Daughter Of The Dragon Princess(37)

"Pretentious bitch," Lily muttered. Mal squeezed her hand and she forced herself to calm down.

Tannith smiled without humor. "You know, my intention was to give you a  mate worthy of you. I'm thinking that perhaps I've done too good a job."

"So Lily is my mate?"

"Haven't I just said so?"

"And I'm not to die?"

She scowled. "You broke a sacred law. Do you know how much groveling I'm  going to have to do to make up for that? But no, I don't require you to  die just yet."

"So Lily is to be my Dragon Princess and I will visit her here on earth? And the portal will remain open?"

"Yes, the portal will remain open, but I've obviously not been as clear  as I thought. Lily is not to be your Dragon Princess; she will be your  queen and live with you in Ankesh."

"Queen?" Lily said. "As in Dragon Queen. Proper dragon?"

Tannith nodded.

Lily hadn't taken much in after she had heard the words that Mal would  live. She glanced at the archway, remembered the longing when she stood  in front of the open portal and heard Ankesh call to her. A home and  Mal, it seemed unbelievable.

Mal turned to her. "Lily, are you ready to go home?"

She nodded.

"Then come."

He took her hand and led her toward the portal. As they approached,  blue-black flames leapt upward, mingling with red and gold. The flames  kissed her skin then licked at her hungrily. Mal squeezed her hand as  they stepped through the portal. A flash of fear ran through her as the  flames embraced them, but didn't burn. For a second, they stood poised  together, hand in hand, on the edge of a great precipice. The sky above  them roiled with color, red and orange. In the distance rose up a huge  mountain range and below was a sea of living fire. She clung to Mal's  hand.

"I'm scared," she murmured.

He threw back his head and laughed. "So am I," he shouted. "It's wonderful. Now let go, Lily."

A wave of wild exultation washed over her. She laughed with him, then he  gripped her hand tight, and together they leapt from the ledge.

She plunged toward that burning sea, faster and faster and then she was  flying. She lost hold of Mal but then he was beside her, a huge black  dragon. He turned his head towards her and his eyes glowed gold and  ruby. She turned to glance back at herself; she was all red-gold scales  and huge scarlet-tipped wings. She followed Mal as he rose up and up  until they hovered high above the sea of flames. For a minute, they  danced on the air, their long sinuous bodies entwined, gold with black,  and then together they dived towards the fire.

They were home.





Epilogue





Killian opened the door and ushered her through. "The King awaits you, your majesty.

"You really maybe want to think about saying that a little quieter," Lily suggested.

Killian was the Queen's Enforcer and her personal bodyguard and he took  his duties seriously. But they were in a pizza place and were getting  some weird-shit looks from the other customers.

She could already sense Mal's presence and she wended her way through  the tables to where he sat watching her, waiting for her. He stood as  she reached the table.

"I missed you," he said.

"Good."

"And I already ordered. Your favorite pizza and chocolate cake."

Mal was obviously indulging her every whim. Which was sensible.

Killian pulled out her chair. She sat but then glared up at him. "Stop  hovering," she said. "Go have some fun or something. Mal will look after  me. Won't you?"

"Of course," Mal said smoothly.

Her eyes narrowed. "Are you humoring me?"

"Of course."

Her lips twitched. They'd discovered early on that pregnant dragons had  shocking tempers. Of course, she was the first and there was a huge  learning curve, but her hormones were all over the place and everyone  was treading very carefully. She quite liked it. Some of the time. The  rest of the time, it irritated the hell out of her.         

     



 

Killian vanished and she released her breath.

"Did I mention I missed you?" Mal said.

"It's only been two hours."

"An age."

She took his hand and heat shot through her skin. She kissed his  fingers, then rested his palm on the swell of her belly beneath the  table. "How did the meeting go?"

"It was a start." Mal was reaching out to the sorcerers, seeing if there  was any way to halt the long conflict and finally bring peace between  them.

She pressed her palm over his. Would her baby bear the mark? It didn't  matter. He or she would be loved no matter what. But Lily had a feeling  she carried a dragon and she knew their people were hoping for a girl.

It was strange, she'd always wanted to be normal. Now she was one of a  kind. Hopefully the first of a new breed of Dragon Princesses, and she  had the chance to define just what she wanted "normal" to be.

She hoped the dragons were ready.