The Dragon Legion Collection(81)

“It’s like you said,” Aura whispered, hoping he could hear her. Most mortals couldn’t hear the speech of the nymphs when they were in their alternate form, but she saw Thad’s head tilt, as if he listened to a faint sound.

“How so?”

“We’re a team. We’re doing more together than apart.”

He laughed then, a joyous sound that made Aura’s heart skip. “Is that how you and your kind speak to each other?” he asked.

“Yes, and you can hear me. Most mortals can’t.”

“Most of them can’t hear us, either, at least not well enough to distinguish the words.”

“Show me how you speak to your kind.”

“It’s old-speak, very low and slow.” Thad took a deep breath. “Like this.” The two words hung in the air for what seemed like forever. If Aura hadn’t been listening to him closely, she might have dismissed the sound as a rumble in the earth or the crash of a wave on a distant shore. Because she was listening, she heard the words, as steady as the beat of his heart.

“Tell me a secret,” she urged in her nymph whisper.

“The Pyr I most admire fall in love with their mates and honor them for every day and night of their lives,” Thad said in old-speak. He scanned the air around himself as he flew and eyed the dancing sparks of the firestorm. “Let me fall in love with you, Aura.”

It was an enticing offer.

If she hadn’t been her mother’s child, she would have surrendered right then and there. As it was, Aura kissed his cheek with a breath of wind, ran over his muscled body in a breeze that only made her want to touch him with her hands. She caressed the length of his tail and he laughed at the sensation, then she spiraled before him. Each time she slid past his body, the firestorm heated another increment, filling her thoughts with the prospect of pleasure. In her mind’s eye, she saw him in human form and wanted to feel his hands upon her, his flesh against her own.

“Far out there,” she said, blowing him so that he faced the west.

“I see only the sea, stretching endlessly.”

“Not so endless. At its far reaches are the Pillars of Hercules. Beyond that is the Garden of the Hesperides, a refuge of my kind in the mortal world.” She swirled around him again. “And maybe a haven for us.”

“A long flight,” Thad said, his wings beating with greater power. His determination to live up to her expectations fed her own confidence that she was making the right choice. “I will do my best, Aura.”

“And I will help you,” she vowed, urging his flight forward, as if he were no more than a seed in the wind.

* * *

Thad had never experienced anything like this before. He felt a sense of camaraderie with his fellow Pyr overall, plus the Dragon Legion fought well together, anticipating each other’s moves. This sense of union   he felt with Aura was similar, but amplified. Flying with Aura, feeling her slide beneath his wings while the firestorm crackled and burned all around them, was exciting in every possible way. He hadn’t been joking about never flying so far or so high: given their dimensions, dragons were better suited to shorter flights. He knew that some of the other Pyr flew far, even across the Atlantic Ocean, but he had never been so bold.

Maybe because he couldn’t swim.

In Aura’s company, though, he was filled with optimism and sure that they could achieve anything together. The sun was sinking in the west when he first saw the two large stones, standing like gate posts on either side of the turquoise water of the Mediterranean. He soared past them, with Aura’s help, then turned as the wind she had become changed direction.

Immediately, he saw the green gem of the garden she had mentioned. It was nestled far below, between the peaks, so vivid a green that it could have been an emerald. The ocean was dark blue beneath him, crested with white waves, and stretched seemingly endlessly to the west. The western sky was smeared with orange light and in the east, far behind them, the first stars were emerging.

Thad had never flown so far in his life. He never would have attempted it alone. He was tired in one way, but in another, his body hummed with excitement. The firestorm’s heat couldn’t be forgotten, and its sparks tingled against his scales, promising a reward for his feat. On this night, they would consummate the firestorm. Thad had spent the entire flight trying to think of ways to prolong the flame, but doubted he would be able to. All day long, his desire for Aura had increased. All day long, the heat of the firestorm had filled his thoughts with the promise of pleasure.

With no small anticipation, he descended toward the garden. Aura’s wind was still beneath his wings, guiding him to the spot. He knew it was a good sign that she was taking him to a refuge of her kind. Hers was a choice that spoke of trust, and hinted at the shared future he wanted more than anything. The air rising from the garden was sweet, something in it heated by the sun of the afternoon, and he could smell apples.

Of course. The golden apples of the Hesperides. That was another story he’d been told, but Thad had never believed they were real. That made him smile, for more legends and myths were proving themselves true than he had expected.

Were their powers real? He had heard stories that eating just one bite from such an apple granted immortality, or universal knowledge, or made every dream come true.

Aura undoubtedly knew their real properties. That made him think of all the tales and truth they could share, and how much better they would be equipped to face the challenges of the world together.