Daughter Of The Dragon Princess(22)

"And you killed my father."

Mal held her gaze. "Your father was evil. He deserved to die."

He probably had a good point. If her father had been anything like  Weyland, then she couldn't argue with Mal's assessment. What did that  make her?

"When we found your mother, she had you in her arms as though she would  never let you go. Then she saw Vortigen. He was in a killing rage.  Perhaps he would have seen the mark and not killed the baby. Perhaps we  could have stopped him."

"Would you have let him kill me if I hadn't had the mark? An innocent baby?"

Mal shrugged. "Who knows, but I hope not. Anyway, your mother held you  up naked for all to see, and the mark was clear on your arm. Then you  were gone, vanished. Some magic we didn't understand and Cara stood  there smiling. When Vortigen asked where the baby was, she laughed and  told him that she was somewhere in the future, a long way in the future.  Then she drew a knife and severed her throat before I could reach her."

For a moment, he was silent, lost in the memories, his expression bleak.  "So we were stranded here on earth until we caught up with Cara's  baby."

"And here I am." The tears were damp on Lily's cheeks, and she dashed  them away with the back of her hand. "Why?" she asked. "Why did you let  him behave that way? Why didn't you help my mother?"

Mal sighed. "You don't understand our natures or the structure of dragon  society. Once we've given our allegiance, we have a duty of obedience.  Besides, Vortigen couldn't be killed. He was the only hope of breeding  more dragon princesses."

"Couldn't Cara have mated with another? Couldn't you have killed the King and saved her?"

"No, dragons mate for life."

"And this Vortigen is the one you intend to hand me over to? He plans to  make me his mate, doesn't he? Just like my mother. ‘Something worse  than death,' you said. That's what you meant isn't it?"

She clenched her fists at her side, trying to overcome her bitterness  and betrayal at the story, and at Mal, for his part in it. "You know,"  she said, "I once heard a saying that all it needs for evil men to  triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Mal stared back at her "I'm not a good man. I'm not any sort of man. I'm a dragon, and you can't judge us by your standards."

Lily smiled bitterly. "Want to bet?"





Chapter 13





The scariest thing of all was that Lily believed him. Everything he told  her, however crazy. Her parents were dead, had been dead for thousands  of years. One of them at this man's hand.

But it wasn't the things he'd done in the past that made her hate Mal  right now. It was the things he hadn't done, and the things he still  planned to do.

Mal claimed he had cared for her mother, and yet he'd allowed this man  Vortigen to make her life so unbearable that she'd abandoned her child  and taken her own life. The same man Mal now intended to hand her to,  knowing he meant to do the same or worse.

She'd been so sure there was a connection between them, that Mal felt  something for her. Yet he was willing to sacrifice her for his goddamn  duty.

In a way, he was right; she was trying to judge him as a man. But he  wasn't a man. She couldn't seem to get it straight in her head. He was  not a man. Then again, she wasn't entirely human either.

Her mind went back to their kiss. All her life, she'd searched for  somewhere she could belong. The closest she ever had come to that was in  Mal's arms. She hated the thought that he didn't feel the same, that to  him she was nothing but a means to an end. She jumped up.         

     



 

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I have to get away, to think."

He rose to his feet and put a hand on her arm. She shivered at the contact.

"I've told you what happened and I've hidden nothing. I could have lied  about my part, but it's not our way. I don't regret killing your  father-but I do regret what happened to your mother."

"Yet you're still going to hand me over to that man?"

He turned away briefly. When he looked back, his expression was blank. "I don't know."

A flicker of hope ran through her. "Why?"

"You have to ask?" The flicker became a flame. Then he gave a wry smile.  "Are you asking why I'm considering not handing you over, or why I  still believe it needs to be done?"

"Both, I think."

"Sit down, Lily. Don't walk out on me now."

She peered into his face, then without giving herself a chance to decide  it was a really crap idea, she framed his face with her hands, rose up  on tiptoes, and kissed him. When his lips remained closed, she nipped  him with her teeth, then pushed her tongue inside, forcing a response.  She had to know that she hadn't imagined the link between them.

At first, he resisted, his muscles rigid with tension, but she sensed  the moment he gave in and he was kissing her back. His tongue stroked  along hers, filling her with the taste of hot spice, as his hands slid  around her, dragging her tight against him so she could feel every hard  line of his body.

A pulse throbbed between her thighs, insistent, needy and she melted against him.

It was real, this thing between them.

It wasn't her imagination. And the thought gave her the strength to pull away. She sank down onto the sofa. "Tell me the rest."

He loomed over her, hard and fierce, the bulge in his pants revealing  just how much he wanted her. Then he took a deep breath and sank down  beside her. "I want you to understand us-we dragons are a warlike race.  The only way we maintain any peace at all is by adherence to a strict  code of allegiance. Once our allegiance is given, we cannot take it back  on pain of death. I gave my allegiance to Vortigen."

"But why?" Lily said. "When you clearly despise what he is."

"I told you to be wary of judging us as men, and in many ways Vortigen  has been a strong king. He's ruthless. The other dragons respect him  even if they don't like him."

"Do you respect him?"

"I fucking hate him. I never liked him, and he lost my respect many,  many years ago, but I had given my allegiance, and at least it allowed  me to visit your world." He pressed a finger between his eyes. "I  watched your mother sink into despair and did nothing. I ask myself, had  she come to me instead of the sorcerer and asked for my help, would I  have broken my vows and stepped forward? I don't know. Now, I have a  chance to right the wrongs of the past."

"You think you can do that?"

"Maybe. As to why I was so determined to hand you over, I believed the  portal wouldn't open for one who was not of pure blood. There are many  of us stranded here on your world. Our powers are waning with the years,  and we long to return home. I couldn't deny my people their homeland  forever. It was your life against all of theirs, and I believed your  sorcerer's blood meant you were tainted. At first, you were merely the  means for us to return to Ankesh. Why shouldn't I hand you over to the  King?" He smiled. "And you did hit me over the head."

"And now? What do you think now?"

"I know you're tainted by nothing, and I wonder, is one life of less  worth than many? Vortigen would say I've lived too long among men. That  I've become weak, but I'm not so sure it's weakness. Also, the old laws  are changing-you're nothing like the Dragon Princesses of old."

"I'm not?"

"They were weak. They grieved for their lost children, but they would  never have fought back. If they had, then maybe things wouldn't have  ended as they did." He shrugged. "I told you, dragons like a good fight.  Their mates were too submissive. They had no fire. Cara, for all her  rebellion, would never have hit Vortigen over the head with anything.  You're full of fire and you have many of our powers. Together, we did  what should have been impossible and opened the portal between the  worlds. Ankesh was before us."

"Why didn't you go, then?"

"Jesus, I wanted to. We could have slipped through the portal and been  safe from the sorcerers. The Dragon Princesses lived on Earth but they  could have traveled to Ankesh. Their dragon blood would have sustained  them. We would have been safe from Vortigen."         

     



 

"So why didn't we?" He remained silent, and Lily thought back to the  events of that evening. "It was Cole, wasn't it? You went back for  Detective Cole."

"You could survive in Ankesh, but those with no trace of dragon blood would die. I was unsure of Cole, and I couldn't risk it."

Lily smiled. "You risked us both for a friend. I like that."

"As I said-I've become weak."

"That's not weakness-it's strength."

He shrugged again. "It's foolishness, but it's in the past and can't be  changed. And there's also the fact that while I hate and despise  Vortigen, I don't feel the same for many of my people, and I wouldn't  leave them exiled forever."