About a Dragon (Dragon Kin #2)(97)

Chapter Twenty-Four

She was pregnant. With twins, no less. How was this possible? True, she loved her Fearghus. More than she thought she could love anyone or anything. But still…he wasn’t human. Did he betray her for his loyalty to the dragon gods? No. Not Fearghus. If there was one thing she could say about her mate, he obeyed no one but himself.

Besides, he’d been uncontrollable the night before. Not that she didn’t enjoy it, but her dragon had been unable to stop himself.

No, the dragon gods had used him as much as they’d used her. While the human gods preyed on Talaith and Izzy.

She’d really begun to detest the gods.

“Annwyl?”

Annwyl looked at Brastias. “What?”

He cleared his throat. “There are more over there.”

She glanced at the battalion of troops fighting her men. They’d been trying to run away…from her. But her men had swarmed over them before they got too far.

One of the thirty bodies at her feet moved and she realized she hadn’t killed him. She raised the blade in her hand and slammed it down with raging force. She assured herself this one had moved on to his next life, yanked her sword out of his body, and used the cloth Brastias handed her to wipe the blood off her face.

“Come,” she said calmly, handing the cloth back to him. “I want them all dead before the two suns are in the western skies.”

She headed toward the battling troops, watching her enemies flee from her giving her so little satisfaction.

* * *

Talaith ripped the large cloth into strips as other servants set up beds. They prepared for many wounded, although she hoped it wouldn’t get that bad. She was to blame for all this. Arzhela sent Hamish here to avenge the fact that Talaith didn’t do what Arzhela had sent her to do.

Now they’d all suffer for her disobedience. Still, she’d risk everything for Izzy. Absolutely everything.

Having changed into comfortable leggings, boots and shirt, Talaith was ready for anything. She finished ripping up the cloth and handed a large pile of the material to one of the healers. Nearly done, she thought with some quiet pride. Then she felt it. It was almost a physical thing.

The power of the dragons receding. Like a warm fur pulled off her naked body in a cold room. Frantically, she looked around. No one else noticed it. Not surprising. The only ones left were the humans—because the dragons had all gone out to fight against Hamish.

She remembered Morfyd telling her she’d passed out at the lake the night before. Which meant she’d been unable to reinforce any of her protections. Which meant…

“Gods…Izzy!”

She’d never moved so fast before in her life, dodging around soldiers, guards and servants as she tore through the Great Hall and up the stone stairs toward her daughter’s room.

She’d gotten within mere feet of the door, when it burst open from the inside. Achaius flung out and against the wall.

“No!”

She ran into Izzy’s room in time to see her daughter, stomach down on the floor, literally dragged from this world into another.

Desperate, Talaith dived for her, landing on her stomach, her hands lacing with Izzy’s. She saw her daughter’s frightened, tear-streaked face and then she was gone.

“No!” she screamed again. “No! No! You bitch!”

Talaith didn’t cry. She didn’t allow herself that luxury. Instead, she jumped to her feet and charged from the room.

She ran down the stairs, barking at one of the healers to go to a thankfully still-moving Achaius, and then out of the Great Hall past the other healers asking her questions and for further assistance. She stormed out into the courtyard, nearly getting herself trampled by a young soldier on horseback. Angry, the soldier pulled his horse back and glared at Talaith.

“Be cautious, wench. You’ll get yourself killed.”

Snarling, she reached up and dragged the soldier off his warhorse. She put her foot in the stirrup and hauled herself up into the saddle. She turned the horse toward the gates leading to the battlefield. “Take me to, Annwyl.”

With those few words, the horse bolted.

* * *

Brastias could feel Annwyl’s growing impatience with the battle. Soon, she would turn toward Hamish and go after their leader. He didn’t know what happened in that hall before he arrived, but something had brought back the Annwyl he remembered so well. He hadn’t seen her like this since they first found her in wedding clothes and heading toward Madron to be Hamish’s bride.

Although she remained a brutal warrior—he knew that would never change—she’d calmed down a bit since meeting Fearghus the Destroyer.

Whatever happened couldn’t be good. She’d annihilated most of the Madron army by herself while the dragons destroyed troops and supplies from the rear. Even Morfyd, who usually fought by her side as battle mage, kept to the air this day.

As it was, a little while longer, Annwyl’s army would have Hamish surrounded and then Annwyl would finally get her chance to destroy the man.

“General.”

He looked at his next in command. “What?”

“Talaith.”

Brastias followed Danelin’s eyes and watched as Talaith rode up to them on a warhorse most of the men stayed away from.

“Why is she here?”

“I have no idea.”