Firedrake - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,52

it had happened, but Krysta came to the startling revelation that she was well and truly in love with Mace. Drake too, though she hadn’t let him close enough to seal their growing attraction with lovemaking yet. It was a romantic kind of love, but it was also the kind of love that endured long after the heat of passion burned to an ember.

She respected them both, admired their courage, their skills, the different way they approached life. The two men complemented each other so well, yet they went about things in completely different ways. Mace was a planner, Drake a seat-of-the-pants improviser. Yet they both were incredibly effective in whatever they set out to do. This journey had only raised them both in her estimation.

They could easily have become rivals—even enemies—but the way they worked together and complemented each other’s skills was something rare and remarkable. The way they both set about wooing her also made her chuckle. Mace was deliberate and yet surprisingly spontaneous, able to plan on the fly and roll with the punches. He’d surprised her by inviting her on the spur of the moment flight and she’d challenged him, she knew, by making love to him so soon.

But she couldn’t have waited. She’d wanted him too much. She still did, as a matter of fact. Oddly, she found the same want within her when Drake smiled in that charming way at her. She wanted Drake too, and respected him just as much. He’d proven an able warrior and a man of deep integrity, contrary to all her expectations and experiences with rogues. Oh, he had a rogue’s reputation and way with the ladies, to be sure, but Krysta knew deep down, the reputation wasn’t earned. Drake wasn’t a cad. He’d never lied to her or played her false. True, they’d known each other only a short time, but she recognized the light in his soul and the fire in his being. He was a good man. As good as Mace, in his own way.

They were well matched and if the dragons had their way, they’d be fighting partners one day, sharing a mate between them. Somehow Krysta thought Jenet wouldn’t give up until Drake was her knight. Which left Krysta with only one startling thought—did she really want to be the woman for them both?

In order to keep Mace in her life, Krysta would eventually have to accept Jenet’s knight as well. Right now, Drake was the less encumbered of the two men, but Krysta suspected he wouldn’t be for long. Jenet was as cunning as any woman, and Krysta had deep respect for the dragon who had waited on the stubborn bard for so many years.

So if she chose Drake, in order to keep him, sooner or later, Mace would come into the relationship again. She really had no choice. It was either both of them or neither. The question remained, did she believe herself up to sharing her life with two knights…and two dragons?

Krysta wasn’t sure, and for the first time in her life, she agonized over her future. She didn’t want to give up Mace or Drake, but how could she commit to such a strange relationship? Worse, would they even ask her? Neither man had spoken of love. So far, it seemed, only her heart was on the line. Krysta prayed to the Mother of All she wouldn’t be the one to walk away from this with a heartbreak she doubted would ever mend.

Chapter Eleven

Mace called a halt later in the day, his hand signal clear enough to Drake, though he’d never trained with knights. They were to land and proceed with caution.

“Nellin sees something,” Jenet told Drake as they circled and dropped altitude. “The trail ends abruptly. Mace sees it now too and Nellin says he’s upset.”

“Upset how?” Drake asked as they neared the ground. He braced himself for landing as he’d been taught as a youngster in the Lair.

“He’s furious!”

They hit the ground with a jarring thump and Mace jumped off Nellin’s back before he’d even come to a full stop. Krysta was left to scramble down as best she could, but Drake vaulted from Jenet’s back and caught Krysta when she jumped down from Nellin’s tall knee.

“What’s wrong with him? He started grumbling about traitors and took off.” Krysta’s tone was both curious and concerned. “I’ve never seen him like this. He’s livid.”

Drake looked to where the knight was stomping around the edges of the trail, kicking at