Legacy

chapter Thirteen


We spent the morning making love. Sometimes it was passionate, other times poignant, but any way you looked at it, it was always good. The dragon was talented and…creative.

After a solid nap, Bahlin pulled on a pair of jeans and his Nikes and got out of bed, walking to the larder. He took out a large, white bowl and said he’d be right back. He took off down one of the side passages leaving me to stare at the natural entrance to the cave and wondered about our next step. While Bahlin had indicated a plan of action, he hadn’t shared his thoughts with me yet, as usual. It was an annoying habit, one he’d have to modify if we were going to work together at the very least. I knew we’d have to meet with the Council at some point, if for no other reason than for me to confirm the facts surrounding Gretta’s death but I intended to take it a step further. I was going to question them about the Meyla’s death.

A burst of light down the tunnel Bahlin had taken caught my attention. I watched, and Bahlin emerged moments later with the same white bowl but it was full of gently steaming water.

“I know it’s not as good as a bath, but the water’s warm,” he grinned sheepishly.

I watched him bring the basin closer and asked, “So you, hm, blew fire on the basin to heat up the water? Or is my assumption too Hollywood?”

He looked at me with such a serious look before answering. “I fetched the water from the stream you can hear and yes, I ‘blew fire’ on it to warm it up. Does that bother you?”

A little bit, I admitted to myself. To Bahlin I only said, “No, I’m only happy to be able to take a warm sponge bath, so thanks. A little privacy, though? Please?”

Bahlin tossed me a rag and said he’d go to the front of the cave while I cleaned up.

Considerate of him, I thought, wincing as the rag ran across a particularly tender spot. Bedding a man as endowed as Bahlin was more pleasurable than painful, but it left its marks too. I’d have to refrain from jumping him again for a couple of days. Slut, I mentally chastised myself, grinning at the absurdity of the turns my life was taking at speeds far faster than was prudent. I’d never been free with my body. He didn’t give me the choice to be anything but. It was incredibly out of character for me.

Bahlin called out down the tunnel to see if I was finished, and I shouted in response that he could come back. I was pulling my clean T-shirt over my head when he rounded the last corner. I sat on the edge of the bed to put on my shoes and he grabbed our meager remaining food supply, carving up the last chunks of cheese and bread and bringing the diminishing bag of beef jerky to the sofa. We snacked in companionable silence once again, hesitant to interrupt our surreal time together yet both knowing our obligations grew heavier with each passing hour.

“I think we’ve got to go back to London and call a Council meeting,” Bahlin said, breaking the silence. He looked at me from the corner of his eye, gauging my response.

I gripped my hands together so hard my knuckles stood out in white relief. “I don’t think I’m ready to face Hellion yet, Bay, but I know it has to be done.”

Bahlin slid over to sit hip to hip with me, wrapping a long arm around my shoulders and pulling me in close. I sighed and leaned my head against his still bare chest.

“Do I simply make the accusation that I think he’s the killer?” I asked, albeit sarcastically. “Because I’m sure that will go over like a ton of fresh shit.”

“Lovely mouth there, sweet,” he said. “No, I don’t think there’s enough concrete evidence to support such a charge.”

“But you agreed with me yesterday.” I pushed away from him and stood. My breath came short, and my hands fisted involuntarily at my sides as I faced him.

“I did, and I still agree with your initial logic. But the facts really aren’t concrete enough, Maddy. You can’t condemn a man to certain death based on preliminary facts alone.” He rose and laid his heavy hands on my shoulders then bent down in a sincere effort to capture my eyes, but I continued to look over his shoulder as he spoke. “You’re still new at this and a bit naive, sweetheart, for all that your logic is good. There must be irrefutable facts, without conjecture, that draw a case together before you issue judgment.”

“If that’s true, then tell me please what I did that was so different with Maddox?” I asked as I relaxed slightly with his explanation, trying not to take his observations as criticism. “Why did you agree with me so easily then?” Sarenia had counseled me to make the best use of Bahlin’s experience as I could. This was my first step in taking her advice…and maybe burning up the label of naiveté Bahlin had stuck me with.

“Your facts were concrete. The bloody sword, the gun, the boot prints, his positioning, his dominant hand and the matching runes all played a part in helping your conviction hold water with me and, later, the Council.”

“And if I’d pushed? Tried to make my findings stick without such support?”

“Your word is law, but that doesn’t make it right, Maddy,” he said reprovingly.

“Give me a little credit, Bay. I was only curious. I’m honestly trying to accept this, but to go from pleasantly oblivious of my family legacy one day to dumped into a world where mythology is actual history the next? It’s tough.” I stepped into him and I relaxed a little, wrapping my arms around his waist and he hugged me back with spine-cracking zeal.

“You’re doing exceptionally well, Maddy. Don’t doubt that.” More gently now, Bahlin disentangled himself from my grip and walked to the entrance tunnel, bending over and picking up the gold coin he’d been tossing earlier. Handling it seemed to relax him. He began tossing it again.

“Is that really gold?” I asked, unable to help myself. I was curious.

Bahlin looked at me, several thoughts openly crossing his face before he spoke. He walked back to the sofa and sat, turning on one hip so he faced me. “Yes, it’s gold.” He tossed it to me and I snatched it out of the air, surprised at how heavy it was. “You wanted to know more about my species? Here are a couple of quick facts. The myth of our obsession with gold is one place where fiction took its thread straight from fact. The rumors of dragon hoarding are true. We’re treasure junkies, and gold is like a drug to us. Just handling this coin soothes me. Ironically, the need to have more doesn’t soothe me in the least. That drives me a bit nuts.” He shrugged and smiled self-deprecatingly. “And we come by it through, ah, alternate means. Dragons don’t subscribe to the same rules as humans. Anyone who found my lair could raid it. I’d have to defend it to keep my treasures. It’s one of the reasons we’re a bit fanatical about keeping the location of our lair so private.”

“When you say defend it, do you mean fight? Like to the death?”

He grinned, rubbing the end of his nose to try and hide the smile. “You’ve watched too much telly, Maddy. No, it’s generally not to the death. But it can be a very violent fight depending on the sect, or weyr, that the raiding dragon is from. Black dragons are the most violent of our kind and green’s the most docile. The rest of us fall somewhere in between.

“My lair’s never been found, though, so it’s all irrelevant.”

The thought of Bahlin locked in a violent fight made my right eye twitch. And the thought of him seeking out a fight made the left eye join in.

“Have you ever found someone else’s lair?” I asked, pressing my fingers over my eyelids. I was disturbed about the depth of feelings Bahlin was dragging from me.

“Of course,” he replied nonchalantly, stretching for all the world like a large cat. “Young dragons get a small coming-of-age deposit from their father. After that, we tend to keep an eye out for treasures small and large to build our holdings. The older we get and the more we’ve accumulated, the more seriously we take the protection of our precious.” He said the last in the creepy voice of Gollum from the Lord of the Rings trilogy and I did the obligatory eye-roll. He chuckled, and I handed the gold doubloon back to him. He began flipping it through the air, scarcely looking at it.

I changed the subject. “Bay, what will happen when we meet with Hellion?” I couldn’t keep a modicum of fear out of my voice. I needed to be prepared.

“He can’t do anything to you for defending yourself, but he may ask for a recounting of what happened. I will bear witness for you since I saw the whole thing. It has to be done, you know, and soon. The longer it’s put off, the worse it will be.”

I stared at the entrance to the cave. It felt like that short tunnel was the barrier between safety and threat, being either the hunter or the hunted. I closed my eyes, wishing I could stay here and forgo my new responsibilities. But I knew that wasn’t an option.

“Okay. So how do we call a Council meeting?”



Bahlin had me pack the meager belongings we’d brought with us. I stuffed everything back into the messenger back, somehow fitting his lounge pants in there, too…just in case. I couldn’t do anything about Captain Commando and his lack of underwear, but sleep gear I could influence, especially if he wanted me under the covers with him. I might allow, or even encourage, my own seduction, but I’d put a pretty bow around its neck to make myself feel better if that was what was necessary to keep my morals from choking to death on my lust.

Bahlin walked back into the cavern. “I made the call to Brylanna. She’s acted as Seer for the Council in the past. I’ve asked her to call all the Council members together to meet at Manderson’s Pub tonight at midnight, so we’ll have to hurry to get there.”

“We’re meeting at a pub?” I asked. “Isn’t that a little public for a discussion like this?”

“It normally would be, but Manderson is a pech, sort of like a gnome but with strength that defies description, and he’s a back room we can use that’s made for private meetings.” He smiled and roughed up my hair. “Fix your hair or no one will wonder what you’ve been about in all this time away with me.”

“Nice, Bay,” I grumbled, running my fingers through my hair, trying to pull it into some form of submission. No luck. “You’ve got to stop saying things like that, you know it?” I bitched, pushing myself to standing and stomping away from him.

“Why on earth would I stop teasing you, Maddy?” he asked, incredulous. He smiled hugely, batting his eyes and clasping his hands to his chest in mock sincerity.

“Because you make me feel cheap when you say stuff so casually.” I blushed and looked down, spinning to face away from him. He was quiet for a moment, then I saw his feet move into my field of view. I refused to face him, embarrassed at the brutal feelings behind my outburst and, worse, worried they were true.

“My heart, look at me. Look at me!” he commanded and I started, looking up instinctively. His voice was hard and non-compromising, his jaw set so tightly I could see the muscles ticking under the skin.

“I am sincerely sorry my teasing led you to believe I thought of what we have as cheap. It slays me that you would think so, my love. You are the purpose in my life, and I love you,” he said, grasping my chin.

I flinched at the last and he cursed, releasing my chin albeit gently.

“I told you I’d wait for you to come around and I will. But I won’t be patient about it indefinitely, Maddy, no matter what anyone says.”

That confused me. “What do you mean? No one has said anything to me.”

“Forget it,” he muttered, turning away with jerky movements that were totally out of character. He had been thrown off balance by this last exchange as much as I had. “Let’s get to the pub so we arrive early enough to not have to watch our backs. While there’s no violence allowed at Council meetings, there’s always the arrival and departure of which to be wary.” He had slung the messenger bag over his shoulder and headed for the mouth of the cave before I could demand he answer me.

I took the time to look around the cavern one last time and I fell behind. I walked down the dark tunnel with my hands forecasting my path along the wall while I took small, shuffling baby steps in the darkness to ensure I didn’t trip. I called out for Bahlin but I didn’t get an answer. I wondered if I had somehow taken the wrong tunnel when I kicked something soft and forgiving: the messenger bag. Bay had definitely been this way. I picked it up and continued on. It was still dark but there was a slight lightening of the tunnel up ahead, so I forged my way on toward the light. I sincerely hoped my moving toward the light wasn’t foreshadowing of my decision to confront Hellion. I giggled in panic, and then I froze. Something was behind me. I turned slowly and there he was, my dragon. His eyes shown in the darkness like twin beacons of light, bright enough to draw a ship to shore. How had I moved by him without seeing him? He took up nearly the whole passage. I swear he grinned at me. All I gave him in return was a bland smile. I had to stop copping to fear. It was giving me a poor reputation with myself.

“So how do you want to do this?” I asked, all professional and cool. Riiight.

Bahlin backed up a few steps and bellied to the ground. I moaned at the thought of riding him back to London. Honestly, I was a little sore to be sitting astride anything more difficult to ride than a couch cushion. Bahlin huffed out his command, showing me his teeth.

I threw the messenger bag down and got in his face. He was scary as hell, but I knew he still heard me and I was absolutely sure he still understood me. “You expect me to believe you’ll wait for me to fall in love with you when you can’t even give me a couple of minutes to work up to setting my aching body on your back? You’re a real riot, Bay,” I snarked. I turned my back on him as I scooped up the discarded bag, doing my best to appear nonchalant with a monster at my back.

He closed his eyes and laid his head on the ground at my feet. He took a breath so deep his folded wings brushed the cave tunnel’s top. I swear I read remorse in his eyes when he opened them. It was startling, the depth of emotion displayed. I looked away and, for something to do, slung the bag over my shoulder then inspected the strap—anything to keep from looking him in the eye.

“I’m ready.” My voice was barely audible over the sounds of the wind and the waves. “Belly down a little farther and be gentle helping me up.” Bahlin did as I asked and I scrambled onto his back without any hesitation this time.

Keeping low to the ground Bahlin slithered out toward the night sky. The smell of surf was tangy with salt and the more pungent smells that hinted at the ocean’s living inhabitants and dead victims, large and small. Bahlin seemed to pull in on himself and once again we were wrapped in night’s invisibility. He gathered himself on the edge of the tunnel ledge and threw himself out into the night air. I gripped his neck as hard as I could, my eyes wide open. The moonlight reflected on the relentless surf as it crashed into the rocks and I laughed out loud at the thrill of falling, for the first time confident in my dragon. It was a heady thing and I threw my head back and screamed with joy at the freedom of newfound faith. Bahlin trumpeted in response. At the last possible moment Bahlin spread his wings and pushed at the air, shooting us out parallel to the water and close enough that I felt the spray dampen my jeans. I leaned over his neck and hugged him, feeling more secure initiating affection when he couldn’t see me. Sad, that, but true. But for the first time since the death of my parents eleven months ago, I held a tenuous thread of hope that love might exist for me on some level.

We soared higher, the temperature cooling predictably as we gained altitude. We crossed fields and wooded glens, racing the clouds to catch glimpses of the moon’s laughing face. It was heady, this freedom, even if I knew it was short-lived.



I began to suspect where we were headed when Bahlin moved lower to the ground and circled counterclockwise around a small hillside. I recognized Brylanna’s cottage and cringed, wondering if she’d been peeking in on our extra-curricular activities. Again I say, squicky. Bahlin set down in the front yard and before I could clamber down, the front door flew open. Brylanna moved like lightning, racing to Bahlin’s side and throwing her arms around his neck.

“Mo bhrathar!” she exclaimed, “ciamar a tha sibh?”

I thought I knew what she’d said but still I said, “In English, please, Brylanna. That way I know if I need to defend myself or not.” I slid from Bahlin’s back. My knees, stiff from the cool wind, buckled slightly as I hit the ground and I stumbled into Bahlin’s side.

He turned from Brylanna and caught me up in his forearms and effectively gave her his back. She stiffened.

“Of course, Niteclif. I simply said ‘my brother how are you.’ Nothing derogatory, I assure you.” Her manner unyielding, she turned and walked stiffly back to the house, calling out over her shoulder, “Dinner’s on the table and we’ve only a short time to eat it before we have to leave, so don’t dawdle…or shag on the front lawn.” She slammed the door on us before I could come up with a suitably witty response.

Bahlin’s dragon form shimmered and folded away, leaving the naked man crouched on all fours in the grass. I knelt next to him and dug out a pair of jeans and his long-sleeved rugby shirt. I struggled to keep my composure, trying desperately not to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. My lips twitched, and I looked up at Bahlin only to recognize his were doing the same thing.

“She knows what we’ve been up to then?” I asked, pinching my nose and trying to keep control of the situation.

“Without a doubt. Serves her right for checking in on us, even if it was done with the purest of intentions.” Bahlin’s eyes twinkled merrily, and he lost the battle not to smile. His grin made me feel so alive, like freefalling from the cave all over again. I smiled back and then, realizing he was still kneeling naked in front of me, I blushed so hard it made me light-headed.

“Here,” I nearly shouted, shoving his clothes in his hands and turning my back on him. I still knelt on the grass beside him as I spun away, probably staining the knees of my jeans green in the process. Great.

He reached over and tugged my windblown hair, leaning in close enough that his breath slid down my bared neck like warm caramel over the skin of an apple. His lips touched behind my ear, gently, and he slid his hands around my waist. It might not be politically correct to admit it, but I loved how small and protected he made me feel as he bent his body over mine.

“Do you need help?” I whispered, running my hands over his arms and leaning back into his bare skin. Please say no…or yes. No. Say no.

“No, mo chrid.” Well damn. “We’ve not had a proper meal in days and I’m flat starved. I know if you help me I’ll end up hauling you out to the barn and having my way with you in the hayloft. So come inside with me before you distract me for certain.” He moved away from me and I heard the rustle of clothing as he dressed behind me. There is something seriously sexy about the sound of a zipper, whether it’s going up or down, in the dark. Suddenly Bahlin was in front of me and holding out his hand to help me to my feet. Despite the temptation to stare, I’d kept my eyes turned away from him while he got dressed, and he had to step well around me before I would look up at him. He laughed. “You’ve seen the goods, handled the package and helped me make the delivery, Maddy. Don’t you think the time for shyness has passed?” He chucked me gently under the chin. “Never mind. I forgot for a moment who I was speaking to.” Grabbing the bag, he walked into the house and waved me along with his free hand.

I got up and followed him into the cottage, feeling like it had been eons since we’d last been here when in reality it had been less than forty-eight hours. How the mighty has fallen—flat on her back. I sighed mentally. I paused in the doorway, unsure what to do. There were a number of creatures gathered around the table, all of whom looked human but collectively they gave out waves of power that made my skin want to crawl off the muscle. Of course, had any of them meant me harm they would have had all the time in the world to act on it because I just stood there, the fight-or-flight instinct equally entrenched in my conscious mind as the two warred internally for superiority. I’d have to lose the logic and internal monologues in critical situations or I was going to end up dead, and probably sooner rather than later.

“Maddy,” Bahlin said, drawing me forward with a reach of his hand, “come meet some of my friends and family.”

His family? Oh shit. Brylanna had been bad enough. I didn’t need to meet any more people she could influence, or had already influenced, to dislike me. I shook my head in the smallest motion I could, staring at him.

“No, Bay,” I breathed quietly. “I’ll just, um, I’ll wait outside while you catch up with everyone, okay?” I asked, assuming we’d be going to London via car again. I began backing up slowly, a reverse death march, the tension radiating off me as our arms pulled tight against one another.

Bahlin tightened his hand and gave a gentle yank forward to make me quit pulling. “Stop,” he said, soft enough to be personal but loud enough that it wasn’t private. “I want you to meet my ma and da, as well as my younger brother Aiden. There are several members of our wyvern here too. Let me introduce you?”

He scored major points for asking instead of demanding that I concede. I nodded as slightly as I had moments before declined, and he grinned again. He shifted his hand so our fingers laced together without a conscious thought on my part and he pulled me gently to his side, walking me back into the room. Introductions were made all around before I finally came face to face with his immediate family. Brylanna stood there, proud and tall, smirking at me as if she was in on some dirty little secret that I wasn’t going to like. Next to her was a younger man who, with the exception of the dark blue eyes and his brother’s extra height, was clearly the spitting image of the woman seated in front of him. This had to be Aiden. Which meant the woman in front of him was his mother, Bahlin’s mother. She stood and I was shocked to see she was a petite little thing with light brown hair and dark brown eyes. She was nothing in size like the gargantuan children she’d given birth to. She smiled at Bahlin and wrapped him in a hug as only a mother could, clearly adoring him and embarrassing him in one economical movement. The man seated next to her at the head of the table was a behemoth of a man. Bahlin looked exactly like him in every way—dark blue eyes, burnished hair, high cheekbones, full mouth, broad shoulders, roughly the size of a small country.

“Maddy, allow me to introduce my da, Leith, and my ma, Adelle. The young lizard behind them is my little brother, Aiden. My da is the ruling Glaaca, or head of the wyvern.”

Bahlin’s parents took turns shaking my hand, and his mother encouraged me to fix myself a quick meal while she busied herself loading a up a small trough for Bahlin. Leith looked me over very thoroughly, giving nothing away.

“Da?” Bahlin asked, his tone cool and careful.

“So she’s our new Niteclif?” Leith asked in an insolent tone.

“She is,” Bahlin answered, his voice hardening just a bit. If I hadn’t seen his mother’s hand jerk as she lifted a spoon of mashed potatoes from the sideboard I wouldn’t have realized anything was wrong. Thankfully I had that small bit of warning, otherwise I would have likely fallen over at Leith’s next comment.

“So you’ve taken to sporting with her already, son? Awfully quick, even for you.” His tone was cold. Adelle looked from one man to another, clearly shocked at her husband’s rudeness but unsure what to do with herself. She finally pulled out a chair at the table and dropped her head in her hands, not in a defeated manner but more a frustrated one. Behind Leith, Brylanna paled a bit.

“Maddy, I’m going to ask you to step outside for a moment,” Bahlin said, his tone so cold I drew my hand from his instinctively. He turned to look at Brylanna and said, “Why, piuthar?”

Brylanna lifted her chin and said, “You know why and she should too. You have been sporting with her, but have you been honest with her, Bahlin?”

I’m not sure what the final straw was, whether it was Leith’s rudeness or Brylanna’s, but between the fae, the dragons and the murder-minded magicians, I’d had enough with the cloak and dagger shit. I rounded on Brylanna and said, “All right already. You’ve hinted again and again that there’s something I need to know. Here’s your opportunity. Give it your best shot, you fire-breathing, scale-sporting, knobby-spined bitch.”

She stared at me for a split second and then laughed with wicked glee as if I hadn’t spoken. “So you’ve truly not told her then?” The look of pale fear on Bahlin’s face was her answer. “Fine. I will. Madeleine Dylis Niteclif, I had a vision about you before you arrived. You would be a woman fair of face, sharp of mind, with fresh grief your heaviest burden. You would be vulnerable to empathy, despise sympathy and be so hungry for a sense of belonging that you would be willing to accept your lot as Niteclif with only limited explanation and minor manipulation. Better yet, you were predestined to fall in love with a male member of the High Council and forsake yourself for the opportunity to be loved. That member of the High Council would gain in power and influence for being in your bed and would end up being the first individual ever to lead the Council. This meant there would be a competition to get you on your back. And the man that first won the right to rut with you would break your heart.” Brylanna’s grin faltered as she watched my face, stepping back from me as I processed her prediction.

“Who knew this?” I asked. No one answered me and I yelled, “Who knew?”

“The High Council and our wyvern,” Brylanna answered with new trepidation, obviously afraid of the crazed woman I had morphed into as I stood there and digested her little newscast.

“Looks like you win the prize for biggest bitch I’ve ever met, Brylanna.”

It was so quiet that the tick of the water heater seemed to boom and echo in the room. I turned on my heel and walked slowly to the front door, but not before I looked at Bahlin with bitter eyes.

“Maddy, wait,” Bahlin said, grabbing my arm.

I looked down at his hand and said in a deliberately soft voice, “Get your damned hand off of me you pestilant ball sack. You’ve lost the right to touch me, Bahlin. Don’t you dare speak to me. Not when you’ve lied to me and manipulated me from the beginning. Don’t. You. Dare.” He dropped his hand, and I walked out the front door without another word.