So you’re just going to leave him? That the dragoness had developed a deep fondness for him made the parting that much harder.
There is no choice. Duty cannot be denied.
The dragoness howled in protest and then fell silent. Obedience to the will of the Eternal Frye was a foregone conclusion. Acceptance was the sole option.
“This is it, then?” H’ry said.
She nodded.
He grabbed her hands when she would have fled. “Let me come with you for the consecration. I have never seen a temple consecrated—”
“No. It is a closed, sacred ceremony.”
“May I visit you…later?”
Her fyre flared in a burst of longing, only to be doused by the will of the sacred flame. The Eternal Fyre would brook no competition. “No. Please don’t.”
“Helena and Rhianna will be allowed to see you, won’t they?” he argued. She could smell his sadness, his despair, and it was tearing her into pieces.
“They are exceptions. They are part dragon.”
“As am I.”
But they were no threat to the Eternal Fyre’s sovereignty over her. Please do not make this harder than it is. Her fyre dimmed to the merest flicker. To see him, to be reminded of what they had would be too much to bear.
“I am sorry. For everything. Please give me your word you will stay away.”
He shook his head.
“Promise me.”
Resignation swept over his features. He nodded. “I promise.”
Conscious of H’ry following her to watch her leave, she didn’t dare look back. In the courtyard, she didn’t bother removing the shorter gown as she would not be wearing it again. The dress tore into tatters as she shifted.
Her dragoness leaped into the sky.
* * * *
Biggs inserted the audio unit into his ear before pulling on the hood of the flameproof hazmat suit. “Can you hear me?”
“Loud and clear, boss,” Hicks’s voice shot into his ear.
He eyed his enforcers, suited up as he was. “You all good? Sound off.”
“I hear you.” One-by-one, they verified the comm system worked.
He peered up at the tiny red eye of the camera feeding live vid into the control room. “Any changes?”
“She—it hasn’t changed its trajectory,” Hicks confirmed. “Are you sure you want to do this? Maybe the dragon won’t tell the others we’re here. Maybe it won’t say anything.”
“It killed Asher.” His most effective enforcer.
“It looked like an accident.”
The lizard invader knew their location. He had to kill it before it could tell the others, or they’d all be toast. Literally.
Hicks had alerted him of the breach, but his reluctance to track down the creature and kill it indicated something amiss; however, the ops manager was a lesser priority right now. He’d deal with him later. As a precaution, he’d assigned a couple of techs to “help” man the monitors to ensure he got an accurate report.
He’d drafted a team comprising a dozen enforcers. If the operation went according to plan, they wouldn’t engage face-to-face but would shoot the dragon out of the sky with a small surface-to-air missile. As a precaution, his men were armed with plasma blasters and flamethrowers.
Perhaps he should have directed the campaign from the control room. A general didn’t risk his own life after all. Except, this was personal. A dragon had invaded his space, threatening an empire it had taken decades to build.
“I’ve got the first set of coordinates when you’re ready,” Hicks said through the mic.
“Ready.” Biggs got into the mining car and inputted the numbers in the car’s guidance system as Hicks reeled them off to the entire team.
“You all get that?” Biggs asked.
“Roger, boss,” came the responses.
“Remember, the control room is going to try to anticipate the dragon’s destination. We want to get ahead of it, wait for it, shoot it down, and haul ass to base. With any luck, we won’t encounter any others. Let’s move out!” With his men following, Biggs zoomed away to kill a dragon.
* * * *
Shell-shocked, Henry watched the dragoness fly away. Despite their bond, and O’ne’s earlier wait-and-see attitude, the Eternal Fyre had won, and he had lost. It had claimed her. He’d said he’d be able to accept the outcome, but he couldn’t.
She was his love, his mate, his other half. How would he live without her? And worse, he would live a very, very long time. His heart seized, and he rubbed his chest, bumping the pendant. He pulled the chain from under his shirt and closed his fist around the sparkling yellow stone. Probably priceless on Earth, its value couldn’t come close to the love he’d lost. This is all I have of her.
“Did you need me, H’ry?”
He tucked the stone under his shirt and turned. “J’leen?” Since he and O’ne had begun spending every second together, he hadn’t seen the donatta at all.
“You should use your inhaler,” she suggested gently. “Your color doesn’t look good—for a human, I mean. How long have you been in the courtyard?”
“Five minutes? Ten?” He glanced at the voggy rose sky and apathetically took a drag on the inhaler. His breathing came easier, but the pain in his chest remained.
“Are you all right? You smell like water falling from the sky.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He focused on a statue spitting fire.
J’leen came up beside him. “Would you like to go for a flight?”
“No.” If he couldn’t fly with his mate, then he wouldn’t fly.
“Perhaps…you wish to visit the Temple of the Eternal Fyre.”
Slowly, he turned. “Why do you suggest that?”
She rubbed a horn, as if it ached. “The priestess’s dragoness ordered me to escort you to the temple.”
“The dragoness did?”
