Not your average love sp.., p.32
Not Your Average Love Spell,
p.32
That conjured up images that finally drove the sleep from Sydney’s mind. She sat up, remembering hitting the dragon one last time before it felt as if someone hit her hard enough to turn her brain off.
“Rowena says you overtaxed your magic, though she said she didn’t know if I should call it magic since you might still be bloody touchy about the whole thing.”
Sydney held up a hand, smiling. “So, everything’s okay?”
Ember cocked her head. “Is that all you heard? Do you want me to start over?”
“No, I’ve got it, thanks. How is your arm?”
Ember moved the limb around. She wasn’t even wearing a sling. “Rowena fixed me. She always does.”
Glad of that, Sydney held out an arm, and Ember crawled up the bed to curl up in her embrace. Sydney kissed her head. “Thank you for taking care of me and the whole…no nudity thing.”
“You’re welcome. You’re in charge of the knights now.”
Sydney wondered how that had happened while she was unconscious, but she let it go for the moment, grateful for the soft bed and the fading sunlight in the window and the amazing woman in her arms.
“Are you hungry?” Ember asked.
Sydney thought about it, but as Ember tilted her face so their lips were tantalizingly close together, Sydney couldn’t think of food. She wanted to use some line like, “I’m only hungry for you.” Her paramours of the past had expected something like that, something to add to the story of a charming knight, but she didn’t want to be a story to Ember.
Even if Ember really appreciated a good story.
“No,” Sydney said. “I want to show you how much I love you.”
Ember kissed her, starting slow but working quickly to eagerly passionate. Sydney let her lead the way where she would have taken control before. She never thought it would feel so good to surrender.
When morning came, she’d never been so happy to wake up with a woman, either. They lay in a sprawling tangle, and when Ember shifted, Sydney realized what had woken her. “After all the exercise we got last night, I thought you’d sleep longer,” Sydney murmured.
Ember kissed her nose. “I always wake up at dawn. You can keep sleeping.”
“No, I’ve slept enough.” And where she hadn’t been hungry before, she was ravenous now. After they’d eaten and Sydney had greeted her knights, she knew what she had to do.
Robert, no longer sir, sat in a dark cellar, manacled and gagged and guarded night and day. He had only a blanket wrapped around him for clothing, and his guards explained that they hadn’t wanted to let him loose long enough to dress.
She regarded him coldly, searching for the feelings of awe and loyalty she’d always had for him, but they’d been carried away on dragon wings.
“They’re going to try you and hang you,” she said.
He snorted. She wondered if any of his dragon resiliency remained in this form, if when the noose tightened around his neck, he’d just swing there, glaring.
“I loved you like a second father.”
He cocked his head. She felt a dip of fear as she stepped forward and loosed his gag, but he could do nothing with his voice alone.
“I’m not at all sorry to have disappointed you,” he said.
She wanted to slug him but held it back. “Why didn’t you just stay in hiding since you could pass for human?”
“If roaches took over the kingdom, would you happily live as one?”
Her fist tightened again. “Are you trying to get me to kill you?”
He sniffed. “As if you could. And Kingston won’t kill me either, not the noose or the headsman’s ax or anything else you dream up.”
She felt a jot of satisfaction as she bent closer. “Magic will.”
Now he snarled and seemed as if he might start up, but she also noticed the sweat begin to form on his face as if he knew she spoke the truth. “Go ahead. Let me join my kin, my broods, all the dragons that passed before me, murdered by your ignorant race.”
Sydney felt a bit of sympathy, but not after Camille’s dragon lecture at breakfast, which included the dragons’ entire known history. “Humanity rose up against your kind because they tried to annihilate humanity. The other magical creatures just seemed to die out.”
“Pushed out by the human tide.” His face flushed, and his mustache seemed to bristle. “You breed like rabbits and eat everything in sight. You would have killed us had we not fought you.”
Sydney shook her head. She didn’t know who was right, him or history, and it was too long in the past to worry about now. She imagined him, one of the last of his kind if not the last, nursing his revenge for hundreds of years, trying to kill humanity again and again and failing. Had he been trying to make another brood with those monsters? He’d called them experiments, but maybe he’d just been waiting for the perfect batch before he gave them real life.
She managed some pity again but didn’t know what to do with it. If she let him go, he’d try again. Try forever if he was as immortal as the legends claimed.
“You’re the past,” she said. “Mine and the world’s.” Anger and frustration built in her again, but she only replaced his gag so he could mutter curses as she fled.
Ember waited at the top of the stairs with the Hawk and Camille. They all turned to stare as Ember said, “Some of the knights went to clear out the mountain so it can be a home again, but don’t worry about them. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
Sydney’s heart seized; she wasn’t worried about the knights. “Are…are you going to stay? I’ve got so much to do in Kingston. I can’t—”
Ember took her hand and squeezed. “Don’t be scared. I’m coming with you. You were scared, right? I thought I was reading your face right, but—”
“I was, I was. It’s okay.” Sydney laughed weakly. “Thank you.”
“Are you really going to put a dragon on trial?” the Hawk asked.
Sydney sighed. “I don’t know. I guess. He broke the law, but it feels like putting a horse on trial or something, even though he broke the law as a man.”
The Hawk tsked. “Policing the world; nothing good can come of it.”
Sydney glared at her. “Listen, you—”
Ember kissed her just as Camille kissed the Hawk. Sydney stuttered in surprise and heard the Hawk do the same.
“Every time you argue,” Camille said. “From now on.” She pointed at the Hawk. “And don’t you dare say you’ll have to argue more.”
The Hawk’s mouth shut with a snap.
Sydney had to laugh. She supposed they’d have to figure a lot of things out, not just how to put a dragon on trial. If they were going to execute him, they’d need magic, and Sydney would have to help bring it back. She sighed as the prospect still gave her a shudder. They had a lot of work to undo.
About the Author
Barbara Ann Wright writes fantasy and science fiction novels and short stories when not ranting on her blog. The Pyramid Waltz was one of Tor.com’s Reviewer’s Choice books of 2012, was a Foreword Review BOTYA Finalist, a Goldie finalist, and made Book Riot’s 100 Must-Read Sci-Fi Fantasy Novels By Female Authors. It also won the 2013 Rainbow Award for Best Lesbian Fantasy. She’s won five other Rainbow Awards and has been a Lambda Award finalist.
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Barbara Ann Wright, Not Your Average Love Spell
