“Yes. All of you must be off.”
Morfyd stopped and looked at her father. “All of us?” She’d already talked her brothers into helping Fearghus, but they were planning to do it without Bercelak’s knowledge. Now it seemed their father finally realized the danger of Lorcan and Hefaidd-Hen winning this battle and perhaps the Sibling War.
“Aye. You can’t let your brother fight alone with some humans. You all must go with him. I will stay here with the queen.”
“I bet you will,” Annwyl muttered under her breath.
The siblings exchanged glances as Bercelak began pushing them toward the exit. “Go. Now. You haven’t much time.”
“Wait!” Morfyd watched as her younger sister, Keita, in human form ran toward them. She wore a beautiful gown, probably given to her by some noble who thought her a sweet maid before he took her to bed and found out otherwise. Well, perhaps a noble, his brother, and his cousin took her to bed. All at the same time.
“What are
“Daddy asked me to come.” She gave a toss of her long red hair before smiling up at Bercelak who smiled back and patted her shoulder.
“‘Daddy asked me to come,’” Morfyd mimicked brutally. Her sister sneered at her and she wanted to kick Daddy’s little princess in the face, but Annwyl’s voice stopped her.
“Exactly how many are in your family?”
“Too many,” all the siblings answered at once.
Chapter 17
Danelin lived the first nine years of his life in Garbhan Isle’s dungeons. He’d been battling the troops of the Isle since he turned twelve. And learned to fear nothing besides the Siblings’ wrath, which all men of any intelligence feared.
Until the day the black dragon landed in the middle of their camp. For the first time he learned the meaning of true fear. Seeing the black talons of the beast touch down. Watching the mighty horned head turn slowly as it watched the troops surrounding it. Hearing it roar Annwyl’s name. He thought he would never experience fear quite like that again.
He turned out to be very wrong.
Standing across from a dragon who had shapeshifted into a man and explaining to him how his lady love left, but “Don’t worry, she’ll be back soon enough,” introduced him to a whole new world of fear. Especially when the dragon stood naked across from him and Brastias, big arms crossed in front of a big chest, big legs braced firmly apart and, most disturbingly, black smoke curling from his nostrils.
Luckily they had already sent the troops ahead. But the two suns were rising and he needed to get Brastias to the village. Someone needed to lead since they really had no idea when Annwyl would return. Although he and Brastias had no intention of telling the dragon that. Of course now they realized they should never have told the dragon about Annwyl while his big body blocked the exit. Now he stood between them and the way out of the tent.
And the dragon wasn’t moving.
“So you just let her leave?”
Danelin exchanged glances with Brastias.
Brastias raised an eyebrow. “Perhaps you haven’t actually
Danelin forced himself not to cower as the dragon growled in displeasure.
He watched the two humans stare at him. Brastias looked annoyed. The boy looked like he might start screaming at any second. He knew he shouldn’t take his anger at Annwyl out on these two men, but they were here and she was not.
The last thing he remembered was her slipping that lovely body out of bed with whispered promises to return quickly. He awoke several hours later to the sounds of Annwyl’s troops moving out. He also discovered his bed cold and no sign of his woman. A feeling, he found, he did not relish.
By the time he dragged his human body out of bed, most of the troops were gone, leaving Brastias and the boy. He cornered them in one of the supply tents and refused to let them go. Their cavalier attitude about Annwyl’s disappearance with his sister did nothing but raise his anger. Where Morfyd may have taken her, he could only guess. But if he guessed right, his sister would pay.
“She’s not our responsibility, dragon. Nor is she yours.”
He had to admit, Brastias turned out to be a lot braver than he thought. The boy, though, didn’t look like he could handle much more. But he wasn’t done with them. Soon he would start threatening body parts, but a hand on his bare shoulder stopped him.
“There you all are.” Annwyl smiled. “Everything all right?”
Fearghus scowled. “No. Everything’s not all right. Where the hell have you been?”
“Discuss later. Fight war now.” Obeying a motion of her head, Brastias and the boy quickly left. “You better not have been terrorizing them.”
“Annwyl.” He caught her arm. “What’s going on?” He looked at her face and wondered what was different. The two suns had just begun to rise, darkness still filled the tent, so he couldn’t see all that clearly, but he knew something had changed.
“Later. Right now my people need me, Fearghus.” She reached up and kissed him lightly. “Trust me.”
He brushed his head against her cheek and breathed in her scent. “Try not to get yourself killed, Annwyl.”
She laughed. “Why do all of you keep telling me that?”
He kissed her, long and deep until she pulled away. He enjoyed the fact that it seemed to be a struggle for her.
“We . . . uh . . . better go.” She stared at his lips for a moment longer, then, with a deep sigh of regret, stepped away from him and through the tent opening.
He followed, but stumbled upon finding his siblings waiting for him.
“Took you two long enough,” Briec snapped.
“What exactly were you two doing in there?” Gwenvael smirked.
“Big brother!” Keita spread her wings wide, completely blocking out Morfyd.
Morfyd slammed her claw down, causing the ground to shake. “You do that one more time, Keita, and I’ll start taking pieces of you right here!”
“Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!” Eibhear took off and continued to swoop around the group, “Come on! We’ll miss all the best kills!”
Fearghus glared at Annwyl. She backed away from him with a shrug. “They wanted to help.”
“When we’re done with your brother, woman, we
“Promises. Promises.” Annwyl leered as she quickly strapped her swords to her back, leather gauntlets on her wrists, and tied her hair back with a long leather strap.
Fearghus walked out into the middle of the campsite and shifted, doing his best to ignore his squabbling kin. He shook out his mane and turned to Annwyl as she secured her swords to her back.
“Lady Annwyl?”
Annwyl finished adjusting her weapons. “Lord Dragon?”
“I think it is time we make you queen.”
