Immortal Dragons Epilogue: Dragon Avenged
Auteur
Ophelia Bell
Lezers
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Hoofdstukken
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Deva is the key to saving the hidden realms—or destroying them. As ancient bloodlines awaken and rival powers rise, her own chimera nature begins to stir, calling her toward a destiny wrapped in danger and desire. To protect the higher races, she must complete a forbidden ritual—one fueled by the passions she’s spent her life denying. But power this old never comes quietly, and every secret she uncovers pulls her deeper into a world of temptation, betrayal, and awakening magic. If Deva can’t master the fire inside her, she won’t just lose her heart—she’ll doom them all.
Chapter 1
A warm spring breeze roused Numa from an afternoon post-coital doze. She hummed softly under Zephyrus’s caress and shifted positions only to realize that the West Wind was no longer lying beside her in bed. The breeze tugged at her tangled hair, flowed down her shoulders, and lifted the silken sheet, tossing it off before nudging her into full alertness.
“Zeph?” She frowned, darting a look around the lush quarters in the Haven’s palace that she and her mates had called their own for the past year. She’d made love to Zephyrus and Dionysus earlier that afternoon, opting for a recharge and a nap while her other three mates joined the crew of nymphs preparing for the Equinox festivities just two days away.
The wind swirled around her and she puffed out an irritated cloud of green smoke. Zeph’s magic caught it and shaped the cloud into an arrow aimed at the doorway to the room.
“Fine, I’m coming,” she muttered, slipping out of the bed and summoning a gown to drape over her as she headed into the corridor. She followed the little ball of green smoke as the breeze toyed with it, pushing it in a haphazard spiral ahead of her.
The palace was a maze of crystalline corridors that gave the illusion of being underwater, with blue light filtering through in eerie ripples. She missed her home in the Glade with its wide open skies, multitudes of high clifftops, and plenty of room to stretch her wings, but the Haven was the better place for Dion to rest while they waited for his powers to regenerate.
Her body still hummed with the remnants of their last coupling, a sure sign that he was nearly at full divine power again. She followed the breeze through a pair of double doors out onto a palatial covered porch where she paused and took him in, the extent of his recovery hitting her for the first time since he’d lost his powers.
He was leaning against a column, gazing down onto the activities below. His huge, muscular body was relaxed and languid, the same light breeze toying with his silken black curls. Zephyrus leaned on the balustrade across from him, lean and silver-haired, the worry lines beside his mouth completely gone as he regarded the god with affection. Laughter drifted up from the courtyard, along with her other mates’ voices raised in amused banter. Zephyrus saw her first, his eyes lighting up before darting a meaningful glance at Dionysus.
Her beautiful god practically glowed with health and vigor, and the marked difference in his size was even more apparent now that he was standing next to Zephyrus, rather than lying on his back while she rode his cock to oblivion. He was healed.
Dion said something she couldn’t hear over the noises from the courtyard. He glanced at Zeph, then followed the West Wind’s gaze to Numa. His lips tilted in a cocky smile and he turned around to face her fully, leaning back against a column.
“You’re awake,” he said. “I worried I gave you too much at the end. Did I finally find your limit, little one?”
“Impossible. You know better.” Her chest warmed and she couldn’t resist smiling at his taunt.
“Indeed,” he rumbled, his burgundy gaze sliding down her body like a caress, promising that he lived for nothing more than to keep testing her limits.
Numa sauntered toward him, returning the look with a brazen one of her own, but taking the time to thoroughly inspect his aura while she closed the distance. The magic surrounded him in a brilliant golden glow, stronger than she’d seen it in ages, but that wasn’t the only signal of his returning strength. He was a full head taller than Zeph, not counting the pair of thick horns that protruded from his head high enough to graze the ceiling. A year earlier he’d barely been taller than Numa, after his power had been sapped in his effort to control their enemy long enough for them to vanquish the evil bitch. Six months ago he’d finally surpassed Cade’s size again and was gradually growing, though his horns were only nubs. She’d been aware of the changes, subtle though they were, but until now it hadn’t really registered how close he was to his true divine self again.
“Welcome back,” she said. “Just in time for the celebration.”
She slipped up to the balustrade between Dion and Zeph, her entire being warming at their proximity. Below them, the main courtyard of the palace was alive with activity. Nymphs darted around, draping flowered garlands over everything. Theron and Bekim were at one end with Cade, adding the final pieces to the roof of a pavilion that the nymphs were already swarming over to decorate.
Her three ursa mates hopped down a few moments later and stood back to admire their handiwork. Numa could barely see the artistry due to the throng of nymphs adding the finishing touches. Finally the activity slowed, and they all paused and oohed and ahhed over the finished spectacle.
“What is it for?” she asked.
“Spring fertility rites,” Dion said, then bent close and rumbled, “and none too soon.” He dropped one big hand to her ass and squeezed. “Now that I’m at full strength, we can put that baby into you that you wished for.”
As if attuned to Dion’s voice, the three ursa turned and looked up at them. Numa’s breath quickened at the expectant looks in their eyes. The baby she wished for had been just a dream for the past year. With five mates, it had been impossible for her to choose which should have the honor of impregnating her, and so she’d resisted allowing it to happen accidentally. Dion had finally urged her to confess her true wish—and so she’d admitted her desire to somehow have a child made from all of them, which she knew was a ridiculous thing to hope for, if not impossible.
“Oh . . . can we really?” she asked, darting a hopeful look up at Dion, then to Zephyrus, and finally down to Cade, Bekim, and Theron below, who looked like they were ready to leap the two-story distance to reach her and take care of business on the spot.
Zephyrus lightly stroked her cheek. “With Dion’s power, we can.”
“But not today,” Dion said.
“Oh,” Numa said, deflating.
Dion’s laughter boomed through the courtyard, infecting everyone below with mirth. Nymphs dove into the fountain and splashed each other playfully, their games swiftly turning to carnal fun.
“Soon, little one,” he said, sliding his hand up her back. “My power has returned, it’s true, but there is far more to be had in two days on the Equinox.” He turned and tucked a fingertip under her chin, urging her to look up at him. “There is a more dire concern to address first.”
The one worry they had all been acutely aware of, yet avoided discussing most days would finally need to be addressed. “The bloodline,” Numa said.
Dion nodded down toward the orgy of nymphs that were now tangled half in and half out of the fountain. A pair of the recently returned Thiasoi satyrs dove into the fray to the delighted squeals of the females. “They are already feeling my return to power, but my link to the nymphaea is nothing new. Meri’s bloodline is mine now too, and the humans who are part of it may be a danger to the higher races once it fully affects them.”
Zephyrus twisted his mouth in amusement at the scene unfolding below. Cade had a pair of nymphs clinging to him, very patiently attempting to peel the two females off on his way into the palace. “No doubt it won’t be nearly as fun for the humans as it is for them. My brothers have been monitoring things in the human world. They have begun to see signs of awareness in the humans with the bloodline, but since we warned all the higher races to go to ground before the Equinox, these humans are only noticing each other. They don’t understand what it means yet.”
Apprehension twisted in Numa’s gut and she clenched her teeth. She forced herself to relax when her three ursa mates entered and joined the conversation. “We can’t expect all our kind to hide for fear of discovery. The dragons have done enough hiding.”
“We’re all tired of pretending,” Cade said, crossing his arms. “The Ultiori have been dismantled. How much danger are we really in if the humans of the bloodline discover the truth?”
“There are millions scattered around the globe with the potential to recognize any of the higher races for who we are,” Dion said. “How they react remains to be seen, but the larger concern is allowing that knowledge to become widespread. If modern human communication is as powerful as I understand it is, without intervention of some sort, all of humanity might know of our existence within a matter of days. It would be dangerous for it to happen that quickly. We need to control the flow of information, and that begins with the bloodline.”
Numa gazed up at Dion, curious. “You already have a plan, don’t you? Do you have enough power to control the entire bloodline?”
Dion smiled bitterly. “Potentially, but that would be the wrong approach. Meri’s methods of mind control are not what I wish to employ to handle this challenge. There is the added complication of the mutations many of the humans possess. The bloodline is as varied as Deva’s, though none of the humans with it possess more than a few drops of divine power, thanks to their link to me. And they all have souls. Attempting to meddle with them unwillingly could corrupt them.”
Numa pursed her lips, following the thread of Dion’s thoughts. Meri’s creation of the Ultiori had involved infusing humans with the blood of the higher races, her own in particular. Once her puppets interbred, that blood, along with Meri’s nymphaea blood, was passed down the generations for thousands of years, their numbers increasing to the millions. It had allowed Meri access to immense power at the end, a power that had nearly cost them control of the Source. If Dionysus hadn’t intervened, Meri could have beaten them. Now their biggest worry was being discovered by all of humanity, which had its own set of complicated drawbacks. They couldn’t treat this issue lightly.
“But you have the power to reach them, right?” she asked.
“Yes. I can sense all the souls attached to the bloodline, but I can’t affect them on my own. I would need power from all five races to do that, and a conduit through which to channel the power—someone with a link to all the races too.”
“Not a fucking chance.”
Numa’s gaze shot to Cade, who had spoken. The big blond ursa shook his head and scowled.
“Cade, you don’t even know who would possess that kind of link.”
“The hell I don’t. You know as well as I do it’s Deva he’s talking about. The poor girl’s been through enough the past year, being shuttled around like precious cargo between all the higher realms, never once allowed to get her feet under her. Now you want her to be the apex of some sex ritual. She isn’t ready.”
“He never said . . .” Numa objected, but Cade interrupted her with a laugh.
“Sweet pea, you think I don’t know how this works? Anything that involves our magic—especially dragon or nymphaea magic—requires someone getting fucked. If it were any one of us, I’d be all over it. The five of us together brought enough power to win a fucking war. But we’ve got experience under our belts. Eons of it between us. Deva may look old enough—she may be wise beyond her years after living with the gods while we won that war—but she’s still a baby, and I guarantee none of her parents are going to sign on, either. Find someone else.”
She turned a worried gaze to Dion. “He’s right. There has to be someone else who can do it. Meri experimented on thousands. We should at least talk to Neph and Nyx about it, don’t you think?”
“You forget I am linked to all the potential options, little one. If they were tainted by Meri’s blood, they are now part of my bloodline. That includes your brother, who was Meri’s first. Yes, I can sense him with Neph and Vrishti and their new daughter in the Sanctuary, though his blood meld to my son is a stronger link. I agree we should open up the conversation to the others when they arrive, but if there was any other option, I would know.”
Not prepared to give up the argument, Numa racked her brain for other options. Deva’s parents—at least her biological parents, Neela and Nikhil—were the only options that made sense, but Dion would have the final say whether either of them possessed the needed combination of blood.
She accompanied Dion and her other four mates down to the grand hall where Nyx and Nereus were preparing to greet the first wave of guests arriving for the celebration, yet could come up with no other ideas.
The saving grace was that Deva was in the Dragon Glade spending time with her mother, so they would have time yet to discuss the options before she arrived. Neela and her mates had chosen the Glade as their permanent residence owing to Neela’s phoenix nature, and Deva spent a few weeks at a time there, learning to harness her own dragon powers under the instruction of her half-sister, Asha. She was a quick study, though the power she exhibited was weak compared to other members of each race.
Numa had received regular messages from Deva over the past year, including the occasional visit, and had never sensed any dissatisfaction in the girl’s situation or a struggle to adapt. On the contrary, despite having no soul, Deva’s aura carried a patina of hard-earned wisdom belying her true age and she took to her lessons easily. If Numa hadn’t been there the day she was born, she’d have believed Deva was as ancient as any of the dragons.
They arrived at the entrance to the grand hall in time to see three figures appear just outside in a cloud of dense fog. When the mist cleared, Numa rushed forward with an exclamation of delight. “Aodh! Brother, you’re here!” She embraced him, then Vrishti and Neph in turn, and stood back beaming at them. “Where is the little one? Is she as much of a joy as she was when I last saw her?”
Vrishti’s face split into a glowing smile. “She is the loveliest baby, but the kinds of celebrations going on here during the Equinox aren’t exactly appropriate for little ones.” She shot a coy look at her mates.
Neph chuckled. “As much as we adore her, we are more than ready for a vacation. Sathmika and the other ursa elders have opened up the Rainsong Lodge for anyone who is in similar straits and wants a respite from their offspring. I’ve lost count of how many babies have been born over the past year. If we aren’t careful, they’ll have the run of the Sanctuary by the time we return.”
“With hope, we will be adding our own soon,” Dion said, resting a big hand on Numa’s shoulder and squeezing. Her body warmed under his touch and she suppressed a shudder of need. There would be ample time for them to work on that task soon enough.
Neph’s broad smile turned serious as he regarded Dionysus. “You’re looking well, Father. I assume it’s time to have a more serious conversation about the steps we need to take to do damage control with the humans of Meri’s bloodline.”
“We will,” Dion said. “But not until we’ve gathered all the immortals here to discuss it, and that includes Deva.”
Neph tensed and narrowed his eyes. Cade snorted from behind Numa, and she silently willed him to hold his tongue.
After regarding Dionysus for a moment, Neph finally nodded. “We will wait, but I admit I don’t like the implications one bit. Deva’s too young and inexperienced to be involved in the sort of thing I believe is required. I’d just as soon avoid involving her at all.”
Beside him, Vrishti frowned. “She’s a grown woman, and perfectly capable of making her own decisions. She’s had so little control over her life so far. We owe her the respect due a fellow immortal. She is one of us, regardless of how new she is to the world.”
“Agreed,” Aodh said, causing the other men to look at him in surprise. “I may consider her a daughter, and have all the protective instincts that go along with that, but Deva is nothing if not strong-willed. It would be more dangerous to force a choice on her. She is in command of her own fate—we should allow her the chance to decide herself. I will support her no matter what.”
“Then we shall wait,” Neph said, giving his mates a grudging glance. “But I intend to remain cautious. I’ve assigned one of the Thiasoi to guard her while she’s here. And whatever she decides to do, he will accompany her to ensure her safety.”
“As long as you’re not trying to control her life, I’m okay with that,” Vrishti said. “She needs her freedom if she’s going to be able to grow.” She slipped beneath his arm and embraced him and they headed into the grand hall to greet Nyx and Nereus.
