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 nak*d 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.”
“That message Gwenvael brought with him. They don’t want you involved with my war, do they?”
The dragon sighed, heavily. “What they want doesn’t concern me.”
“I won’t come between you and your kin. You saved my life, you owe me nothing more.”
He pulled his majestic head away from her. “This isn’t about owing you anything, Annwyl. I fight by your side because that is what I choose to do.”
He moved away from her. Restless, he didn’t stand still for long this night. She also sensed his anxiety and annoyance. And she knew that somehow she stood at the heart of it, but she didn’t know what she’d done. Unless, of course . . . “Is this about the knight?”
The dragon stopped moving, but he didn’t turn to face her. “If I asked you to stop seeing him, would you?”
Annwyl closed her eyes. Finally, the question she dreaded since this all began. But she only had one answer for the dragon. Only one answer that would not be a lie.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you asked me to. And I am loyal to you and you alone. I’ll always be loyal to you, Fearghus.”
“Because I saved your life?”
“No. I owe you my life for that. If you hit me with a ball of flame I wouldn’t try and stop you. My life is yours to take. But my loyalty is not. That has to be earned. And you have.”
“How?”
“You’ve made me feel safe. When no other has.”
Annwyl drifted slowly to him. Once in front of him, she rested her hand on his snout. He closed his eyes at her touch. “For that you’ll always have my loyalty.”
She walked around the dragon and wrapped her arms as far around his neck as she could. She hugged him and, as always, he let her. “Good night, my friend.”
“Good night, Annwyl.”
She headed back to her chamber, but couldn’t help but slide her hand across his leathery wings and the scales of his body. Like she did every night.
Fearghus didn’t watch her leave, as he often did. His emotions a jumble in his head. The man that he played by day railed against the fact she could so easily give him up. The dragon agonized in confusion because she was willing to give up for him something that she clearly desired. But not once had she mentioned love. Only loyalty. Of course, he had not mentioned love either.
The little human managed to completely confound him and he wasn’t sure he would ever be able to forgive her for it.
She watched the soldiers quietly flow into the glen. She could smell their fear. They didn’t want to be in Dark Glen, no sane person would. So their other option must have been much worse. And once she recognized their armor, she realized it was. They were Lorcan’s men. He sent them to her brother’s glen. Sent them to find Annwyl.
She let them get farther in, away from any troops that might be waiting in safety outside the glen. She waited and she watched. When the time was right, she moved behind them, clearing her throat. The men stopped. At first, they wouldn’t turn around. Afraid of what they might find. But she waited, knowing their human curiosity would get the best of them. It did. When she saw their eyes, Morfyd let go a stream of fire that scorched them to cinders before they could scream.
Gwenvael appeared beside her, is golden scales glinting brightly in the moonlight. He sniffed the air and looked at the still-smoldering remains of the soldiers.
He smiled at his sister. “Dinner.”
It had gone on for days. The two of them constantly “at it.” Like two mating beasts. Gwenvael shook his head in disgust. He understood lust. Actually, he appreciated lust greatly. But love? A strictly human emotion. And although he enjoyed gallivanting around town as human, he had no intention of making a muddle of his life as they all seemed to.
Of course, he would never have thought Fearghus the Destroyer would either. If there was one thing he could always count on from his large, less-than-social brother, it was his seemingly innate ability to feel nothing for anyone. So, to now watch him moon over some slip of a girl made Gwenvael question all his beliefs.
His head snapped up and he studied the sky. For a moment he thought he’d heard the flap of large leather wings. But as he searched the sky he saw nothing. He dismissed it and went in search of his sister. The soldiers from the previous night were not sitting well in his stomach and he needed one of her soothing concoctions.
She always did have a tendency to overcook their food.
* * *
Annwyl followed the sounds of retching. She found Morfyd by the stream. Her arms around Gwenvael’s shoulders as he vomited into the water.
“He all right?”
Morfyd shrugged. “He ate too much. But he’ll be fine. And I have a message for you from”—she cleared her throat—“Brastias.”
Annwyl frowned. Did Morfyd just blush? “What message?”
“Your brother plans to attack the closest village in three days time. Maybe less. I tried to tell you last night but you were sound asleep.”
Annwyl shrugged. “All right. Thank you.” She’d already planned to return to her troops in the next day or two.
“Is that all your brother warrants? A shrug and a thank you?”
“As a matter of fact, yes,” Annwyl snapped, unable to help herself. “I have other things on my mind besides him. Oh . . .” she waved her hand. “I’ll come back later.” Annwyl made to go, but Morfyd stopped her.
“Wait. Annwyl. What is it?”
“I can’t go on like this.”
Morfyd dropped Gwenvael, his head slamming into the stream. Annwyl grinned as Gwenvael cursed the woman.
Morfyd moved over to Annwyl and looked at her. “You can’t go on like what?”
“My days with the knight. My nights with the dragon. It’s becoming impossible.”
“Annwyl, talk to him.”
“I tried that. I can’t think when I’m around him. He does this thing with his tongue. . . .”
“Annwyl! I mean the dragon. Talk to the dragon.”
“I tried last night, but . . . I think he grows tired of me. And what if he laughs?”
“He hasn’t. And he won’t.” Morfyd smiled. “Trust me.”
“But . . .”
“No. I don’t want to hear it. Just tell the big bastard how you feel. How you feel about him. He needs to hear it. And you need to say it.”
“But the knight . . .”
“Don’t worry about him. Talk to the dragon. The knight can wait.”
Annwyl took a deep breath. She had to do something. Soon she would face her brother and most likely death. She didn’t want to go to her grave knowing that her weakness held her back from the one thing that truly mattered to her.
She nodded and headed back to the cave. Back to her dragon.
Fearghus followed the sound of retching. He found his brother doubled over and Morfyd patting him on the back.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“He ate too many soldiers last night.”