Highland Dragon (The Treasure of Paragon #6) - Genevieve Jack Page 0,66

darker the complexion, the stronger the magic. Dianthe was powerful. Some part of Aborella had always known that.

“Then she knows how cruel the citizens of Everfield were toward me.” Aborella scowled.

“Yes.” Sylas frowned. “But she’s also seen you fighting on our side in the future. So I am here now, asking you to choose the potential my mate saw in you. Aborella, we need you. Join forces with your own people. Help us free the five kingdoms.”

The music was loud, and the other fairies paid no attention to their close conversation. But Aborella couldn’t help but wonder what the others would think if they knew who she was. She glanced toward the fire. “And if I don’t?”

He drew a line in the dirt with his toe. “If you want to go back to the person who put you in that hole, you can go. I promised Dianthe I wouldn’t kill you, not if you didn’t attack first. But I promise you, if you hurt anyone I love, I will tear you apart and burn the pieces. I will not allow my mate, whose heart is bigger than her head, to save you again. Do you understand me?”

She stared at him, overwhelmed by the revelations and confused about what to do next. Pain radiated from her bottom ribs, sharp and quick. She almost doubled over. Eleanor. She was tugging insistently on the bond. Fuck! The empress would wait no longer.

A vision filled her skull of Everfield overtaken by Obsidian guards, homes burning, fairy blood flowing. If she did not go to Eleanor, Eleanor would come to her. She closed her eyes against the vision. She could not lead the empress to this place, could not put Sylas or Dianthe in danger. The tooth couldn’t be removed. Even if she wanted to help them, she’d only be a risk to their cause.

“I have to go,” Aborella said. “Tell Dianthe goodbye.”

He sneered at her and shook his head. “I knew she was wrong about you.”

Aborella swallowed. “A seer is never wrong, but a picture only shows part of the story.”

His eyes widened.

Calling on her deepest magic, she twisted her shoulders, dissolved into smoke, and transported herself to Paragon.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Through pouring rain, Avery stormed from the stables toward the brownie’s cottage, her heart aching. Why did the first guy she’d cared about in years have to be a Highlander involved in some major political shit? The worst part was that after his kiss, her entire body felt weird, like he’d awakened something inside her that didn’t want to fall back asleep. It was an internal fire she knew only he could extinguish. Or time. Lots of time. Maybe a lifetime.

She flung open the door to the cottage and came up short when a winged woman appeared quite suddenly in front of her.

“Jesus Christ!” Avery leaped straight back, somehow slipping through the door, over the porch, and landing in a crouch in the rainy yard outside the cabin with her skirts flared out around her.

Glenna stepped out of the house toward her. “How be it that ye can see me?” the oread asked.

“How could I not see you, Glenna? You were right in front of me. What are you doing here?”

“I’m looking fur Laird Xavier. ’Tis of great importance that I speak with him immediately.”

“I am here.” Xavier stood in the rain behind her, looking sexier than any man should be allowed to look. He hadn’t rebuttoned his shirt, and her eyes sank to the sliver of exposed flesh between its folds. Just like that, she was horny again.

Xavier spread his arms, and Glenna ran into them. As he hugged her, the oread’s skin glowed brighter, even in the rain. Avery realized the dragon was transferring his energy to the nymph. Her sister had told her about the symbiotic relationships between oreads and dragons, but the theory did not hold a candle to the reality. The transfer of light was both beautiful and intimate, and Avery understood suddenly that it was something she wasn’t supposed to be able to see.

“Come inside,” Xavier said to Glenna. “We can speak out of the rain.”

Glenna was wild-eyed and frantic. “It’s been horrible at the castle without ye. I did as ye asked me to. I spied on Lachlan. Now I’ve to warn ye of his plan!”

“What has Lachlan done now?”

Avery led the way inside and held the door for them. She wiped rain from her face and tried not to panic. The oread was shaking noticeably, her wings