“Apparently notthat many, if you have to find them on a dating thingy.”
His brotherflicked his wrist. “Whatever.”
“Well, perhapsyou should go out with one of them then because there’s not achance in hell I’ll let you date my Katarina.” He readied theflames at the back of his throat. Black smoke seeped from hisnostrils.
Egan put up hishands. “Whoa, there, fire-starter. You’re missing the biggerpicture here. We’ve found her, or I did—don’t forget that—and nowyou have a way to see her again. I’ve arranged a date with her, butyou’re going in my place.”
He snuffed outthe flames in his throat. His smoke dissipated into the cool nightair. “You did what…? You… you’re…” Words failed him.
“The bestbrother in the world?” Egan finished for him.
He grinned.Right then, he was the best brother he could ever have hoped for.“Half-brother,” he pointed out. It wouldn’t do for Egan to get toobig-headed.
“A thankswouldn’t go amiss.”
“Thanks.” Hegrabbed Egan in a headlock and ruffled his hair like he used to dowhen he was a kid. “Maybe I won’t set your mop alight afterall.”
“Glad we gotthat sorted.”
He let go. “Ithink this calls for a drink, don’t you?”
“Thought you’dnever ask.”
They headedback to Nix’s cottage.
“So, when isthis date?”
“Tomorrownight.”
“Okay, thatshould give me time to work out a plausible story as to why I’mthere and not you.”
“Likewhat?”
“I don’t know.I’ll think of something. I could say I came to tell her you wereill, but I can’t let on that you’re my brother—”
“I thought Iwas only your half-brother?” he interrupted.
Nix laughed.“You know what I mean. Does she know you’re a half-dragon?”
“Yes, it’s onmy profile.”
“What does itsay on her profile?”
“She left thatpart blank, so she obviously doesn’t know what she is yet.”
“Okay.” Hethought for a moment. “I’ll have to tell her we’re friends. I can’trisk her finding out I’m a dragon.”
No matter howhe’d played it in the past, it always came down to the damnsorceress’s curse.
“You’ll have tothink of another name, too. If you tell her it’s Phoenix, she mightmake the connection before she’s ready to learn the truth.”
His brother wasright. “Yes, I need something close, but not too obvious.”
Fire lit insidehis belly, but not the flames of fury. No, this fire fuelled hissoul, gave him hope.
He had to makeher fall in love with him all over again—without her knowing theywere dragons—to have any chance of breaking the curse.
ChapterFive
“Dragons!” Katannounced. “Give me everything you’ve got on dragons.”
“Let me guess,”said the bookshop owner, a balding man with half-moon spectaclesbalanced on the end of his nose. “Game of Thrones fan?”
“Yes and no,”she answered.
She’d done aninternet search after her shift last night at Selene’s bar, butother than myths and legends, nothing concrete came up. Clearly,the magic veil had its limitations on what she could look up on asearch engine made by humans.
But the unusualbookshop/library might have something. She’d stumbled on the placeby chance some months back after her car broke down in a dodgy partof town, but she loved its old-fashioned quaintness and itstreasure trove of magical books and grimoires.
Kat had warmedto Jim, the owner, straight away—it turned out he was a gargoyle,and his assistant, Kelsey, a pretty woman with tortoise-shellglasses, was a werewolf. They’d been so helpful from day one, andshe’d become a regular visitor, hoping to find clues to her trueidentity.
“Do you thinkyou might be a dragon then?” Jim asked.
“Not unlessdragons get reincarnated, Jim,” she said. “I have a date with adragon. Well, half-dragon actually, but I want to make sure I don’tget him hot under the collar if you know what I mean? I don’t fancybeing burnt to a crisp on our first date.”
Jim chuckled.“I have just the book.” He climbed a ladder to his left and fetcheda leather-bound book. “You might find some pointers in here. Noone’s seen or heard of the full-blood dragons for centuries, butthere’s some interesting stuff on the curse that doomed them. Mostpeople believe the dragons died long ago, alone, never findingtheir soulmate again.”
Kat took thebook, her interest already piqued. “That’s such a sad story. Thanksfor the book, though.”
She carried thebook to a reading nook tucked away at the back of the shop whereshe’d whiled away many hours learning of all the magical beings.Kat opened the book, breathing in the dusty scent of age-oldparchment and worn leather. She smiled; she never tired of thatsmell.
After readingthrough several pages, she stopped on a sketch of a cloaked andhooded sorceress. Above her, two magnificent dragons circled in asky swirling with greenish-black clouds.
According tolegend, the dragons—the last two remaining full-bloods, one of fireand one of ice—were too powerful for the evil sorceress to rid theworld of, so she’d cursed them instead. Consumed with jealousy, sothe story went, she doomed the fire dragon to live alone for alleternity, remembering his soulmate and everything she meant tohim.
The sorceresscreated a life of reincarnation and emptiness for the ice dragon,never to learn what she truly was or about her life with the firedragon.
Goosebumpsraised the hairs on the back of Kat’s neck as she read on.
The storyclaimed the only way to break the curse was for the dragons to findeach other and fall in love again—before the ice dragon learned hertrue identity. Only then would they prove their souls were trulybound by destiny.
A lump formedin her throat at the poetic but tragic story. Reincarnation?What if…? She quelled the thought before it took form. It wasjust a myth, a romantic fantasy.
The story wenton to say the sorceress disappeared after she’d cursed them, neverto be seen again.
Kat closed thebook with a dull thud. She hadn’t found out anything on how to dealwith a half-dragon for her date tonight, but she couldn’t shake thefeeling she’d stumbled on something important, no matter howridiculous the notion.
Maybe she wascrazy after all.
* * *
“You look hot,and you know it,” said Selene. “Now go.”
Kat checked herappearance in the mirror, ruffling her hair with her fingers. Shewore it down, the platinum-blonde blunt ends cut just above hershoulders. She’d given up trying to tame the mane, but the messybeach look suited her fine. Her halter-neck top skimmed her willowyfigure, leaving her back bare. If people
