Illarion was no longer on Olympus. He no longer heard the sounds of battle or Apollo’s voice.
In one heartbeat, he was transported back in time. Back to the fateful day when Morgen had cornered him and Edilyn in the Tor.
He felt his wife on his back as she battled, giving him commands with her knees and feet. The pressure of her shifting weight and how she squeezed him with her thighs.
They’d fought together so many times by then that they’d learned to become a single unit. A single beast, with one divine heartbeat between them. He knew Edilyn’s skills and she knew his. They trusted one another implicitly.
But something had struck his chest at the same time Maddor had come at his back.
He still didn’t know what the bastard had used to cut her from the saddle while Illarion had been too dazed to use his powers to teleport her to safety. To tear her from the magick harness he’d used to make sure that nothing could harm her.
“Illy!” Her anguished, fearful cry had splintered his soul that day.
Unable to catch his breath, he’d turned to save her. Only to find more mandrakes and gargoyles in his way. His powers wouldn’t work.
Fighting desperately through them, he’d seen her plummeting toward the ground. Plummeting toward her death.
Edilyn!
He could never get that sight out of his mind. Any more than the last heartbeat of her dying. That last, single gasp that had forever haunted him.
Don’t leave me! he’d begged through his tears.
But her grip had fallen loose on his hand.
His heart had shattered.
And then they’d torn her from his grasp. He’d relived that moment, over and over, until it’d driven him mad. Unable to forgive himself for failing her, he’d used his powers to sear the words of her favorite poem into the flesh of his arm so that he’d always have a piece of her with him.
At night, in his dreams, he’d imagined her with him again. Just the two of them …
In a world where their bond couldn’t be undone. Where death could never take her from his arms. If only it were real.…
If only she were still alive.
“Did you break him?”
Apollo frowned at Kessar’s question. How he hated the gallu demon. But sadly, the Sumerian bastard was a necessary evil for his plans to strike down his pantheon and Apollymi.
At least for now.
“Not sure. Never seen a dragon do this before. Did you or one of yours bite him and convert him to your slave?”
Kessar shook his blond head. “But now that you mention it…”
Apollo stopped him as he started to fix that oversight. “Convert the dragon, and he won’t be able to access his island.”
“Why not?”
“He will no longer be a true drakomai. He’ll be a mindless gallu slave. Only one of his species can access the chest that holds what we need.”
Kessar curled his lip. “Why do we need this army?”
Apollo strummed his lyre and did his best not to react to such a ridiculously dumb question. “In theory, we don’t. Just makes our job easier. After all, this is not the only realm we have to take. And that little bastard there is a Dragonmark. Do you know what that is?”
The demon shook his head.
Of course not. Gallu were insanely stupid creatures.
Apollo sighed, but hid his aggravation. “They are a rare, rare beast. Only he and his sister, Xyn, bear that title anymore. Sadly, no one knows what has become of her. He’s the last one we can find.” He shot a god-bolt from his hand into Illarion.
The moment it hit him, it caused his human flesh to illuminate. And beneath it, an intricate pattern emerged. Like bony thorns, it spiraled over his skin. Lovely and at the same time terrifying.
Illarion’s eyes glowed white.
Apollo passed a smug smile to the demon. “That is the Dragonmark. They absorb power from the gods and can use it to attack. It makes them stronger and harder to kill than their counterparts. There’s a prophecy among my people that anyone who can command a Dragonmark in his army will never be defeated. Not by man. And never by the gods.”
He jerked his chin to the demon. “You’d do well to collar him now while he’s lost wherever it is he is. Once he comes out of that state … he’ll probably kick our asses.”
“I wouldn’t chain him, if I were you.”
Apollo arched his brow at the soft, feminine voice. “You dare question me?”
“You freed me to handle him, did you not?”
He turned his head to glare at Edilyn. “Yes. But not to contradict me.”
“Not contradicting, my lord. Cautioning.” She jerked her chin toward Illarion. “You chain him and he will react badly. I don’t think you’re prepared for what you will unleash.”
Apollo glared at her. “Fine, then. You keep the beast under control. Otherwise, I will destroy you.”
She inclined her head to him before she slowly approached Illarion.
Edilyn tried to ignore the wretched beasts around her and to not betray exactly how grateful she was to be here.
With Illarion.
This was a frightening game they were forcing her to play. But this was the only chance she had to save him.
And herself.
Terrified of how her dragon might react, she carefully touched his arm.
Illarion closed his eyes as if he savored that small bit of contact. You’re not real.
She glanced to the others before she used her thoughts to answer his. I am, my love. And I’m here. Come, Illy. Follow me.
Trying not to betray them, she took his hand and led him from the temple to the hall where Apollo wanted them kept. It was basically a prison, surrounded by his faithful servants and demons.
But it afforded them a degree of privacy.
It wasn’t until she’d shut the doors and started the torches that Illarion finally came out of his very mild torpor. Then, his anger was palatable. You’re not my Edilyn. You can’t be.
“Look inside your heart, Illy. Remember the day we met? You were in the guise of an old man. I had no interest in tying myself to a dragon lord. I wanted nothing to do with your world. Not until Morla snapped my bow that my father had made for me. And you, my precious heart, so kindly repaired it.”
Illarion blinked as those words choked him. He stared down into those beautiful blue eyes that seemed so familiar. Into a face he’d loved for so long that he could no longer remember a time when he hadn’t lived for her.
Dare he believe this was real? That she was somehow alive?
She held the same lush, full curves of his Addie-Rose. Her voice the same cadence and accent.
But …
I saw you die.
“You saw me shed my mortal skin. Remember that I told you my mother was a kikimora?”
He nodded.
Tears filled her eyes as she laid her palm to his cheek. “When Maddor killed me, I was pulled to her realm, to live among her people. But I had no key that would enable me to return to the Tor, or pierce the Veil to reach you. I’ve tried a thousand times, in a million ways. Ever wanting to be with you. But Merlin’s magick was too strong. Not even in dreams could I find you.”
Tears blurred his vision as indecision tortured him. Indecision that wasn’t helped when she kissed him in a way only Edilyn ever had.
He knew the taste of these lips. The way her hands felt sliding over his body.
Closing his eyes, he inhaled her scent and let it take him back to the last time in his life when he’d felt whole. Intact.
And this time, she was the one who used powers she shouldn’t have to remove their clothes.
Stunned, he pulled back to stare down at her. Who are you?
“I’m your Edilyn, but I have changed from the innocent girl who ran away with you. Time and longing have taken a toll on me.”
And your sister?
Laughing, she nipped at his lips. “You’re the one with a sister, love. Sarraxyn. Virag lives. Not happily, as I’ve made his life a living hell for what he did to us, and especially for his theft of your stone.”
Tears gathered in her eyes as she drew a ragged breath. “Please believe in me, Illarion. I swear, I won’t harm you. That is not why I’m here.”
He sucked his breath in sharply as she reached down between their bodies to cup him in her palm. His blood raced through his veins. It’d been so long since he’d been touched by another. In honor of her, he’d never allowed any other lover access to his body.
I’ve missed you. Those words tore themselves from him before he could stop them.
“Missed you, too,” she whispered against his lips. “Now come home, my lord, where you belong.”
Pinning her against the wall behind her, he drove himself deep inside her. She cried out as he ground his teeth against the wave of excruciating pleasure that tore through him.
Edilyn fisted her hand in his long auburn hair while he made furious love to her. She screamed out in ecstasy at how good it felt to have him deep in her body again. It’d been far too long.
Now …
She never wanted to let him go.
Sinking her nails into the flesh of his back, she came in a blinding wave of pleasure.
Illarion hissed as he felt her climax. Kissing her, he quickened his thrusts so that he could join her. Even then, he didn’t withdraw immediately. Rather, he stayed inside her for as long as his body would allow it.
But all too soon, they were forced to separate.
Taking his hand, Edilyn led him to a small bedroom that held a good-sized bed with furs for covers. She tucked him into it, then laid herself across him and savored his long, muscled body. This was all she’d wanted. For centuries, she’d craved this one homecoming.
Unable to believe this was real, he toyed with the wealth of ebony hair that fell over his chest in a beautiful cascade of waves.
In that moment, he wanted to die.
Because he knew that all too soon, Apollo would come to him with a price tag for this happiness.
And he knew that no matter what the god asked of him, he would pay it.
’Cause whatever the price, it would be worth it to keep her by his side.
Hell. High water. Blood. Bone.
Soul.
His or anyone else’s.
I can’t lose her again.
And no matter what, he wouldn’t.
* * *
For a full week, Apollo left them alone. Every day that went by was worse than the one before.
And so much sweeter.
Illarion hated it because he felt himself drowning. He was so desperate to be with Edilyn that he spent most of his time in the body of a man. He all but abandoned his dragon form.
A dragon couldn’t hold her. Couldn’t bury his face in the crook of her neck and spoon up against her body to sleep. Nor could he lay his head between her breasts and sleep with her fingers tangled in his hair.
God help him, he didn’t want to be a dragon ever again.
He just wanted to be with her. Curled up in her arms. Forever. This was all he needed.
All he wanted …
Edilyn kissed the top of Illarion’s head as she cradled him against her. They’d been abed for days now. And while she was enjoying this thoroughly, she was concerned. “Illy?”
Mmm?
“I’m worried about you.”
Why?
“You said in the beginning that you were afraid I wasn’t me, but you’re the one who isn’t like himself. And it’s starting to scare me.”
He lifted his head to stare down at her with a fierce frown. What do you mean?
She brushed her fingers against his frown to smooth it. “You’re like an addict, and you look dreadful. I don’t think you’re supposed to be in a human body this long.”
Don’t be ridiculous.
Biting her lip, she ran her fingers through his tangled hair. “I’m not, love. You need to look in a mirror. You’re very pale. Your eyes are hollow and sunken. Gaunt, even. And you’ve lost weight. You need to eat and you’ve got to return to your true form.”
Instead, he kissed her, then slid himself back inside her body. I don’t want to leave you.
“Precious … you haven’t even asked about your brother. Max was wounded badly in the fighting.”
Max?
Edilyn went cold as she saw the confusion in his eyes. He truly had no recollection of his beloved brother. “Do you know where we are?”
My father’s temple.
At least he remembered that much. But it wasn’t like him to call Apollo father.
Bloody bastard.
Worthless …
Those were the normal epitaphs for the creature who’d sired him.
“What else do you recall?”
He kissed her blind before he began thrusting fiercely against her hips. How much I love you.
She groaned in pleasure as she struggled to remember herself why this was important. Yet she couldn’t let him distract her. Not again. She had to stay focused. Had to make him remember himself. “And?”
I don’t want to talk, Addie. I just want to feast on you. He pulled out of her then so that he could kiss his way down her body until he took her into his mouth and made her forget everything except how talented he was with his tongue.
Growling deep in her throat, she sank her hand in his hair and spread her thighs wider to give him all the access he wanted to her body.
At the rate he was going, she’d never walk again. He was merciless and skillful in a way that should be illegal. And when she finally came, it was so intense that she screamed out from it.
Laughing, he rolled her over so that he could enter her again. This time, he positioned her on her stomach so that he could ride her furiously while his fingers kept time to his strokes.
And before she knew it, she came with him. His heart pounded against her shoulder while his ragged breath fell against her cheek.
I love you, Addie.
“Love you. But you’ve got to stop this, Illy. You are drakomai! You have to remember that.”
He laid himself over her like a blanket, pressing her deep into the mattress with his weight. Nay … I’m a man. For you.
True fear cut through her at those words. This was serious. She needed to get him out of here and away from his uncle’s clutches and schemes. There was something about this place that was damaging him. A spell or something …
But she would have to be careful. Apollo had them guarded and watched.
For that reason, she waited until Illarion fell asleep before she scooted away from him and dressed. Slipping off to the bathroom, she made sure that no guard or anyone else could hear her.
Then she used her powers to summon the last person she really wanted to converse with.
“Virag,” she whispered. “Where are you?”
“Thought you weren’t talking to me again, little sister?”
“Don’t be a jerk. I’m not, but I need you.”
“And I’m the jerk?”
She scoffed. “Of course you are.… Now can you come to me?”
“Where are you?”
“Olympus.”
He let out a sarcastic laugh. “Seriously. Where are you?”
“Olympus. Seriously. Now haul your butt here.”
He manifested as a shimmering shade next to her. “Wow, you weren’t kidding. Why are you here?”
“Illarion. He’s here, too.”
His features paled. “Uh … then I don’t need to be here.”
She held him there with her powers. “Oh no you don’t! Stay. I need you.”
“For what? Target practice?”
“Illarion has forgotten himself.”
He gaped. “How?”
“I don’t know. Nor do I know how to repair it. Do you?”
“Of course not. I’m a kikimora, not a dragon.”
She gave him a droll, irritated glare.
“Don’t even. It’s not like I’ve had a lot of experience with dragons.”
Growling at him, she nudged him toward the bedroom. “Fine, then. I need you to do what you can.”
His eyes widened. “And that is?”
“Pretend to be Illarion. They don’t care if I’m here or not. But they watch him constantly. You can take on his form. Just pretend to sleep until we get back.”
She expected him to protest.
But after an excruciating wait, he nodded. “Be careful.”
“Thank you.”
When she started away, Virag caught her hand. “I’m sorry, Eddie. For everything. You were never supposed to get hurt.”
Tears filled her eyes as she remembered the day she’d died in battle. The way it’d felt to see the anguish on Illarion’s face and know that she was the cause of it. She’d fought to stay with everything she had.
But the Fates had cruelly denied them.
Bitter anger had filled her as she was forced from his side and pain had torn her apart and left her heartbroken.
Virag had been the first one she’d seen when she’d crossed over to her mother’s realm. Even now, she remembered the indignity on his face the moment he realized what had happened to her.
What Morgen had done.
“No! This was not the deal! Edilyn was to remain unharmed!”
Morgen’s voice had cut through their realm. “You failed, demon. I warned you the cost of it! No one crosses me!”
Then, Morgen had unleashed her MODs—her death demons that existed only to hunt and kill—to go after Edilyn even in their realm.
Virag had grabbed her immediately.
Their gazes had met in the darkness and he’d given her that big-brother smile that had always promised her protection and safety. “Do you trust me, Eddie?”
In spite of it all, she’d nodded.
And when they’d come to kill her, she’d learned the true power of her mother’s people. What made them so incredibly sought after by others who wanted to enslave them for their abilities.
As the MODs had closed in to deal her the last fatal blow that would have ended her existence in all realms, Virag had taken her form and received her death sentence from Morgen’s minions without hesitation or reservation.
Or at least, that had been his plan.
It wasn’t until after she’d seen them kill her body that Virag had appeared by her side, dazed and with tears in his eyes.
As befuddled and shocked as he appeared, she’d stared at him. “Virag?”
He’d sniffed back his tears as he took her hand and then run with her before Morgen and the others realized what’d happened. Without explaining why her lifeless body was lying on the ground on the other side of the meadow from where they had fled, he’d taken her to hide deep inside their realm so that no one could find them.
Only when they were safe and far away from Morgen’s reach did he finally explain what had happened on her arrival to the fey realm.
“I was supposed to die for you, Eddie. To make up for what I’d done to you and Illarion.” Sobs had racked him. “But she didn’t give me a chance to make it right.” A tear had slid down his cheek. When he spoke, his voice had broken on a sob. “That was our mother just then. She cast me out of your body at the last minute and took my place when they attacked. She’s the one they killed in your body.”
Edilyn had started after her, but he’d stopped her.
“It’s too late. She’s gone.”
“Nay! I want to see her!”
Clearing his throat, he’d gathered her into his arms. “I know and I’m so sorry. All of this is my fault. But if you go back now, they’ll kill you and undo her sacrifice.”
She would have been angrier at him had he not been trying to make amends, but it was hard to fault him when his heart had been in the right place.
Instead, they’d reconnected after that day as he taught her the powers of their people.
Now …
She watched him assume Illarion’s human body. “Virag?”
He arched a questioning brow.
“Stay safe, my brother.”
A slow smile spread across his face. “And you.” With a grand flourish, he took his cloak from his shoulders and wrapped it around hers.
She kissed his cheek, then went to her slumbering dragon. As gently as she could, she shook him awake. “Come, my lord. We should bathe.” Glancing around to make sure the guards didn’t stir, she pulled Illarion to the bathroom.
But the moment he saw Virag in his body, he hissed. What treachery is this?
Edilyn pushed Virag from the bathroom into the bed chambers, then turned to face Illarion. “No trick. I’m getting you out of here.”
An even deeper rage darkened his steel eyes. You’re casting me out?
Anguished pain sliced through her as she cupped his cheek in her palm. “Nay, my love! I’ll be with you, but you can’t stay here any longer. It’s killing you and I can’t watch you suffer another minute.” She quickly conjured clothes for him, then took Virag’s cloak from her body, and handed it to him, intending to help him dress. She placed his hands over the small stack and met his gaze. “We have to get you to a place where you thrive again.”
But as she started to put the pants on him, Illarion stopped her. “Fetch your brother, Edilyn.”
She froze at the deep, rich sound of a voice she’d never heard before. “You spoke?”
He didn’t answer. At least not with words. Rather, his skin darkened to a rich, deep caramel as his eyes faded to white. Running across his body like a flowing river, a spiraling black tattoo appeared to form an intricate and beautiful thorny pattern. It even marked his face, bisecting each cheek and across his forehead.
“Illarion?”
He kissed her lips tenderly, then stepped back to pull his hair into a ponytail that he secured with a leather tie. “Get your brother, Addie. We must move quickly.”
At the door, she glanced back and realized that the pattern over his flesh wasn’t really random. It actually formed the image of a dragon that scaled the entire length of his body. And it was the beast’s thorny tail that covered Illarion’s face.
Unsure of what that meant or why it marked him, she went to get Virag.
At first, he protested.
“You need to come see something,” she breathed insistently. “And stop arguing.”
Finally, he obeyed.
The moment he entered the bathroom, he staggered back at the unholy sight of Illarion’s new appearance.
Illarion stood there, not wearing the clothes she’d conjured, but dressed in black leather battle armor that looked as much like a dragon’s body as his real form. The marks on his face were more pronounced now. His colorless eyes searing with their intensity.
“What did you do to your dragon, little sister?”
Illarion pulled something from the pocket of Virag’s cloak. “Who is responsible for this?”
Edilyn had no idea what the small peach object was in his hand. Yet she wasn’t willing to betray her brother, either. So she said nothing.
Virag, however, snorted. “Thought you might need it back to protect my sister.”
She scowled at him. “What is it?”
Illarion’s gaze softened. “My dragonstone that he stole on the day we met.”
Her jaw went slack. “I don’t understand … it healed your voice? How?”
With an incredibly handsome scowl, he nodded. “They’re incredibly fickle things that heal from the heart of the one who carries them.”
“I don’t understand.”
“My brothers’ concerns were always for my life. So the stone healed my health alone.” Illarion closed the distance between them so that he could cup her face in his hands. Tenderness creased his brow as he smiled down at her. “If I had any doubt that you are my Edilyn, this ended it.… While my brothers sought only to keep me alive, you wanted to make me whole again.”
Tears blurred her vision. “Always.”
The love in his eyes burned her to the depth of her soul, especially when he held up his palm and she saw the last thing she’d ever expected to see again.
His mating mark.
Gasping, she turned her palm over … and there it was. Back where Savitar had placed it.
Happiness flooded her and with it came a tidal wave of tears.
“You didn’t just repair my voice, Edilyn. You unbound all the powers Dagon had blocked when he tampered with my bloodline. After all, I wasn’t just a drakomai, I was a demigod first.” With a precious smile, Illarion kissed her, then stepped back to clap Virag on the arm. “You ready to get out of here, old man?”
He snorted. “I don’t think they’re going to let us go.”
Illarion winked at him. “Don’t think they can stop us.”
Virag cast a skeptical grimace to Edilyn. “He does know those are gallu demons out there, right?”
“Cast from the same lilitu demons that birthed and suckled me.” Illarion winked at Virag. “Your mother may have been a kikimora … but my mother was the soul-sucking, blood-drinking badass bitch of the demon world—” He wrinkled his nose before he unfurled a set of black wings from his back—“Who got busy with a god of war. You really think that whiny sun boy and his band of B-grade horror movie rejects out there concern me?”
Virag leaned forward to whisper, “For the record, they do concern me.”
“Then stay behind me and guard your sister’s back.”
When Illarion started for the door, Edilyn pulled him to a stop. “What are you doing?”
“Leaving.”
“Shouldn’t we—”
“I don’t slink out back doors, my rose.”
Virag gaped. “Uh, for the record? I do.”
Illarion snorted at him before he threw open the temple doors and attempted to leave.
Only to discover they couldn’t teleport out of this realm. They were stuck here on Olympus.
Now there was something Illarion hadn’t planned on.
Damn you, Apollo. The worthless bastard had the whole of Olympus locked down.
Furious, Illarion left their hall to travel to Apollo’s temple on the hill.
Edilyn exchanged a concerned frown with her brother as they struggled to keep up with his long, furious strides. “Not sure I should have woken him up.”
“Yeah, you think?”
But there was no stopping Illarion. The dragon was out for blood and determined to leave.
As soon as he reached the steps of Apollo’s sacred home, he used his powers to blast the huge golden doors from their hinges. He took the marble stairs two at a time and strode through the entrance to confront the god in the main hall.
Apollo came off his throne with a resounding curse.
“Knock, knock,” Illarion said boldly.
Apollo glared at him as if he were the stupidest creature to ever live. “Have you lost your mind?”
“No. Just my temper.” Illarion drew to a stop before Apollo’s throne. “Let me go. Now!”
Arching a brow, Apollo stared aghast. “I think you’ve forgotten who it is you’re talking to, little dragon. What I can do to you—” his gaze went to Edilyn as she came to rest behind Illarion “—and what you love.”
Before she could blink, Apollo sent a blast for her.
One Illarion absorbed and returned to him before the god could think to dodge it. It landed a solid hit on Apollo’s chest, and sent the god flying.
“Open a portal,” Illarion demanded.
“No! We had a bargain!”
Illarion sighed and shook his head. “You’re right. How foolish of me. We did have a bargain. But I can’t fulfill it until you free me. Now open a fucking portal!”
Apollo pushed himself to his feet. “Fine, but your woman stays here.”
“No,” Illarion said in a firm tone.
Scoffing, Apollo arched his brow. “No?”
“Are you losing your hearing in your old age? Hell … no. I don’t trust you. But I am a dragon of honor. I will return with what I promised you. You can trust in that.”
From the shadows, Kessar came at Illarion’s back.
Illarion caught the demon and flipped him to the ground. His serrated teeth emerged as he tried to bite him. Growling, Illarion flung him to land beside Apollo. “Just don’t even…”
“You better return, dragon!” Apollo growled in warning.
Illarion gave Edilyn a grin over his shoulder that was absolutely chilling before he winked and the responded to his uncle’s warning in the most nonchalant of tones. “As I said, dear uncle, you have my word.”
With an irritated growl, Apollo opened a portal.
Taking her hand and kissing her knuckles, Illarion led them from Olympus back to Hybrasil.
In the main cavern of his home, he reluctantly let go of Edilyn’s hand. “Watch your brother. He takes anything else, I’m going to eat him.”
Virag held his hands up in surrender. “No worries. Though to be honest, I was expecting you to feed me to the demons on Olympus.”
Illarion grinned. “Thought crossed my mind. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a promise to keep.”
Gasping, Edilyn grabbed his arm to stop him. “You can’t turn the Spartoi over to them. Have you any idea what they’ll do with them?”
“If I don’t, they’ll take you from me again. And that I can never allow.”
“Illarion—”
“You’ve already been ripped from my arms once, Addie. No one and nothing will ever do that again. Besides, don’t you trust me?”
“Aye, but—”
“No buts.” He kissed her cheek tenderly, then whispered in her ear, “Have faith.”
Closing her eyes, she gave him one last hug and savored the way he felt in her arms. “You better stay safe.”
“And you.”
Edilyn watched as Illarion headed for the cavern where he kept his most valuable treasures. Her stomach cramped and heaved at the thought of his handing over something so dangerous to the likes of Apollo and Kessar.
“He’s not really going to do this, is he?” Virag asked with the same grimace on his face that she felt in her heart.
But as Illarion came out with the Spartoi chest in his hands, she knew the answer. He fully intended to keep his word to the Greek god.
And there was nothing she could do.
Or was there?