The Dragon Legion Collection(63)

Petra was there. He grabbed her and hauled her to the surface, clearing the muck of the river and a few smaller snakes from her face. He couldn’t tell if she was breathing or not and didn’t intend to linger in the river to find out.

Her expression was peaceful, her features so tranquil that he feared the worst.

He strode to the shore that had been their destination, relieved to find the ground rise up quickly beneath his boots. He laid Petra on the dry bank, even as rivulets of water ran from her clothes. Her lashes fluttered slightly, but he saw that the color that had bloomed in her cheeks after his kiss had faded again. Her pallor and the chill of her hands terrified him.

He found himself whispering her name, as if his voice alone could rouse her or repeating her name could reassure him. He ran one fingertip across her cool lips before he realized the same strategy might work again. He bent and touched his lips to hers, hoping against hope that she would revive beneath his touch.

To his relief, darkfire burned and shimmered between them, touching Petra’s features with its ethereal glow, filling Damien’s body with heat. He could only hope that his kiss passed it to Petra. He kissed her again and again, hoping the spark would light to a flame, that the power of his kind could save the woman he loved.

He loved Petra, and he’d never told her so.

Damien only hoped he hadn’t realized the truth too late.

When Petra lifted one hand to his shoulder and parted her lips beneath his own, Damien’s hope surged. He caught her close and deepened his kiss, pouring all he felt for her into his touch, telling her with his embrace what he’d never told her in words. Petra clung to him, her arms wrapping around him to hold him close, her kiss meeting him measure for measure. He saw the darkfire brighten between then and heat to a brilliant white glow, a hot white light that wouldn’t soon be extinguished. When he lifted his head and reluctantly broke his kiss, she was flushed and rosy again.

Even more importantly, she smiled at him. Her gaze was so warm that he could have basked in it forever.

“Well,” she said. “Thank you.”

“I owed you for Cerberus.”

“Does that make us even then?” Petra teased. “So we now go our separate ways?”

“No! Though we are even,” Damien said gruffly, pleased and confused. Feeling both at the same time was disconcerting, but not all bad. He’d survived the electricity of living with Petra before, after all, and had missed the spark she put in his day.

She was waiting for him to say something, so he tried to indicate his changed feelings. “It’s important in a partnership to keep everything balanced.”

“Is that so? Suddenly you know so much about balanced relationships?” She was teasing him, her tone light and playful.

“No, but I’m trying to learn.”

“Oh, I want to meet these other Pyr,” Petra said with purpose, reaching for his hand to get to her feet. Damien caught both her hands in his and lifted her up. “I want to meet the dragons who managed to change your thinking.”

“It wasn’t them,” he admitted. Damien saw the tentative hope in her eyes and reached to draw her closer again. “It was you.” He tipped up her chin with one fingertip. “I love you, Petra. Let’s be partners.”

She smiled and her eyes lit with the promise of their future. “Oh, Damien, I’ve loved you all along.”

Damien bent his head to kiss Petra again, to secure the agreement with a scorching kiss, but his lips never touched hers.

There was a scream overhead, and he looked up to see two enormous birds descending toward them. He tried to shelter Petra beneath him and struggled again to shift shape without success.

“The Erinyes!” Petra whispered, and Damien saw that she was right. Just like the creature he’d killed, they were women, not birds, women with wings like bats and blood running from their eyes. They had fangs and long yellowed nails, just like their sister.

And writhing snakes for their hair.

Of course.

“Is this when we pay death’s price?” Petra whispered, but Damien pulled his dagger. He was aware of Petra humming, but concentrated on the Erinyes. They swooped low, snatching and screaming. The stench of them was foul. When they dove at him, Damien managed to nick the wing of one of them.

They screamed even louder, even as the blood spurted.


“You broke your word!” she cried at Damien.

“You betrayed her trust,” screamed the second.

He expected Petra to do something, because she’d been humming as she did when she invoked her power. He spared a glance her way and she shook her head.

So, neither of them had their powers.

This was not good.

The Erinyes swooped low again and Damien leapt up to stab at the second one. There had to be a way out of the underworld and a lesser price they could pay than death. What sacrifice would work? He’d already killed one of these creatures.

A snake launched itself from the leg of the second sister, falling on Damien as it hissed and spat. He decapitated it and flung its body aside.

“Oath-breaker, oath-breaker,” chanted the Erinyes overhead.

“He didn’t break his word,” Petra shouted. “He never promised me anything.”

It was true, but didn’t sound like much of an endorsement to Damien’s ears.

“I invoked you in anger,” Petra said, her tone firm. “It was a mistake.”