The Dragon Legion Collection(60)

Damien drew her into his arms and held her tightly against his chest. Petra was alarmed to realize that he wasn’t as warm as he had been. “That’s why you took the ferry, even when the sea was rough.”

“I had to go back to the Mothers.”

“Where?”

“The closest place to home for me.”

Damien pressed a kiss into her hair and Petra felt her tears begin to fall. “I was so wrong, Petra. Please forgive me for not trusting you as I should have done.” He framed her face in his hands and kissed her tears away.

“You’re not the only one who made a mistake,” Petra admitted quietly.

“I don’t understand. You’ve done nothing wrong...”

“I did. I invoked the Erinyes.”

Damien looked down at the corpse again. “Just now?” He leaned down, nearly touching his nose to hers, his determined gaze boring into her own. “Why did you do it?”

“You’re not condemning me?”

“Not until I give you a chance to explain.” His grin made her heart skip a beat. “Second chances only work if you learn from your mistakes.”

“It was after you left,” she admitted. “When I was on the ferry.”

“When you knew it was going to sink.”

“I was still angry. I thought everything was your fault.” She flicked a glance at Damien, surprised to find his expression thoughtful. “How could I know that carrying a child would make me want more?”

Damien caught a tendril of her hair between his finger and thumb, then wound it around his finger. His smile was crooked. “You remember that I wasn’t exactly gone the next morning.”

“No, you stayed three months. I thought that was your plan.”

“No. One night was the plan, but you were a temptation that I couldn’t easily leave.”

Petra once again hoped their thoughts were as one. “But you would still have followed Drake, even if we hadn’t argued, and you still would have been enchanted. You still wouldn’t have returned.”

“Don’t believe that. The darkfire still would have been loosed, and I might have found you faster.” Damien was winding her hair more tightly around his finger, his body pressed against her own. He leaned down and touched a feather light kiss to her earlobe, one that weakened her knees and made her heart pound.

“You don’t know that.”

“I believe in stories, especially the ones that end well.”

Petra stole a glance at him and the resolve in his expression made her mouth go dry.

“What if we start again?” he murmured, his breath a seductive caress. “What if I apologize for leaving you and you apologize for invoking the Erinyes?”

“Then what?” Petra asked, her voice husky.

Damien brushed a kiss across her lips, a fleeting touch that filled her with yearning. “Then we just have to figure out how to get out of here.”

“Partners,” Petra breathed and Damien grinned.

“If you’ll have me.”

“If you’ll trust me,” she said quietly and his smile broadened.

“I’ve learned from my mistake.” He kissed her then, sending a wonderful heat through her body and filling her with a new conviction. When he lifted his head, she was simmering and optimistic.

Until her gaze fell on the dead monster.

“We have to go to Hades and appeal to him for release.”

Damien winced. “Even I know that never goes well in stories.”

Petra shook her head and took Damien’s hand, trying to encourage him. “But no one in the stories ever had darkfire on their side.”

Damien nodded, his expression thoughtful as he scanned the bleak terrain of Tartarus.

“What is it?”

“There’s no more darkfire.” He lifted their linked hands and Petra saw that there was no glimmer of blue-green light between their hands. She looked but couldn’t see a single spark, even though it had haunted her since Damien’s arrival.

Had the darkfire abandoned them here?

“It’s leaving us to our own resources,” she guessed.

Damien nodded and squeezed her hand. “Fortunately, we have plenty.”

His optimism was undeserved, though, at least in Petra’s opinion. She could see that her dragon warrior was fading and feared that he might be the sacrifice that was required.

Not if she had anything to say about it.

“He is supposed to hold court on the other side of Tartarus,” Petra said, refusing to believe that everything could be lost. Damien nodded and tightened his grip on her hand, setting a quick pace in the direction she indicated.



* * *



“You have to be joking.” Damien folded his arms across his chest and glared at the dark ribbon of water. Its surface was moving in a way that he distrusted. They had walked for ages, even though there was no good measurement of time in this place. He was tired and his stomach was so empty, it felt hollow. He was having a hard time keeping his thoughts focused and now this. “We have to cross the river without a ferry?”

“I don’t see a ferry,” Petra said mildly. “I’ve never heard of there being one on the River Leche. If you want to appeal to Hades, we have to cross it.”