Michael nodded, pulling on his jeans and fastening them. He couldn’t help being flattered by the way Danna’s eyes followed him, as if already she wanted him again.

  Aurel said, “We believe you have no ill-intent toward us at this moment. And we believe the Dome’s methods, whatever their cause, are occasionally unacceptable. We are happy to exchange information with your City. However…”

  “Why did I know there would be a however?” Michael murmured.

  “We do not know that you are capable of protecting us from other human aggressors, and even if you are, things can change. Therefore, as you said, we have to talk. To you, and to the Dome.”

  Michael stared, jerked at last fully out of his daze of lust and unfulfilled pleasures. “You’re going to talk to the Dome?”

  “The king told you that you might not like our answer.”

  Michael sighed. “True.”

  “It will be open talks, all of us together, no private negotiations. At least, not by us.”

  “Fair enough,” Michael agreed. It wasn’t what he’d come for, and it wasn’t what he wanted, but it was something. It might even be good for City-Dome relations, which had certainly deteriorated since the discovery of the Dragul.

  “Our one problem remains -- how to deliver the invitation to the Dome government to come to our talks.”

  “I can see that it’s passed on for you.”

  “I don’t think that would be terribly diplomatic, do you?”

  “Point.”

  “However, you can come with me when I deliver it myself.”

  Michael stared at him. “You’re going to the Dome?” The idea of the winged being among the Dome dwellers, who were totally freaked just by the lesser mutants of the City, was mind-boggling.

  “Hardly. The delegation who tried to capture Danna is currently camped in the village by the tether.”

  “That’s a day’s walk!”

  “An hour’s flight.”

  “I thought I was coming with you.”

  “I can carry Aaron with me. You can go with Danna.”

  “Danna can’t carry me and fly!”

  “She can when she’s the dragon.”

  Michael closed his mouth.

  Aurel said casually, “One more thing. The king and I have talked about this too. I’m not joking this time. There really is a place for you here. You keep the law in your own City, and you are a storyteller, with your talents untapped. I need an assistant and I am happy to train you.”

  Michael stared at him. Too soon, he thought stupidly. Too soon… But then, that’s real life for you. Bloody real life. Well, fuck it, it’s been one hell of a ride and though I don’t deserve you, I shall miss you…

  “I’m genuinely flattered,” he said ruefully to Aurel. “And part of me would like to learn your trade, compare it with mine. Because that’s the rub, Aurel, I have a trade already and it’s one I won’t give up. I’m good at it. There would be nothing for me to do here in that line. You’ve got crime licked. In the City it’s still rife and always will be. I’m needed there, not here. I’ve grown to like your kingdom, but I couldn’t live in it.”

  At last, forcing himself, he looked at Danna. Telepathically, he said softly, “As you couldn’t live in a City without dance. Could you?”

  Almost, he wanted her to say yes. No, he ached for her to say yes. But her eyes slid away from his. Slowly, she shook her head.

  Chapter Seven

  Flying over the hills was amazing, exhilarating. Riding on the back of his lover was frankly weird, but unexpectedly wonderful too. The great dragon that was Danna carried him easily through the clouds, her enlarged, scaly wings beating strongly through the air currents while he held on to her prickly neck, relishing her movements beneath him.

  Beside them flew Aaron on Aurel’s back. Aurel made a huge dragon, bigger even than Danna, magnificent yet far less appealing in Michael’s eyes.

  Weird. Three days ago, he had never seen a dragon. Now he was comparing their charms.

  Wickedly, he looked forward to the humans’ reactions to their appearance at the tether camp. Yet he was almost sorry when it came into view, the scattering of houses and stalls around the tether, and the specks milling around among them.

  As they came closer, and lower in the sky, he realized that most of the people had fled indoors. Only the two guards remained, shading their eyes against the sun to stare up into the sky, and even they backed away as the dragons came in to land.

  They were Michael’s men. Until recently, the inhabitants of the village had been solely scientists working from the tether, and the engineers who maintained it, together with a smattering of occasional support workers to supply food and basic hygiene. Only since some fools from the Dome had tried to kill Beth had it been considered necessary to deploy the guards. Now a visible police presence discouraged any such maverick behaviour. In fact, disarmed it. Literally.

  The guards were lupi, like many of the police, and they were used to the unusual. However, even they looked stunned by the arrival of two dragons in their camp. They backed off further, warily, but didn’t flee. Just as well for them.

  Michael slid off Danna’s back, with a quick caress. The guards’ eyes widened. “Sir?”

  “Yes, it’s me. Everything okay?”

  The senior one said wryly, “Apart from the panic caused by your unconventional arrival, sir -- yes!” His gaze slid beyond Michael to the dragons, and he nodded at Aaron.

  Michael said, “How many visitors do we have here, Matt?”

  “Five from the Dome. All came in together yesterday. I think they’re planning to head back south today --”

  He broke off abruptly as a bunch of men erupted from the building on the right, immediately beginning to spread out in a circle. Michael recognized all of them, and the leading man, the one nearest him, toted a rifle.

  Michael said irritably, “Put that down, you stupid wanker!”

  Perhaps it was his tone, but this time, whatever the reason, the man recognized him. His jaw dropped. His eyes, looking suddenly hunted, glanced right and left as if for a way out, and saw the guards closing in before their circling manoeuvre had really begun.

  “All right, all right,” the man said, lowering his weapon. “I didn’t realize you were here to take care of things. We were just trying to help.”

  “Sure you were. Matt, why were their weapons not confiscated?”

  “They were, sir. I believe they’ve just -- er -- liberated them while our attention was elsewhere.”

  “Review of security necessary,” Michael murmured. “Gentlemen, return your weapons to my men, if you please, and then we can talk.”

  Like naughty schoolboys, the men who had tried to trap Danna obediently gave up their guns, all the while casting suspicious glances at the two dragons, who returned their stares placidly.

  “What’s the matter?” Michael said. “Afraid she’s come after you for revenge?”

  Although his back was to the dragons now, Michael felt the change behind him. From his pocket, he drew the silky white tunic he had held for her and reached back over his shoulder. Her fingers plucked it from his, and a moment later, dressed, she and Aurel stepped forward into his line of vision.

  The Dome dwellers looked petrified. But from the other buildings, a trickle of people began to emerge, curious, interested.

  Michael said, “This is Danna, whom you assaulted earlier in the week. And this is Aurel, Keeper of the Laws of the Dragul Kingdom. Because they are more forgiving than I, they persuaded me to escort them here to meet you. Not to arrest you, unfortunately.”

  With a flourish, he bowed to Aurel, waving him forward as he himself stepped back.

  Aurel, every inch the magnificent Law Keeper, bowed to the Dome dwellers.

  “Since our peoples share the same island, I am empowered by Vasil, my king, to give you this message to pass on to your government. It will, I know, be to everyone’s advantage, if it gets there.”

  From his tunic, which had no obvious pockets, he took out a square of something like parchment. Taking a step nearer, he held it out to the leader of the Dome dwellers, who instinctively backed further away.

  Aurel’s lip curled, and the man pulled himself together, returning to his previous place and taking the letter. He coughed. “Thank you. I will undertake to deliver it to my government as quickly as possible.”

  “I would start now,” Michael suggested significantly.

  “Of course” was the civil if slightly stiff response. He had himself better in hand now, but the other Dome dwellers looked as if they didn’t know whether to be more frightened of the Dragul or of Michael.

  In his mind, Danna said ruefully, “You’re not just any old policeman, are you?”

  “Of course not,” said Aurel in the same way. “He is the City’s Chief of Police.”

  “Deputy Chief,” Michael corrected mildly. “But if Will can ever persuade Lara to retire, then I believe I’m the prime candidate.”

  When he glanced at Danna, she was smiling. And yet he could swear there were tears glistening in her eyes. When she spoke again, it was just to him. “You are an important man in your City. And I can see you were made for it.”

  * * *

  Striding from their official audience with the king, Michael’s heart felt leaden. It wasn’t just the pain of parting with another lover, or of seeing and feeling her pain. There was something more. It felt… wrong.

  Frowning, Michael stopped and stared up at the sky. The clouds had lightened, and the sun was burning its way through. But he didn’t see that, he saw Danna’s face, lit with passion and softened by something both stronger and deeper that thrilled him and yet scared him to death at the same time. When she came in his arms this morning, he’d wanted to weep. The way she’d looked at him…

  Slowly, experimentally, he stopped fighting it. Bit by bit, he let down the barriers he’d built not against the invasion of others but against his own feeling. They’d made the job easier, made facing people’s constant fear of him more bearable. And they’d made the grief of losing Eve endurable.

  Beside him, he was vaguely aware of Aaron talking quietly and urgently with Iona who had come up to him from the square. They seemed to have formed some sort of relationship that at least eased Michael’s conscience. In front of him, Beth and Aurel made their way home, not touching but as together as --

  Abruptly, Aaron’s voice broke into his rambling thoughts, his hesitant, yet thorough searching of his own heart. Aaron said fervently, “I’ll be back, Iona, I promise. I have to go to the City just now, but think about it, and I’ll be back.”

  I’ll be back. Whatever happened in the future, Vasil’s conference had effectively lifted his ban on entertaining further visitors from the City. Hell, the king had even offered him a job, even if he couldn’t take it…

  I’ll be back…

  Who ever said there was only one way? His breath caught. He started to run. “Beth! Beth, wait, I want a word! And don’t let him fly off, I need to pick his brains too!”

  * * *

  Danna threw herself into her exercises. She knew she was going to have a lot more of this over the years, to deal with the pain, so she might as well start now.

  She could go with him to the City. He still wanted her that much. But she couldn’t bear it when he tired of her. To be with your One when you weren’t his -- it could only happen between mixed-race couples, she thought. Michael was not for her, only to show her that her way was solitary.

  Dropping down in the splits, she whirled around on her bottom, sprang up, arms stretched high above her head -- and saw him in the doorway.

  Dressed in fresh jeans and what looked like a Dragul-made shirt, he rested his shoulder against the archway, watching her.

  Her heart leapt the way it always did on seeing him. Her arms fell to her sides while she tried to control her breathing. At least the vigorous exercise gave her a cover.

  He said, “No wonder you’re supple.”

  “Have you seen the king?” she asked, carefully non-committal. “I expect you’ve come to say goodbye.”

  “Yes. And not yet.” He straightened and came further into the room. “Danna…” He came to a halt close to her but not touching. She ached for his touch. She wished he would leave so that she didn’t break down and keep him longer through pity. “Danna, do your people ever mistake their One? Find out they were wrong?”

  Surprised, she answered, “Very occasionally, but it has happened. It is tragic.”

  He nodded. “Yes, I can imagine. Even for my people. Eve and I thought we would always be together, but we were wrong. We grew up, grew apart, and suddenly it wasn’t right anymore.”

  “I’m sorry,” she managed.

  He nodded again. “I was too. Only now… it’s such a relief, only I’m afraid of making another mistake.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I don’t want to hurt you.”

  “Me?”

  His lip quirked. “I wasn’t speaking hypothetically, Danna. If I’ve got things wrong, tell me now, but I’ve been talking to Beth and Aurel, and I think -- I hope -- that I might be your One. Is there a chance of that?”

  She couldn’t help it. Closing the space between them, she rested her forehead on his shoulder. Unable to speak, with her voice or her mind, she simply nodded.

  At once, his arms closed around her. She felt his cheek on the top of her head. “Thank Christ…”

  “Michael, it’s not just a chance. I know it is the case. But you mustn’t let that influence you. You are not Dragul and I would rather die than bind you here. You said yourself you have to go back to the City, and I -- perhaps something in me would die there… Is love enough?”

  “Perhaps. But for both of us, what we do is part of who we are, and I would never change an inch of you. I love you.”

  She gasped at that and lifted her head, uncaring of the tears, and he kissed her mouth deeply before sweeping his lips over the wetness of her face. Instead of speaking, she opened her mind to him, felt him pause, stock still as he absorbed her emotion.

  “My God,” he whispered. “For me?”

  She smiled. “For you, my love, my One.”

  He crushed her in his arms. “Then listen, listen to my plan -- I got the idea from Aaron… Okay, you are still the Dragon Dancer, I am still the cop, but I spend all my free time here, and you spend all of yours with me, either here or in my City depending on what works at the time. It won’t be perfect, for the urge to spend every waking -- and sleeping! -- hour with you is strong. But could you live with it?”

  “I could live with it. I would love to live with it.”

  “Then begin by coming with me to the City today. The king wants to use you as a messenger.”

  Suddenly, the mood had lightened, and she could laugh, regarding him roguishly as she slid out of his arms and made for the doorway. “And what do you want to use me for?”

  “Sex,” said Michael huskily, and came after her.

  Marie Treanor

  Marie Treanor was born and brought up in Scotland, but for some years moved around the UK working and studying. Now she is back home and happily married with three young children. Having grown bored with city life, she lives these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing stories of romance and fantasy. You can find out more about Marie and her books on her website: www.marietreanor.com, and by subscribing to her Newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/marietreanornewsletter. She also shares the Sexy Delights loop with fellow Scottish author Kyla Logan. Find out more at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sexydelights. Marie loves to hear from readers, who can contact her at marie@marietreanor.com.

 

 

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