Chapter Fifteen
Jacob sat around the table in a kitchen too small to house bodies such as his and Garion’s together. The table was cramped and he and his brother-in-law sat at the outskirts, but they made it work and conversation and laughter flowed easily.
They’d all worked together to whip up a meal of sirloin steak sautéed in mushrooms, roasted tomato, and peppercorn sauce, with seafood linguine to go with it. Jacob knew it was going to be a good night while he’d steamed the prawns and made the linguine sauce under River’s direction. It had all been a little chaotic, but comforting to Jacob in an odd, warm sort of way. He’d especially enjoyed it when River kicked Garion and Carina out of the cooking area. His brother-in-law hadn’t been happy about it, taking offense on Carina’s behalf, but River hadn’t backed down. In the end, Garion had left the kitchen and took his cat with him.
They’d made amends at dinner, when River prepared a dish of food for the feline, proving the fastest way to Garion the Gold’s heart was through his cat—and his wife.
River had it all under control, winning hearts with gracious smiles and sharing whispers and bursts of laughter huddled close to Helena.
Jacob didn’t mind that he might be the one they found so amusing. He was glad they were getting along. He didn’t interrupt or eavesdrop, but simply took in the sounds and sights of the people he cared about around the table. He belonged to them and they to him.
“River,” he said from across the table, bringing her gaze to him. He’d never killed anyone before, but he would. For her. “Did you tell Helena about your music?”
“Your music?” his sister stopped eating and asked.
River’s cheeks went as red as the thick braid falling over her shoulder. She tossed Jacob a nervous glance. “It’s just stuff I write down.”
“River’s music is really good,” Ivy defended, smiling at her sister. “She just sold a piece to my boyfriend’s band.”
Interest piqued, Helena put down her fork. “I’d like to hear something.”
Be careful, Jacob said inside his sister’s thoughts. Her music sounds like the stars. It will draw Drakkon.
Helena turned her eyes on him. All Drakkon? Or just you?
He knew what she was implying—on both counts. Had it been River’s music that drew the Red? Or was his heart the only one so affected? I don’t know.
Garion and I need to hear it.
“Of course,” River allowed, answering Helena’s spoken request. “After dinner. But I must confess, Jacob told me you play for the Philharmonic. If you hate my work, I’ll be crushed.”
“She won’t hate it,” Jacob assured River gently, winking at her.
What’s going on with you and this girl, Jake? His sister’s voice broke through his thoughts and the conversations going on around him.
“What do you do for a living, Mr. Gold?” he heard River’s father ask.
“I’m in investments and, please, call me Garion.”
Your eyes light up like stars when you look at her, Helena interrupted.
Was it that obvious to River? Jacob curled his mouth at her while she brought her glass to her lips.
She’s…he began and then stopped to begin again. She makes me feel.
Feel what?
Everything.
Helena knew him better than anyone else. But she didn’t know everything. She was the only family—the only constant—he had in his life. He wanted to tell her what was happening to him, ask her what he should do about it.
Something’s waking up in me, coming to life…I don’t know, but I can’t harness control over it. It’s not Drakkon, Helena. It’s more wild than that. It’s stronger than all my willpower. There are moments when I…I would give up anything to be with her.
Oh, his sister’s soft voice sounded in his head. Her expression from where she sat beside River was stunned and she was a bit overcome. Wow.
Yeah, I know. I resisted but—
It’s difficult, she agreed. I know. Jake, the sound of her voice changed, weighted with regret when he heard her again. We will…ehm…we’ll talk about it later. But there’s something you should know now. She’s not a descendant. I checked the Elder Scrolls on my phone after seeing her eyes. She has eyes like an Aqua. There were no Wrays on it.
Her mother’s name?
It doesn’t matter. Wray would be included in the line.
I’ll find out what it is, Jacob insisted. We’ll check next time we get WiFi.
Garion has a mobile hotspot. But Jake, Garion won’t turn her even if she is a descendant. He won’t even turn his sister. He wouldn’t turn Red. That’s why we’re here.
He turned us, Jacob reminded her.
We were dying.
Jacob turned his gaze on River. So is she.
I get it. I really do, but Wray isn’t on the list, Jake. It may not be up to Garion. Your time with her will be too short.
No time. The finality of it was something he had to face. But not now. Maybe I’ll take what I can get.
Later, they carried their tea into the sitting room while the women made the sleeping arrangements.
“I’ll lay out fresh sheets on my bed for you and Garion—”
“We wouldn’t dream of putting you out,” Helena declined. “We’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“Nonsense,” River argued. “The both of you will never fit on the sofa. I’ll sleep with Ivy and Jacob can sleep out here.”
They talked about dragons, without giving up too much to River’s father. They didn’t tell him about Charlie Owens because it would lead to too much explaining. Garion also didn’t tell him that he and his wife were Drakkon, or that Marrkiya the Aqua, or Marcus Aquara, as he was now known, was his foster father. But when Mr. Wray excused himself for the night and Ivy ran off to see Graham, to whom she’d probably spill her guts, Jacob told River about the Aqua.
“Is this all a gigantic coincidence?” she asked him from her chair, asked the three of them. “How are we all tied together like this?”
“I don’t believe in coincidences,” Garion told her. “This is in the stars.”
Her gaze settled on Jacob. She smiled softly and then grew serious again. “What does the Red have to do with my stars?”
“Nothing,” Garion told her. “He’s not here for you. He’s here for me, for my blood.”
The Red sounded like a horrible creature. “Tell me about him,” River asked, settling into her chair. “Jacob told me he was once your friend.”
“His name is Jeremy Redmond,” Helena began, moving closer to Garion on the sofa. “He was Garion’s best friend. He knew what Garion’s blood could do and he wanted to be altered. He wanted Garion to fill the sky with Drakkon. He still does.”
“I refused,” Garion picked up. “He shot Helena. She was in my arms at the time—”
“—about to tell him that I loved him.”
“The bullet went through her and into me,” Garion continued.
River covered her mouth with her hands and then shook her head in amazement. “And you both lived?”
“Garion healed me,” Helena said, “altering me in the process.”
River’s eyes widened like moonlit seas on Garion as their words sank in. “You can heal people?”
“Only if they’re descendants of true Drakkon and I alter them. But I don’t want to fill the sky with Drakkon. I don’t plan on ever doing it again.”
“By the way,” Helena interrupted with a smile aimed at River. “What’s your mother’s maiden name, River?”
“Rodin. Why?” River narrowed her eyes and then smiled. “Do you think I might be a descendant?”
“I did,” Helena answered candidly. “But Wray is not on the scrolls and normally it would be cross-referenced.”
“That’s a little disappointing,” River confessed with a slight sigh. “I’d like to help you stop the Red. He did almost eat me.” She turned her attention back to Garion when he shook his head.
“Why did you alter Jeremy?” she asked him.
“I didn’t. I altered into my Drakkon form and bit off his arm that was holding the gun he was shooting at me. After I left, he mixed his blood with the blood I left behind.”
She listened and nodded and then looked at Jacob. “Why did you alter Jacob?”
“Red had come to my home in Norway. He flew through the window of my villa and pierced Jacob with his talons.”
“Pierced him with his talons?” she asked, bringing her hands to her chest and staring at Jacob as if his death would have been the worst thing imaginable. “You didn’t tell me that about him.”
Jacob did everything he could not to leap to his feet and go take her in his arms. “I didn’t want you to be more afraid of what Drakkons can do.”
“Jake would have died if I hadn’t changed him.”
River barely looked at Garion when he spoke. “I’m glad you did.”
Jacob wanted to agree, but he was no longer sure he did. He loved flying, being Drakkon. He thought it was all he’d ever wanted. But River made him want to be a man. He didn’t know what to say, so he smiled instead and bit his tongue when his sister asked if she could read her music.
Jacob remained silent while River hurried to her room. How could it be that he would give up everything he’d ever wanted for her? Was this love? Could she be his life mate? If she were, he would never get over her death. Drakkon only had one life mate.
Maybe he was worrying over nothing. The stars sang for Drakkons, not humans. Helena had heard her life mate song when she was human, but she was a descendant, soon to be a Drakkon. River was not.
Garion, can a human with no essence be a Drakkon’s life mate?
Yes. My mother possessed no Drakkon essence when she and Marcus heard the music. It’s the reason he asked the Elders to use the Phoenix Amber to take the last of his essence so that he could live out his life with her and die with her.
Jacob didn’t know. They’d never spoken about Garion’s family. Jacob had spent hardly any time with the newlyweds on the island. When he spoke to Garion, it had always been about training the Drakkon.
So, it was possible that River could be his life mate. That he could love her and grieve over her forever. Wonderful.
The Phoenix Amber will not work on you, Jake. I tried as a child and it didn’t work. You have my blood.
Jacob slid his gaze to him. I didn’t—have you been in my head, Garion?
No, he’s been in mine. Helena sent and wiped her eye. You love her. She sounded as stunned and unsure how to feel about it as he did. She knew River was the first woman he ever opened his heart to. She knew what his immortality meant. It brought tears to her eyes where Jacob had never seen them before.
River’s return pulled their attention to her. Jacob was glad for the distraction she provided, but he should run.
“I brought something I wrote a few months ago.” She handed her sheets and new guitar to him. “You’ve already heard it.”
The music she’d hummed to him. The music that scattered his willpower to the wind and beckoned him to fly. “I’m not sure I—”
“Oh, can’t you?” she asked, frowning. “I was hoping I could hear you play it.”
He took the guitar and smiled, though his sister’s voice came through asking him if he was okay. No, no he wasn’t. What if he started playing and busted out of his clothes? He’d bring the ceiling down, not to mention what it would do to River’s poor father seeing a Drakkon in his sitting room.
River left him with the music and the instrument to play it and sat down in the chair close by to listen and watch. Was he really going to take the chance of not only hearing her music, but playing it? His will wasn’t that strong.
He blew out a heavy breath and read the music first. He could hear it in his head. He remembered the sound of her humming it to him. He began to play. His fingers had mastered the strings years ago. He’d played thousands of songs—his and other’s. This melody went beyond anything he’d heard before. It was textured with emotion, both dark and light, a mix of harmonic and staccato notes that restored and stimulated him.
He fought to steady his breath, to control the desire to take to the sky. It was too difficult. Looking at her while her sound saturated every fiber of him nearly made his fingers pause twice. He felt Drakkon rise up within as tears streamed down River’s face at the sound he produced. He understood its effect and why it was so profound. It was his heart through her eyes. His Drakkon heart.
He wanted to respond. He wanted to snatch her away from the world, guard her as his treasure, and take her to places she’d never been before, to heights only he could take her.
He felt the fire expand within, heating his gaze, tightening his muscles.
Garion stood up before he did, a warning glinting in his gold eyes. Control it, Jake.
Jacob rose and set down the guitar. He took a second to exhale then looked at his sister.
“It was remarkable. One of the most beautiful pieces I’ve heard in years,” she said, a bit breathless. But as far as drawing Drakkon, she continued in his head, it would seem to be only you, Brother.
“I may know some people interested in your kind of sound,” she told River out loud.
But that doesn’t mean she’s your life mate, Garion’s voice returned. It will be the stars’ song that sings to you, not hers.
But hers meant something, Jacob told himself. It made him want to be Drakkon. In the last forty-eight hours, it was the only thing that did.
He didn’t want to control it, not after today. Another Drakkon had tried to take her from him today. Jacob’s wrath went unsatisfied. Tonight, he wanted to rule the sky.
“Excuse me,” he murmured and moved past them to the door.
The moment his feet touched the dirt, he took off running. He leaped over rocky declines and swerved sharply to avoid nesting gulls that didn’t see him coming.
Jacob? Her voice going through him pulled him back. Where are you?
The part of his heart that was man wanted to rush back to her, take her in his arms, kiss her, make love to her. How could he let this happen to him? If he stopped wanting to be Drakkon, he’d never fly again. Was he willing to truly give it up for her?
Why did you leave?
Drakkon faded and Jacob’s heart broke a little at its submission.
Because, he told her, this is what I’ve always wanted.