Dragon's Heart by LaVerne Thompson Page A

Shudders rippled through her body but
not in fear. “Please don’t do that glowie thing with your eyes.”
    “Why?”
    “It’s
just kinda creepy.” She lied and they both knew it.
    “They
merely mirror your own.”
    “My
own? What are you talking about? My eyes don’t…” Maya stopped and got up to
look at herself in the small antique mirror on the wall beside the mantle. The
face staring back at her was one she’d seen every day of her adult life, but
the eyes, the eyes belonged to someone— something else. They glowed. In shock, she continued to stare at
her reflection. The glow got stronger and brighter, until two tails of golden
flames shot out of her eyes toward the mirror. The sound of breaking glass
echoed around the room.

Chapter Nine

 
    B e at ease, my Queen.   You do not know your own strength.
    But I do, Dark Lord. It is you who
has forgotten the strength of a Dam.
    Draakar
moved to stand directly behind her. He did not touch her, though every cell in
his body cried out to him to fuse himself to her. To join with her. To take
what he had a right to.  
    The
temptation to finally be able to come into his full power and save his people
made him want to rush things, but he could not give into it. It took all of his
will not to touch her. He could not let his need rule his actions. He made the
error once already; he would not make it again. This time, he would not lose
her.
    They
had to find their way through their separate pasts to each other, to a future
together. They were born to be together. Their emotions were already engaged,
but the physical side of their joining would have to wait on her trust. Right
now, her vulnerability made her a very dangerous Dam. One who had not learned
to control and harness her magicks.  
    Maya
had enough power to change into dragon form on Akgon and here on Earth. The
magicks she would unleash during a mating could cause her to change fully to
dragon form and sustain it, but the magicks required for such a change could
also be uncontrollable and destructive to her. To gain greater control she had
to accept him, but first she had to embrace her brethren half. It would be his
pleasure to aid her in all ways.
    I feel your need, Dark One, Maya hissed
in his mind. Know the day you touch me without
my permission is the day you die.
    Draakar,
Dark Lord of all brethren and who bowed to no creature, bowed his head to his
queen and stepped back.
    My queen. I am yours to command.
    “Why?”
Maya asked aloud, spinning around to face him.
    “Why
what?” Draakar responded, as he willed the mirror to repair itself and it
appeared whole again.
    But
he’d read her mind and knew she would ask the question she found the most
troubling, and ignore what he had called her. “Why do I hate you?” she asked
instead.
           He
clamped his own thoughts tight and hesitated before he answered. The one
question he knew he’d eventually and reluctantly have to face. How did he
answer her without driving her away from him? With the truth, just not all of
it—not yet.
          “You do not hate
me.”
          “No,” she
whispered, but in a stronger voice stated, “I don’t hate you. But, my God, I am
angry with you! Why?” Her gaze searched his features seeking the truth, her
lips curved in misery.
          “I have wronged
you. For that, believe I am truly sorry. I have mourned us in my heart for all
of these last thousand years. Know what was done was for the good of the
brethren.”
          “What did you
do?” Why was I sacrificed ?
          “My father was
killed, betrayed by one of our own kind, and my mother died trying to avenge
him. Like my father before me, I became Dragon Lord. My first duty was to the
brethren, even at my own expense. We needed every ounce of magicks to open the
portal to Akgon. Once connected, someone had to hold the gateway open.” He paused,
took a hard breath and stared into her eyes, willing her to understand. “I