Immortal Dragons Book 6: Dragon Equinox
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Ophelia Bell
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32
Prologue
Numa
I have a confession to make. Maybe not the worst confession for a dragon like me, but not exactly something I’m proud of, either…
I’ve been faking it. For centuries I’ve been leading on the ones who mean the most to me, making them believe I share in their pleasure equally, but really, I’m just one big, fat liar.
No, no… I’m not faking that. Orgasms are my bread and butter. I give as good as I get in terms of fertile magic. Better, in fact. The power bestowed on my lovers through the release of my own Nirvana is transcendent, and not exactly the kind of thing an immortal dragon like me could fake, even if I wanted to.
What I’m faking are my dreams.
But why in the world should mere dreams matter? Because these dreams… the ones I am not having, but all five of my siblings have been blessed with … are messages from Fate. Beacons on the path to finding our true mates, our destined partners who will be with us until the end of time. Or so I am told by my brothers and sisters.
I have not had these dreams they go on about. Somehow they’ve come to the consensus that the dreams are messages from Fate, that mixing our blood with the other higher races’ is the key to defeating our oldest enemy. Don’t get me wrong, I adore the idea. I’ve been ready to leave the Glade for ages, but the time was never right.
I still doubt the time is right for me, or that it will ever be right. But after witnessing each one of my siblings seek and find precisely the image of their mates who visited them in dreams, I can’t help but feel a little forlorn. What makes them so special to be granted these amazing gifts—love and happiness and the prospect of new families? I feel I have lost each of them one by one, and now I am left to stand alone.
The worst part is that I doubt my own desires because I don’t know if the love that’s already blossomed between me and any of these five men I adore has any merit. Has Fate abandoned me? Do I have no destiny of my own? How can I ever be sure if this love is meant to be if I don’t have Fate’s messages to guide me?
Is this even love?
In the ancient past, I would never have worried. I’m a dragon, after all, a goddess among the humans who serve me. Love was never an option. It was a human construct. But the more we live among humans, the more my kind breeds with them, the more their desires seep into our blood as if it isn’t our power influencing them, but the other way around. What use do immortals have for love, after all? All I needed was a willing collection of human males to mark who could provide me with their seed. I never wanted more.
Not until my siblings were granted the promise of immortal love through their dreams. I watched each one fall as if their wings were clipped. First Belah, who bravely ventured forth in search of the pair of turul males she’d dreamed of. She still bore the scars of grief, yet agreed to be the first of us. We knew the enemy would be drawn to her, and her presence in the world again would distract them from their constant search for a way into our sacred home in the Glade. But she was still damaged from the loss of her old lover who had become our enemy.
Nikhil’s defection to our side was perhaps the most astonishing occurrence to come of any of my siblings’ matings, but welcome nonetheless. It meant my sister could be whole once more, with three worthy mates to love her.
When Ked finally found his love with a turul female and yet another defected Ultiori soldier, we realized Fate must indeed have plans for us, and that these dreams must be taken seriously. Yet my nights remained dreamless.
I could fool my siblings, but I couldn’t fool myself. My Red brother, Gavra, was the last person I expected to tie himself permanently to a partner who was likely to live as long as he, yet tie himself he did. Or rather, he let himself be tied, so I hear.
Aodh was less of a surprise, as the brother most given to sentimental moods. The artists are always like that, aren’t they?
And Aurum was simply born to love without restraint.
So where does that leave me? I am the boring one. I have no scandals in my past. My desires for another immortal remained unrequited, and so I diverted my attention to the humans who served me as their goddess. I followed all the rules and did my duty to our Mother and to Fate. Do I not deserve a message too? Does this mean I am destined to be alone?
Is there some rule I can break to get Fate to notice me?
