Dragon Actually

Dark Glen lay only a few leagues away, but she wasn’t ready to go back yet. She never knew where or when she might stumble across Fearghus and Annwyl “going at it,” as Gwenvael so eloquently put it. The late hour and a brief check around assured her that she was alone.

Morfyd quickly stripped off her robes and dove naked into the lake. She enjoyed the rush of cold water over her human form. She didn’t know why but her kind did love water. She’d envied Fearghus a bit when he found his lair. A cave with its own freshwater lake. Now that was heaven.

“She couldn’t have gotten far. Go that way. I’ll check the lake.” Morfyd froze. She heard male voices and knew they were looking for her. She swam to the edge of the lake and had just pulled herself out when a man stumbled from the bushes. She stood tall, ready to burn him to embers when he straightened up, turning to face her.

“Brastias?”

“Morfyd. Good. We were . . .” Brastias stopped. Apparently he just realized she was naked and he became transfixed. She waited, but he kept staring. His light eyes seemingly unable to look away. With a growling groan, “Damn, woman.”

“Brastias?” She snapped her fingers. “Brastias!”

“Uh . . .” He yanked himself out of his trance and turned away from her. “Sorry. Sorry. I just didn’t . . . I . . . uh . . .”

Morfyd grabbed her robes from off the ground. “What is it? What do you want?”

“I need you to get word to . . . um . . . um . . . uh . . .”

“Annwyl?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

Morfyd wanted to laugh but her sudden awareness of her own naked body trapped the sound in her throat. She pulled on her clothes. “You can,” she cleared her throat, “turn around now.”

Brastias looked over his shoulder at her. “I’m very sorry. I heard you’d just left the village. I didn’t know you’d be here . . . uh . . . bathing.”

Morfyd pushed her wet hair off her face. “No bother. Really. We’ll simply never speak of it again. Ever. Now you said you had a message for Annwyl.”

“Yes.” He slowly turned his body to face her. “We’ve received word that Lorcan will be attacking this village in three days time. We’re going to move the women and children to the Citadel of Ó Donnchadha. We think they’ll be safe there. . . . I never knew your hair was white.”

Morfyd’s head snapped up, her eyes locking with Brastias’s.

“Uh . . . I mean,” he continued in a rush, “we believe Lorcan himself will be attacking. I haven’t seen him in battle for quite some time, but I know Annwyl’s been waiting for this chance. I need you to let her know.”

“I will.”

“No matter what, we will fight to protect this village, so if she’s not ready . . .”

“She’s ready.”

“Tell her we’ll carry on until we hear from her.”

Morfyd nodded. “I’ll let her know.”

“Thank you.” Brastias stared at her for a moment longer, then quickly turned away, slamming into Danelin who had just emerged from the trees. He spun Danelin around and, before the man could say a word, pushed him back into the trees and away from the lake.

Morfyd covered her face with her hands. “Just bloody wonderful.”

Fearghus walked past his treasure room toward his lake. He stopped, taking several steps back. Gwenvael sat on his pile of riches like he owned it.

“What are you doing?”

“Waiting for you. You’ve been avoiding me.”

“As if you are worth avoiding.”

“Well, it was either sit here or go sit on Annwyl. But she’d hurt me. Of course, I’m not sure I’d mind.”

Still drenched in sweat from his last encounter with Annwyl, he could still smell her all over his body, still taste her on his lips. So, he wasn’t about to let his idiot brother upset him. “What do you want?”

“I’m waiting for you to give me a message to take back.”

“There is no message. It’s none of their business.”

“Do you really think it’s that easy? Do you really think you don’t have to live by the same laws the rest of us do?”

Fearghus snorted. “What laws do you live by, little brother?”

Gwenvael grinned. “The ones that keep me alive and healthy.”

“Go back to them. Tell them anything you want. But when Annwyl leaves to fight her brother, I will be by her side.”

Gwenvael sighed. “She could never love you, brother. She’s human. I’d hate to see you give up your family for a girl that as soon as she finds out the truth, will run fast and far from you.”

Fearghus gritted his teeth and tamped down his desire to blast Gwenvael where he sat. He didn’t dare go near him. He might shift and rip the little bastard’s guts out.

“Get from my sight, boy. Before I send your head back to

them as a gift.” Fearghus headed toward his lake.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Gwenvael yelled after him.

Annwyl leaned her forehead against the dragon’s snout. “You’ve been very quiet this evening. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

She knew he was lying. He’d barely spoken two words in the past hour. “Did I do something?”

“No. Of course not. It’s just family problems. Nothing to concern yourself with.”