He hoped Helena could get him off Elementa soon. It was fortunate O’ne was far away and getting to her required an intermediary or he might very well have broken his promise. It was hard to believe how quickly and strongly he’d fallen for her. His stubborn heart refused to accept he had no options, and the longer he remained on Elementa, the greater the chance he would surrender to the temptation to see her. He had to put as much distance between them as he could if he had any chance of getting over her.
Sitting on the bed, he removed the pendant from around his neck. The diamond glowed, seeming to draw and amplify the light, shooting radiant tendrils into the room. The stone was as extraordinary as O’ne. That she’d given it to him had to mean she cared deeply for him. Didn’t it?
He squeezed the stone in his fist, closed his eyes, and prayed Helena could send him home before he did something stupid.
Chapter Twelve
The dragoness flapped her wings hard, impatient to reach the temple. A devout priestess should have been filled with similar determination, but every advancing mile magnified O’ne’s dread and heartache. The sacred flame burned hot, while her fyre flickered anemically. Was this to be her life’s purpose? To be a vessel?
Flying in around her were the acolytes, and, surrounding them all, the guardians.
Under a rosy sky they thundered over a paradise of pungent bubbling sulfur springs, glowing rivers of molten rock, and puffing fumaroles. Elementa was Draco reborn. Dragons would be very, very happy here.
She wished she could appreciate the scenery because upon entering the temple, she would again cloister herself. Solitude had never bothered her before. She’d preferred it until the arrival of Rhianna and Helena when she’d awakened to dissatisfaction with the limits on her freedom and pleasures. And H’ry? He’d magnified her feelings tenfold.
Would he hold to his vow never to see her again?
Her assessment of his character told her he would. She was the unworthy one.
The dragoness tossed her head and bugled, a joyful herald repeated by the acolytes. O’ne’s fyre contracted as she raced toward a desolate destiny. They soared over an extrusive tower of rock, and her fate manifested in the eternal circle of white stone surrounded by a dozen smooth pillars representing the twelve dragons who’d birthed an entire civilization.
The wind shifted, and she was blasted with a vile stench.
The dragoness faltered, the updraft of the thermals keeping her aloft.
They drew nearer to the temple, and the acolytes and the normally silent guards bugled in dismay. They smelled it now, too.
Carried by the wind, animosity and loathing tainted the air.
What is that? the dragoness said. It’s not coming from the temple?
I fear it is, she replied and then waited for the rebuke she should fear nothing, but the dragoness was too distraught to scold. Don’t go any farther. Set down here, O’ne said.
She complied, and as soon as her talons touched rock, she ceded control to O’ne who shifted into woman form and pulled on her gown. The guards remained as dragons, but the acolytes assumed demiforma.
“The stench can’t be coming from the temple?” R’nay asked.
“It is,” she replied. She could feel the damping of their fyres, the horror.
“Wh-what is it?”
“Urine. Human. The temple has been desecrated.” The Eternal Fire could not be rebirthed into a temple defiled. Anger and dismay roiled into a combustible mass in her chest. If not for the need for an investigation first, she would have ordered the guardians to burn the rotunda to the ground. She turned to R’nay. “Go to the palace. Tell Prince T’mar I wish to speak to him immediately.”
* * * *
“What is the meaning of this?” O’ne demanded as soon as the prince set down and shifted into demiforma. There was no need to explain. The stench was horrifically obvious.
Snout curled with revulsion, he replied, “I don’t know, priestess, but I promise I’ll find out.”
“Not good enough.” Her problems forgotten, she shook with rage. The desecration of the temple equated to an assault against them all. How had this been allowed to happen?
The king had tasked Prince T’mar to oversee construction of the temple and the First City, and thus he bore responsibility for anything that happened on Elementa. That he’d been operating from Draco and had arrived only a short time ago didn’t matter. Under no circumstances should anyone have had an opportunity to defile the temple.
If he wasn’t her daughter’s mate, she would have toasted him to a crisp.
“No construction started until the last human had departed. The Earth president said he’d withdrawn them all,” T’mar offered as an explanation.
“You didn’t verify?”
“He is my mate’s sire.”
“I am aware of that.”
“The updates I received stated the shelters and mining facilities had been dismantled and removed. Earth ships came and retrieved the humans.”
“Not all of them.” She’d needed the temple to be ready. Needed to immerse herself in her duties so she could begin to forget.
“No,” he agreed grimly and turned to an aide. “Dispatch a scout team. Scour the entire planet. Find the human who did this. There may be others, too. I doubt he or she is here alone.”
“At once, your Highness.” The aide shifted and flew away.
T’mar turned to another member of his entourage. “Inform the construction minister to drop everything and begin the new temple. Put every single worker on it. I want a team of guardians at the site day and night until the new temple is finished and consecrated and the Eternal Fyre burns inside.”
The aide flew off to do his bidding.
She couldn’t fault T’mar’s decisiveness and didn’t doubt scouts would locate the perpetrator.
