The Dragon Legion Collection(93)

“Hera knew of her husband’s infidelity, but she blamed the nymph for tempting Zeus. She came to the nymph, determined to punish her. Once Hera saw the result of what her husband had done, though, she felt only pity for the nymph who had been so ill-used. She also knew at a glance that the nymph would bear Zeus’s daughter. The nymph had no desire to play or change shape any more. She was weary of the world and begged Hera to help her somehow. She vowed to accept any price to avoid the lust of gods and men.

“This suited Hera very well, for she didn’t want Zeus returning to the nymph—not for the sake of any of them. So, Hera made the nymph an offer: she would change the nymph into a tree, a tree with lovely silver leaves that made music in the wind, and the nymph would be safe forever from the desires of men and gods in that guise. The nymph loved this idea and would have accepted immediately, but Hera told her that she was going to have a daughter by Zeus. The nymph felt snared by this news and appealed to Hera for help.

“Hera had been trapped by the children of Zeus and his lovers before, so she resolved to make an ally of this unborn daughter. She offered to raise the nymph’s daughter as her own, letting the girl grow up in the Garden of the Hesperides, which was tended by other nymphs. The nymph gratefully agreed, asking only that her daughter knew the truth of her conception. Hera said she would do better than that and give the daughter the gift of foresight, so that she would know the result of any union   before it occurred. She took the nymph to the Garden of the Hesperides and after her daughter was born, Hera kept her promise and raised the child there. She ensured that the daughter not only knew her mother’s story but visited her mother often on the hill below, stirring the silver leaves to make music.”

Thad turned high in the sky then and dove toward the tree, his choice telling Aura that he understood her meaning. It was as thrilling to soar down toward the mountain in his grasp as it was to do it herself and Aura held fast to his mailed chest as he descended. He flew around the tree with a flourish, and Aura saw that there were two pilgrims beneath its shelter.

It was just as she’d expected.

Thad must have seen the pair, too, because he continued in old-speak. “And one day, the nymph met a Pyr, who was determined to win her heart forever. He called the sparks that flew between them ‘the firestorm’ and insisted that they were destined lovers. The nymph knew there would be no son, but she brought him back to the Garden of the Hesperides, giving him a golden apple to see if he was sincere in his pledge to stay with her forever.”

“And he was,” Aura whispered in the speech of her own kind.

“And he was,” Thad agreed. He landed beside the tree with ease, shifting shape in the last moment so that Aura was surrounded by a sparkle of pale blue light. Then Thad was in his human form, holding her in his embrace, his strength against his softness and the heat of the firestorm between them. “And so she brought him to meet her mother,” he said, before he bent to brush his lips across hers.





Chapter Four



The firestorm was blinding in its brilliance as Thad kissed Aura. She reveled in his kiss, not even caring that they were being watched. Finally he lifted his head and smiled down at her, his satisfaction so clear that Aura smiled in return.

She knew what she had to do.

“So she did,” she murmured aloud, and changed to a breeze. She flew through the leaves of the solitary tree, making the silver leaves tinkle against each other. They made a beautiful music, more beautiful than Aura had ever heard before, and she dared to believe that her mother approved of Thad.

That was when the man beneath the tree caught his breath. “You tell a story well, my friend,” he said, his voice weak with pain. “I can almost hear the music of that tree’s leaves. I could believe myself to be there.”

“You are there,” said the cloaked woman beside him. Aura caught sight of the woman’s smile and knew her identity without doubt. She spun around the tree, making the leaves tinkle with joy, suspecting that Hera would reveal herself in a moment.

But the goddess had no chance to fling back her hood. A cold shadow passed over the tree. Aura even shivered in her breeze form, her move making the leaves vibrate tunelessly.

A heartbeat later, a woman with hair the color of a flame stood a dozen steps away from them, her smile so malicious that Aura was chilled. She hadn’t been there before, Aura was certain of it.

“Murderer and thief!” she said, her voice dropping low with threat. She pulled a knife and twirled it, then advanced upon Thad. “I will avenge my sister’s death upon your kind, Pyr, one dragon at a time.”

“She-who-should-not-be-named,” Aura said in the speech of her kind and Thad started. She knew from his expression that he didn’t fully understand and wished she’d told him what she’d learned from the other nymphs.

He remained calm and spoke reasonably to the woman stalking toward him, and Aura appreciated that he tried to find a peaceful solution.

“Why don’t we talk about this?” he suggested. “I don’t know your sister, but I’m sure we can work out any misunderstanding...”

The woman laughed, and Thad cringed at the harsh sound. She snapped her fingers and changed shape in a flash of brilliant blue. She became a winged hag with eyes that dripped blood on the ground. She looked like something from a nightmare, but Aura knew this was the truth of her appearance.