Daughter Of The Dragon Princess(26)

Mal lay on his back, one arm flung above his head. He appeared relaxed  and she realized how tense and on edge he normally was. She ran a finger  through the fur of his underarm and smiled as he twitched. A ticklish  dragon. Then she traced the same finger over the golden dragon,  following the lines to where she could feel the steady beat of his heart  beneath her fingertip. "What's it like to be a dragon?"         

     



 

Mal closed his eyes. When he opened them, they glowed with ruby glints.  "You know what we look like. You've seen the marks. But it's far more  than appearance. We're not like our human forms. We feel more than we  think. That's not to say we can't think, just that most of the time, a  dragon will act first and think later, and we very rarely regret our  deeds. There's a feeling of rightness to being a dragon." He smiled.  "Probably because we're so close to the Goddess. Gods never question  their own rights to do as they please and we don't tear ourselves apart  with questions of right and wrong as humans do."

"But what do you do? How do you live?"

"Fundamentally, we want the same as humans-wealth, power … "

"Love, happiness?"

He smiled. "Maybe not quite the same as humans then, but we form  allegiances. I have friends, brothers I would die for, who would die for  me. It's one of the things I'm counting on to help us when we face  Vortigen. Not everyone will be on his side."

Lily shivered. Lying here, it was easy to forget what lay ahead. She rolled closer and buried her face against his warm skin.

"So flying, tell me about flying."

"Flying is like making love with you. Like rising high above the Earth  and exploding into a ball of fire. I'll take you flying when we return.  You can sit astride my back while I fly over the Fire Mountains." He was  quiet for a moment. "I think flying is what I miss most about Ankesh."

Sadness laced his voice. Lily tried to imagine what it would be like to  be cut off from your home for thousands of years. She couldn't even  begin to conceive of that sort of time. "Do you miss Ankesh a lot?"

"Yes, but not as much as many of the dragons. Those created, rather than  born as I was, will not accept their lot here on Earth. I spent my  first thirteen years here with my mother Shula. I liked many things  about my human form. Like eating."

"You don't eat on Ankesh?" Lily was quite aware she sounded dismayed.  The time thing was hard to conceive. Not eating was impossible.

"Dragons get their energy from fire."

"Hardly a substitute for chocolate, though," Lily muttered.

He laughed. "We'll get a supply in just for you."

"Sounds like it would melt."

"Probably."

She thought for a moment. "So, I couldn't actually live on Ankesh?"

"No, it's why the Dragon Princesses lived on Earth. Just as we are not  supposed to stay in human form long term. But you can visit. And I'll  visit you on Earth."

"And I'll never know whether you're coming to see me or coming to get a pizza."

He pulled her to him so she lay across his body. "You'll know."



"This is getting to be a habit," Cole said from the doorway. "As soon as  my back's turned, you jump into bed. You could at least have waited  until I was on my way home."

Lily peered up sleepily from where she lay curled in Mal's arms. "Did  you get my chocolate?" she asked. She was obviously a little concerned  about this no food in Ankesh business. She was going to make the most of  Earth, just in case they ever got stranded there.

"Yeah, and the underwear. You know, in all my life, I've never bought a woman underwear."

"You're repressed."

"Too right, and I'm planning to stay that way. Here." He tossed a bag  onto the bed. "Clothes. I suggest you put them on before I see you  again. Not that I'm complaining about seeing you naked, it's … "

A low growl came from the bed beside her.

"Hah. I thought talking about you naked might wake him up. Not that I believe for a minute that he was actually asleep."

"Get out, Cole," Mal snarled.

"I'm going. I'll unload the rest of the stuff from the car and I'm off."

"We'll see you downstairs."

Cole closed the door behind him, and Lily sat up. She grabbed one of the  bags and peered inside. "He must have noticed you've got a thing about  black." She handed the bag to Mal and picked up the next one. This one  seemed far more promising. "Hmm, black lace," she murmured, holding up  the bra and matching panties. "Considering he's never done it before,  he's a fast learner." The other bags contained jeans, T-shirts, socks  and sneakers. She shook out one of the T-shirts, and laughed.

"What is it?" Mal asked.

She held it up for him; the front had a motif in sequins of a dragon.  "Very witty. I'm going for a shower," she said, slipping from the bed.         

     



 

Mal grabbed her hand before she could disappear. "I'll come too. You might need help."

Lily smiled. "I somehow don't think Cole will be happy to wait while you ‘help' me in the shower."

Mal smiled. "Maybe not. But don't get too clean and I can help you later."

When she entered the kitchen fifteen minutes later, the guys were still  putting food away. Cole threw her a bar of chocolate. "Here." He took a  good look. "I like the T-shirt. Somehow it seemed appropriate."

She smiled. "Do you want lunch before you go?"

"No, I want to head off now. I have to get back."

"I want lunch," Mal said. "I'm starved."

"Have a piece of chocolate."

"Right," Cole said. "That's it, then." He turned to Mal. "There is just one thing I'm dying to know."

Mal raised an eyebrow in query.

"Are you really a government agent?"

"No."

"Damn. Then how … " He shook his head. "Maybe I don't want to know."

Lily crossed to where he stood, put her hand on his shoulder, and kissed him on the mouth. "Thank you. For everything."

"Hmm." Cole leaned down and kissed her back.

"Cole," a voice growled from behind them. "Stand on one leg."

Cole stood on one leg. He glared at Mal through narrowed eyes, and Lily couldn't hold back a giggle.

"Put it down," Mal said.

Cole dropped his leg. "That's definitely it. I'm out of here." He  turned, but paused at the doorway. "Let me know how it all turns out."

Mal smiled. "No problem."

"Right," Mal said when they were alone. "Work."

"What about lunch?"

"Okay, lunch, and then work."

She didn't want to work. She put fresh bread and cheese on the table, found a bottle of wine and opened it. Mal gave her a look.

"Let's not work today," she said. "Let's eat and drink and forget and go to bed, and maybe have that shower … "

"Okay. Work tomorrow."



"You have to learn to focus the fire. There's no mystery to all this. In  Ankesh, what you call magic here is as natural as breathing. It's there  within you all the time, but you must learn to make it come to your  call."

He lifted his right hand and flickers of blue-black flame erupted from  his fingertips. He stretched out his arm and flames over a meter long  shot forward from his hand. "Now you."

"I don't know how. It comes when I'm angry or stressed." Or, she might  have added, when she was turned on. "But I don't know how to make it  come when I'm not."

Mal lowered his arm and the flames died away. He picked up Lily's hand.  "Think of fire," he murmured, stroking the sensitive skin of her palm.  She shivered and tried, but all she could think of was Mal's hand  stroking her. She could feel fire, but it was flickers of flame running  through her body, melting her core. "Lily, concentrate."

"Stop doing that and I might be able to."

"Doing what?"

"Stroking my hand, getting me all worked up, then telling me I have to concentrate."

His eyelids drooped and he stared at her, eyes gleaming through the  thick fringe of his lashes. He raised her hand to his lips and licked  her palm. Her knees threatened to crumple.

"Are you all worked up, Lily?" He whispered the words against her palm.  She looked down at his bent head and then at her own hand, clasped in  his larger one. Small sparks of orange fire were spitting from her  fingertips.

"Oh," she said.

He raised his head and smiled. "Catch the feeling. Concentrate the flames, make them do your bidding."

Lily focused on them, imagined them growing, drew the fire from deep  within her, and her fingers flowered with bright orange flames.

"Good," Mal said. "Now put them out. Think about water, cold water. Douse your hand in the cold."

The flames went out as though she had clicked a switch.

"Remember," Mal said. "Dragons hate cold water."