her and back again, making them both stronger. Already he could see a bloom of healthy color on her pale cheeks and a new vibrancy to her previously pasty skin.
He took a moment to savor and examine the connection. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced before, but he’d heard of it surely enough. In the ancient texts of his ancestors there were tales of this kind of sharing, and his own brother had mentioned just such a phenomenon when he’d met his new wife. A dragon healer might be able to absorb and reflect the massive power of his dragon half, strengthening them both in the process.
He looked more closely at the beautiful waif in his arms. No wonder he’d been so drawn to her when all other females left him cold. This half-starved woman was almost certainly his new sister-in-law’s twin, though she looked far different from the robust woman his brother had just married. No, this poor creature had been starved and tortured for months, perhaps years, but there was still a marked resemblance to the healthy woman she should be.
There were her eyes, for one thing. Nico had been struck by the luminescent green of her eyes right off. Royal green, some in Draconia called the color, since many of royal blood had just that shade, unlike himself. Nico was the rarity among the royal princes, with his tourmaline gaze. Most had the deep emerald of this woman’s eyes.
Her hair would probably be a deep, blazing auburn if it were healthy. Even under her pallor and the sad state of her clothing, it shone with reddish highlights, very much like her sister’s. She was the same height as well and had similar bone structure, though this woman’s features stood out much too prominently, her body mere skin and bones.
She stirred in his arms as if she felt his close study and her eyes opened. Nico caught his breath, knowing this poor girl was the reason he’d come to Skithdron. When he thought his mission utterly failed, she’d come to him as if the Mother of All had brought them together.
And indeed, perhaps She had. Nico had no other explanation for the set of dire circumstances that had led him directly to the girl. She blinked and tried to move away but Nico held her firmly, though not harshly, his gaze gently questioning.
“Arikia?” He breathed her name, watching reaction jolt through her. She recognized the name, he felt it immediately from the tremor in her spine. His quest was at an end.
“How do you know my name?” Her whispered words tugged at Nico’s heart. This was the first time he’d heard her speak, and the sound of her quiet voice lanced through him.
“I came to Skithdron looking for you. Your sisters Alania and Belora, as well as your mother Adora, were recently found and reunited. They miss you, Riki.”
Tears flooded her eyes and he pulled her gently closer, raising one manacled hand to soothe the hair back from her face as he crooned to her. His hands were bound together with strong chains, but he wasn’t worried. The dragon inside him would break them easily enough.
“No one’s called me that since I was little. No one knows my name.”
“Except your family,” Nico said softly, “and those of us who have been searching for you. I’m glad I was the one who found you.”
Her beautiful eyes widened with hope, but then disillusionment shattered her expression. “But what good is it? We’re both prisoners here.”
Nico was glad to see some spirit still flared within her battered soul. She was of royal blood, after all—as was he. Nico knew firsthand how hard it was to keep one of their kind down for long.
“Did Lucan say when he’d come back?”
“Not ’til morning. We probably have only a few more hours of peace at most.”
“That’ll be more than enough.” Nico smiled at her confusion, a little hesitant about how to broach the next thing he must tell her. He decided to start off slowly. “Riki, your sister recently discovered she can, well…change. Do you know what I’m talking about?”
Riki shook her head. Nico didn’t know if she was merely protecting herself or if she truly wasn’t able to shift from human to dragon like her twin. But then, if she’d discovered how to shift, she would most likely have escaped long ago.
“All right. Promise not to scream. I’m going to shift just a little bit and it might frighten you, but I