Five sets of eyes were on me. They’d explained their small part in the tale and it was now time for my much larger, batshit crazy part.
I took a gulp of the Faerie nectar, which was a lot like wine but without the kick, and then I opened my mouth and let it all fall out. I told them about waking in the other place and how the golden dragon was wrapped around me. I tried to keep the information sequential, but so much of it was still jumbled. Luckily my pack was a smart bunch of supes.
No one interrupted me. There were mirroring expressions of shock across all faces. I swear none of them were even breathing.
To finish up, I took another drink of the nectar, totally wishing there was some alcohol in it this time, and spilled all the details of the fertility of my body, and the things Larky planned to do with our offspring. This was the point Braxton lost it … like, snapped off the side off the thick table, picked up the rest of the structure and punted it about twenty yards into the distance.
We were all on our feet now; his entire body shook as he fought for control. The blue flames licked across his skin again, and I could see the shift of scales playing along the tawny darkness of his arms. Before he could do anything else, like snatch me up and hide me away for the rest of our natural lives, I pulled the necklace free from my shirt, and held it aloft.
“This is the weapon we have against the king. This contains the blood of my ancestors, blood of the shining ones. We will defeat him, Brax.” I didn’t want to take my eyes from my furious mate, but I needed to tell Louis one thing also. “He’s not a sorcerer, Louis, he is borrowing that power from somewhere. Do you have any idea what might be powering his magic?”
Louis’ expression morphed from stoic into narrowed eyes and furrowed brow. He looked almost as pissed as Braxton. It took him a few moments, but he finally answered me.
“It has to be the mystics. When Larkspur was alive the first time, his council were simply powerful fey who joined his cause. But after his death, whatever curse he enacted from the shadow spawn actually gave him ties to the next generation of mystics. The marks used to be magically tattooed on the mystics, but for Quale and the rest, they were born with them. I wondered what their role in this was. If they’re the ones who prepare the spells for Larkspur, then he’s weaker without them.”
I sucked in deeply. “We need to take them out.” I hurried on, not liking the bleak expression on Louis’ face – one of them was his brother. “I don’t mean kill them, I mean lock them down or something. We can’t let the king bring them into this war, we need him as weak as possible.”
I couldn’t stop myself from moving to Braxton then. He had calmed slightly; the flames and scales were gone now. I understood why he was so upset, there had been nothing nice or pleasant in my Faerie tale. It was filled with heartache, pain and an unknown future for us all. Still, lots of our questions were finally answered and we had more than one weakness of the king’s to exploit.
Braxton’s arms closed around me and they were so gentle that I had to pull back and see his face again. It was clear that he was still beyond words, so instead we just used our bond to express all the emotions we were currently feeling.
Jacob interrupted with a snort. “I can’t … for shit’s sake … goddamn unbelievable. Still, I guess that explains the dragon whisperer thing you had going on with those wild ones in the sanctuary. You have their next queen dragon mated to your soul, and she will call to her people.” His hand was rubbing across his chin. He was the least hairy of the brothers; the fey could not shave for a month and still barely even have stubble. Braxton, on the other hand, could have a magic user remove his facial hair every day and still have a shadow by the afternoon. Not that I minded. Not. At. All.
Braxton’s hands were running over my back, again soothing that ache which never quite disappeared. I was going to call it the “I got unknowingly knocked up” ache.
I felt his chest heave and I waited for his words. “So the queen of the dragons told you that Larkspur plans to produce dragon young with you, then use them to control the supe races, like he attempted last time…” The pace of his words increased, anger brewing again. “And that he promised your firstborn child to the shadow spawn so that they could overthrow the shining ones. I don’t … what the actual … how am I supposed to respond to this, Jess?”
I shrugged against him. “We respond by making sure that never happens. I would never allow my child to fall into the hands of those evil assholes, I will take my last breath making sure that doesn’t happen. Plus, Larky has never gotten his tiny dick near me, so there’s no way I’m pregnant with his child.” I pulled back to see Braxton’s face. “Let’s be thankful that the fates and shining ones hate him. They made sure I had a dragon shifter mate already, the only other one who could produce a dragon baby with me and thwart his plans.”
Braxton’s eyes were practically black now, black with flickers of blue flames deep inside. A plethora of emotions crossed his face – joy, fear, anger, excitement. The entire feels scale was hitting him. “I’m torn between hating that you have a nickname for him and loving that it’s a nasty little derogative one.”
He was trying to compartmentalize his emotions, focusing on the small insignificant ones so that the rest didn’t crush him. But there were some we couldn’t ignore.
He rested tumultuous eyes on me. “If you’re pregnant with my child, I will fight beyond death for you both. I will never stop. I will never fall. I will never let another male take what is mine to protect.”