s why it’s draining you and depleting your resources. There is a way to do magic without giving it away.”

  “It’s the only way I know how,” he admitted.

  “Then that is what we must work on.”

  “How long will it take?” He didn’t want to be separated from Dela for too long, though he knew this was important.

  “That depends entirely on you. The Dragonsayer and the others will be fine while you practice, I promise.”

  He nodded. “Okay. Tell me what to do.”

  “You must learn to channel your magic without releasing it. You can still do magic without expelling it to the outside world. You’ll always use a little energy—it’s impossible not to—but you can keep the main source, that ball of light you sense inside your chest, within you.”

  He hoped she was right, and he was eager to learn. He hated how it felt after he’d used up all his magic, as though he had a negative space inside himself that wanted to drag him into it, too. “How do we start?”

  “Close your eyes and focus on your magic. Feel it swell and pulse inside you like a living thing.”

 
Vehel did as she instructed. He’d been well rested and fed since he’d last used his magic, and it beat inside him like his heart. The sensation filled him with a strange combination of exhilaration and peace.

  The Seer’s voice filtered through to him. “Now, I want you to channel your magic, but don’t release it near the end. You need to hold onto it, even when it feels as though holding on will shatter you into a billion tiny pieces.”

  He didn’t like the sound of that. He opened his eyes. “But I don’t know what I’m supposed to be doing. What do you want me to use my magic to do?”

  “Try to bring the light and life of the place below us up here.”

  So it is all magic, he thought, but didn’t say out loud. He probably didn’t need to. He had the unnerving feeling that she heard all their thoughts anyway.

  “I don’t know how,” he said instead.

  “Yes, you do. You just need to believe in yourself. You will be a stronger person for the girl if you can learn how to do that.”

  That’s exactly what the Fae, Nimbus, had told him. He thought he’d come some way in learning to do that, but clearly it wasn’t enough. That was the worst part. The little voice in his head that told him nothing was ever enough, that he was never good enough. But he didn’t know how to silence that voice. He’d grown up with it, hearing it come from the mouths of his father and brothers.

  Dela, he needed to focus on Dela. That was who he was doing this for. She was his strength.

  He sucked in a lungful of air, closed his eyes again, and tried to get his head back in the right place. Inside him, the ball of energy swelled. He pictured it transforming this dark, lifeless cave into something more like the place below them. He imagined the details in his head—the lushness of the green fronds, the brightly colored flowers, the warmth of the sun on his skin—and then pushed outward, trying to get the energy inside him to alter the world around him. But he also knew he needed to hold back somehow, and the two actions warred inside him. How could he push enough energy out to change the construct of this world, without losing it all entirely?

  “Channel it,” the Seer said, breaking through his concentration. “Don’t be afraid of it. It’s a part of you. You need to learn to own it.”

  Vehel let out his breath in a huff, his eyes opening again, losing the moment. “I can’t. I can’t do it.”

  “Yes, you can. Now, try again.”

  He centered himself again and closed his eyes. The ball of energy responded, and he focused on fixing onto the power. The magic swelled and pulsed, and he imagined it rushing from that point in the middle of his chest, down his arms and to his hands. The magic charged the tips of his fingers, making them tingle as though he’d been sitting on his hands for too long and the blood was only just returning. He knew he could push the magic out and create the image in his mind of the cavern below, could make palm trees erupt from the rock and bring butterflies into life from thin air, but only if he released the magic as he’d done before. He didn’t know how to do it while holding the energy inside himself.

  The result created an internal battle. He warred against his natural instincts to dispel the magic to get it to create what he wanted, and trying to hold it inside as the Seer had instructed. His frustration built and, as it did so, he felt himself losing his ability to contain the power. Because he hadn’t been focusing, and had been trying to contain it as well, the magic was no longer clean. It spiraled and battled, and grew murky with confusion.

  Vehel fought to pull the magic back in again, but it was like a dam had been lifted, and it flowed out of him like water.

  “No! I lost it!” he despaired. “I’ve depleted my magic. By the Gods!” He was furious with himself. He wouldn’t be able to try again for a while now, not until his magic had grown stronger again. How many more times would this take? Would he be here for days? Weeks? While Dela and the others were just sitting around, waiting for him. Because of his turmoil, he hadn’t even managed to create anything. The rocky, dark cave he stood in, with the Seer beside him, looked exactly the same as when he had started.

  “Hush,” she said softly “You are too hard on yourself. Come here.”

  To his surprise, she took hold of both of his hands. Her fingers were cool wrapped around his. She closed her blind eyes, and a sudden rush of power flooded up through her hands and into his. The ball of energy at his core suddenly expanded.

  He gasped and jerked his hands away. “What was that?”

  A small smile touched her lips. “I replenished your magic. We can try this as many times as it needs to take.”

  She was like a well of power he was able to drink from. It was an incredible feeling. Maybe he would be able to do this after all. But if he was able to do it with the Seer at his side, what would happen when he no longer had her to rely on? Again, the threads of doubt wound through him like poison ivy, and he ground his teeth and pushed them away.

  No, he could do this. He had to believe. Belief was the most important thing in all of this.

  “Let’s try again,” she said.

  They repeated the process, and once more he lost control, the magic rushing out of him. Once more, the Seer replenished his magic. He gritted his teeth and tried again, and again.

  He lost his temper and lashed out at the wall of the cavern, bruising his knuckles and leaving his ego damaged.

  “That isn’t going to help anyone,” the Seer told him, though her face showed no emotion. “Especially not the girl.”

  “I’m sorry.” He massaged his aching hand with the other one.

  “Try again.”

  That little voice in his head, that sounded so like his father’s, tried to push its way in, telling him he couldn’t do it, that he was worthless and useless, but Vehel pushed it away. This was more important than anything his father had ever said to him. Helping Dela meant more to him than anything that man had ever done, and he had a Seer beside him who believed in him, too. He needed to shrug off the chrysalis his true self had been hiding inside all these years, and emerge as the powerful Mage he’d always been.

  So he did, closing his eyes and centering his ability. The power swelled inside him, and he lifted his hand, picturing the lush opulence of the cavern below him. The energy grew, and he focused on pushing it outward, but not with the full force of everything he had, but more centered, channeling it down his arm and out into the world. It wanted to break free, to burst from his control and make him use all of it and drain himself again, but he fought the feeling.

  “Vehel, open your eyes.”

  He was worried he’d lose control if he did, but he risked opening one eye to a slit.

  A lush palm, its fronds thick and green, sprouted from the cold, hard, rocky floor. Such a thing should have been impossible, but there it was, appearing as real as any other plant he’d come across.

  He released his hold on his magic, and to his delight, not only did the plant remain looking very real, but he didn’t feel as though his magic source had been depleted either. Vehel stepped forward and rubbed one of the leaves between his thumb and forefinger. Yes, it felt real, too. He’d created it out of nothing.

  The Seer smiled at him, her white, blind eyes apparently not seeing him or the plant, yet still knowing what he had done.

  “Well done,” she said. “Now for more.”

  Chapter 20

  Warsgra

  Warsgra stood with his arms folded across his chest, watching Dela as she sat on the edge of the pool, her bare feet dangling in the water.

  “How long do you think we’re going to be here?” she called out over her shoulder.

  He hadn’t realized she’d known he was there.

  He stepped forward and lowered himself down beside her. He tugged off his boots and threw them to one side so he was able to put his feet in the cool water as well. It always felt strange sitting on the ground, as though he was an overgrown child, his limbs too large to be able to fold into a comfortable position.

  “I’m not
sure. It depends on how long Vehel needs.”

  She glanced up at him, her small chin angled to one side. “And what about Orergon? Where is he?”

  “Brooding back in the sleeping area.”

  Her teeth dug into her lower lip, and he tried not to stare. “Do you think he’s all right?”

  Warsgra shrugged. “No idea. I think you’re closer to him than I am.” He paused and then asked, “That’s what the two of you were talking about the other night, wasn’t it?”

  A pink blush rose to her cheeks, and she glanced away. “Not quite, though it was that night I first sensed something might be troubling him.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “This whole ‘he’s carrying death inside him’ thing.”

  She nodded. “He sensed something was wrong after Vehel had brought him back. I’m still not sure what it means, and neither is he.”

  “It would be good if the Seer wasn’t so vague.”

  Her smile widened. “Very true.”

  Warsgra scrubbed his hand across his beard. “A part of me wonders where I fit into all of this.”

  Dela frowned and twisted to face him. “What do you mean?”

  “Orergon is carrying some kind of paranormal darkness inside him. Vehel can do magic, and you can communicate with dragons. So, where’s my place in all of this? Or am I just here for the muscle?”

  Dela playfully smacked him on the arm. “You’re enough just as you are. You don’t need any magical ability to make you special.”

  They both smiled, gazing into each other’s eyes, and a frission of electricity passed between them.

  They were alone—well, as alone as it was possible to be here, with the Seer and her all-seeing ways—but Warsgra was perfectly aware that neither Vehel nor Orergon was in the vicinity. And he was sitting here, beside a beautiful, amazing woman, her eyes shining in the reflection of the pool, her skin glowing, her long hair falling down her back. He couldn’t help but be drawn to her. Warsgra was a man who was used to getting what he wanted, but things were different with her. It wasn’t what he wanted that was important. No, he wanted for her to want him.