13
Naked beneath his pile of furs, Max lay on the floor of his loft, holding Sera in his arms. He’d sent Illarion to Blaise to see after the children and return them so that they could visit with her before she returned to stone. But he wanted a few last private moments to say his good-byes.
It seemed that every heartbeat made her body turn colder and stiffer. She was slowly dying in his arms. He was trying everything he could think of to keep her warm and vibrant. How could his powers be so worthless?
She offered him a kind, sad smile as she fingered his lips. “Don’t fret so, my dragon lord. It’s not so bad. Really. It’s not like being dead… Just a long sleep. I don’t even know that I’m there.”
As if that helped? If anything, it made it worse to know that she existed in a dark, vacant state.
Her eyes glistening, she reached up to brush her hand through his bangs. “I just wish I could have seen your hair the way I remembered it. You look so tame like this. So human.” She wrinkled her nose playfully.
He laughed as he gently caressed her breasts. “I would have thought you’d prefer my hair short and trim, like the men of your village.”
“No. It’s your feral dragon ways that have always beguiled me most. It was what first drew me to you, above all others.”
“Then close your eyes.”
She did, and he used his powers to return his hair to the primitive, barbarian style it’d been when they’d first mated.
Taking her hand, he kissed her palm and led it to his long, thin braids that were laced with feathers.
Sera gasped as she opened her eyes to see it. “How did you do that?”
“I have my drakomas ways.”
Laughing, she wound a thin braid around her index finger and played in his long hair with such delight that it actually made him hard again. Though how he could rally given their last heated go-round was beyond him. It was a good thing he didn’t have a bed, as he was sure they’d have broken it.
She brushed his braid against her plump lips. “There you are, my wild, feral dragon.”
Max leaned over her and kissed her as his heart shattered at the thought of losing her again. He had so many powers. So many trinkets and treasures of the gods. Timeless enchanted objects people had killed throughout history to find and possess. But nothing that could stop or prevent this.
Nothing.
So he held on to her so tightly that she finally protested.
“You’re crushing me.”
“Sorry. I just want to keep you warm and safe.” He teased her earlobe with his tongue.
She sighed in pleasure. “How I wish you could. There is nothing more I wish than to stay with you.”
Someone knocked on his door. Max used his powers to put clothes back on them before he called out for their visitor to enter his room.
It was Illarion, with one of Merlin’s magical spheres.
Max scowled at him. “Where are the kids?”
They’re fine and still in Avalon. Since they’re not in the process of reconverting to stone, Merlin kept them there. She thinks whatever is affecting Sera and her tribe here can’t break through the barrier to reach them on her side of things. She was afraid that if she sent them back, they’d begin to turn, too.
Sera let out a sound of happiness as she sat up. “They’re not changing back?”
Illarion held the crystal ball for her to see into it.
Both of the children were there, in what appeared to be Merlin’s castle in Avalon. They looked happy and, best of all, healthy and whole. If not a little concerned and stressed.
Edena bit her lip as she moved her head about like a little bird, trying to focus on her mother’s face. “Mom?”
Sera smiled at her as she took the ball into her hands. “Edena? Hadyn? Are you all right?”